#DailyDevotion May The LORD’s Promise Make A Difference In Your Life
1 Kings 17:11-16 11As she was going to get it, he called to her again: “Please bring me a bite of bread.” 12“As the LORD your God lives,” she answered, “I don’t have anything baked; only a handful of flour in the jar and a little oil in the jug. I’m gathering a few sticks. I will go and prepare something for myself and my boy so we may eat it and then die.” 13“Don’t be afraid,” Elijah told her. “Go and do as you said, but first make me a little cake of it, bring it to me, and after that prepare something for yourself and your boy. 14The LORD, the God of Israel, says this: “The jar of flour will never get empty, and the jug will never lack oil until the LORD sends rain on the land.’” 15She went and did what Elijah told her, and so she, he, and her family ate for a long while. 16The jar of flour never got empty, and the jug never lacked olive oil, as the LORD had promised by Elijah.
Elijah really knows how to push the limits, but he has a word from the LORD. As the widow goes and gets the water he asks her to bring him a bite of bread. We note she is not an Israelite or at the least, doesn’t worship the God of Israel (though we know she is a pagan) as she says, “As the LORD your God lives.” Notice the “your.” Elijah’s God is not her God. Well she doesn’t have anything baked and is getting to make her last meal for her and her son before they die of starvation. Elijah, bold with the word of the LORD tells to make him first, FIRST he says, a little cake, THEN go make you and your kid something to eat. The chutzpah of Elijah to ask this of this poor widow and orphan! But he has the word of the LORD.
Elijah reveals the word of the LORD to her: ”The LORD, the God of Israel, says this: ‘The jar of flour will never get empty, and the jug will never lack oil until the LORD sends rain on the land.’” With that, the woman, the pagan woman goes and does what he says. The word of the LORD is powerful and does not go out without bringing about what it intends to accomplish. This woman was not a believer in YHWH (the LORD) yet at that word, that promise, her heart is changed and moved to do what Elijah asks. We know, “faith comes by hearing the word of Christ.”(Rom. 10) The LORD’s promises are Gospel, Good News and they create faith in those who hear them.
What promises of the LORD are you believing in today? Are there promises Jesus or the Apostles have made, a word of the LORD that has you act contrary to human reason? Believing he rose from the dead would be one. His death made atonement for and a propitiation for your sins is another. He made peace between you and the Father by ransoming his life. How do these things affect how you live? If they don’t effect how you live do you really believe them? If they don’t make a difference in how you act verses someone who doesn’t believe them has God’s promises. Here is a promise I hope makes a difference in your life today and everyday, “I will never leave you or desert you.” (Heb. 13:5)
Heavenly Father, may the promises of your word from Jesus Christ and through your son Jesus Christ so move my heart that I may think, say and act differently than I would otherwise. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.