Sermons for the Month
Making Our Story God's Story
DATE: November 9, 2003
SERVICE: 22nd Sunday After Pentecost
TEXT: 1 Kings 17:8-16“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
It's funny, sometimes, what details a person recalls about a place. I can see the kitchen at my grandparents' farm as clear as if I visited there yesterday, although it actually has been nearly 30 years since I did so. And, a significant part of the memory is the gleaming white gas stove with its rounded corners and big black knobs.
I've never seen a stove like it since; there was one feature that made it particularly unique. There was a space built into the stove where things could be stored, and it so happened that that little cubby hole was the place where saltine crackers were kept; there never were crisper, saltier crackers. They were always there. On the kitchen table sat a covered butter dish filled with soft, creamy butter. It was always there.
So, as you by now have figured out, the treat at the Farm was those crispy saltine crackers slathered with melting butter and, if you were really lucky, Grandma would brew a pot of Lipton Tea into which all that sweet, salty goodness could be dunked.
The cracker hole was never empty, and the butter dish was never clean; this sustenance was never failed.
That's what I thought of as I read these words from today's First Lesson, "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." In the midst of the famine, God provided, and one can only hope that the Prophet, the widow and her son were more aware than I was as a child that the unending supply of food came from somewhere.
The story in I Kings leaves little doubt concerning what the source is, only God could offer such unending provision. These are hard times in Israel. The time of the great Kings David and Solomon has passed and the kingdom has split, divided into a northern and southern realm, Israel and Judah.
In Israel a King takes the throne who, scripture tells us, did more to provoke God's anger than all the Kings who preceded him. His name was Ahab, his wife was Jezebel, and they worshipped the false God Baal. So God called the Prophet Elijah to challenge the King and his god, first by predicting a drought that would last several years.
Keep in mind that those who worshipped Baal believed that he was the god who brought rains and a bountiful harvest, but as hard as the priests of Baal tried, they could not make it rain. But God made sure, in spite of the drought and famine that followed, that the Prophet's needs were met.
First we read that he, at God's direction, was hiding out at a brook from which he drank. There the ravens - birds - brought him bread and meat twice a day. But, eventually, the brook dried up, and Elijah was sent by God to a widow who, God said, would feed him.
There are a couple things about this that are surprising. First, this woman was a foreigner, not a Jew and therefore is outside the circle of God's people. Second, a widow was the least likely person to have anything to offer since she herself would have been among the most destitute.
And, indeed, when Elijah locates her and asks for food and drink, she makes it clear that her supply of food is about to run out, that she does not anticipate acquiring more to eat, and that death is eminent for her and her son. In other words, it's hopeless.
She's not a child of Abraham, so calling on God for help is out. And, if she gives the prophet the morsel of food she has it will hasten her own death, and that of her son, but only delay the prophet's demise for a short time because there's nothing more to give. It's hopeless.
Yet…a word of hope is spoken. "Don't be afraid," the Prophet says, there is enough for me and you and your son, because God will provide. Whether or not she believes this, there's no way to know, but she has little to lose by doing what the Prophet asks. And, indeed, every time she goes to the jar of meal and the jug of oil after that there's enough to feed them. God has acted on their behalf, even though two of the three did not believe in the God of Israel up until this occurred.
So, we ask, what does this story say to us? I spent a lot of time thinking and reading about that this week. Some would say that it's a story about how being faithful brings blessings, as was the case for Elijah and for the Widow. Thus, we are challenged to be faithful like them so that we too might be blessed.
While there's certainly some validity in those themes, the fact is that as the story continues both the woman and the prophet Elijah move in and out of faithfulness. They fluctuate between doubt and fear and belief, just as we do. So it seems to me that this is a story no so much about the faithfulness of people as it is about the faithfulness of God.
In the midst of suffering, brought on by the King's unfaithfulness, God acts. God provides for needs. God grants power that is beyond human ability. God even speaks a word of correction and hope in a still small voice. This is a story about God.
So it should be in all our lives, that our story is God's story. When we face times of challenge that are beyond our ability to control, or may even be brought on by the actions of others, it is then that God's activity in our lives can become as obvious as was the case for Elijah, the widow and her son. Now, I will grant you, that God's presence may not always been immediately visible to us and we may wish for ravens to bring food and never-empty jars of meal. Yet, the witness of scripture and of the lives of the faithful is that God is faithful.
As I was reading this week one of the stories I came across was titled "Walking By Faith", by Charles Swindoll. It's about a family of nine, parents and seven children, who were forced to trust God at a time in their lives when they literally did not have another meal to put on the table.
That morning the scraped together some flour and milk to make them biscuits. After they ate them, the dad said to the family before he left that morning to work as a carpenter: "Children, God must provide for us today. This is absolutely all we have to eat. But, God loves us dearly. We are going to trust him to provide for our needs."
The children left for school without lunches.
Now, if I had been that mother I'd be reasoning out ways to feed the children. Could anything be sold? Might a food pantry meet the need? How soon would I have to turn my own children over to Children's Services? And, maybe she was thinking all those things when an amazing thing happened. An acquaintance dropped by with bag upon bag loaded with food - even a little bag or Oreo cookies, the family's favorite, poked from the top of the last bag.
Why had the woman come with the food? Her only answer was that the Lord had prompted her to do so.
I'm not sure how well we can identify with that story; most of us have never been that physically hungry. But perhaps we have been hungry in other ways, in need of emotional or spiritual feeding or physical healing. It is at such times that God acts, entering our story. Perhaps, like the parents in that account, we'll be given an amazing ability to trust. Perhaps God will lead someone to help us. Or, perhaps God will lead us to reach out, so that by helping others we experience healing.
In these ways, and many others, our story becomes God's story and it is God, not us, that is the main character.
Elijah, the widow and her son are characters in a story about God - so are we - and the message is unchanging. God is faithful. AMEN