The brook had failed, but the Lord remained. His servant was not forgotten. He knew his need and had seen the drying of the brook. But no word of warning came, and no fresh direction, until the brook had dried. The love of the Lord will meet the need of His saints, but the way His wisdom takes will keep them in the path of faith.
Moreover, the plan the Lord unfolds is so remarkable, so contrary to all that the prophet could have conceived, so opposed to his religious training, his natural thoughts and spiritual instincts, that had the plan been unfolded to the prophet before the drying of the brook, possibly he would not have yielded so ready an obedience. Like the prophet of a later day, when sent to another Gentile city, he might have fled in an opposite direction. Elijah was a man of like passions with ourselves, and it may be, even as we, he needed the pressure of circumstances to make him willing to obey, and take a path so distasteful to him as a natural man.
For, strange as it may seem, the prophet is told to arise and go to Zarephath and dwell there. He is to leave the promised land and go to a city of the Gentiles, and of all cities, a city that belonged to Zidon—the home of Baal, whose worship had brought ruin on the land—the home, too, of the wicked Jezebel, who had introduced the worship of Baal and murdered the prophets of the Lord. And, stranger still, arrived in that foreign land, the great prophet was to be dependent upon a widow woman for his daily sustenance. For, said the Lord, " Behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee." Had the Lord commanded the prophet to sustain the widow woman we might think it more fitting. But no, God's plan is that the widow woman is to sustain the prophet. There were other cities and other lands that surrounded Israel far less guilty than Zidon. There were " many widows " in Israel in as sad a plight, but they will not suit God's plan. As ever, God has Christ in view. A thousand years thence, in the city of Nazareth, the Lord would require an illustration of sovereign grace, and therefore to a needy widow in the thrice guilty land of Zidon the prophet Elijah must go. God has a purpose in every detail of the path He plans for His servants, though a thousand years may pass before that purpose is disclosed.
The faith of the prophet yields unquestioning obedience to the word of the Lord. " He arose and went to Zarephath." Moved by faith, urged possibly by the untoward circumstances, he obeys the Lord and takes his solitary way to the distant city of Zidon, across -
A barren thirsty ground
With thorns and briars overspread,
Where foes and snares abound.
Arrived at the city gate the prophet is confronted by the widow, To natural sight and human reason it seems impossible that this can be the widow by whom he is to be sustained. In absolute poverty, this desolate and starving woman has reached the end of her resources. With only a handful of meal and a little oil in a cruse, she is gathering a few sticks to prepare one last meal for herself and her son, and then to wait for death to end their sufferings. With only sufficient for one more meal, how can she sustain the prophet? The widow speaks indeed of the living God, but it is Elijah's God, for she says "thy God," not " my God." She had no personal faith in the living God: her hopes were connected with the barrel of meal and the cruse of oil, and, as they are failing, there is nothing before her but the gates of death. God, however, has another way than death for the widow. His sovereign grace has purposed that life—resurrection life—shall fill her home with blessing. As for Elijah, in God's due time he shall pass into the glory, not through the gates of death but by a chariot of fire and horses of fire. Meanwhile he must dwell for a time at Zarephath. Now Zarephath signifies the place of the smelting furnace. The prophet has passed the test of the failing brook at Cherith, he must now face the furnace of trial at Zarephath. But this is God's road to Carmel. Is he to call down fire from heaven? Then indeed he must pass through the fire on earth. Is he going to stand for the living God before all Israel? Then first he must learn in secret the sustaining power of God in the furnace of trial. The failing brook at Cherith, and the refining fire at Zarephath, are steps in the journey to Carmel and the chariot of fire.
Yet how humbling to pride to be sustained by a widow woman; how withering to all self-confidence the distressing circumstances. But the desolate widow, the handful of meal, the cruse of oil, and death hovering over all, only serve to unfold the resources of the living God. And, the utter weakness and hopelessness of the circumstances being revealed, God is free to unfold the resources of grace. Elijah's request for " a little water " and " a morsel of bread " bring to light the condition of the widow woman. And truth being maintained, grace can be displayed. How rich the grace that filled the widow's home! All fear was banished, for the first words of grace were " Fear not."
Then follows the provision of grace. " The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail." Their needs are met and death is driven from the door.
Further, in this fine scene we have the teaching of grace, for not only does grace bring salvation to the needy, but it teaches us how to live. The life given by grace is a dependent life. It was not a barrel of meal or a cruse of oil that was promised. The supplies of grace are indeed unlimited, but grace gives no store in hand such as nature delights to possess. The promise was that the handful of meal should not waste nor the oil in the cruse grow less. There would be sufficient for each day but no store for the morrow. Grace teaches us to live in dependence on the Giver of the grace.
