ONLY TRUST - It’s normal to experience bouts of worry, anxiety, and self-pity when we lack resources essential to our well-being — food, shelter, health, finances, friendships. God’s help can come through unexpected sources. Concerns for our needs to be met can send us searching in many directions. A clear vision of God as the Provider who has promised to supply our needs can be liberating. Before we seek solutions, may we be careful to seek Him first. Doing so can save us time, energy, and frustration. “So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.” - Three hundred children were dressed and seated for breakfast, and a prayer of thanks was offered for the food. But there was no food! Situations like this were not unusual for orphanage director and missionary George Mueller. Here was yet another opportunity to see how God would provide. Within minutes of Mueller’s prayer, a baker who couldn’t sleep the night before showed up at the door. Sensing that the orphanage could use the bread, he had made three batches. Not long afterward, the town milkman appeared. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. Not wanting the milk to spoil, he offered it to Mueller. It’s normal to experience bouts of worry, anxiety, and self-pity when we lack resources essential to our well-being — food, shelter, health, finances, friendships. First Kings 17:8–16 reminds us that God’s help can come through unexpected sources like a needy widow.

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Only Trust

It’s normal to experience bouts of worry, anxiety, and self-pity when we lack resources essential to our well-being — food, shelter, health, finances, friendships. God’s help can come through unexpected sources. 

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Concerns for our needs to be met can send us searching in many directions. A clear vision of God as the Provider who has promised to supply our needs can be liberating. Before we seek solutions, may we be careful to seek Him first. Doing so can save us time, energy, and frustration.

Arthur Jackson

Our Daily Bread Ministries

 

“So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.” - 1 Kings 17:15

 

Three hundred children were dressed and seated for breakfast, and a prayer of thanks was offered for the food.

But there was no food!

Situations like this were not unusual for orphanage director and missionary George Mueller (1805–1898).

Here was yet another opportunity to see how God would provide.

Within minutes of Mueller’s prayer, a baker who couldn’t sleep the night before showed up at the door.

Sensing that the orphanage could use the bread, he had made three batches.

Not long afterward, the town milkman appeared.

His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. Not wanting the milk to spoil, he offered it to Mueller.

It’s normal to experience bouts of worry, anxiety, and self-pity when we lack resources essential to our well-being — food, shelter, health, finances, friendships.

First Kings 17:8–16 reminds us that God’s help can come through unexpected sources like a needy widow.

“I don’t have any bread — only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug” (verse 12).

Earlier it was ravens that provided for Elijah (verses 4–6).

Concerns for our needs to be met can send us searching in many directions.

A clear vision of God as the Provider who has promised to supply our needs can be liberating.

Before we seek solutions, may we be careful to seek Him first. Doing so can save us time, energy, and frustration.

What’s been your experience when you’ve focused on securing provision before seeking the Provider in prayer?

What current needs will you bring before God?

Father, sharpen my vision of You as the Provider for all my needs.

Forgive me for times I have futilely sought to find my way without seeking You first.

INSIGHT

An interesting part of this story is the difference between what God tells Elijah and the widow’s initial response.

God said he’d “directed” a widow to supply him with food (1 Kings 17:9).

But when he asked the widow for bread, she replies that she doesn’t have enough to spare.

She even swears by “the Lord your God” (verse 12) — a direct reference to the One who gave her the instructions.

It was common to swear by a deity to prove someone was telling the truth — in this case the woman did so to declare that she didn’t have the means to feed Elijah.

Despite the reminder (from her own lips) of the instructions she received, she obeys only after Elijah reassured her that God would provide for them until the famine was over.

Read: 1 Kings 17:8–16

Bible in a Year: Psalms 103–104; 1 Corinthians 2

Arthur Jackson

In the fall of 2016, after twenty-eight years of pastoral ministry in the Chicago area, Arthur and his wife, Shirley, relocated to Kansas City, Kansas, where Arthur was born and raised. In addition to being a contributor to Our Daily Bread, Arthur serves as the Midwest region urban director for PastorServe (a ministry that cares for pastors) and as a director for Neopolis Network (a global church-planting ministry based in Chicago).

Our Daily Bread Ministries

Our mission is to make the life-changing wisdom of the Bible understandable and accessible to all.

