Scraping The Bottom Of The Barrel

I Kings 17:8-16

The refrigerator is empty.  The pantry is, as well. You look in your bank account and all you see are double zeros.  You have no job, and no one is hiring. The country’s economy is in the pits. Have you ever been there?  For some of us, this is a familiar scenario. The scraping sound at the bottom of the barrel is a sad, dismal one, especially when there are hungry mouths dependant on you. Where do you turn? Who will help you? This is where we find the woman in our Scripture passage today.

When we begin our reading, Elijah, the great prophet of the Lord God, has been hiding from King Ahab.  In the verses just prior to our passage he had proclaimed to that evil, pagan, idol worshipping king that God was sending a massive drought because of the country’s sins.  Ahab put a price on Elijah’s head, so he went into hiding. True to the prophet’s word, no rain fell, the crops were failing, and people were starving to death. Not only in Israel, but also in surrounding countries, as well.  After a couple of years of drought and famine, God brings Elijah out from hiding, and directs him to go into Gentile territory, to the town of Zarephath. Zarephath was a town along the coast of the Mediterranean, about 7 miles south of the major city of Sidon.  It was in territory ruled by Ahab’s father-in-law, King Ethbaal, Jezebel’s father. Elijah showed the power of God in the heart of this area where the pagan god, Baal was worshipped.

Our passage opens with a very dismal scene.  A poor widow woman is out gathering sticks in order to make one last bite of food to eat for her and her son.  She has no more hope. She is a widow with no husband to support and take care of her, and she has a young son to feed and care for.  The country is in the middle of a drought and famine, and she is down to the very last of her provisions. When Elijah comes to her and asks for a drink of water and a bite to eat, she tells him that she has nothing, only enough to make a last meal for her and her child, and then they will lie down and die (vs 10-12). That’s quite dismal and hopeless! Many of us have felt like we’ve been there. We have nothing, and nowhere to turn. Why wasn’t Baal helping her? This was showing that he was nothing, just an empty idol of stone.

The widow was probably a bit surprised, maybe taken aback, at Elijah’s bold request for her to make him something to eat when she had just told him that she was going to make her and her son their last meal before they died of starvation! (vs 13).  However, she went and did as he asked. Why? Elijah gave her something to grab on to and hope for. He told her that neither the flour in the barrel nor the oil in the jug would run out until Yahweh, the one true God, would bring rain (vs 14). The widow was down to her last ounce of hope, and Elijah brought her the Word of God, something she could cling to.  She trusted Elijah and gave all she had in a small, simple act of faith. God multiplied it many times over, and she was fed, along with her son and Elijah.

God never asks us for what we don’t have.  This widow had very little, just a handful of flour, which she was afraid to share with this stranger.  God asks us for what we want to keep for ourselves. Elijah rebuked the fear in this woman, and told her to give what she had. Elijah asked for the thing she felt she could not spare. The widow had nothing, but took a risk to trust God, the God of Israel.  In return, God supplied what she needed until the drought passed.

Every miracle begins with an act of obedience.  We may not see the solution until we take the first step of faith, as this woman did.  Are we confident that God is in charge, and trusting Him to work out the best plan for us?  Do we fear that our jar of flour will be empty, and our jug of oil will run out? Don’t fear!  If we are trusting the Lord Yahweh, His grace and mercy will last through all of our necessities. It is better to have God as our supplier than the largest Swiss Bank account. We can never exhaust the infinite mercies of God.  He does hear when we are scraping the bottom of the barrel!