The pot of meal did not get used up, nor did there fail to be oil in the jug.

 

Tuesday, October 3, 2023


Psalm 78:16-38

1 Kings 17

Matthew 9:14-26


The pot of meal did not get used up, nor did there fail to be oil in the jug.


Recently we thought about the curious way God calls for people to repent and be saved both individually, and as a group. Wading through these records of sinful king after sinful king it can get tiring; do we not live in similar times, where each successive national leader seems to be further away from God than his predecessor? But we have more than one setting on the microscope we point towards human nature. Here in the seventeenth chapter of 1 Kings we move inwards; we get a closer view of the individual subjects over whom these evil sovereigns reigned.


Elijah’s entrance on to the scene comes as a breath of fresh air. Here at last is a “man of God”. We are reassured that in spite of the speed at which the nation as a whole is being driven into the pits of damnation, there is still hope for regular people. Hope that we can retain our Christian liberty, our God-given right and duty to remain faithful to God, in spite of whatever is going on in the world around us.


The throne of David is, it would seem, empty. There are only pretenders, keeping the seat warm. But God looks at individual souls, into the hearts of each and every one of His creatures, to see who is faithful and holding a flame to righteousness from His perspective. And just as the promise that there would be a King in the line of David forever was to be kept in the Person of Jesus Christ, God’s promise to care for all who love Him is fulfilled in every day people like Elijah and the widow at Zarephath.


If, for example, the television tells us that our bread supply is threatened because the Ukrainian wheat ports are blocked, we are not to be concerned. God will keep our pot of meal from being used up. There will not fail to be oil in the jug. Not one sparrow falls from the sky without our Father’s knowing, and we are worth more than many sparrows!

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