As many of you know, a friend has been missing since 7/17/07. Fran Tate was last seen at a prayer meeting that Tuesday evening. She spoke of stopping at a park on her way home to find something she previously left there. If you haven’t already seen the poster, I encourage you to check it out here.
Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food. — 1 Kings 17:9
Isn’t something backwards here? A Gentile widow is providing for an Israelite man. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
And why would God command a widow to supply someone’s needs? Widows, at least in Bible times, were often destitute … they had nothing. In a couple of verses we find out that this particular widow was just that … destitute. She, herself, was on the brink of starvation.
God was asking … no, He was commanding this widow to do the impossible.
Why would God do such a thing? Isn’t that terribly unfair?
We will probably never understand the Christian life until we begin to see that God’s commands are just that … impossible. He hasn’t asked His people to do the easy, or the difficult, the challenging or that which may be done with great human effort. He wants us to do the impossible.
Why?
Because only when we set out to do the impossible do we discover where our resources end and God’s begin. The Christian life was meant to be a display — not of our own achievements — but instead of God’s inexhaustible resources.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
Dwight Clough is the author of four Christian books and is an active member of Lake City Church in Madison. This devotional is also available via email and you may review the archives back to 2002. To contact Dwight or Kim, use their contact form. You may also support their ministry.