Our vision is to see people of all nations experiencing a personal relationship with Christ, growing to be more like Him, and serving in a local body of His family.

https://ourdailybread.ca/our-provider/

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HOPE WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE FAILING - If you ever feel as though you haven’t accomplished much in life, and many of God’s promises are unfulfilled you’re in good company - in fact, you are standing among spiritual giants. Many great servants of God throughout history ended up feeling that they failed in their calling. It is no sin to endure such thoughts, or to be cast down with a sense of failure. But it is dangerous to allow these hellish lies to fester and enflame your soul. The Lord wants you to leave all that “failure thinking” behind and get back to work. Nothing has been in vain! He is going to do abundantly more than you could think or ask - Do you ever feel as though you haven’t accomplished much in life, and many promises are unfulfilled? If so, you’re in good company; in fact, you are standing among spiritual giants. Many great servants of God throughout history ended up feeling that they failed in their calling. The prophet Elijah looked at his life and cried, “Lord, take me home! I’m no better than my fathers, and all of them failed you. Please, take my life! Everything has been in vain.” David Livingstone, one of the world’s most useful missionaries, opened up the African continent to the gospel, sowing much seed and being used by God to awaken England for missions. Yet, during his twenty-third year on the mission field, Livingstone expressed the same awful doubts as other great servants.

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Hope When  You Feel Like You’re Failing

The Lord wants you to leave all that “failure thinking” behind and get back to work. Nothing has been in vain! He is going to do abundantly more than you could think or ask!

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If you ever feel as though you haven’t accomplished much in life, and many of God’s promises are unfulfilled you’re in good company -  in fact, you are standing among spiritual giants. Many great servants of God throughout history ended up feeling that they failed in their calling. It is no sin to endure such thoughts, or to be cast down with a sense of failure. But it is dangerous to allow these hellish lies to fester and enflame your soul. 

David Wilkerson

 

Do you ever feel as though you haven’t accomplished much in life, and many promises are unfulfilled?

If so, you’re in good company; in fact, you are standing among spiritual giants.

Many great servants of God throughout history ended up feeling that they failed in their calling.

The prophet Elijah looked at his life and cried, “Lord, take me home! I’m no better than my fathers, and all of them failed you. Please, take my life! Everything has been in vain” (see 1 Kings 19:4).

David Livingstone, one of the world’s most useful missionaries, opened up the African continent to the gospel, sowing much seed and being used by God to awaken England for missions.

Yet, during his twenty-third year on the mission field, Livingstone expressed the same awful doubts as other great servants.

His biographer quotes him in his despondency: “All my work seems to be in vain.”

George Bowen’s book, Love Revealed, is one of the greatest books on Christ ever written.

A single man, Bowen turned away from wealth and fame to become a missionary in Bombay, India, in the mid-1800s.

He chose to live among the very poorest, preaching on the streets in sweltering weather, distributing gospel literature and weeping over the lost.

This amazingly devoted man had gone to India with high hopes for the ministry of the gospel.

Yet, in his forty-plus years of ministry, Bowen had not one convert.

It was only after his death that mission societies discovered he was one of the most beloved missionaries in the nation.

Like so many before him, Bowen endured a terrible sense of failure.

He wrote, “I am the most useless being in the church … I would like to sit with Job, and I sympathize with Elijah. My labor has all been in vain.”

It is no sin to endure such thoughts, or to be cast down with a sense of failure.

But it is dangerous to allow these hellish lies to fester and enflame your soul.

Jesus showed us the way out of such despondency with this statement: “I have labored in vain … yet surely my just reward is with the Lord, and my work with my God” (Isaiah 49:4).

Christ is saying, in effect, “The Father alone passes judgment on all that we’ve done and how effective we’ve been.”

The Lord wants you to leave all that “failure thinking” behind and get back to work.

Nothing has been in vain!

He is going to do abundantly more than you could think or ask!

David Wilkerson was called to New York City in 1958 to minister to gang members and drug addicts, as told in the best-selling book The Cross and the Switchblade. He went on to create Teen Challenge and World Challenge, Inc. to minister to people’s spiritual and physical needs.

In 1987, he established Times Square Church. As its founding pastor, he faithfully led this congregation, delivering powerful biblical messages that encourage righteous living and complete reliance on God.

David Wilkerson also had a strong burden to encourage his fellow pastors. He founded the Summit International School of Ministry; and from 1999 to 2008, he held international conferences to strengthen church leaders.

