#3: Sincerely Believe

Published by Ben Stahl on March 27, 2020March 27, 2020

I Kings 17:13-16 (Part 1)

How sincerely do we believe the Word of God?

Before us in I Kings 17:13-16 is a woman, who, having lost her husband, was preparing to make the last meal for her family before they died of starvation. To make the matter more difficult, a stranger, Elijah the prophet, came to her and told her to bring him the morsel of bread that was to be her last meal.  

After the widow explained the situation, Elijah responded first with these words, “Do not fear” (vs.13). * Then Elijah repeated his instruction to first bring him food and revealed to her the Word of the Lord regarding her family’s physical needs. The flour and oil would not be empty until the day the rain (and subsequent food) returned to the land.

Elijah could not take away the fear of this woman with his own words but as the prophet of God, he could give her the Word of God, which removes all fear (Psalm 56:4). The widow believed the Word of the Lord (feared the Lord), made Elijah the cake (obeyed the Lord), and her household ate for many days (received the Lord’s blessing)!**

Do we receive the Word of God like this widow who believed it? She hoped in the Word, rested in it, loved it, and obeyed it.

The Lord uses the widow of Zarephath to teach us that the Word of God is not merely ‘something’ that can be hoped for but that it is everything that must be hoped in.*** The widow did not hedge her faith with doubt, denial, or skepticism, she went “all in” believing the Word of God. When you are called through great trials and great personal cost to fear the Lord you can do so with confidence and even joy in the Lord for “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)

How sincerely do we believe the Word of God?

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* Jesus used these words often in His earthly ministry. When Jairus’s servants come telling him his daughter is dead, Jesus said to him, “Do not fear, only believe.” (Mark 5:35-36) When the sea threatened to destroy the ship, Jesus calmed the storm and said to the disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”  (Mark 4:40)

**“He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them” (Psalm 145:19). See also Psalm 115:3, Proverbs 10:27; Proverbs 14:26.

***Hoping in the Word of God includes hoping in the God of the Word. The Word of God and the God of the Word Jesus Christ cannot be separated. Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh (John 1:14). To deny the Word is to deny Christ. To hope in Christ is to hope in the Word. Claiming one and denying the other is to deny both. See also: Psalm 119:114, 147-148.