1 Kings 17-19: Don't Be Afraid

“As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”
 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the land.’”
She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.  - 1 Kings 17:12-16 NIV

Over and over the events in Elijah's life, such as the one with the widow of Zarephath, illustrate what God can do with nothing.  The flour and oil were never exhausted.  Nothing could prevent the fire of God from consuming the water drenched sacrifice.  And the voice of God was not in the great and powerful wind, earthquake or fire.  The voice of God was a whisper.  We look for power, for strength.  We stockpile provisions against scarcity and look for hedges against inflation when all the time, we should be listening for that whisper.  The whisper of God will always tell us what to do.  The whisper of God will be our provision when all hope is gone.  The doomsayers would say these are perilous times:  the dollar is going to fall, inflation will become rampant, there will be rioting in the streets.  Instead of listening to the doomsayers, we should be listening to the voice of God, the whisper that says, 'Don't be afraid.'

2010 Post - 1 Kings 17-19:  Power Revealed Through the Prophets