LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Widow and the Prophet
The story of the widow of Zarephath of Sidon (1 Kings 17:8-24), illustrates very well how the church, in her widowhood, relates to her Beloved at this time. Elijah was sent by the Lord to a widow of Zarephath of Sidon. It was the hardest period of the drought that was raging in the country.
Elijah is here the Lord Jesus Christ, while the widow is the church. What a solemn and moving picture! The church sustaining her Lord! In what sense can she sustain him? To the church it is given, as the pillar and bulwark of truth, to sustain the testimony of the Lord.
When the prophet arrived at Zarephath, he found the widow gathering wood. She was planning to prepare the last bread for herself and her son, and then she would let herself die. She was at the end of her strength. So dire was her situation that not even the survival of her son could motivate her to go on living.
Knowing her situation from the woman's mouth, and against all logic, the prophet asks her to prepare him first, and then he would do for her and her son. This "Make me first" is unreasonable to the natural mind. It seems that he does not even consider a minimal attitude of courtesy towards the poor woman. However, we know that this is spiritual, and must be understood spiritually.
The Lord was offering the conditions to operate a miracle that the widow would not forget, that would save her life and that would bring us all a profound lesson. Like the prophet to the widow, the Lord asks us to give him all we have, risking death if he forsakes us. The widow must forget herself (her self-love) and her son (her human affections) for love of the Lord. What a demand!
But, along with the demand, Elijah makes her a promise from the Lord - for the Lord's demands are always accompanied by promises, so that faith finds a firm foothold. The woman believes and obeys. And this obedience makes God's miracle possible, for: "The flour in the jar was not scarce, neither did the oil in the cruse fail, according to the word which the Lord spoke by Elijah" (17:16).
Then, another even greater trial was to come upon the woman: her son, her only son, dies. But God was already involved in the woman's fate, so the first miracle was followed by the second. The woman had opened her home to the Lord, and had believed His Word, so that nothing was impossible for her. The child is restored to life. Thus, when the church gives first place to the Lord, then her livelihood is assured. And everything else, peace, and the care of those she loves.
But there is a crucial point at which her heart is tested, and which triggers everything else. It is the moment of the stripping away of her own so that Christ may have the preeminence. If she is able to take that step of faith, the reward is abundant and glorious. Thus, the widow and the prophet show us the right way for the church -today, here- to relate to Christ.