Morning Message Text: 1Kings 17: 8-24
8 Then the word of the LORD came to him:
9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.”
10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?”
11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”
12 “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”
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 the LORD, 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.’ ”
15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.
16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.
17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing.
18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”
19 “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed.
20 Then he cried out to the LORD, “LORD my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?”
21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the LORD, “LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”
22 The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived.
23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”
24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth.”
Morning Message:
I am writing this message On Monday, November 4th. That is what I felt compelled to let you know as you read or hear this message. I had considered waiting until after the results of tomorrow’s election to decide what I would preach, but that would be reactionary and be mired in my own personal feelings, one way or another. That is not what God calls me to do. It’s kind of like a football game, maybe the Super Bowl, but with much more at stake. There will be a winner and a loser, half the country will be happy, and the other half upset. The difference between football and politics, after the super bowl, the teams and the fans move on: after an election in today’s society, the two sides continue to fight, and many times encourage their supporters to fight and resist and do everything they can for the next four years to make each other look bad. Let me say this now, before the results are in and I can be accused of basing my opinion on the results. As Christians we need to move forward in love and be about God’s kingdom. If things go well for this nation, it will be because of God’s will and blessing for us. If things go terribly wrong it really doesn’t matter who is at fault because nothing happens outside of the will of God.
This time in our nation and in this world is a time for trust and obedience. “Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.” When the dust from this election settles there will be winners and losers: there will be those of us who are happy and feel vindicated and those who are sad and have regrets. If you are a Christian, if you belong to Jesus, praise the Lord regardless of how you feel. If your brother or sister in Christ is happy, be happy for them. If they are sad don’t flaunt it over them. Have compassion on them and understand their feelings. Why should we do this? Because we are called to love and our trust is in God not princes and politicians or presidents. They are human, and their plans will only go as far as God’s will for them.
Psalm 146 is important because it reminds us of who God is. He is the maker of heaven and earth, He upholds the cause of the oppressed, gives food to the hungry, sets prisoners free, gives sight to the blind. The Lord loves the righteous. Notice that it doesn’t say those who appear to be right, or those who win, those in power. For Christians, this is a time for trust and obedience, the only side that we should be on is God’s side.
The story today about Elijah is a reminder of what true trust is and what obedience looks like. Some of us have had times in our lives when trust in God was all we had. I am thankful that we live in a nation, at least for the time being, that most do not have to experience such disparate times. How many of you have spent any time reading 1 Kings? The stories of Elijah the prophet is quite remarkable. Because of his dedication to God, Elijah is put in some very dire circumstances. He is forced to run and hide from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. God takes care of him in different ways but in every instance, it takes trust and obedience on the part of Elijah. God instructs him to go and live by a brook and tells him that he has instructed ravens to feed him there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and again at night. I doubt that we would find that acceptable. Would you want to eat what the birds brought you?
Because of the drought, the brook dries up; so God tells Elijah to travel to Zarephath and tells him that he has instructed a widow to take care of him. Now, I don’t know about you, but if God were to tell me to go somewhere and that someone would take care of me I would expect that they would be waiting for me with food on the table. This poor widow has no idea that Elijah is coming or who he even is, but God has clearly spoken to her heart because she trusts what Elijah is saying and responds with obedience. Think about this. She has a hand full of flour and a little bit of oil to make bread for her and her son to have their last meal and someone out of the blue asks her for it with the promise that God will provide. Would you fall for that? If you heard God clearly telling you to do something, would you? Wait a minute, are you able to hear God? Do you want to hear God? Are you listening for God? You can’t trust and be obedient to God if you don’t hear him, and why do you think we don’t hear him? The noise of the world is too loud and we have allowed it to drown out God’s voice.
One more example in this story. After all this struggling the widow’s son gets sick and dies. The widow is distraught, and she is blaming God and Elijah. I don’t blame her. She has done everything that the Lord has required of her, and now she feels that her obedience has gone unrewarded. Elijah is upset because he has done everything that God has instructed him to do and now this widow is upset with him. What does Elijah do? Come on you know this by now. He trusts God, practices obedience in prayer, and the child is saved. Of course, God could have healed this child in any way he wanted, or prevented him from dying in the first place, but he chose to use his faithful servant—who called on God’s name and gave him the glory. We need to practice being faithful. We need to learn trust and obedience, so that when we find ourselves in a place of despair we can know that our God is in control no matter who sits in the oval office.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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