The great Elijah. Solitary. Austere. Whose life seemed to ignite a certain moment in history, as if by a bolt of lightning and, then, just as quickly, he passed into the heavens holding the tongues of that flame like the reins of a charioteer. Who can get close enough to know such a man as that?
I love the Word of God. But if I'm not careful in my thoughts, then merely reading the text and reiterating the narrative can prevent me actually seeing and understanding. I mean, I already know how the story turns out. So, my mind runs along this well-worn path ~ until, I notice something I've never seen before, though I've been this way so many times before.
I've been to Zarephath before; lots of times (in my mind). I have a vision of that out-of-the-way place above the northern coast of Israel. Lovely, but lonely ~ even desolate, especially during that awful famine in the time of Elijah. Many times, too, I've contemplated the faith of that now famous "widow woman" (whose name is not recorded in Scripture), whom God had "commanded [her] to sustain" the prophet. (I somehow doubt that she was consciously aware of that command.)
I was awed by the reality ~ when I first perceived it, some time ago ~ that that woman, in her willingness to obey Elijah's request to feed him first, was confronted with what must have appeared in her own mind to be a fatal choice, namely: Whom would she choose that should sacrifice their one and only meal? Would it be her only son, or herself, that would give their portion to feed Elijah? For, there was only enough bread for two. Certainly, it was her own portion which she willingly gave to the man of God. She laid down her own life, by that decision. That could not have been easy. No. In fact, I believe it was a real breaking point ~ or should I say, a breakthrough point? "For thus saith the LORD," is all that she had ~ to rely upon....
What great faith! What a great trial of faith!
How many times have I seen, in Scripture (and even in my own life), that God takes a man, or a woman, way down ~ if not even all the way down to the gates of death, in order to purify their faith?! In fact, I have this saying: "God does not lead a man in a way that he can go by himself." Which means, of course, that God takes us to a place where our own flesh cannot, will not, go; but we can only get there by the help and the power of God's own Spirit.
She was a widow. But she had a son to care for. And they two were alone. The famine had squeezed and pressed them to the uttermost, until their very lives now hung in the balance. Still, she mustered enough strength to go out and gather a few sticks to make a little fire...to cook a scant little meal...little knowing that the prophet of fire himself was coming to meet her, on the outskirts of town.
I know that poor woman. Every time that I've visited Zarephath in my spirit, I've wanted to search more deeply to understand the secrets of such faith as hers.
But, tonight, and for the first time, it was Elijah ~ and his faith that I beheld, as I seemed to be standing there near him, in my mind, in that barren place.
Elijah had to walk about 85 miles, from where he had camped out by the brook Cherith near Jordan (see, here), to get to Zarephath. Even walking at a pace of 15 miles a day, the trip would have taken him close to a week. I suspect that the raven(s) which for a while brought scraps of food to him at that little stream, did not follow and minister to him during that week-long hike to Zarephath.
Every night that week, when he laid down to sleep, I imagine that Elijah wondered about what he would encounter when he got to Zarephath. Every night, too, the growing emptiness in his stomach doubtless fed his imagination. This much, only, he knew: that she was a widow. Was she young, or at least pretty? It didn't matter. But did her husband leave her well provided for? That was the question. (Elijah was also in the midst of the famine.) Zarephath is on the coast; a trading port, perhaps. A wealthy town, perhaps....
Day after day Elijah walked on ~ with little or nothing to eat. Night after night he looked up at the stars and prayed ~ and wondered. Zarephath. The word which the LORD had spoken to him at Cherith: "Behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee" (1 Kings 17:9); he rehearsed that, over and over in his mind. "To sustain me," he mused. "How else could a widow woman 'sustain' me, unless, she is a woman of some means? Besides, am I not the LORD's faithful servant? Hasn't He already shown me that He is not going to let me be overtaken by this terrible famine? And haven't I quite suffered, already?"
Permit me to keep reading a little between the lines. "Tomorrow about noon, I'll reach Zarephath," Elijah mumbled out loud to himself. Already, the scent of the sea was in the night air. He was close. When, on the morrow, he did arrive at that small, coastal town, he walked slowly along the one road that meandered between the seaside and a neat row of tidy houses that looked out toward the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. The neatness of that town and the cool breeze blowing in from the water seemed to set that area apart from the scorched places through which he'd passed on his way to get there. Slowly he walked, looking at the houses and the few people he saw here and there; listening intently for that still, small voice he had come to know so well, to say: "This is the house;" or, "She's the one."
