355 W South Boulder Road
Lafayette, CO 80026
Saturday: 5 PM
Sunday: 9* & 11 AM
*ASL Interpreted Service
Four weeks of live teaching about Elijah and Elisha will show kids how we can give all our worries to God, because he cares for us. Preschoolers will guess what’s being drawn in the video intro each week and see how it fits into the Bible story.
A raven.
“Give all your worries to God, because he cares for you,” 1 Peter 5:7.
What happened to the widow’s flour and oil in the story today? (God made more and more.)
Did God take care of the widow, her son, and Elijah? (yes)
Who will take care of you? (God)
Read: 1 Kings 17:7-16
Elijah had been waiting in the desert for years, relying on ravens for sustenance, when he finally received word from the Lord to leave the desert. Was the waiting period over? Not quite. God still had some refining to do in Elijah’s life and heart. He sent him to Zarephath to be taken care of yet again. This time, not by ravens. This time, by a widow. We can’t miss this. In Elijah’s culture, people weren’t taken care of by widows. People took care of widows. For God to tell Elijah that he needed to ask a widow to take care of him was extremely humbling.
The widow Elijah encountered was desperate to the point of death. She had so little left for herself and her son that she had already planned her last meal. And then she met Elijah, who asked that she give him her last meal. She panicked. It would have been so easy for her to tell him no out of self-preservation and protection for her son. But Elijah told her not to be afraid and she listened. He assured her that the Lord would provide for her. He gave her a promise, and she stepped out in faith. When she made bread for Elijah, she miraculously had more flour and oil to make her own bread. This happened every time she needed another loaf. Her containers never ran dry. As this widow took care of Elijah, she watched God miraculously take care of her.
How was Elijah so sure of God’s provision? Maybe because he’d experienced it first hand in the desert. What Elijah learned there, he acted on with the widow. God was teaching Elijah to rely on him for everything. Provision came from such an illogical, unlikely place that it had to be from God. Back in the desert and here with the widow, God was making one thing clear: the Lord is God and he provides. He alone takes care of us.
Do you have areas of your life where God is teaching you that he will provide?
What do you know about God’s character that can sustain you in seasons of plenty and in seasons of need?