12 “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.”
13 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. 14 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.’” (1 Kings 17:12-14 NIV)
Over the last few days we have been looking at a passage out of 1st Kings that provides insight into how God can work. In this last part we see that the widow who God sent Elijah to was at the point of giving up. She was gathering sticks to make a final meal for her and her son. But God was about to do a work in her life.
How often are we on the cusp of a breakthrough when we just give up? How often is God waiting to fulfill our greatest desire, but we just will not go the rest of the way to where He has planned for us? I wonder if we get to look back over our lives when we get to heaven, just how many of these times we will see where we fell just short of the goal.
Yes, there are good times and good reasons to give up. But not without really bathing the situation in prayer. We must be sure that God is not simply testing our endurance. I know, this is never enjoyable, but God builds endurance in us for a reason. If we happen to be living at just the right time before Christ returns, we may be called on to endure much.
But we have to rely upon faith and not give up. Like the widow, we may find that God so fills us that our jar never runs empty, our jug never runs dry.
