“Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” Harriet Stowe I once heard a pastor make the statement after a particularly moving sermon that his message was “easy preaching, but hard doing.” I kind of feel the same way about the above quote; it is “hard doing” sometimes. I will even take it a step further and say that there have been time’s in my life when I am in hope’s of seeing a turning of that tide, only to see what I was thinking was a turning of the tide, become a tsunami created by an off shore earthquake that will surely destroy me. I wonder if the widow from Zarephath had those kinds of thoughts as she was making preparations for the last meal she and her son would eat before dying. The whole account of this is found in 1 Kings 17:7-15, but what I want to concentrate on is the correlation between her thoughts and the picture of the turning of the tide I mentioned above. In verse 1 Kings 17:9, God tells Elijah, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” This woman was not of the nation of Israel or a worshiper of God the Father, but a citizen of Zarephath, in the country of Sidon. The Sidonians were worshipers of Baal and had a great contempt for the people of Israel, while the people of Israel had even a greater distaste for them, yet God had placed a seed of hope in her heart, even though she didn’t know Him. She didn’t know how, but she still had an element of hope that things were going to get better, until at last, she had nothing left to hope in. There was just enough grain and oil for one last meal, before she, her son and her hope died. Imagine how her hope that the tide would finally turn, was instead turned into a tsunami that seemingly destroyed it. The feeling that God was so against her, that He was going to use this “man”, an “Israelite”, her “enemy” as the instrument of her destruction! The feelings of total worthlessness and despair that consumed her…..until Elijah spoke to the doubt in her heart and the last seed of hope she had left. “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. 14 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.” (1 Kings 17:13-14) Not had God only provided for her immediate needs, but for her future need’s as well. Things had got so bad during the famine, that her son died a short time after Elijah had arrived. Elijah prayed to the Lord his God and the boy’s life was restored. All these things happened because she did not give up. So the next time you think all hope is gone, hang on just a little bit longer and then see the waves of His goodness flow over you, as the tide has turned.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 21:59:22 +0000
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