Little-Faith

“...the pitcher of meal was not consumed, and the jar of oil did not fail, according to the Word of Jehovah which He spoke by Elijah.” (1Kings 17:16)

The background of this event is that Elijah pronounced a drought in the land, but God provided for him. Ravens brought him food and he drank water from the brook Cherith before it dried up. (1Kings17:3-7) Led and obedient to God’s direction he went to the town of Zarephath where the Lord told him a widow would provide for him. When he asks the widow for a piece of bread, she explains that she only has a handful of meal and a little oil to make something to eat for herself and her son and then they will die. But Elijah tells her to make him a cake first and the Lord would make the meal and the oil unending until the drought ends. (1Kings 17:10-14) When she is obedient, the miracle happens. (1Kings 17:16)

What the widow saw as an impossible situation was an opportunity for the Lord to glorify Himself.  It was an opportunity for the Lord to provide for her, her son and Elijah. We see the faithfulness of God to provide for His children who are obedient. And we also see the faith of Elijah and the faith of the widow. God is able and willing to override all the natural circumstances of this world when we believe, trust and obey.

The situation was dire for the widow and her son. The widow only had a handful of meal which is about a cup. That’s not much with which to make a cake. But that was all she had and there was no other way of getting more meal. Imagine that. A small cake of bread was all that they would eat for their final meal, no vegetables and no meat. She had no hope of getting more meal. There was a drought and most probably the “stores” were empty. When we think of this time, there were no stores. One would grow grain, gather it and process it to make the meal. Each person providing what he could from their harvest. But with the drought there was no grain because the land would not yield any crops. They didn’t have water like we do. They couldn’t go to their faucets and water their crops. They depended on the rain. She only had a son. But with the drought, the son couldn’t work in the harvest or work the land. It’d be futile.

It was to this widow in this hopeless situation that the Lord sends Elijah. It’s been determined that the widow is a Gentile, not an Israelite. Here we see the faith and trust that Elijah had when the Lord sent him to Zarephath. Zarephath was not located in Israel. What would have been our reaction? “Zarephath!?! There’s nothing in Zarephath except heathens. I’m not going to Zarephath!” I know that’s how I would have reacted. We tend to think we know more than God. But worse than that, we don’t even hear from the Lord because we are not seeking His face and His direction at all times. We have made ourselves lords and kings of our lives because we believe we have wisdom and act in our deficient wisdom. God help us! But this was not with Elijah. God sent him into this heathen land, to a heathen widow and provided for him. He didn’t question. He didn’t doubt.

“But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing. For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. For do not let that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, not dependable in all his ways.” (James 1:6-8) This Scripture is about asking for wisdom. But it can also pertain to all things we ask of the Lord. We believe with out minds, assenting to the Truth in the Bible, the Word of God, but we don’t believe deep in our heart and do not take it for granted that what God said will be fulfilled. It will be fulfilled for us when we believe because He loves us. This is why confession of our sins is so imperative. If we have unconfessed sin, our conscious will always condemn us and make us doubt that the promises of God will be fulfilled for us. We think that our unconfessed sin keeps us from God’s promises. But always keep in mind our roles as parents. We don’t refuse our children’s needs because they have disobeyed. There are consequences, yes, but we don’t withhold what they need or what is good for them from them. If we promised, we fulfill. How much more our Heavenly Father Who loves us more than we love our children.

What happens when we doubt? Jesus showed us in Peter’s example. When the disciples were in a boat and He comes to the disciples walking on the water, Peter forgets his human abilities or should we say inabilities. He just wants to be near Jesus. Although we often see Peter as impetuous and forging ahead without thinking, this time, his impetuous character thought only of Jesus and he didn’t think through that to go to Jesus, he’d have to walk on the water which we can’t do on this earth. It wasn’t until he was actually walking on the water and saw the waves and felt the strong winds that he came to his senses and realized that he was doing the impossible and feared. (Matthew 14: 22-30)  “But seeing that the wind was strong, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me! And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him; and said to him, Little-faith! Why did you doubt?” (Mat 14:30-31) Think about all the prayers we have doubted. Jesus with His outstretched hand has said to us “...Little-faith! Why did you doubt?” Jesus did not call him “you who has little faith,” but actually called him “...Little-faith...” This is the Modern King James version. All other translations read, “...you of little faith...” except in the literal translations. But in the original Latin Vulgate which was the first translation from the Greek, it’s “Little-faith.” Oh!!! My prayer and yours should be that Jesus is not calling us by that name. My prayer is that we would believe our Heavenly Father with all of our hearts, no matter the circumstances, what we see, what we hear and the impossibility of our cry and our need.

Concluding, Elijah believed God. And God provided for Him. If we believe and not doubt our need will be fulfilled abundantly because our Heavenly Father loves us more than we can imagine. Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, All things, whatever you ask, praying, believe that you shall receive them, and it will be to you.” (Mark 11:24)

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, God of might, power and love, thank You. Thank You my God that you love me. I cannot even fathom the kind of love You have for me. But in the terms that I can understand, it’s more than all the love I can imagine. I don’t like being called “Little-faith” and yet, I know I have doubted. I say to myself, “I can’t.” And You whisper, “But I can.” Forgive me Lord. And help me to act in faith, believing the impossible because You, my Lord are the God of the impossible, able and willing to do the impossible for Your children who love You and believe You. Be blessed in my feeble efforts Lord. Help me to rely on You and not my inabilities. The tasks at hand are greater than my abilities, so I give them to You. And I allow You to deal with them. I trust You Lord to do what is best for me because I don’t even know what is best for me. But You my Lord know all things from the beginning to the end. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.