Foreword
Foreword
Can we dedicate ourselves like the widow of Zarephath? She had only a handful of food, but when she took it to first serve the man of God, he promised that her food would not run out until the famine ended. The flour and oil are visible to my eyes, but the miracle that is promised is not yet seen. So what did the widow of Zarephath do with the last meal she had? What weighed in her heart when she went home to gather the last bit of flour? She might have doubted, “Will I be left with nothing? Is what God’s servant said true?” Yet she showed an act of faith by serving
first. As a result, the handful of food became a miracle that lasted nearly four years.
The widow of Zarephath did not act this way because she was different from us. Rather, she was poorer, more ignorant, and weaker than we are. She was a Gentile woman. She had not heard the Word as we have. Yet, she made an incredible act of devotion. She believed in God’s promise without doubt. Let us also have a faith that acts! Let us have a faith that obeys! And let us have a faith that believes in the promises.
Heaven is the heaven of thankfulness. Heaven is a place filled with the language of thanksgiving. We have but one task in heaven, and that is to give thanks before God! If there is a majestic hymn of heaven in the book of Revelation, it is the gratitude of the redeemed multitude. I believe that the “obedience of the widow of Zarephath” will be with us today. When our obedience and gratitude never cease, we can be assured that, just like the overflowing miracle that occurred for the widow of Zarephath, our hearts will also be filled and overflowing with the food that God has granted us. I urge you in the name of the Lord to not doubt this and to just believe.
November 17, 2002 | Sunday Worship Service
“The Miracle of the Meager Handful of Food” (1 Kings 17:8-16)