Today we will talk about an illustrious woman in the Holy Bible, we will talk about the widow of Zarephath. I don’t know how you got here, and what your need is, but God is going to teach us powerful things within this message.
We must be totally dependent on God, obeying his word, will and will. Open the word of God to 1 Kings 17:12.
1 Kings 17:12 – But she said, As the Lord thy God lives, that I have not a cake, but only a handful of flour in a pan, and a little oil in a jar; And you see, I’ve picked up two chips, and I’m going to prepare them for me and my son, so that we can eat them and die.
1st It is with a little that God will bless your life and the lives of other people.
In verses number 8 – 11: What the word of God teaches us through this woman is that even though she had little, she knew how to share with her neighbor. It is with little that we have that God will work for us to be blessed, and thus also bless other lives through your life.
Understand what happened in the previous verses 1 Kings 17:1-7
We see that Elijah prophesies to Ahab that there would be no rain on the earth for three and a half years.
The people at that time believed that Baal controlled the rain, so if it rained the people thought that Baal had sent rain, due to the rain if the harvest was good, the people attributed to Baal the good harvest, everything was attributed to Baal and never to God .
Elijah, seeing this, is bothered, and so he prophesies that there will be no rain for three and a half years.
The lord now sends Elijah and to the stream of Cherith that was in front of the Jordan, there he would have water from the stream and would be supported by ravens. Elijah heard the voice of God and obeyed, and because it did not rain on the earth during this period, the brook Kerite also came to dry up.
You now command Elijah to go to Zarephath which was from Sidon because there was a widow in that place who would go down in the history of God’s miracles.
Significance of Sarepta
Sarepta is the name of an ancient coastal city, outside the borders of Israel belonging to Sidon, on the Mediterranean coast of Lebanon.
Currently the Sarepta site is located in the Lebanese district of Sarafand.
It was a Phoenician territory 1,126.3 km south of Sidon.
The Etymology
The term Sarepta means smelting furnace, smelting, refining and crucible, probably due to the metal smelting activity existing at this location at the time of the biblical account.
2nd The little we have will be the lot that God will do in our lives.
In verse number 12: The widow of Zarephath had only a handful of flour in the pan, a little oil and the shavings she had taken to prepare a cake.
Sarepta’s widow would eat and give to her son and together they would await death. Let her not know that this little would be the very provision of God for her life.
In verses 13-14 Faith changed its end
Through faith, God sends Elijah to strengthen his faith, and bring material and spiritual blessing into that woman’s life.
Observe this woman’s three goals
- Take the sticks
- Flour and oil and bake a cake
- Die
But the faith she placed in God and in the Word, which was spoken through the prophet Elijah, led that woman to exchange human certainty for the certainty of God.
He exchanged the visible of man for the invisible of God, which is faith.
When Sarepta’s widow uses faith, she exchanges death for life, she exchanges the little that was visible for the much that was still invisible, but it was there, prepared for her.
We can say that she saw:
Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is the sure foundation of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.
In verses number 15 – 16 teaches us the math of God.
Obedience + Faith = Miracles
She obeyed and put into practice what she was told and did everything in faith that God would work for her.
You show us through this woman, that He wants to accomplish great things in our lives, but it is necessary that we come to believe in His word and put our faith into action. May we, from today onwards, do like this woman and take possession of our provision. I don’t know what your wilderness is, but I know that God is sending provision over your house.
May we put our faith in God and believe that its impossible to happen.
May we take this word of faith to those who have not yet met God.
If this message was uplifting for your life we ask only two things:
- Leave your comment to build our faith
- share it on social media so that other lives can also be impacted by the power of God.
