"For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.'” (vs. 14). We sometimes think that God provides for us by giving us more of what we already have. For example, if we are experiencing financial difficulties, we pray for more money; if our home is too small, we pray for a bigger one; if our car is too old, we pray for a newer one. In God's Kingdom, however, God provides for us by increasing or extending our need or deficiency rather than giving us more of what we already have in abundance, especially when our deficiencies are offered totally and willingly to the Lord. The story of Elijah and the widow of Zerapheth clearly demonstrates this principle. The prophet Elijah encountered a widow and her young son during a severe drought in Israel. The widow and son were about to eat their last meal using the last remaining flour and oil left in the house. Elijah asked the widow to first feed him before feeding herself and her son. Although the widow was not herself an Israelite and a child of God’s promise, she recognized Elijah as the representative of God’s covenant and obeyed Elijah’s request to give the very little she had to feed the prophet of God. The demand of total surrender of everything to God—even her last means of subsistence—was not given without the promise of God’s blessing and provision as stated in this verse. God’s pattern for supplying His provision is to supply deficient resources that are offered totally and willingly to the Lord.
