Journal Through the Bible: Week 50 Wednesday

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I Kings 17:1-18:16

Does God issue any commands?

• God commanded Elijah the Tishbite to go eastward and hide near the brook Cherith.
• God commanded the ravens to feed Elijah.
• God commanded Elijah to get to Zarephath, a town in Zidon, where a widow woman would feed him. (I appreciate God's humor here. Zidon was the country of the wicked Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab (16:31). God took Elijah to the enemy's home country where He hid and fed him! He also saved the Zidonian widow woman from Baal worship.)
• God commanded a certain widow woman in Zarephath to feed Elijah.
• God commanded Elijah to go stand before Ahab. This was after there had not been rain for 3 1/2 years!

Does God make any promises?

• God promised Elijah that He would feed him via the ravens.
• God promised through Elijah that the widow's provisions of meal and oil would not fail.

Does this passage teach anything about Jesus?

• It is because of the resurrection of her son that the widow knew that the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah was the truth. Even the miracle of the food wasn't enough to convince her. It is because of the resurrection of God's Son that we know that the word of the LORD spoken by the prophets is true. Even the miracles that Jesus performed are not enough on their own. It takes His bodily resurrection to validate His claims!

Does this passage teach anything about yet-future events?

• One day there will be no famine, no evil, no drought. God will provide for His own perfectly and abundantly.