But, nothing. No voice. No tug at his spirit, in this direction or that. What to do? Had he not heard that oh-so-quiet voice tell him to "Go to Zarephath"? Sit down. Wait. There, on that dock ~ where I'll be visible. Mid-afternoon. Maybe, she'll pass this way.
Toward evening, Elijah grew restless. "Where is she, LORD?" Surely, you don't want me to go knocking on doors...?" He arose and started walking, again, slowly. Until ~ there was no more sea. No more tidy houses. No more town. Only a little hovel, here and there ~ and the broad plain opening before him. Then ~
"She's the one," he heard that voice say, in his spirit. There, alone and at a distance away from the nearest shanty, with a little armload of sticks and moving slowly, was a diminuitive-appearing form of a woman. Her profile seemed gaunt, even in silhouette. Her frame reminded Elijah of the famine.
"Her? ...LORD?"
"Yes.""But... Didn't you say, LORD, that a weal.. that a woman was going to sustain ~ me?"
"Yes.""Well..., then..., what do I say to her? Does she know anything about me? Have you told her that I would...."
"I told her that help is on the way.""What do you want me to do?"
"Speak to her."Elijah approached her, respectfully. "Greetings, Woman. What are you doing?" he asked.
"Oh, Sir, you startled me! Me? I'm gathering these sticks to make a fire, so that me and my son can eat our last meal together.""What do you mean, your last meal? Surely, you don't mean this is your second meal today? You look as if you haven't eaten in ~ days!"
"No, of course, not. I mean our very last meal. I have enough for one cake for my son, and one for me. And, then, we're going to die."- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
An 85-mile journey on foot ~ fueled by a solid week of fasting. Only to discover that what had (perhaps) grown to become his expectation ~ that is, of finding relief from the famine, in the hospitality of an even modestly well-supplied home of a widow woman (and her of the LORD's own choosing!) ~ was not to be as he had probably hoped upon hope that it would be. What he then heard in his spirit, may even have taken that great man of faith by surprise (as I imagine):
"Tell her to feed you, first . . ."
"Tell her.""Feed me, first," Elijah blurted out.
Immediately, that still small voice then seemed as strong as an ocean wave surging up from the depths of his soul:
"And promise her ~ in My Great Name ~ that her cruse of oil shall never run dry, and that her barrel of meal shall never be empty! Tell her, Elijah!"- - - - - - - - - - - - -
What kind of faith is that?! Elijah came to Zarephath expecting ~ because God said so ~ that he was the one who was going to be "sustained." How could any man ~ who was himself in the midst of a famine, not be inclined in his thoughts to put a certain "spin" on such a promise as that? When I saw (in my spirit) Elijah standing face to face with that woman ~ not a well-to-do widow, but an impoverished woman (with her dependent son); and, when I perceived the whole picture including the (very likely, to my thinking) background story: then, it all became so clear to me ~ as I've feebly tried to describe.
Had Elijah been like most people, that is to say, like most Christian people; and, when at length he realized that God had sent him (on such a long journey) to humble himself to be "sustained" by a desperately poor widow woman: he might have (in his mind) raised his fist toward heaven and cried angrily: "Are you serious, God?! What are you doing to me?!"
Not Elijah. "Feed me, first." God said that ~ you ~ are going to sustain ~ me! You're impoverished? You're a widow? A woman? A mother? You're at death's door? And your only son, too?! What else can be set before my eyes that will cause me to doubt God? "Feed me. First." No! not because I'm hungry! I would rather starve with you ~ if the promises of God cannot be trusted! I would rather die believing, than to live doubting and wondering and fearing! "Feed me, first, woman!" And let us both see the glory of God!
I have always supposed that if I ever did hear God speak to me in an audible voice, then I would have such faith that could stand before any mountain and say: "Be removed!" or, to any disease: "Be healed!" or, to any devil: "Be gone!"
But He has spoken to me. And to you.
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