1 Kings 17:8-16 (NRSV)
Read 1 Kings 17:8-16 on biblegateway.com
Verse 8Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Verse 9"Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you." Verse 10So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, "Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink." Verse 11As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, "Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand." Verse 12But she said, "As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die." Verse 13Elijah said to her, "Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. Verse 14For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth." Verse 15She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. Verse 16The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
Devotion
Enough. Sufficient. Adequate. These words draw attention to our sense of what we need. Needs are important. Yet I know that I have an uncanny capacity to confuse needs with wants. When our needs and wants get confused we raise the issue of how we exercise trust in our lives. What in your life would you most prefer to never have run out? It is the temporal nature of some things that they get used up and, by my experience with printer ink, often at inopportune times. But it is also true that we often take for granted things from which nothing can separate us. God's gift of love and peace and mercy are profound gifts which supply our most important need, and, just as the widow's jug of oil, will not fail us.
Prayer
Gracious God, lead us to trust your abundance among us and to help us have eyes ever curious to seek it. Amen.