When What We Have Runs Out

Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
1 Kings 17:7 NIV

Have you ever turned on a faucet and nothing came out? You turn the handle again, perhaps a little farther, then try another faucet. Still nothing. It's strange how something we've hardly given a thought to can suddenly command all our attention. Yesterday, water flowed without a second thought. Today, we're wondering how long we can get along without it. What happens when something we've always counted on is no longer there?

Elijah, a prophet of God, was living beside a brook during a severe drought, just where God had directed him. There he had water to drink, and ravens brought him food. But then, “the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.” The place God had chosen for his provision was no longer providing. Yet God's next instruction wasn't to wait for the brook to flow again. He directed Elijah to a widow who would provide him with food. God sends a hungry man to a woman who has no food to spare.

She had already accepted what she believed was inevitable. When Elijah asked for bread, she told him she had only a handful of flour and a little oil left. Just enough for one last meal with her son. Her words, “that we may eat it—and die” (1 Kings 17:12, NIV), show how little possibility she could see beyond that final meal. Yet here was Elijah, himself in need, asking her to share from the little she had left. Could our own needs sometimes seem so overwhelming that we never imagine God's provision might come to us as we become part of His care for someone else?

The widow didn't suddenly find herself with plenty. The same small jar of flour and jug of oil remained, yet God's promise proved faithful. “There was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family” (1 Kings 17:15, NIV). No great storehouse filled with enough food to last for months. Just enough for another day, and then another. Sometimes God's provision isn't a supply we can store away, but enough for the moment we're living in. Enough to take the next step, to care for someone beside us, or simply to face another day. She didn't have to possess tomorrow's supply to experience God's care today.

We may think our own troubles leave us with little to offer anyone else. Yet Paul describes God as the One who comforts us “so that we can comfort those in any trouble” (2 Corinthians 1:4, NIV). Think of two people sharing their concerns, neither knowing how tomorrow will turn out, yet finding comfort in being together. Could there be something wonderful about experiencing God's love this way? As we share God's love with someone else, we may find ourselves surrounded by that same love.

Prayer

Father, when I see only what is running out, keep me from mistaking scarcity for Your absence. Even in my own need, let me encounter Your generosity as I respond to someone else's need. Amen.