3/4/2011 5:35:07 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Food from empty vessels
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1Kings 17:8-16
Message
of the verses: “8 ¶ Then the word of the LORD came to him,
saying, 9 "Arise, go to Zarephath,
which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there
to provide for you." 10 So he arose
and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a
widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, "Please
get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink." 11 As she was going to get it, he called to her
and said, "Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand." 12 But she said, "As the LORD your God
lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in
the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare
for me and my son, that we may eat it and die." 13 Then Elijah said to her, "Do not fear;
go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and
bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your
son. 14 "For thus says the LORD God
of Israel, ’The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil
be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain on the face of the
earth.’" 15 So she went and did
according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many
days. 16 The bowl of flour was not
exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the
LORD which He spoke through Elijah.”
This was an unusual time for the
nation of Israel in that there were great miracles happening during the time of
Elijah and also Elisha who would follow Elijah.
Elijah probably stayed at the brook
for a year according to Dr. Wiersbe and then he went to Zarephath, a gentile
city not too far from where Jezebel was from, so he was in enemy territory, but
this is where the Lord sent him and he obeyed without question. The widow was not a believer for she said as
surely as the Lord your God
lives. This widow was probably a
worshiper of idols, but God had sent Elijah to her in order to be fed and this
is what happened for the barrel of barely and the jar of oil did not go empty
until the Lord sent rain, and Elijah probably stayed there for two years eating
from that empty barrel of barley and that empty jar of oil.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Dr.
Wiersbe quotes a little poem in his commentary to show that it is the Lord who
is the one who feeds us:
“Back of the loaf is the snowy-flower,
And back of the
flour is the mill,
And back of the
mill is the wheat, sun, and showers,
The farmer—and
the Father’s will.”
Yes I must continually remember it
is the Lord who provides the food that I eat every day, and it is out of the
goodness of God that I am allowed to eat, just as it was out of the goodness of
God that Elijah and the widow and her son ate for the two years Elijah was
there.
I must also remember that it is the
Lord who sends me where He wants me to go, and I must, like Elijah, obey His
will.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Continue to
trust the Lord as the One who sent us to Kauai, and rely on Him to show us
where to worship Him and what His purpose is of sending us here.
2. Give myself to
the Lord for worship and service today.
3. Trust the Lord
to direct my path this day.
4. Remember that I
am in a battle and in need of the spiritual armor.
5. Continue to
learn contentment. 3/4/2011 5:51:53 AM
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