Lastly, there is the hope of grace, for grace holds out a blessed prospect. " The day," the great day, the happy day, was coming, when the Lord would send rain upon the earth. How happy the home, be it but a widow's cottage, that is fed by the provision of grace, directed by the teaching of grace, and cheered by the hope of grace.
In far greater fullness this same grace has been revealed in this the day of grace. In the widow's home we move amongst the shadows, but now we have the substance, since the One has come who is full of grace and truth. Throughout all the days of our pilgrim journey in this world of need we, too, have the barrel of meal that shall not waste, and the cruse of oil that never fails. Does not the meal -the fine flour—speak to us of Christ, of whom it is said, " THOU REMAINEST," and " THOU ART THE SAME "? (Heb. 1:11, 12). Others may fail us, but He remains. Others may change, but He is the same. And does not the oil speak of that other Comforter—the Holy Spirit—who has come to abide with us forever? (John 14:16). Earthly streams run dry, but with the living Christ in the glory, and the indwelling Spirit on earth, the Christian possesses never-failing resources.
Moreover, the grace that has brought salvation to us, teaches us to live " soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." Such a life can only be lived by daily dependence upon Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.
And the grace that has brought salvation, and teaches us how to live, has set before us that blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. The appearing of grace leads on to the appearing of glory (Titus 2:11, 13). Then indeed the needs of the saints will be met, their trials forever past, and earth's famine forever ended. Well may we sing:-
He shall come down like showers
Upon the new-mown grass,
And joy, and hope, like flowers,
Spring up where He doth pass:
Before Him on the mountains,
Shall peace the herald go;
And righteousness, in fountains,
From hill to valley flow.
But further revelations of the glory of the living God await the household at Zarephath. God has other lessons for Elijah, and deeper exercises for the widow. God would reveal Himself not only as the Sustainer of life, but as the Giver of life. To be equipped for the great day of Carmel, Elijah must know God as the God of resurrection. To be established in peaceful relations with God, the widow must know God as the God of truth as well as the God of grace, and for this conscience must be awakened, her sin recalled, and her sin judged.
With these high ends in view the shadow of death is allowed to fall upon the widow's home. Her only son falls sick and dies. For a full year the widow has enjoyed in simple faith the mercies that God has provided, but at length in the presence of death her conscience is awakened and she remembers her sin, for death is the wages of sin. As long as life flows quietly and our daily needs are met, we may live with little exercise as to much that, in God's sight, calls for self-judgment. But under the exercise of some special trial, conscience becomes active, the vision is cleared, and much that may have been wrong in the past in thoughts, words, habits and ways, is seen, dealt with, and judged, in God's presence.
Elijah, too, has lessons to learn in this great trial. It becomes a fresh occasion for the exercise of his faith in the living God. Very beautifully he looks beyond the disease and the power of death, and sees in the evil that has come upon them the hand of the living God. In his view it is not disease that has killed the child, not death that has struck him down, it is God that has slain the widow's son. If it is the work of disease and death there is no hope, for they could take the child away but they cannot bring him back. But if God has slain the child, then God can recall the child to life.
The faith of Elijah keeps God between himself and the sorrowful circumstances. But Elijah recognizes that in himself he has no power. This may be signified by the act of stretching himself on the child, or, as the margin reads, he " measured " himself. He thoroughly identifies himself with the dead child; he takes his measure and realizes that, like the dead child, he has no strength. Elijah is powerless in the presence of death. But if the child is dead, God is living. If Elijah has no power, Elijah can pray. By the act of stretching he identifies himself with the powerlessness of the child; by the act of prayer he puts himself in touch with the mighty power of the living God.
The man of like passions with ourselves again draws down the power of God by prayer. " 0 Lord my God, I pray thee let this child's soul come into him again." As One with whom he is in conscious relationship, and well known and proved, he can say with great confidence, " My God." His faith recognizes that it is within the power of the living God to raise the dead child, and with yet greater faith he prays that it may come to pass. Did ever man, before or since, ask a greater request of God in language so simple and in a prayer so brief. Very evident is it that the effectual fervent prayer is neither elaborate nor lengthy.
The prayer is heard and the request is granted. God reveals Himself as the God of resurrection. Not only is God the living God; not only is He the Source of life, and the Sustainer of life; but He can impart life to the dead. He breaks the power of death and robs the grave of victory by the mighty power of resurrection.
Elijah laying no claim to the risen child delivers him back to the mother. The woman at once discerns that he is a " Man of God." We know also that Elijah was a " Man of like passions." And the man of like passions was transformed into a man of God by the fact that he was a " Man of prayer."