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The Widow Fetches Water
Good morning everyone. Remember, courtesy opens
doors. Our new memory verse for this week is Heb. 13:1. Our brief
study today is found in 1 Kings 17:8-24. It is the during the time
that God was hiding Elijah from the wrath of Ahab because of the
drought God brought upon Israel. God sends Elijah to the widow of
Zarephath to live out the rest of the three years of the drought.
However, when Elijah arrives, the young widow is completing her
plans for her and her son to eat the last of the bread she has and
then die. I doubt that any of us have ever been in such a position.
We can only imagine her feeling of helplessness. We can only imagine
the depression she must have felt to be unable to have the funds to
sustain life for herself or her child. They were going to be cut off
from life in the very prime of life. She was, no doubt, going about
this final task rather grimly with great fearful sorrow and no zeal
or thought for tomorrow or for others.
It is onto this scene that Elijah arrives and asks
for a drink of water to be brought to him. For some, it would have
been a final straw that would have broken out in tears as they fell
to the ground in absolute despair. For some, it might raised an
offensive anger because of the intrusion of a stranger who was
asking more than she had any desire to give in her grief. No telling
what some might have said to this stranger. Some would probably have
simply ignored the stranger and his request and gone on about the
final task of life of starving to death. But, our precious lady has
not lost the training of courtesy and hospitality she had, no doubt,
practiced through the years. She goes to fetch the water for Elijah.
There is our lesson. There is never an excuse to
be rude. Courtesy is always appropriate. Courtesy opens doors. Are
there moments and events in your life when you are rude,
mean-spirited, unconcerned about the welfare of others? Are there
moments when you snap out in anger because you feel life is
“crowding in?” Let’s allow the widow to teach us. |