Biblical Partnership: The Widow and Elijah
Some have asked how partnering with a missionary is biblical. Here is not just an example, but one of my favorite stories from the Old Testament.
“8 Then the Lord said to Elijah, 9 “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.”
10 So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a cup?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.”
12 But she said, “I swear by the Lord your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die.”
13 But Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!”
15 So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days. 16 There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.”
This is an interesting story. To give some background to it, Elijah was a messenger of God (better known as a prophet). His work was to go and correct people and turn them back onto the path God had meant for them to be on. This sometimes led to hard circumstances. In this case, the beginning of this chapter starts out with Elijah proclaiming that it would not rain for the next few years until he gave the word for it to do so (v.1).
Sure enough, it did not rain.
Where there is no rain, there are no crops. Where there are no crops, there are shortages (both of food and commerce). Where there are shortages, there are people who are placed in dire circumstances.
Enter the widow of Zarephath.
The Lord instructs Elijah to go to this woman because He has instructed her to take care of him. We don't really know what that interaction looked like between the two, but we know that God was up to something interesting.
So, Elijah goes and after a tiring journey, requests some water. This is where it gets interesting...
“11 As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.””
We see that she had no problem going to get the water. It was when Elijah requests the bread that she objects.
Maybe she had a good surplus of water stored up even though there was drought in the land. It was only when she was asked of something that had value to her that she became distraught and objected.
We read that there wasn't much flour or oil for her and her son (and anyone else that might've been living there). We read that she had given up and was ready to fix one more meal and then wait for death to come and greet them.
Thankfully, the Lord sent Elijah to the widow not only for Elijah's sake, but for the widow's sake, too! The widow chooses to obey the representative of God and does what he says, and we read on and see that she was blessed and taken care of.
Suppose she didn't listen to Elijah and chose to carry out her own wishes. What could've happened? We might assume that what she had proclaimed over herself and her family would've been carried out. They would've eaten their last meal together, waiting for death to come, and died (v.12). Not only that, but Elijah would've been put in a very hard place as well. He, too, chose to act in faith when God told him to go to this widow. However, this was not the case and we get a happy story instead!
For us, support raising looks a lot like this. Specifically, in three ways:
- Being led of God, we go to be God's sent ones (2 Cor. 5:20) to places and areas where He would have us. We go because we have come to know God on a personal level and want others to know that same experience.
- As we go, we depend on others to help us carry out this mission. We believe that the body of Christ works best when it works together to carry out this mission. Sometimes, that's through special giving or it's through a long-standing partnership.
- And as we go, we believe that God is not only going to meet our needs, but He's going to meet the needs of those that choose to join in on the mission of God, like the widow of Zarephath did. Remember: for her, the jug of oil and the flour did not run out until the rain came down again.
Though this is just one story, I hope this gives a clearer picture of what it means to have biblical partnership with a missionary. We are deeply, deeply grateful for those that have given once, or lots and lots of times. It keeps us on the field doing the work we love to do: seeing people come to know God authentically and relationally for themselves and getting the chance to respond to His love through the birth, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus.
