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46. Elijah the
prophet.
Ahab and Jezebel
persecuted all the worshippers of the god of Abraham who were in the
land of the ten tribes, and all the prophets who spoke in his name they
persecuted to death. Although one of his own court officials, Obadiah,
feared God in silence and fled a hundred prophets, whom he hid in
mountain caves. But God saved the prophet Elijah.
Elijah was, among other things, a man who knew the weather. He learnt
about the weather from God. He came to the king and said: ‘As surely as
the Lord lives, the God of Israel, before whom I stand, there will be no
dew or rain these years until I say so again.’ What he said happened.
The lack of water, the famine and finally the famine became worse and
worse. Initially, God hid the prophet by the brook Krith, which flows
into the Jordan; there he lived a quiet and secret life. The ravens that
came to the brook fed him. The water of the brook quenched his thirst.
But when the water gradually dried up and the ravens stopped coming, God
led him to the city of Sarepta. At the gate of this city a poor widow
picked up some wood. The prophet asked her to fetch him some water to
drink. As she went, he called after her, ‘Bring me a morsel of bread too.’
The poor woman replied: ‘As the Lord your God lives, I only have a
handful of flour left in my kad and a little oil in my jug, and I have
picked up a few pieces of wood to prepare a meal for myself and my son
before we die.’ She did not know how she was going to eke out a living
for herself and her child, and God's help was already so close at hand.
The prophet asked her to prepare some baked goods for him. She could
bake for herself and her son afterwards. ‘Fear not,’ he said, ‘for thus
says the Lord, the God of Israel: The flour shall not be wasted, and the
cruse of oil shall not lack.’
Dear poverty often has greater trust in God and in unknown people than
wealth, which only increases worries and fear of the future and so
easily chills hearts. The poor woman kind-heartedly shared the last of
her possessions with the prophet and harboured him in her home until the
harsh time was over, and had no regrets. As long as Elijah was with her,
she had no more shortages. The flour was not consumed, and the oil in
the jar did not run dry. We can well believe that it was good people
from the neighbourhood who gave the poor woman so much every day to
support the prophet that she and her child had enough to live on.
However, God can also miraculously save and bless His own and reward the
good nature of a trusting soul. "He has all ways. He has no lack of
means."
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