From one dying thing to another

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1 Kings 17:7-24
The Widow at Zarephath
7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain
in the land. 8 Then the word of the LORD came to him: 9 "Go at once to
Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that
place to supply you with food." 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he
came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called
to her and asked, "Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may
have a drink?" 11 As she was going to get it, he called, "And bring
me, please, a piece of bread."
12 "As surely as the LORD your God lives," she replied, "I don't have
any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug.
I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself
and my son, that we may eat it—and die."
13 Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have
said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have
and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son.
14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'The jar of
flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until
the day the LORD gives rain on the land.' "
15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food
every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar
of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in
keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.
Now isn't this like God who sent Elijah from a dying brook to a dying
woman. She had only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a
jug. So insufficient was her offerings that if one was materialistic
you would have taken offense at God. Out of all the places he could
have gone, places with bread plenty to spare and no sorrow, why did he
have to go to Zarepheth. He did because she needed a miracle and
believe it or not so did he. Elijah was still on the run. A place
full of people to report his whereabouts would have been suicide. He
needed a place of insignificance to hide and no one would have guessed
him to go to a place of a starving woman, but while he was there, she
was fed supernaturally and so was he. God killed two birds with one
stone. Sometimes we are not at places just to be blessed, but to be a
blessing. Imagine that, we are to be a blessing as well as receive
one.
Prayer: I pray as God causes you to meet the needs of others, your
needs are met.