God's command

Good morning friends,
Yesterday we saw God send Elijah to deliver a message to the king and then hide in the dessert by a stream. As the drought sent by God continues, the wadi nourishing Elijah dries up. With that development, God sends Elijah to a widow to be kept safe. One thing that's interesting about this situation is that God tell's Elijah "I have commanded a widow there to feed you." When Elijah and the widow meet, it doesn't seem like she knows anything about God's plan for her to feed Elijah. God gave the command in the sense that he put a possibility in motion, but he didn't share that command with the main person involved.

Instead, for the widow and her son the command to feed Elijah comes to them through strange circumstances. Elijah visits and presents himself to the widow. She is at her wits end because she knows she and her son will starve. God miraculously feeds the woman and her son, which also allows her to feed Elijah. God's command is fulfilled, but for the woman involved it must feel more like an opportunity than a command. I wonder what commands God might be giving us through circumstances in our lives?

God bless,
Sam

1 Kings 17:8-24
8Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9"Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you."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."11As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, "Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand."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."

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. 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."15She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. 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.