4/11/10 Guide

You Gotta Have Faith
1 Kings 17:1-16
Week of 4/11/10

Getting Started

In this week’s passage we meet a lady who is on her last meal. If you could have one last meal, what would it be?

Digging Deeper

What helped you the most from Sunday’s message?

Review 1 Kings 17:1-6. Up until verse 7, how had God been providing for Elijah?

Read Verses 7-9. Up to this point, God had been providing for Elijah in a miraculous way apart from any other human participation. In this next phase God puts Elijah in a place where He is required to ask for help from another person, a widow. If you were Elijah, what would be the difficult part of relying on birds? What would be the hard part about asking the widow for help? Would it be harder for you to trust God to provide through means of a bird, or the means of another human being? How do you think the variation of how God worked kept Elijah on his feet spiritually?

One might suspect that having to rely on birds and a widow kept Elijah humble in some degree. As a man who spoke with God and through which God did mighty deeds, Elijah must be clearly aware that God uses all sorts of people, events, and things to accomplish his work.

Moreover, the variation of how God provided for Elijah might check the human tendency to look to the means of God’s provision for God provision, rather than to look to God, regardless of the way that God provides.

Read verses 10-12. Elijah discovers that God’s promised source for food (i.e., the widow) actually doesn’t have any food and is herself desperate for some. How might Elijah have explained this apparent dead-end if he lacked faith in God’s word?

He might have questioned God’s promise to provide through a widow, and so sought for provision somewhere else besides God’s ordained source.

When Elijah meets up with this lady, she is on her last meal. Why do you think God waited till then to arrange this miracle? Can you think of other times in the Bible when God waited till the last minute to provide help?

Often God waits until the last minute to shatter all delusions that we are self-sufficient.

Exodus 14:13 13 And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.

Jeremiah 3:23 23 Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.

2 Corinthians 4:7 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;

In verse 12, the widow has reached the point of resignation and despair due to conditions outside of her control. If someone were at that point in life at your group right now, how would you encouraged without offering meaningless platitudes?

In verse 13, Elijah prefaces his remarks with “Don’t be Afraid.” What about Elijah’s comments in verse 13 could she find scary?

In verses 13-14, Elijah tells the woman that if she gives what little she did have to him first (“first make a small cake of bread for me…), God would step in to supply her needs. Why do you think that God asks the widow to “first make a small cake of bread for me” prior to miraculously providing for her? Why not multiply the flour and water, and then ask the widow to share from a newly increased food supply?

Can you think of other times in the Bible, when someone gave what they had, and then got it back several times over? Are there any other Bible passages that address this?

2 Corinthians 9:6-11 6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; 9 as it is written, "HE SCATTERED ABROAD, HE GAVE TO THE POOR, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS ENDURES FOREVER." 10 Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; 11 you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.

Proverbs 11:24 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

Proverbs 22:9 Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.

Luke 6:38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you

In verse 13, the widow is told “Don’t be afraid” because “this is what the LORD the God of Israel says…” (vs.14). What’s the relationship between the Bible and cultivating faith? Give some examples of how someone might use Scriptures in tough times.

Putting It Into Practice.What’s one way you can put this week’s passage into practice?

We are challenging our members to be consistent in daily Bible reading. How are you doing presently with the Bible Reading Challenge?

All Church PrayerIn addition to praying for each other’s needs, take some time as a group and pray for God to continue to create a hunger for His Word, and a discipline to relate to Him through it regularly.