What to do in Hard Times !

1 Kings 17;12 And she said, as the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.

Here is a woman getting ready for her and her son to die. You can’t fault her at the moment she made the statement. All the food was gone but just a little bit of meal and oil to make a little bread. As she looked at the circumstances she was in she didn’t think there would be any other out come. Now she mentioned God as you can see in the verse, she stated an oath about God, to Elijah that she was not telling a lie about not having any food. God had told Elijah, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee that is to provide for you. Now do you think her faith was tested? Now here is what I think about. According to what God said to Elijah he had already commanded the widow woman on what she was suppose to do. It took her faith to obey when Elijah told her, that God would not let the barrel of meal and the oil run out. How is your faith holding up? Is it strong in the lord? Never was king so bold to sin as Ahab; never was prophet so bold to reprove and threaten as Elijah, whose story begins in this chapter and is full of wonders. To her Elijah was sent, that he might still live upon Providence as much as he did when the ravens fed him. It was in compassion to the low estate of his handmaiden that God sent the prophet to her, not to beg of her, but to board with her. Her mind was brought to her condition, and she complained not of the hardship she was brought to, nor quarreled with the divine Providence for withholding rain, but accommodated herself to it as well as she could. Such as are of this temper in a day of trouble are best prepared for honor and relief from God. She did not excuse herself on account of her weakness through famine, or the urgency of her own affairs, did not tell him she had something else to do than to go on his errands, but left off gathering the sticks for herself to fetch water for him, which perhaps she did the more willingly, being moved with the gravity of his aspect. We should be ready to do any office of kindness even to strangers. "Let the children first be served’’ (might she have said); "charity begins at home. I cannot be expected to give, having but little, and not knowing, when that is gone, where to obtain more. She didn’t do that. She took the prophet’s word that she should not lose by it but it should be repaid with interest. Those that can venture upon the promise of God will make no difficulty of exposing and emptying themselves in his service, by giving him his dues out of a little and giving him his part first. Those that deal with God must deal upon trust; seek first his kingdom, and then other things shall be added. Happy are those who can thus, against hope, believe and obey in hope. The meal and the oil multiplied, not in the hoarding, but in the spending; for there is that scattereth and yet increaseth. When God blesses a little, it will go a great way, even beyond expectation. There is nothing lost by being kind to God’s people and ministers; she that received a prophet had a prophet’s reward. She generously made one cake for the prophet, and was repaid with many for herself and her son. One poor meal’s meat this poor widow gave the prophet, and, in recompence of it, she and her son did eat many days (v. 15), above two years, in a time of general scarcity; and to have their food from God’s special favour, and to eat it in such good company as Elijah’s, made it more than doubly sweet. It is promised to those that trust in God that they shall not be ashamed in the evil time, but in the days of famine they shall be satisfied, Ps. 37:19.