"Will God give us more than we can bear? ABSOLUTELY!"
"Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you." (1 Kings 17:9 NLT)
God has a way of doing things backwards....according to the world's standards that is. How is he going to provide for his prophet during a famine? He is sending him to a widow to be cared for. This is what is backward.
Widows during this time were the poorest of the poor. They were without someone to provide for them. They were at risk of starving regularly. This is why God frequently tells his people to care for them.
So, Elijah had to trust that God would provide for him through a poor widow. And, this widow had to trust that God would provide for her & her son during the famine. When Elijah first shows up he asks her to make him some food & bring him some water. Not such a big request right? Wrong. She only has enough flower & oil to make one more meal & she has to trust God that if she gives her last meal to the prophet that he will provide for her & her son's future meals supernaturally. And God does just that! They eat from the same oil & flower for the duration of the famine!
Whether prophet or widow, all of us are tempted to trust ourselves over God every day. We are asked to put others before ourselves & we are tempted to ask, "Will there be any left for me?" We may even be like Elijah & wondering, "God wants me to go where? He meant king's house not widow's right?"
God asks us to do things & go places that intentionally cause us to trust him. The old saying, "God won't place on us more than we can bear" is false. He routinely places more on us than we can bear so we will learn to quit trusting ourselves & realize we can't do anything on our own! God does this to put to death our self-dependence.
Where do we need to put others first? What is God calling us to that doesn't make sense or add up? How is God calling us to leave our self-dependence & bank all of our life on him!?
Just like Elijah & this widow, it's time to walk in obedience & trust God with the details!
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