Day 3: Provider in Drought
“Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you” (1 Kings 17:9).
Oh Lord, we praise You! You often use the most astonishing means to work out Your plan! All nature, all people are under Your authority and are stirred in response to Your command.
Sovereign Lord, You go before us always. You design all seasons to accomplish Your perfect will—Your divine purpose. You see drought before it appears, and You direct us to brooks and set Your ravens in place to provide for our need.
O give us total trust and total dependence like the prophet Elijah, so we can listen and obey, and remain under Your hand of shelter in hard times:
Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “…You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.” So he did what the Lord had told him. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook (1 Kings 17:2, 4-6).
Father, we thank You that Your providence does not end when our resources run out. There is no end to Your favor. You are a Provider in drought. And in seasons of prolonged drought when there is still no rain and the interim brook eventually dries up, You have a plan in place to continue to sustain us as you did Elijah:
Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food" (1 Kings 17:7-9).
Oh Lord, what a marvelous account of Your power, Your goodness, Your divine irony! You choose the unlikeliest of candidates to execute Your plan, so that Your hand is clearly seen.
We praise You God! When we are "Elijah", You have a "widow-in-waiting." And when we are "the widow," You give us the privilege of serving, and You "multiply our meager" so that ["our] jar of flour will not be used up and [our] jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land” (1 Kings 17:14).
Thank You, O good Father, that whether we are the one or the other, You create opportunities for us to work together to accomplish Your "good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:2). Thank You that He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase [our] store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of [our] righteousness (2 Corinthians 9:10).
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