Meditations

1 King 17

¹³ And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. ¹⁴ For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.  -kjv

¹³ Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf 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 theLord, 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 sends rain on the land.’”  -niv

¹³ Then Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid; go and do as you have said. But first make me a small loaf from it and bring it out to me. Afterward, you may make some for yourself and your son, ¹⁴ for this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘The flour jar will not become empty and the oil jug will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the surface of the land.”  -hcsb

This is a conversation between Elijah and the widow of Zeraphath.

Context: God has declared through Elijah that famine will be upon the land of kingdom of the ten tribes under the seventh king,  King Ahab,  for years. This is punishment for the inhabitants of the land for worshipping Baal. Hence, the widow has little to eat in the famine.

We see that the blessing of God was extended to the widow but she has to give first. She has little bread left but she still has to give up some of it first before she can be blessed. This is one of the mechanism through which how blessings come about. In giving we receive more. Though God is not limited to work through this mode alone.