Getting Off the Seesaw

DAILY BYTE

From the very beginning of the story for this week from 1 Kings, we hear the words, “Then the word of the Lord came.”

And from that word, everyone in this story is provided for. They may not get specifically what they want. The widow might well have preferred ice cream to oily bread… But everyone received what they needed.

The widow goes on a rollercoaster of emotions and circumstances, but throughout the first part of this story, we hear, “the word of the Lord came,” “Thus says the word of the Lord,” and “according to the Word of the Lord.”

Her circumstances are saturated in the overarching power and life-giving desires of the Word of God.

Is that not what we want – for our lives to be saturated in the life-giving provision of the Word of God? We don’t really want to be swinging on this pendulum of lack and overabundance, do we? We don’t really want to have insulated, selfish lives! Do we…?

Then how do we get off the seesaw? How do we become refocused not on our own human lack and human power to give and receive but on God’s power to provide?

This story leads us in three steps: Step 1 is to relinquish our fear. Step 2 is to give of ourselves, and Step 3 is to believe wholeheartedly in the Word of God.

So, we begin today with Step 1, which is to relinquish our fear. When we are lacking something, the deeper issue, really, is that we’re afraid of what will happen if we don’t get it, right?

If we need a blanket, the deeper concern is that we’re afraid we’ll be miserable, vulnerable, and susceptible to illness, if we’re cold. If we need courage, the deeper issue is that we are afraid we won’t be able to stand up for what we believe, and if we don’t, then evil might triumph over good.

In this story, the widow initially denies Elijah any of her food because she is afraid that if she gives him even a little morsel, there will not be enough to calm the grumbling in her stomach so that she and her son will at least be able to die in peace.

But Elijah is not put off at all by her resistance. He seems to know our tendency to fear. And in response, he speaks firmly to her, saying, “Do not be afraid.”

If we want to be fed and empowered by God’s provision in our lives, then we must resist the fear that God will not pull through.

Because when we are afraid, we become timid – we end up stopping the car in the middle of traffic, when God really is revving the engine to get us moving on the plans there are for us. We are cutting God off when we cower in fear and operate in a mode of scarcity that there will not be enough food, energy, time, money, you name it – to sustain us.

God doesn’t want to be cut off from us. God wants to provide for us.

And so no matter how hard it is, we must truly hear Elijah’s prophetic words - and not be afraid.

When the widow lets go of her fear and dares to share her last bits of sustenance with a brash stranger, God’s abundance overflows.

There was no need to be afraid that he would not provide.

What fears do you have? How might you allow God to calm your fears and receive provision?

FOCUS READING

1 Kings 17:10-13 (NRSV)

So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 13Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son.”