God spoke to the Prophet Elijah and sent him to the city of Zarephath, a Phoenician city whose religion included the worship of the false gods Baal and
Ashtoreth. It was here that God would use a widow to provide for him.
“So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said,
‘Please bring me a little water in a cup that I may drink.’ And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, ‘Please bring me a morsel of
bread in your hand.”
“So she said, ‘As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a
couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
“And Elijah said to her, ‘Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some
for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel: “The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the
day the Lord sends rain on the earth.'”
“So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did
the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah” (1 Kings 17:10-16 NKJV).
This woman’s willingness to give to the man of God positioned her for God to do something supernatural. When we provide the natural, God provides the super
and we receive His supernatural.
It seemed so unreasonable for Elijah to ask this poor widow for anything. She was in a desperate situation herself. She saw no future for her or her son—only
that they would eat their last meal and die.
She needed to look beyond the immediate and believe there was more. Elijah had come to bring provision to her and her son, but first she would have to
give the only thing she possessed to the man of God. The very things she needed to make her last meal—the flour and oil—were what God multiplied
to save her life.
She had acted on one of the divine laws of abundance without even realizing it. Again, in Luke 6:38 Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you: good
measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back
to you” (NKJV).
The way this law of God works is that we choose the measure when we give and God will begin to bring increase back to us according to that measure. We
have a God-given right to prosper in all that we do. The power released when we give in faith will unlock abundant provision and power for us to prosper.
“Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause; and let them say continually, ‘Let the Lord be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity
of His servant'” (Psalm 35:27 NKJV).
