The Upper Room Daily Devotional of Nashville, Tennessee, United States "Choices" for Friday, 22 September 2017 - Read 1 Kings 17:8-24-------
1 Kings 17:8 Then this word of Adonai came to him: 9 “Get up; go to Tzarfat, a village in Tzidon; and live there. I have ordered a widow there to provide for you.” 10 So he set out and went to Tzarfat. On reaching the gate of the city, he saw a widow there gathering sticks. He called out to her, “Please bring a little water in a container for me to drink.” 11 As she was going to get it, he called after her, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” 12 She answered, “As Adonai your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a pot and a little oil in the jug. Here I am, gathering a couple sticks of wood, so that I can go and cook it for myself and my son. After we have eaten that, we will die.” 13 Eliyahu said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go; and do what you said; but first, use a little of it to make me a small loaf of bread; and bring it out to me. After that, make food for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what Adonai the God of Isra’el, says: ‘The pot of meal will not get used up, nor will there fail to be oil in the jug, until the day Adonai sends rain down on the land.’” 15 She went and acted according to what Eliyahu had said; and she, he and her household had food to eat for a long time. 16 The pot of meal did not get used up, nor did there fail to be oil in the jug, in fulfillment of the word of Adonai spoken through Eliyahu.
17 A while later, the son of the woman whose house it was fell ill; his illness grew increasingly serious until his breathing stopped. 18 She said to Eliyahu, “What do you have against me, you man of God? Did you come to me just to remind me how sinful I am by killing my son?” 19 “Give me your son,” he said to her. Taking him from her lap, he carried him into the room upstairs where he was staying and laid him on his own bed. 20 Then he cried out to Adonai: “Adonai my God! Have you brought also this misery on the widow I’m staying with by killing her son?” 21 He stretched himself out on the child three times and cried out to Adonai: “Adonai my God, please! Let this child’s soul come back into him!” 22 Adonai heard Eliyahu’s cry, the child’s soul came back into him, and he revived. 23 Eliyahu took the child, brought him down from the upstairs room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Eliyahu said, “See? Your son is alive.” 24 The woman replied to Eliyahu, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of Adonai that you speak is the truth.”
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The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40 (NIV))
When I see a person on the side of the road asking for food or money, it is easy to find an excuse not to stop. It might not be safe to stop. I don’t know if I can spare the money. What if this person is part of a scam? It’s far easier and safer, we think, to say a prayer in these situations. But sometimes we fail even to do that.
Today’s reading describes a widow who had only enough flour and oil to make a last meal for herself and her son. From out of nowhere came a man who asked her to make a small loaf of bread for him. The widow did as he asked. How many of us would do the same? I’m sure we’d like to think we would, but we should ask ourselves, How many times a week am I asked to do something much easier, and I decline?
The woman was blessed immeasurably for her generosity; she was kept alive by God in a time of famine. Later, the man repaid her by asking God to restore her son’s life, which God did. God gives us choices every day. May we choose wisely.
The Author: Jim Weems (Mississippi, USA)
Thought for the Day: When I help others, I am helping Christ.
Prayer: Dear God, give us eyes to see those in need and the courage to help them. In the name of the compassionate Christ. Amen.
Prayer focus: Those who ask me for food or money
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