The Widow of Zarephath

The Widow of Zarephath

A Woman of Poverty

Read 1 Kings 17:7-24

(v.2)

She is a widow.

God was going to physically provide for someone through her.

Jehovah-Jireh means “The Lord will provide”

(v. 10-12)

She had nothing, yet God was going to command her to provide for Elijah. Why do you think the Lord chose her rather than someone who had an abundance of food to provide for Elijah?

(v. 13-15)

She went ahead and walked by faith. She believed the “impossible” and God provided for her every day.

With God all things are possible. We can’t put the same limitations on God. He owns     everything! Why do you think we tend to limit God?

The enemy is after our faith. He does not want us to believe God. He also wants us to be worried and caught up in all the “stuff” of our day to day so it will choke out the life of God in us. (Matthew 13:22)

DO NOT WORRY!

Read Matthew 6:25-34

We naturally worry about what we eat, drink and wear.

Worrying adds no benefit to your life. What DOES worry add to your life though?

v. 28 This is talking about clothes and what to wear! How much more for women could this scripture be?!

We need to grow in the ability to function without worrying. It will drive us and everyone around us nuts! We need to have a day-to-day focus. In what ways can you function practically without worrying?

v. 33 We need to order our hearts. Meaning, we need to prioritize what we are pouring our hearts into.

Are we seeking God? When we find ourselves worrying or holding the world on our shoulders, ask yourself, ‘what was my prayer time like this morning’?

It is in our state of barrenness or poverty that helps us to walk by faith and rely on the Lord.

What areas of barrenness or poverty do you have in your life? God wants you to walk by faith and He Himself wants to provide for you.

The truth is we are so desperate for God but in our flesh we function as much as we possibly can apart from Him (not consciously), unless we purpose ourselves to seek Him and get into His presence so our thinking can be transformed and renewed (Romans 12:1-2)

Romans 12:2 NIV “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is -his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

God will always allow trials and temptations to reveal our desperation for Him.

God loves it when we are in a place where we need Him, but He loves it even more when we see our need for Him.

Philippians 3:8 NIV
“What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ”

No matter what we have or how well off we may feel we are, we are all like this widow. We need God for everything.

Matthew 5:3 NIV

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

“First of all, he's not talking about physical poverty, poor in spirit. This is in opposition to being proud, and this is always the inevitable consequence of a man coming into a personal, real confrontation with God. If you have come into a true confirmation of God in your own life, the result immediately always is that of poverty of spirit. You see a person who is proud and haughty, he is a man who has not had a true encounter with God.” -Chuck Smith

(v. 17-18)

The Lord had dealt with the widow’s heart through physical means...and now He was going deeper into her heart with a painful situation.

God always works beyond the physical and He always uses the physical because He is a pursuer of our heart and He is jealous for all of our love and faith.

1 Peter 1:6-9 NIV “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have some so that your faith -of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire -may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of our souls.”

Sometimes you may be going through something and you respond like this widow did to God.

Hannah was a good example to us of fearing the Lord and pouring out her soul before Him. She shared her burden and her pain with God in a spirit of reverence and submission to Him

If you do not take your pain to God and allow Him to heal you, you will sin. You will be tempted and the enemy of your souls is a wound seeker. He will use your wound (because it becomes a place where you are weak and vulnerable) and he will manipulate you with it. You will not see clearly, you will be deceived easier and won’t have the “strength” to resist.

Proverbs 4:23 NIV

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”

We need to guard our hearts but it is more difficult to guard a wounded heart because a wounded heart messes up our mind.

Psalm 107:20 NKJV

“He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”

We will function in destructive ways if we do not let God’s Word heal us.

HEALING

Psalm 41:4 -when we sin

Jeremiah 3:22 -when we backslide

Hosea 6:1 -when God breaks us

Make a personal list of wounds you need God to heal you of:

WE NEED TO PUT GOD ON THE THRONE OF OUR HEARTS FIRST BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE.

1 John 5:21 NIV

“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”

The idol of perfection (marriage, children, mothering, home)

What thoughts take up your time and attention?

(v. 24)

BE COMFORTED AND OF GOOD COURAGE!

God has a purpose in our lives. He works things out for good. (Romans 8:28)

He loves us even when we don’t believe. He isn’t moved and His love for us is not changed.

1 John 3:1 NIV
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”