I teach an Adult Bible Community at Thomas Road Baptist Church called the G.A.P. (for Graduates and Professionals), and each week I post the outlines and discussion questions from my lessons on the G.A.P. page on Facebook. A while back I started posting these notes on the blog too. So, here is the outline and questions for our meeting on June 6, 2010. The lesson is on 1 Kings 17:8-24 and looks at how Elijah and the Widow faced trials and where they placed their confidence. If you have any questions or would like to add a comment or two, that would be great!
Where is Your Confidence?
Elijah and the Widow: A Contrast
1 Kings 17:8-24
Introduction
Trials in life
We are not immune
When Lisa was diagnosed with MS
We were devastated, the world was ending
I had no idea how to raise a daughter, I needed Lisa—she was my only hope for success!
Our conversation and our focus on circumstance
Our confidence had to be in God
Trials come to us all
The diagnosis we dreaded
The lack of a job
A failure in business, life, or relationships
The death of a loved one or hero
Our passage today
1 Kings 17:8-24
A Contrast in Confidence
Trials reveal where confidence is placed
1. The Widow’s Condition
In verse 9, God says that he has commanded a widow to provide for Elijah. Had God contacted this widow to let her know a visitor is coming? Was she aware the Elijah was being sent her way?
The text isn’t clear, but it seems possible from the language
When God wanted to meet Elijah’s need, he didn’t provide him a mansion or the provision of the wealthy. He gave him a widow!
Conditions of widows in Elijah’s day
a. Lack of a husband was an economic and cultural liability
b. Widows typically lived in extreme poverty and were treated as outcasts
c. The only possible way out was to have a son to take care of you (Note: This becomes real important later in our story!)
When we first meet her, the widow is gathering sticks for her “last supper”
a. This shows her poverty, she had to go find her own fuel for cooking—she had no help
b. Her lack of food shows her financial instability too (evidently her son was not old enough to take care of her yet)
c. The woman is preparing to die, she does not expect to live
The famine caused by the lack of rain (caused by Elijah’s prayer) revealed her lack of confidence
She looked at outward circumstances, and in spite of God’s earlier word, decided to give up
Trials reveal where confidence is placed
Do we look to outside circumstances to save us in our hard times?
Do we look for deliverance from others?
Where is our confidence?
2. The Widow’s Source
The need of a son
a. As a widow, she probably expected her son to be her financial and social salvation
b. Without help, they both were doomed
c. God sent Elijah to provide food for them both
d. Note the miraculous provision—the oil and flour lasted in spite of the meager supplies
The loss of a son
a. In spite of God’s provision, tragedy strikes
b. Isn’t that just like our lives, when we are experiencing “provision” or blessing seems to be when disaster happens, doesn’t it?
c. Her son dies/Her confidence is taken
Look how she responds
a. She blames Elijah
b. She blames her own sin (she feels guilty)
c. She blames God
She is wrong on all three counts
Trials reveal where confidence is placed
Do we blame others for our problems?
Do we wallow in self pity or guilt in our “bad times”?
Where is our confidence?
3. The Widow’s Confidence
The lack of confidence
a. The widow trusted in circumstances more than God’s Word
b. “God has said” was replaced with “Has God said?”
c. The widow trusted in others more than God
d. She relied on humans to meet her needs in hard times
e. The widow revealed a decided lack of confidence in God’s ability to provide
f. She had seen the miracle of the flour and oil, but she couldn’t see how God could provide for her without a son
Trials reveal where confidence is placed
Are we confident in what God says?
4. Elijah’s Condition
Kicked out of Israel due to conflict with Ahab and Jezebel, Elijah is homeless
He goes to Jezebel’s country to “get away from it all”
Practically penniless and friendless, Elijah goes where God’s Word directs him
Lives in the wilderness, fed by ravens (vv. 1-7)
Then the well runs dry so to speak
Finds a place with a widow (remember how society saw them?)
Elijah was basically an outcast, homeless, and without means
Yet he does not lose his confidence in God’s provision
Trials reveal where confidence is placed
“Character is not made in a crisis, it is only exhibited.” Robert Freeman
“Adversity is the diamond dust that heaven polishes its gems with.” Robert Leighton
Elijah’s trials showed him to be a man who trusted God’s Word
Where do we put our trust in time of trial?
5. Elijah’s Source
God and His Word
a. Elijah had developed a relationship with God that led him to obedience when God said to go, even if it meant to a widow’s house
b. His intimacy with God provided Elijah with the confidence to trust God’s promises even when they seemed impossible
c. God uses sources and instruments we would never choose, but in His wisdom He chooses them to accomplish His own purposes and to do exceeding abundantly beyond all we could ask or think (Eph. 3:20). We would choose a hero, but God uses a widow. He often chooses the despised, small, or even foolish as a means of provision (1 Cor. 1:27-29)
Elijah had been humbled before God so that self-reliance was no longer an option—how does God provide for us in ways that challenge our independence and self-reliance?
Trials reveal where confidence is placed
What are your trials revealing about your confidence?
Is there an intimacy and dependence on God that is evident in your trials?
6. Elijah’s Confidence
Look at Elijah’s response to the widow’s lack of food
a. He comforts her
b. He encourages her (“Do not fear”)
c. He speaks God’s word to her situation
Look at Elijah’s response to the death of the widow’s son
a. He doesn’t try to explain to her why this happened
b. He doesn’t argue with her
c. He takes her son and prays
d. He sought God three times and prayed fervently (cf. James 5:15, 17-18; 2 Cor. 12:7-10)—Elijah persevered
The result—God heard the cry of Elijah
The response—The widow sees the truth of God’s Word
Trials reveal where confidence is placed
Elijah knew that God would provide, but he didn’t necessarily know how (Rom. 8:26-30, especially v. 28)
Will we trust God in our trials?
Closing Questions
In closing, we have to ask: Are we more like the widow or more like Elijah? If trials reveal where confidence is placed, what do the current problems in your life reveal about your confidence?
Are you in a spiritual condition where you can hear God’s instructions? (Mark 6:30f.)
What are you facing in your life right now that needs God’s supply? Will you trust him for your needs?
Where is your focus? Are you focused on the circumstances of life, on the problems facing you rather than the Lord? Are you seeing the agents of supply in your life as totally inadequate (like the widow’s son)? Are you questioning God’s ability to provide?
How impossible is your situation? Does it look like there is no way God can meet your needs through the circumstances or people he has brought into your life?
Have you considered that before God meets your need, or that in meeting your need, He wants to use you to meet the need of someone else?
Application
So, what do we do now? How do we respond to this lesson?
I see three things for us to do this week:
First, check your own heart, your own focus, your own confidence. Make some time this week to ask yourself the hard questions—what do you trust? Where are you looking in the “problems” or “famines” of your life? Make a point to talk to God and be brutally honest. If you don’t trust him, say so. Then take a step of faith and ask him, “Lord, increase my faith.” (Luke 17:5)
Second, get intimate with God. Set aside time this week to shut out all other influences to sit in his presence, to hear his Word, to be alone with Abba and seek his provision. Learn to know his heart for you and his desire to provide for you. Then respond in obedience to what he asks you to do.
Third, seek opportunities to be God’s provision for others in trouble. Find needs and meet them. James 2:14-17; 4:17. You cannot do it all, but what you can do, simply go out and do. Be God’s provision!
Trials reveal where confidence is placed
This week, let’s show Lynchburg that our confidence is in Jesus and in his Word!
Thanks for reading!
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