The God Who Provides
1 Kings 17:1-24

The Westminster Confession of Faith is a seventeenth-century Protestant doctrinal statement. The confession treats all the major doctrines of Christianity and is the pinnacle of Calvinistic theology in the Reformation era. Speaking of God’s providence, Westminster says the following: “God the great creator of all things doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence.”

When we think of God’s providence, especially as Presbyterians, we focus on God’s governance of all creatures, actions, and things. We believe that God is ruling and reigning over every detail of life and history according to God’s infallible foreknowledge and the immutable counsel of God’s own will and all for the praise of his glory.

While this is all sound doctrine, it is a bit abstract and cold. It also deemphasizes the root meaning of “providence” which is "to provide." This is the kinder, less austere side of providence. By upholding, directing, disposing, and governing all creatures, actions, and things, God is taking care of us.

This morning’s reading from 1 Kings shows the terrible and wonderful provision of God. First, the terrible providence of God is revealed. Elijah the Tishbite appears out of nowhere in the story. He is a mysterious figure. All we know is that he was from Gilead, a region just east of the Jordan River. He declares a word of judgment to Ahab, the king of Israel. Israel was comprised of the ten tribes that defected from the United Kingdom when Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, was the sole ruler.

Ahab is remembered as the most faithless and apostate of all the sovereigns of the northern kingdom. “Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him. And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, he took as his wife Jezebel, daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. Ahab also made a sacred pole. Ahab did more to provoke the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than had all the kings of Israel who were before him” (1 Kings 16:30-33).

Ahab and his pagan queen, Jezebel, were terribly bad actors. They were immoral, violent, murderous, and idolatrous. But the LORD, the God of Israel, was not oblivious to their wickedness, and in his fearful providence, the LORD sent a multi-year drought on the region to turn them from their evil ways. God announced the drought through the prophet Elijah. “Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, 'As the Lord the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word'” (17:1b).

Droughts in the ancient near east were devastating events. Recall the terrible seven-year drought that afflicted Egypt and compelled the house of Jacob to migrate to Egypt for sustenance under Joseph’s kind provision. Droughts did not affect only the king and queen. All the inhabitants of the land found their lives in jeopardy. There was little or no safety net for the average person. Yet the drought was God’s provision for Israel to turn them back to the true and living God. God was chastening them. As Proverbs 3:11-12 says, “My child, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves the one he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”

But we should not be too quick to assume that a series of unfortunate circumstances is God’s chastening of our waywardness. We see only in a glass darkly. We know in part and prophesy in part. Still, we should be open to the possibility that God is trying to get our attention when bad things happen.

I must confess, I have wondered about this in our current circumstances. Could God be trying to get our attention? It struck me after our service that focused on Exodus 32, the story of the golden calf, that we too have perverted ourselves and worshipped idols of our own making. Nota Bene: I am not saying with certainty that our current situation is God’s providential judgment on our follies as a nation or as a planet, but this morning’s text suggests that we should at least be open to considering the possibility. If it were true, if God were judging us, we must remember that the chastening of the LORD has a positive purpose, that is, to return us to the one true God. If it were true, I pray that our turbulent times will have God’s intended effect upon our hearts and minds.

Thankfully, God’s providence, God’s provision, is usually much gentler and kinder than the drought the LORD sent upon Israel for her idolatry. The way God dealt with Elijah and the widow and her son reveals God’s kind providence, God’s normal provision for us.

As we have said, a terrible drought had begun, but God provided for Elijah. “The word of the Lord came to him, saying, 'Go from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the Wadi, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.' So, he went and did according to the word of the Lord; he went and lived by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the Wadi” (vs 2-6). The Wadi Cherith was in Galilee where Elijah was from. This was familiar territory for him.

Not only did Elijah have water to drink, but he was fed by the ravens twice a day; Elijah had far more and better fare than what the average drought-stricken Israelite would have enjoyed. Elijah was given bread and meat morning and evening! God is faithful to supply our essential needs. Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” that is, enough nourishment for one day. We can trust God to supply our needs.

But eventually God’s provision for Elijah ran out. “But after a while the Wadi dried up, because there was no rain in the land” (vs.7). But God was not done providing for his servant. “Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you’” (vs. 8-9).

This is a genuinely surprising turn of events. Zarephath was in Sidon. Jezebel was from Sidon. The Sidonians worshipped Baal, a fertility god who promised rich harvests. Baal was the god of rain. The drought Yahweh sent emasculated Baal! He could not provide for his devotees. This widow was likely a devotee of Baal, but Yahweh sends Elijah to her, a pagan, to provide for him. God can use anyone or anything or any circumstance to provide for us. He certainly did so for Elijah.

God was also concerned for the welfare of the widow and her son. The poor widow was on the brink of starving to death. Elijah demands food and water of her. Although she was staring death in the face, she obeyed God’s command. “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.’ Elijah 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. For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied, and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah” (vs 10-16).

The jar of meal and the jug of oil were not brimful, but they would be enough. God may not supply all our desires, but God will supply our true needs. The Lord provided for Elijah, the widow, and her son. God made a way where there was no way.

But like the brook that dried up, this kind providence also came to an end. “After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. She then said to Elijah, ‘What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!’” (vs. 17-18). The widow interpreted the death of her son as a judgment of God for her sins.

But God had something else in mind. Acting through the audacity of Elijah, God conquered death and restored the boy to life. “But he said to her, ‘Give me your son.’ He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. He cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?’ Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.’ The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, ‘See, your son is alive’” (vs. 19-23).

The desperate widow and the restored boy must have eventually died with the passage of time, but God ransomed them in that moment from the power of the grave. God redeemed them from death. Our God is a God who is on the side of life.

The story of Elijah and the widow and her son ends with a confession of faith. “So, the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth’” (vs. 24)

We have a confession of faith too. We know that Jesus is a man of God, in fact much more than that, he is the Son of God. The word of the LORD was in Jesus’ mouth. Death will not have the victory over us, for Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Those who trust in him will die unless he returns. But if we put our trust in Jesus’ death for us and his resurrection for us, even if we die, we will live. And more than that, we will live with him in glory for endless ages. Our lives are safe in God’s providence, in God’s provision for us in Jesus Christ.

Oh, my brothers and sisters, my dear friends, can you see the terrible and wonderful provision of God for your life? If we sin, God will chasten us to make us return to him. If we are in danger, God will provide for us, sometimes in very unusual ways like ravens or pagan widows. If we die, God will give us the life of the son of God to raise us up on the last day.

I am so thankful to God for his providence, his provision, that upholds, directs, disposes, and governs our lives. We are safe in God’s keeping. Whatever the remainder of 2020 may bring or the unknown eventualities of 2021, our lives, in life and in death, are under God’s kind providential care. The Lord will supply all our needs.

Thanks be to God who causes us to triumph through our Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia! Amen!