Empty Sky, Dry Ground

Teaching text for this morning is from 1 Kings 17.

Now Elijah the Tishbite from the Gilead settlers said to Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel lives and whose presence I stand, there will be no dew or rain during these years except by my command.

Then the word of the Lord came to him, leave here, turn eastward and hide at the Wadi Cherith where it enters the Jordan.

You are to drink from the Wadi.

I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.

So he proceeded to do what the Lord commanded.

Elijah left and lived in the wadi Cherith where it enters the Jordan.

The ravens kept bringing him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening, and he would drink from the wadi.

After a while, the wadi dried up because there had been no rain in the land.

So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath.

When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow gathering wood.

Elijah called to her and said, please bring me a little water in a cup and let me drink.

And as she went to get it, he called to her and said, please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.

But she said, as the Lord your God lives, I don't have anything baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a bit of oil in the jug.

Just now I'm gathering a couple of sticks in order to go prepare it for myself and my son so we can eat it and die.

Then Elijah said to her, do not be afraid.

Go and do as you have said, but first make me a small loaf from it and bring it out to me.

After a word, you may make some for yourself and your son.

For this is what the Lord God of Israel says.

The flower jar will not become empty and the oil jug will not run dry until the day of the Lord sends rain on the surface of the land.