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And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son.
1 Kings 17:13 ESV

Lord, I need Your wisdom! I have no clues how we can make it financially.

I was lying in bed, once again awake in the middle of the night. I decided to pray instead of usual grumbling about being awake.

Like some of you, I struggle to make the money last until the end of the month. When I look at the number on paper, it sounds like it should be enough. But when the college kid needs a few hundred to make the last payment on his school account, the teen needs new shoes for his sport, the rest of the kids want food in the pantry, well, it feels like we never have enough. I lay there and began to think about a discussion with a friend regarding my options.

One idea would be to just drop tithing each month.

Honestly, it isn’t even about the amount of my tithe, because the church probably wouldn’t even notice if I quit giving. The reason I tithe is to consistently give first to God’s work.

Lord, You need to show me if this is the best idea for us, please.

The next few days, my mind was distracted by the consideration of options.

And then a passage of Scripture came to my mind. I gravitate toward stories in the Bible where one of the main characters is a widow.

If you have your Bible handy (or click the link), stop reading this post for just a moment and read a passage in 1 Kings 17. It is short, just about eight verses– 8-16. This is the story is of the Widow of Zarephath.

Elijah had run from Israel into a neighboring country to hide. He came upon a widow gathering sticks to make the last fire to bake her last cake. She and her son were going to just wait to die after that. Out of options. Nothing more to do. Hopeless.

And then Elijah asked her to do something that seems out of order to us – give the prophet the bread cake first then make one for herself and her son. What? There won’t be even enough LEFT for us after we make yours!

GOD’S ECONOMY IS VASTLY DIFFERENT THAN OURS!

You want me to bake a cake for You first by continuing to give my tithe? I questioned in my prayers. And,yes, that was exactly what He wanted. What a profound relief that discovery had on my spirit. God wanted me to trust Him enough to give to Him first.

I had to first bake the “bread cake” for God’s servants here in my town. God would take care of us!

This passage from thousands of years ago about a widow who was in a hopeless situation was part of Elijah’s first miracle and even mentioned by Jesus in the gospels. This widow was NOT an Israelite but was willing to be kind to a stranger, not knowing she would ever live through it. We don’t know if she knew anything about prophets of God. He certainly wasn’t HER prophet.

And what was the miracle? Elijah caused her cooking oil and flour to never run out!

Some of the weight has been lifted momentarily from my shoulders since God answered my prayer for wisdom when I committed to give to Him first. As Dr. Charles Stanley says, “Obey and leave the consequences to God.”

Finances are such a tricky subject to talk about openly. I believe the conversation about finances, whether there is plenty or little, is to first talk to God about how He wants you to proceed. He promises wisdom to those who ask, so ask Him for direction. And the other tricky thing about talking about finances is that there is no answer that works for every situation.

SEEK GOD’S DIRECTION, SINCE IT’S HIS MONEY ANYWAY –
WE ARE JUST STEWARDS HERE ON EARTH.

Father God, all we have belongs to You. Give us wisdom to discern our stewardship of the resources You have provided. Amen

I found an amazing video of this passage about Elijah and the widow. You can watch it here.