Elijah and the Widow

Kid Friendly Worship.  June 9, 2013.  Elijah and the Widow—1 Kings 17:8-24, page 140-142 in the Spark bible

Narrator (Widow):  Come in, friends!  It sure is hot here in Zarephath lately, isn’t it?  I expect that you came to hear about the stranger living with me?   God has done miracles in our house because of him.  

Several weeks ago when it was so hot and dry that almost no one was outside, I went out to gather sticks near the town gate for our dinner.  The stranger, Elijah approached me and said, “Excuse me, Ma’am?  Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?”  Of course, I was happy to do it, with it being so hot and him coming so far.  As I started to leave, though, he said “oh, and can I have a piece of bread too, please?”  I stopped and almost started to cry.  I turned around to tell him the truth—“I’ve got nothing to offer you.  I only have a little flour (hold up jar) and a little oil (hold up jar) at home.  Not enough to make even a biscuit.  I’m going home to make a fire with the sticks so that my son and I can eat this meal and then get hungrier and hungrier and die.”

He said something amazing!  He told me “Don’t be afraid. Go home and cook, But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me.   Then make something for yourself and your son from the flour and oil you have left.  God told me and wants me to tell YOU that  ‘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.’”

He ate.  We ate.  There was more left over!  We would have enough for another day.  I made food the next day. He ate.  We ate.  There was MORE!  God kept providing food for all of us! 

But then my son got sick and stopped breathing. I picked him up and carried him to Elijah. I yelled at Elijah because I was so sad.  “Why do you hate me, man of God?  Did you just come to eat my food and kill my son?”  He told me to give him my son.  I did (look sad with empty arms outstretched).  He took him to the room I let Elijah stay in and he laid him on the bed.  He started so loudly I could hear him downstairs.  He was asking God to help him start breathing again. Soon, he came back downstairs carrying my son.  He was breathing!  He was smiling!  I was amazed. I knew he was a man of God, and that when he said God was speaking to him, he was telling the truth! 

What are some ways we can be like Elijah and take care of hungry people?  How can we care for someone who is sick?

___Thoughts for the adults

Well...two weeks in a row we're talking about healing in many ways.  However, that's not the heart of the story that struck me.  God told Elijah that he should go to Zarephath and that a woman would help feed him.  God could have chosen anyone to feed Elijah.  Though drought probably made food hard to come by, he chose an especially difficult case--a widow (who, in that society, was basically seen as having no worth and no power) who was a bit cranky/immediately defensive with Elijah, and then her son demonstrates illness and DIES.  The thing that struck me here is that the miracle isn't just the food.  In fact, I'd argue the more powerful miracle here is that she puts her trust in God and does as Elijah asks.  She makes food for him first, though she barely has any even for her son and herself.  She was PLANNING to die, but in her trust and faith, God helps see her through.  This grizzled, bitter woman in her trust brings about a miracle even more powerful than feeding a prophet--she begins to believe and praise God, telling others about the amazing things Elijah had done in God's name.  She is the living example of "I believe God.  Help my unbelief."

It's strange to me how abruptly the story ends though.  She states that she knows he is a man of God and...the next sentence takes us into a new section, three years into the drought.  The only sense I can make of this is that this widow continued to serve and care for Elijah until he was ready to go confront the king.  Another truly amazing example of faith-she took this stranger into her home, he stayed a long time, and she continued to serve.  If only we could all be so faithful and thankful for what God offers!