His passion to support believers, build up leaders and care for the poor is still at the heart of World Challenge’s ministries to this day.

https://worldchallenge.org/devotion/hope-when-you-feel-youre-failing

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ELISHA AND A SHUNAMMITE FAMILY - It is easy for us to get attached to specific teachers and ministers whom the Lord has used to greatly bless us. However, while we should esteem faithful servants of God, we must never elevate their words to the level of the Word of God. While we should esteem faithful servants of the Lord, we should never allow them to take the place of the Lord in our lives. They will come and go, but the Lord stands forever. “[Elisha] said, ‘At this season, about this time next year, you shall embrace a son.’ And [the Shunammite woman] said, ‘No, my lord, O man of God; do not lie to your servant.’ But the woman conceived, and she bore a son about that time the following spring, as Elisha had said to her” - Like the ministry of Elijah, the ministry of his successor Elisha took place primarily within the boundaries of the northern kingdom of Israel. So, the events recorded in today’s passage took place in Israel, specifically in the city of Shunem, located about fifteen miles southwest of the Sea of Galilee. In our study of the history of the northern kingdom of Israel, we have seen that it was characterized by idolatry and by kings who were far from the ideal leaders of God’s people. Still, not everyone in Israel rejected the Lord. In the days of Elijah, God preserved seven thousand in Israel who did not bow their knees to Baal. In the days of Elisha, there were faithful people as well, among them one of the families in Shunem.

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Elisha and a Shunammite Family

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It is easy for us to get attached to specific teachers and ministers whom the Lord has used to greatly bless us. However, while we should esteem faithful servants of God, we must never elevate their words to the level of the Word of God. While we should esteem faithful servants of the Lord, we should never allow them to take the place of the Lord in our lives. They will come and go, but the Lord stands forever.

Ligonier Ministries

 

“[Elisha] said, ‘At this season, about this time next year, you shall embrace a son.’ And [the Shunammite woman] said, ‘No, my lord, O man of God; do not lie to your servant.’ But the woman conceived, and she bore a son about that time the following spring, as Elisha had said to her” - (2 Kings 4:16–17).

 

- 2 Kings 4:8–37; 8:1–6

Like the ministry of Elijah, the ministry of his successor Elisha took place primarily within the boundaries of the northern kingdom of Israel.

So, the events recorded in today’s passage took place in Israel, specifically in the city of Shunem, located about fifteen miles southwest of the Sea of Galilee (2 Kings 4:8).

In our study of the history of the northern kingdom of Israel, we have seen that it was characterized by idolatry and by kings who were far from the ideal leaders of God’s people.

Still, not everyone in Israel rejected the Lord.

In the days of Elijah, God preserved seven thousand in Israel who did not bow their knees to Baal (1 Kings 19:1–18).

In the days of Elisha, there were faithful people as well, among them one of the families in Shunem.

The woman in this family recognized Elisha as a holy man of God, so she and her husband prepared a room for him to stay in when he came to Shunem in the course of his itinerant ministry (2 Kings 4:9–10).

Wanting to reward her for her service, Elisha found out that she was barren and promised that the Lord would give her a son (verses 11–17).

Frequently in the history of salvation, God intervened to give a barren woman a child.

We recall, for instance, the birth of Isaac to Sarah and the birth of Samuel to Hannah (Genesis 18:1–15; 21:1–7; 1 Samuel 1:1–20).

In this case, however, the Shunammite woman’s son played no critical role in the advance of the messianic line or growth of the kingdom.

This family was not important in the history of God’s people in the same way that the family of someone such as Abraham or Jesse was.

However, this family was important enough to the Lord for Him to bless them.

This is a good lesson for us, as one commentator has observed.

God does not care only about those who play critical roles in the advance of His purposes, but He does good to all His people.

When the Shunammite’s son was grown, however, he died without any advance warning.

God in His grace did eventually raise the young man back to life, yet it is important to note that throughout this episode, the Lord kept His purposes hidden from Elisha (2 Kings 4:18–37; see especially verse 27).

As critical as Elisha was in his day for calling Israel to faith and repentance, he was not God but merely a creature.

While we should esteem faithful servants of the Lord, we should never allow them to take the place of the Lord in our lives. They will come and go, but the Lord stands forever.

Coram Deo

It is easy for us to get attached to specific teachers and ministers whom the Lord has used to greatly bless us.

However, while we should esteem faithful servants of God, we must never elevate their words to the level of the Word of God.

We should honor those who honor God, but we must honor God above all others.

Ligonier Ministries exists to proclaim, teach, and defend the holiness of God in all its fullness to as many people as possible. To that end, Ligonier’s outreach today is manifold and worldwide. Having been founded by Dr. R.C. Sproul in 1971, Ligonier’s teaching fellowship consists of theologians, pastors, and scholars who teach through Renewing Your Mind broadcasts, the Reformation Study Bible, Tabletalk magazine, books, and hundreds of teaching series. The ministry also offers an undergraduate degree program through Reformation Bible College.

“My passion has been to awaken people to the holiness of God.” —R.C. Sproul

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/elisha-and-shunammite-family/