Day 5

Scripture to Read: 1 Kings 17:13–16

God knew how he would care for Elijah, the widow, and her son. We know that God had commanded the widow to care for Elijah, and that is exactly what she did with the little she had left. But then, God used Elijah to speak to the widow again in 1 Kings 17:13–14, “Then Elijah said to her, ‘Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. 14 For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.’” We don’t know if God said this to her when He gave His first command to her, but through Elijah, God made it perfectly clear what He would do. The widow had to choose to trust what the Lord had spoken through Elijah. As God speaks to us through His Word and through godly people He sends into our lives, we have to trust God the same way. God uses His Word to guide us, and He uses His godly servants to speak His truth. We have to willingly obey what the Lord has spoken to us so that His perfect will is carried out through our lives—that’s exactly what the widow did. She trusted what God had spoken to her through Elijah and they all ate for many days.

Challenge & Application

How did God reassure the widow that she and her son would be taken care of? How has God assured you in the past through a need He met, and how have you grown to trust Him more?

Don’t forget to pray using the A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) method!

Devotionals from this week

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Day 1

God used Elijah in some miraculous ways to bring judgment on the nation of Israel due to Israel’s wicked king, Ahab. God reveals what King Ahab was like in 1 Kings 16:30, “Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.” So, Ahab carried out more wickedness than all of the wicked kings who had ruled o...

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Day 2

Around 500 years earlier, we read in Leviticus 26 that God made clear the penalties of disobeying Him and His Word. Specifically, God said this about the sky and land in Leviticus 26:19–20, “I will also break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze. 20 Your strength will be spent uselessly, for...

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Day 3

Elijah had been told by God where he must go so his needs would be met. God reveals this to us in 1 Kings 17:5–6, “So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would...

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Day 4

There are times when God has provided in a miraculous way, but then, the circumstances change and we must decide whether we’re going to lean on Him (Proverbs 3:5–6) or lean on ourselves. God shows us that Elijah’s circumstances changed, as we read in 1 Kings 17:7, “It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain i...

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Day 5

God knew how he would care for Elijah, the widow, and her son. We know that God had commanded the widow to care for Elijah, and that is exactly what she did with the little she had left. But then, God used Elijah to speak to the widow again in 1 Kings 17:13–14, “Then Elijah said to her, ‘Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a lit...

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Day 6

Elijah and the widow had both already faced a crisis of belief regarding God providing them with the food and water they needed to survive during the drought. Then, they faced another crisis of belief as the widow’s son became ill. It’s interesting how God led the writer to describe the condition of the widow’s son in 1 Kings 17:17, “Now it c...

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Day 7

Elijah didn’t challenge the widow; he simply said to her in 1 Kings 17:19, “Give me your son.” The widow had been holding her son’s lifeless body, wondering why this had happened. Elijah carried the body of the boy to his room and laid his lifeless body on his bed. Then, Elijah lay on the body of the lifeless boy three times as he also cried ...

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