peacefulones: Just in time, ... this time.

"I hope I can find twigs to build a fire. I'm so weak. This is it for us." The widow drags herself along the city wall, frail and starving. She has enough food for one last meal for her son and herself.

There is no more after that.

She's sold what she could, scrounged off everyone she knows, and the bit of grain left in the bottom of the pottery is their last food. Elijah the prophet had called on God to prevent rain. Crops had failed. All her neighbors were in the same bind.

A man suddenly approaches her. The Bible tells the story: He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

He has nerve, this older fellow. Asking for water in a dry land. For food in a place where everyone is starving. “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die. She's not happy with God, Elijah's God. What has he ever done for her? And Elijah, well, isn't hes the cause of all their troubles in the first place? He has nerve, asking her for help when she has nothing left.

Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘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.’"

She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.

Elijah got hungry, along with everyone else. When his own food and water ran out, God sent him to ask for help. His request became a miraculous source for himself and others.

Both he and the widow found provision through their obedience. Yet, their story is not smooth from here on out. The son dies (dies! dies?), yet God... (well, read the rest for yourself in 1 Kings 17).

When God miraculously supplies our needs, we expect to sail into a fantasy future of peace, joy, and abundance. We forget that this world contains many other people. God gave each of us the privilege and responsibility of determining our life course, and that affects everyone around us.

The daughter who gets pregnant out of wedlock touches her mother, father, lover, and that newborn forever. The addict hurts those watching the downward spiral with pain and scarcity. The philanderer tears the heart, breaking the security and trust of the spouse and family. The careless investor or splurging shopper plunges the family into financial ruiin. So none of us are "safe." What is safety, anyway?

The gospel says that in good times or bad, we have utter security. God, who gave humanity the freedom to choose right or wrong, is sovereign... when we gather a few sticks for our last breakfast. When we cry at the deathbed of a loved one. When our coffers are empty and the cupboards are bare. God can send an Elijah. Or he can walk, sits, and sleep alongside us in our suffering, knowing the decisions we have to make.

Scriptures have no easy answers to life's big questions. It shows only that the pattern of obedience to God, whether times are easy or hard, allows us to access God's provisions.

As Christmas approaches, I hope yours is merry and bright. I wish you GREAT joy and peace in 2012. And in times of trouble, my prayer is that God gives you a heart quick to turn to him, so that you recognize Elijah when he approaches you to ask for help.

Read more: (thanks, Tillie!)

*The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God. Psalm 14:2

*Jesus asked the disciples, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." Mark 8:29

*I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. John 12:46 NASB

Hymn by Philip Bliss:

The whole world was lost

In the darkness of sin,