“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” (Romans 11:34 NIV)

While studying 1 Kings chapter 17, a number of thoughts came to mind as I meditated on verse 9 wherein the word of the Lord came to the prophet Elijah, saying:

“Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”

God tells his prophet to go to a town where a single woman with a small son will provide for him. He also commands the woman in that town to welcome a strange man into her home and to provide for him even though she lacks enough food to feed her son and herself. Can you imagine what the woman must have thought? What must her family or neighbors or church have thought when she welcomed the man of God into her home? Elijah was a man who had been living outdoors, being fed bread and meat by ravens twice a day for at least part of a three-year drought, and one who had walked 85-100 miles to reach her house. Hmm… perhaps he didn’t smell so good.

God sent Elijah to a place near the land of Ahab’s wife Jezebel, the woman who was seeking to kill him. He had to travel there after emerging from his hiding place near the Brook Cherith, even though Jezebel is seeking to kill him if she finds him in public. He couldn’t remain in hiding forever. God had already made provisions for his next steps, positioning him inside the home of a woman who needed to have faith in God. Meanwhile, God had already confirmed his word to Elijah by telling the woman to expect him and commanding her to provide for her guest when she had shelter, but no food to spare. How can a starving person appreciate shelter? Both food and shelter are necessities but God told her to provide for Elijah with the last that she had, to test her faith. And she passed the test.

I am convinced that we don’t know what God will do to meet our need, how he will do it, when, where, or through whom He will do it. We must simply pray, trust and obey. The woman acted in faith when told to use her last to feed Elijah first, and then she could feed her son and herself. Given the fact that she had heard from God and the prophet showed up as God had said, the woman was not only blessed to eat but she welcomed a healer in her home.

Later on, her son became ill and died, but Elijah cried out to God on the boy’s behalf and his life was restored. God foreknew that a tragedy would befall the woman and had positioned his servant in the house to respond to the emergency. What do you think that did for her faith? Well, in the last verse of 1 Kings 17, She declared, “Now this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.”

The next time you look at an unusual situation and say, “God would not do that,” think again. Consider these words:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55: 8-9).