trust who?

1 Kings 17: 8-16

This story is one of three in a row of Elijah’s miracles.  There is a drought in the land where the god Baal is being worship.  This is ironic because Baal was the god of fertility-for people and land and despite the people’s pleas, prayers and sacrifices the land was without rain and without harvest.  Nothing was growing and people were starving. 

They knew of the One true God but did not worship God.  Elijah was sent to this place to bring them back to God- to show them that the false idols they had been leaning on for protection and provision were inadequate.  Elijah’s presence and the miracles he performed in the name of the one true God was proof of who was really in charge... and it wasn’t Baal. 

This story although ancient is replayed over and over again even today.  Our false idols may not have the name Baal but none the less, they do exist.  We place our hopes and dreams in things like careers, investments, spouses, youth, lottery tickets, the government, and education but time after time we are let down and disappointed. 

We get a false sense of security from products and promises that seem too good to be true- creams and injections that promise to make us look years younger, diet pills that promise we will be skinny in the blink of an eye with no exercise required.   Get rich quick schemes that promise wealth and riches without a day’s work.  Self-help books that promise happiness if you will follow these seven easy steps. 

Even the church uses these schemes to mislead people.  While I was on vacation I woke up one morning to an evangelist on TV promising that if you sent him $1000 dollars all your money and legal problems would go away.  I couldn’t even bare to watch it. 

It is an idol of money and wanting something for nothing, camouflaged as faith. 

This widow had nothing to offer.  Her hopes and dreams had been smashed by false idols.  She and her family are desperate and on the verge of starving to death when Elijah arrives.  

Most of us have never experienced the desperation of this widow.  We may complain about not having enough.  We make look at our small house, old car, and cabinet filled with food we just don’t want to eat.

Many of us function from the perspective of “not enough”.  We are a glass half empty society. We always want something more, something better.   We are weary about welcoming people into our lives who may not be able to carry their own weight.  We fear that if we share what we have somehow we will be lacking.  We hoard money and things afraid that we might need it one day instead of trusting that God will provide what we need according to the grater plan.

We have been burned by people who take advantage of our kindness and generosity so we are wary about helping others.  We are scared to go out on a limb, risk our own stability, provisions and emotions because we are afraid.

God tells us, like he told this widow through Elijah, Do not be afraid.  While the widow didn’t have anything to offer- she was going to die anyway- she could still be hospitable and why not see if this stranger’s prediction would come true. 

She didn’t stop at one biscuit, she invited him into her home, continued to be hospitable and God took the lead and proved that it was not the false idol that would provide for her needs but God is the only one who is truly able to provide. 

Faith requires trust.  Trust that if we do what we can out of love for God and one another the ability to give and love will never end.  While faith in God requires trust, it also requires action, a willingness to show hospitality to a stranger, generosity and a willingness to share what little we do have with others.  This is not a down payment on a future miracle like the evangelist wanted his viewers to believe.  It isn’t about wishing and hoping God will come through when times are tight.  It is walking and talking our faith and trust each and every day.

Christ, like Elijah, was sent to us to remind us that the false idols of our day are insufficient and that there is nothing that can be trusted other than God.  Christ’s life is the ultimate expression of that trust and the ultimate proof that God will provide and Miracles can happen.  Christ’s prayer asking for some other solution than his crucifixion was not granted but because there was trust, love and a willingness to risk everything that even in the death of Christ, we have hope.  The miracle was not that Christ didn’t have to suffer but that there is life past death.  It is not that we have a life without problems but because of Christ we have hope in spite of our problems. 

Faith is trusting God, that no matter what, there is a plan and God will provide.  It is hope in a future with God- a life fulfilled by love not an end to problems, not an easy life, not an expectation that all our prayers will be answered in exactly the way we desire.  We may never have all we want.  We may never have the best of everything and we may never be as successful as we would like and bad things may happen but we still have hope in a God who does love us and is able to care and provide for us all that we need. 

When we pray for miracles, when we ask God to provide for our needs, when we trust that God loves us and cares for us, when we humble ourselves and realize that God is the only one who can answer our prayers it gives us hope and encouragement.  We know that there are no guarantees in life but when we are willing to take the risk, and step out in faith that God will meet us- the possibilities are limitless for God, miracles can and do happen and God can provide. When all our false idols have turned to dust, God will remain. With God there is always a ray of light, always hope, always a tomorrow.