Here is a devotion to start your day!
Also available now at Power, Love & Miracles:
Unassuming Heroes of the Bible: The Empty Tomb. Introduction
The Women Who Stayed. The Bible Unplugged podcast, episode 70
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The Hero: The Widow of Zarephath
Radical trust and hospitality when resources are gone
Scripture: 1 Kings 17:8–16
She went and did according to the saying of Elijah; and she, he, and her household ate many days. The jar of meal didn’t run out and the jar of oil didn’t fail…
Reflection
A drought has dried the land and the peoples’ hope. A poor widow in Zarephath decided to make one last meal from her meager supply thinking they would starve to death afterward. There is no margin, no savings account, no backup plan.
She’s out gathering a few sticks to cook what she believes will be her last time. Into that desperation, a stranger shows up and asks for water… and then, unbelievably, for bread.
Elijah’s bold ask gets a heartbreaking and honest response: “I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and prepare it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” Yet even there, with empty cupboards and an aching heart, she listens to Elijah’s promise that God will not let her flour or oil run out.
And somehow, she chooses to share.
This is not cheerful generosity from abundance. This is trembling obedience from scarcity. She opens her home and her last resources to a God she barely knows, spoken of by a prophet she has just met.
You may know that feeling: the fear that you don’t have enough—enough money, enough energy, enough emotional strength. Everything in you wants to close the door, hold tightly to what’s left, and ride out the storm alone.
But sometimes God meets us in scarcity by inviting us into risky hospitality.
It doesn’t always mean giving your last dollar. It might mean opening your schedule a bit, sharing a meal, making a phone call, offering a listening ear, or supporting someone in ministry. It’s not about impressing God; it’s about trusting Him.
The miracle in this story is not just that the jar never runs dry—it’s that God uses a poor widow in a foreign town as a vessel of provision for His prophet. Her table becomes a place where famine is confronted by faith.
What might God want to do at your table, however simple it may be?
Centering Prayer
Lord,
I feel like I have almost nothing left—time, energy, hope, or resources. I bring you my small handful today. Calm my fear of not having enough. Teach me to trust your promise and to offer what I can. Let my little act of faith open space for your faithful provision. – Amen
Practice for Today
Offer a small but meaningful gift today: time you don’t feel you have, a listening ear when you’re tired, or a practical act of generosity. Do it as an expression of trust, not surplus.
Journaling Prompt
Where do I feel most afraid of “running out”? How might God be inviting me to trust Him by sharing, even from that place?
Closing Blessing
Live today as one whose life is held by a generous God.
Offer your small handful with open hands instead of clenched fists.
Trust that God knows your limits and your needs.
Live as a quiet witness that His jar never runs dry.
Pray as You Go
Breathe in: I trust Your care…
Breathe out: … I offer what I have
