1 Kings 17:8-12
Have you moved recently? If so, you’ve joined approximately one-sixth of the US population that moved in 2019. We Americans are a mobile group, and we move for a variety of reasons. Students move to get an education. Young families move to get better jobs. The elderly move to be near their children. Military families know they will move many times. So do families of preachers.
Sometimes a move is considered to be a wonderful opportunity. Sometimes changing locations is a retreat to a safe haven. But always, moves are stressful. Not only do we leave our familiar locations and our friends behind, we must now make a new life for ourselves. Where do we shop for groceries? Where is the library? Where is the school? Will I find a church? Will my neighbors be friendly?
In today’s Scripture reading, God tells our friend Elijah to go to a widow’s house in a foreign country. Elijah must surely question this divine direction.
“What?” he may have wondered. “Go to the coast? To the house of a poor woman who can barely feed herself? Who has a young son? Will their house be noisy? You know, God, I like it by the nice quiet brook. Why can’t I stay here?”
But God has made plans for Elijah and for the widow and her son, too. God will provide unending food for them in a land of famine. And this food will only be the beginning. Unlimited are the blessings that the Almighty can provide.
Consider
How do you depend on God to provide for you wherever you are? How have your past blessings strengthened your faith?
Pray
Almighty God, teach me to gladly rely on you to provide for my needs. Amen.