Daily Devotional For Thursday, June 11, 2026
Good morning and good day Southside! Our devotional for today comes from 1 Kings 17:8-24. If you have been in a Sunday School class or a Bible study of some kind, you may be familiar with this story. The story involves the prophet Elijah, a widow and her son. In 1 Kings 17:1-7, with a 3-year drought going on, Elijah had been getting his source of water from a small brook by slurping water from it and God had food brought to him by ravens.
Up to this point, Elijah has been stretched by God to almost the breaking point. He is exhausted in every way: physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Due to the drought, we learn that the brook itself finally dried up (see 1 Kgs. 17:7). One day Elijah walked down to the stream for water and there was nothing at all. With his mouth and throat dry as a desert, most people’s faith would have dried up like the stream. Yet, God had one more thing immediate for Elijah to do.
Just when his faith may have been waning, the Bible says in 1 Kgs. 17:8-9 that God had commanded a very poor widow in Zarephath to feed him. I don’t know what Elijah’s initial reaction was. Maybe he thought, “God has to be joking here. A poor widow in this famine and drought. God has been feeding me by ravens. How in the world can I go to a poor widow and ask her to feed me with what little she has.” Elijah went.
Now God always has a bigger picture than just one thing. This trip to Sarephath was on the pagan idol Baal’s home turf. This town had all the immorality and infanticide that cities worshipping Baal had in those days. There was open temple prostitution and baby sacrifices. It was a cesspool of sin and God told Elijah to go and live there (see 1 Kgs. 17:9). Now what is the bigger picture – that comes in tomorrow’s devotional found in 1 Kings 18. The Bible tells us that Elijah arose and did what the Lord commanded. A biblical principle that stands out here is this: faithful service to God often requires obedience to the same instructions over and over again.
When Elijah got there he saw this poor widow gathering sticks (1 Kgs. 17:10). The Hebrew text seems to give the impression that seeing her, Elijah was almost reluctant and nervous about asking one so poor for water. As she was bringing him water he asked her to bring him some bread. She protested and told Elijah that she did not have any bread, only a little flour and oil. Her plans were to make one last meal and then her son and her could just die of starvation. Elijah encouraged her to do it, promising her that if she did, God would make sure she always had flour and olive oil until God sent the rain. 1 Kings 17:16 says that is exactly what happened. Meaning – each day as she emptied all the contents from her jar of flour and her jug of oil, miraculously they were refilled during the night.
There is a second biblical principle here: saving grace is for the weak and helpless. At some point this woman had been a woman of means because she has a two-story home. But as a widow, she was now barely surviving in these hard times. She is struggling just to survive without a husband. This also opened her up to abuse as a widow. Her son no longer had a father to model manliness in the home. They were truly helpless, weak and vulnerable. Yet, what God did here fulfilled His word in Deuteronomy 10:18.
While Elijah was staying with her and her son, the son became sick and died. This mother is devastated and blames God and Elijah for this. Elijah carried the young dead boy upstairs to his room and laid the boy on the bed. He then stretched himself out over the dead boy’s body 3 times begging God to return life to this boy. The Bible says God heard Elijah’s prayer and brought the dead boy back to life (1 Kgs. 17:22-23).
There is a third biblical principle here: God’s grace is even for those outside His family. This widow seems to be a good person. She acknowledged God right when she first met Elijah (see 1 Kgs. 17:12). Even though she lives in the hometown of Baal, she acknowledged that the God of Elijah is the one true God (1 Kgs. 17:24). But head knowledge is not enough; we must have a heart knowledge also. God is impartial. Jesus mentioned this in Matthew 5:45b, “For He gives His sunlight to both the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike” (NLT). When the widow’s son died, we are not told if the boy’s faith was in God or in Baal. We are only told he died. God’s grace was given to this little boy as well.
There is a fourth biblical principle here: God’s grace is for those who come to Him in faith. A lot of good people acknowledge a belief in God, but that is not enough. They may have this belief but they are still outside His family. For example, I may believe there is money in my retirement investment accounts. That means nothing unless there is money being deposited in those accounts. This widow would have put off Elijah and God at first. She could have said, “God, Your prophet looks healthy enough to me right now. You’ve been feeding Your prophet food by ravens. Let me make just enough food for my son and myself first and tomorrow we’ll look at what you want.” She didn’t do that. She stepped out in faith with only God and Elijah’s word. She trusted God to provide. Lived by faith, not by the sight of her flour jar and her oil flask.
The same is true with salvation. Until I deposit my faith in Jesus who died on the cross and was resurrected from the grave, it means nothing. The saving grace of God is for all who ask for it. The Apostle Paul says this in Romans 10:13, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (NLT). This widow went from being outside the family of God to being inside of it.
Through 1 Kings 17, there is a fifth biblical principle here: God, not Elijah, not the widow and not her son, but God is the main character here. We all have a tendency when reading Scripture and the stories about the people in them (ex. Noah, David, Elijah, Elisha, Gideon, Nehemiah, and etc) to make these biblical characters the central character in their stories. In every story in the Bible, God is the only central character in each one. Which means, He should be in our lives also.
Reflection Assignment: Look back over your life, where in your past did God ask you to take a step of faith when your circumstances and gut were saying “NO,” and you did it anyway? What were the results and how did God bless you with His grave and provision in it? Do you ever thank God for it? If not, do it now. Where is God telling you now to take a step of faith? What is holding you back? Why do you not trust the Lord?
Scripture To Meditate On: Hebrews 11:1, 6, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen . . . (6) And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, please forgive me when I have doubted You and did not step out in faith. I do not want to live like this. Whatever it is You want me to do, I am stepping out in faith to do it. I am trusting Your grace as I receive it. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly