God of Second Chances
June 18, 2007
Are you aware that when you fail to do what God asks you to do, you will often get a second chance to make it right (and maybe a third or a forth).
In my own personal experiences, I know that I was called into ministry years ago. I never did follow through on it for some personal reasons, and in fact I ran away from God. Today's story from the Bible is not unlike that.
1Ki 17:9-16 KJV
(9) Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.
Elijah's food and water supply has dried up so God tells him to get a move on. God has told a widow that she will need to feed Elijah.
(10) So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
Elijah knew who this person was to be. Picked her out of the crowd of people. He asked her for what she could supply knowing that she was to offer him more.
(11) And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.
She does not offer what she is supposed to. I imagine she could not believe that she heard from God. With what she had left, she was going to feed another mouth. So Elijah had to prompt her what she was to do.
(12) And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
She makes excuses, she is going to make a little cake and then die. You want me to give you that too!
(13) And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
(14) For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.
Elijah calls out the big card here. He is going to win this one cause he is working for God. And God is going to provide.
(15) And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.
(16) And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.
I do not know why she did what he asked. She might of thought that a little cake of bread between her and her son was not going to keep them alive much longer so she might as well give it to him. Or maybe she saw that he was a man of God and the words he spoke were the same ones that God did. Who knows. What we do know is that when everyone else was still starving, she, her son, and the man of God kept eating. It took her many tries to get the obedience she needed. But when she did it, God provided.
