2 Opening the Door to Supply

1 Kings 17:
1. And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to [King] Ahab, "As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word."...
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
9 "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you."
NKJV

Sometimes when God wants to bless us, He begins the process by making what seems to be an impossible demand upon us, as He did with this widow.

The people of Israel were the people with whom God had made His treaty or agreement. That treaty stated that if the people of Israel would worship the God of heaven exclusively, He would bless them abundantly and supply all their needs without fail.

This treaty also had a downside: if they didn't worship the God of heaven exclusively, their disobedience would open the door for the lesser gods they did worship, to bring oppression upon them.

The recession experienced at this time, was the result of the downside of this treaty, which God's people had broken.

There is one thing that attracts God to us humans in a hurry, and that is FAITH. This is how the Bible puts it in 2 Chronicles 16:
9 For the eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth, looking for people whose hearts are perfect toward him, so that he can show his great power in helping them.
(LB)

This widow evidently had placed her faith in the Lord. Because of this, God wanted set things in motion to supply her daily bread right through the time of recession when people around her were dying for lack of food.

The way God challenged her faith, was that He commanded her to provide food for His servant Elijah. On the surface, this was an unreasonable demand. How could the Lord require a woman on the brink of starvation, who had put her trust in Him, to provide food for His servant?
A reasonable question to the Lord would have been, "Lord, I am appealing to You because I have no food. With what do I provide for Your servant?"

The reason the Lord would put such a challenge before a person of faith, is because of the first universal principle of Sowing and Reaping, which basically says this:
In order to Receive, I must first Give.

If this widow was willing to take up this seemingly impossible challenge of faith, to Give FIRST, she would open the door of her own life to Receive from Him her daily bread, as she had asked Him.

Prayer:
Father, today I ask that You will help me to have the kind of faith that this widow had;
the kind of faith that causes my heart to be perfect towards you;
the kind of faith that attracts You to my life;
the kind of faith that makes You want to show Your great power in helping me,
in Jesus' name,
Amen.