TODAY’S SCRIPTURE 1 Kings 17:1-24
Have you ever experienced the feeling of true helplessness? Bernadette Bullington and her fellow missionaries traveling to the Philippines understood it full well. They were told over the Atlantic Ocean that their plane was experiencing difficulty, that they would be unsuccessful in returning to Hawaii, and that an attempt would be made at an emergency landing on the small Midway Island. Battling a horrific storm, dumping fuel as quickly as possible, and gliding toward an island many thought too small for a commercial airliner resulted in complete helplessness. Soon, however, the clouds parted, the moon shone down on the runway, and the plane successfully came to a stop at the end of the runway.
The widow from Zarephath understands helplessness as well. The three-year famine announced by Elisha is taking its toll. When Elisha comes to her, she is preparing what she fully expects to be her last meal before she and her son die of starvation. But when she obeys Elisha’s word, she and her son live and have food to spare. Sometime later her son becomes ill and dies. Elisha, by the power of God, raises him to life. It is at that moment that the woman says, “I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth” (1 Kings 17:24).
The word of the Lord is always true, whether spoken by a prophet of old, a teacher of God’s Word, or a child memorizing his first verse of Scripture. When a student of the Word communicates the truth of God to those being weighed down by the helplessness of sin, relief will come from the Lord. In some way, the truth of God will work even in the midst of that helplessness to bring about His ultimate good (Romans 8:28), and those who feel that they are being overcome by the storms of life can find relief.
Today, I will…look for an opportunity to share the truth of God with someone who is hurting.