“Trusting God” – I Kings 17:8-24 – June 10, 2007

In Derby Line, Vermont there is a library that was built on the Vermont, Canada Border. Step through the front door of the Haskell Library and you're in the United States. Walk across the carpeted floor to the circulation desk and you're in Canada. But if you sit down on the couch, you're back in the U.S. The library has enjoyed a kind of informal immunity from border restrictions for over 100 years. But a U.S. Border Patrol crackdown focusing on three unguarded streets linking Derby Line with Stanstead, Quebec, Canada, could soon change that. Under the crackdown, instead of parking their cars outside the library in Quebec and walking to the front door in the U.S., Canadian patrons would have to detour through one of two ports of entry linking the municipalities. No decisions have been made yet, but U.S. and Canadian authorities are holding a series of meetings with officials from both communities.

It’s unfortunate that people who have used the library for a century may now have to present identification every time they check out a book. It seems like we live in a time when no one trusts anyone anymore. Let’s be honest, a library is not exactly a hotbed for terrorists. We seem to be a nation that is building walls instead of bridges. I believe that if we no longer trust our neighbors we are likely losing our trust in God.

Here in First Kings we have a story about Elijah, who puts his trust in God. God has called him to go to Zeraphath which is a pagan city that worshipped Baal. The region was having a great drought and there was little food for the people. God told him a widow would supply him with food. Widows in that society were totally destitute. They had little or no resources. In other words, Elijah had to cross the line of religion, the line of nationality and the line of economic class. But, Elijah trusted God and set out for Zeraphath.

When he arrived there was a widow who approached him at the town gate. All the widow had was some flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. Elijah told her to make him a small cake of bread so he would have something to eat. He also told her to make some for her and her son. Elijah then said, “The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.” The widow did what Elijah asked. Somehow, this Phoenician woman trusted him as she used her last resource to feed a total stranger.

Could you give a total stranger your last dollar? Could you give your neighbor your last box of cereal in your food pantry? Can we trust that God will always provide for us in every circumstance?

I think not. We are accustomed of stockpiling and saving things in case of an emergency. We build storage buildings and keep them locked. We surround our lives with all kinds of protection; insurance, financial reserves, supplies, tools and equipment. In my opinion our society is obsessed with security. I can’t imagine anyone giving away their last meal like the widow did for Elijah.

Apparently she trusted God too. And yet, she was living in a foreign culture that worshipped Baal. One wonders where she learned to trust. Perhaps the God we worship is more far reaching than we realize. Perhaps God exists in other cultures, lands and societies in spite of their native religion.

Besides the fact that Elijah and the widow both trusted God, we also can glean from the story that God provided. First, Elijah was fed. And secondly, the widow had ample provisions, “She, as well as her household, ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail.”

Sometimes it is not that we lack the resources we need, but it is our perception of what we need. We see what we have is running low, rather than see that we still have some left.

One day, there was a blind man sitting on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet and a sign that read: "I am blind, please help." A creative publicist was walking by and stopped to observe. He saw that the blind man had only a few coins in his hat. He dropped in more coins and, without asking for permission, took the sign and rewrote it. He returned the sign to the blind man and left. That afternoon the publicist returned to the blind man and noticed that his hat was full of bills and coins. The blind man recognized his footsteps and asked if it was he who had rewritten his sign and wanted to know what he had written on it. The publicist responded: "Nothing that was not true. I just wrote the message a little differently." He smiled and went on his way. The new sign read: "Today is Spring and I cannot see it."

Other times we are afraid to let go, for fear of not having enough. The widow didn’t believe she had enough. “I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug.” Although she trusted God enough to go to the gate, she was still skeptical about having the resources to feed Elijah.

Elijah responded to the widow by saying, “Do not be afraid.” He reassured the widow that she could feed both him and her family. How often do we hear that phrase in scripture, “Do not be afraid.” She had nothing to fear and neither do we. God is always with us, providing what we need.

We fail to trust that the Lord will provide. We don’t believe in the impossible because we can’t understand how God works. The story doesn’t tell us how it was the widow happened to come to the town gate. Nor do we know how she was able to have food for many days after that. How God works is truly mysterious.

In World War II, a soldier got separated from his unit and was trapped behind enemy lines. The enemy knew he was there and he had little chance of escape. He found a cave and hid. He knew that it was just a matter of time before they found the cave too. He prayed to God, “God if you can, please save me, but I trust your will. If I’m to die, let me die bravely, and take care of my family. Amen.”

He lifted his head and saw a spider busily building a web over the opening of the cave. Back and forth she went. “Silly spider,” he thought. “We’re both going to be blasted to bits. I need a brick wall and I get a spider web?” He heard the crunch of boots and loud talking in a language he didn’t understand. But he did understand two words. “Spider web.”

As the enemy soldiers walked away, he realized that because the mouth of the cave was now covered with a spider web they thought that no one was in the cave. The spider web had become as strong as a brick wall. God may not give us what we want, but God gives us what we need. (from Homiletics, June 2007)

To further illustrate the amazing power of God, Elijah healed the son of the widow. The widow believed she was being punished for helping a man of God. But, Elijah, “Cried out to the Lord,” for help. The child was healed because of Elijah’s faith. Once again he trusted in God to provide and the forgiving, loving God came through. And the widow responded by saying, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

Do we trust God enough to give someone our last meal? Do we truly believe that God will supply all our needs? Can we believe in the impossible and believe that God can work in ways beyond our understanding?

“Do not be afraid,” Elijah said. “For thus says the Lord the God of Israel.”

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio