They did What They Could.
Dear Boys and Girls,
Remember the story we had in the last issue of the magazine about the Italian boy who did what he could with what he had to make his friend happy? I said that in the Bible we read of many people who did what they could – not just for their friends, but for the glory of God. One such person was a humble widow woman; we read about her in 1st Kings Chapter 17: -
During a drought and famine in the land of Israel, Elijah, God's prophet, was told by God to go to the city of Zarephath and there he would find a widow woman who would look after him. Off went Elijah, and when he reached Zarephath, sure enough, just at the entrance of the city, there was a widow woman gathering sticks. Elijah went up to her and said, "Fetch me a little water that I may drink, and a bit of bread too, please!" The widow woman said, "All I have is a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruse. I was just gathering these sticks to light a fire to cook the meal for my little boy and myself, and we would die, for we have nothing else."
Elijah said to her, "fear not to go and do as you have said but make me a little cake first, then one for your son and yourself." Then Elijah said an amazing thing: he said that God would not allow the meal nor the oil to finish until He would send rain back on the earth. Just think, boys and girls, the widow woman didn't question God's words for one minute, but she did what she could. She made the cake for Elijah, and then for her son and herself. And she made cakes for them every day until the famine was over in the land of Israel. None of the meal nor the oil ran done for all those days just as God had said.
Wasn't that a wonderful miracle boys and girls? But you see how the poor widow woman took God at His word and proved that God is faithful to His word. She didn't have much, but what she had she gave to God to use in that miracle. Here's how the great hymn-writer John Newton puts it: -
"By the poor widow's oil and meal
Elijah was sustained:
Though small the stock, it lasted well,
For God the store maintained."
I hope you will learn to believe God's Word and trust in Him and believe His promises, for they will all come to pass in God's time.