Brown's Daily Word 6-25-09

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for the way He calls us to be partners in His miracles. There is a very fascinating story in the Bible about an unnamed widow of Zarephath, (1 Samuel 17) who was so poor that she did not even have a name in the story. It was the author’s way of saying she had no social standing whatever in her community. If you read the story in context you will discover that everyone in the region was suffering, as there had been a famine for the last three years. The famine, by the way, came because of the prayer of Elijah.
By this time in the course of the famine, only the very wealthy had reserves of food and water. One must wonder why God did not send Elijah to one of the wealthy families in the region. What could have been the purpose of sending him to this poor widow who had nothing? Widows were always the first to run out of bread during a famine. Why would Elijah ask her for the last scrap of food she has when she and her son are dying from starvation? Why send Elijah to a Gentile in Sidon (now Lebanon), and not a Jewish person who was a part of the people of promise? Why go to one who is supposed to be the enemy of Israel, and who had Israel as her enemy? Elijah and the widow were utter strangers to each other and their nations are in conflict with each other. They worshiped different Gods. They must have eyed each other suspiciously when they first saw each other. I wonder if she knew Elijah and that it was his prayer which brought on the famine, a judgment brought abou, not because of Sidon’s sin, but because Israel had turned to worship Baal, the storm god? Elijah had been living down by the brook Kerith, and the ravens had been feeding him there, but the brook dried up because of the drought. In order to survive he had to seek another resource. As he enters the city gate, he noticed a widow gathering a few sticks, and called out to her. He asked for some water, the very thing that was in shortest supply throughout the land and, without a word, she proceeded to get him some. She obviously was a person of compassion rather than judgment. Perhaps she recognized him as a man of God, but as she was going for his water, he called to her and said, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” She informed him that she was gathering sticks because she had only a little bit of flour and she was going to build a small fire to bake the last bit of bread for her son and herself, and then they would probably soon die of starvation. Elijah told her that the Lord promised that she would not run out of bread or oil until rain began again, if she would only do as he asked. Amazingly, she took him at his word. When she did so she found that her little, when blessed by God, went a very long way. This story is reminiscent of Jesus multiplying the loaves, a story that aligns Him with Elijah, the prophet. We find, through the woman's response in trusting faith, the answers to many of our questions. God chose a poverty-stricken widow because the rich can get along on their own and she needed what only God can give. God chose a desperately poor widow because the rich, trusting in their riches, might not have shared with Elijah, but a poor person would and did. God chose a poor Gentile widow who was near death because the politics and conflict of government meant nothing to her. She had come to the place where she had nothing to lose and not much to give, but she chose to give. The poor are often that way. Tony Compolo tells a story about meeting a man on an inner city street. The manwas extremely dirty, perhaps psychotic. He was one of those people you might think to be dangerous. He offered Tony a drink of his coffee from a grimy cup held in his filthy hand. Though Compolo suspected that he would be asked for money for the coffee, and he certainly had no desire to taste the coffee, he decided to accept the man’s offer as an act of grace. Tony thanked the man for the coffee and offered him something, but he refused and said, “Naw, I don’t want nothin’. It is a cold night and the coffee is just so good; I just wanted to share it with somebody. If you want to give me something, give me a hug.” So Tony and a dirty homeless man stood hugging each other on a cold, dark winter night. It is that kind of experience where we often encounter God. Those with the least to offer are often the most willing to give and actually have the most to offer. Only those who trust can dare to give like that. Trusting God results in God's blessing. For the widow of Zeraphath, trusting God meant receiving the blessing and provision of God. Without trust there would have been no blessing. Without the blessing she would not have survived. She gave the last of her flour and oil, and found that she couldn’t give it all, because she couldn’t use it up. The flour jar could not be emptied, and the oil would not stop flowing. There was not only enough for her and her son, but enough for others as well. People who trust God discover that God's supply never runs out. There is not only enough for them, there is enough for others as well.
In His grace,
Brown


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrBYbjSg3kA
HOLY HUMOR – Satan goes to Church
A few minutes before the services started, the townspeople were sitting in their pews and talking. Suddenly, Satan appeared at the front of the church. Everyone started screaming and running for the front entrance, trampling each other in a frantic effort to get away from evil incarnate.
Soon everyone had exited the church except for one elderly gentleman who sat calmly in his pew without moving, seeming oblivious to the fact that God’s ultimate enemy was in his presence. So Satan walked up to the old man and said, “Don’t you know who I am?”
The man replied, “Yep, sure do.”
“Aren’t you afraid of me?” Satan asked.
“Nope, sure ain’t,” said the man.
“Don’t you realize I can kill you with a word?” asked Satan.
“Don’t doubt it for a minute,” returned the old man, in an even tone.
“Did you know that I could cause you profound, horrifying, physical AGONY… for all eternity?” persisted Satan.
“Yep,” was the calm reply.
“And you’re still not afraid?” asked Satan.
“Nope.” More than a little perturbed, Satan asked, “Well, why aren’t you afraid of me?”
The man calmly replied, “Been married to your sister for over 48 years.”