Elijah’s words brought hope and joy.

The new world in the heart of the widow of Zarephath.

As the widow of Zarephath stood before death, how much would she have blamed her husband and the world her misfortune? However, when Elijah said, “The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail,” the word entered amazingly into her heart. People would naturally think that once the meal was finished, there wouldn’t be anymore left in the barrel. But the widow accepted those words as the Word of God and not as the word of man. The Word entered into the widow and worked to cast out all fear and despair, creating a new world.

The words of Elijah rang in the ears of the widow of Zarephath.

The widow of Zarephath appears in 1 Kings 17 when she meets the prophet Elijah outside the city gate. People were dying from famine because it hadn’t rained rain for three and a half years in Israel. The widow was living with her son and all they had left was a handful of meal. The woman went out to gather sticks to make a fire and bake a cake made from that handful of meal. She met Elijah along the way and he asked her for some water. As she went to fetch it, Elijah called her again and asked for a morsel of bread. She answered that she didn’t have a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel with which she would make a cake for her son and herself to eat and then die. Elijah said,

“Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.”
Elijah’s words rang out in the ears of the widow of Zarepath.

Just a few short words filled the woman’s heart with hope and joy.

Despair and death filled the widow’s heart before she met Elijah. After starving for a long time, she decided to eat a cake made from her final handful of meal and die. That’s when she met Elijah. Before she met Elijah, joy, thankfulness, and grace were nowhere to be found in her heart. The despair of starving and the thought of eating the last of their food before they eventually died were all that was left. However, the amazing thing was that when she heard the Word of God, her heart started to change. It’s like when the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, God said, “let there be light” and there was light. In Genesis 1, whenever God spoke, the earth changed.
Beautiful flowers blossomed, trees yielded fruits, birds sang, and the earth changed into a beautiful garden. It’s not just in Genesis chapter 1. No matter what darkness, problems, or concerns we may have in this world, when God’s Word enters into our heart, hope and joy arise, and His power is manifested.
I met many people as I preached the gospel. Regardless of who they were, all of them rejoiced and were thankful once the gospel entered into them. When God made man, He made man’s heart and that heart is made so it can only change when the Word of God enters into it. Elijah’s word went into the widow’s heart and caused it to awake. “What? The barrel of meal will not empty? Then no matter how much meal I take out, the meal will continue to fill the barrel! Then I need to get the lady next door to make dough and I got to keep scooping. And with the dough, we can make a cake, and the lady next door and I can eat… I’ll tell the lady, ‘Hey, eat a lot. We can bake more for the kids.’ I’ll call my mom. I’ll call my brother, sister in law and friends. I should call so-and-so…” The few brief words from Elijah didn’t allow the woman’s heart to remain in sleep; it had power to fill that heart with hope and joy.

How happy must the widow have felt whenever she saw the barrel full of meal!

From time to time I read the book of Acts chapter by chapter and my heart gets so fulfilled that I can’t sit still and want to hurry up and get out there to shout the Word. While I’m shouting out the Word, all of the worries, concerns, and darkness that were in my heart disappear and my heart gets filled with hope and joy. How happy must the widow of Zarephath have felt after she dressed the meal and made a cake to bring to Elijah, and saw that the meal once again filled up the barrel! How joyful was she! She would scoop the meal from the barrel and make dough; her son would make a fire. “Just wait a little longer. It’s almost done.” After she ate the bread with her son, she would scoop more meal from the barrel and call her next door neighbor to knead dough together. She would be indescribably happy.

The change in a certain girl who had to live in darkness and despair all her life

I knew a student who was half Korean on her mother’s side. After her parents got married, their relationship fell apart so she spent her childhood in darkness. When she was in elementary school, her mother became mentally unstable and would receive counseling from time to time. Her father suspected her of infidelity and started fighting with her. One day, it came to a head when he tried to stab her to death. Her mom left the house and she stayed with her dad and older brother; she lived a very painful and dark life.

She woke up one day while she was still in elementary school and saw a letter next to her head. In it, her father apologized to her and her older brother. Her father committed suicide. She was too little to know why her father killed himself. She just wondered, “How come only sad things happen in my family? Mom always fought with dad. Mom left home. Dad committed suicide.” Sometime later, her mom came home with a new husband but she didn’t get along with him. Her mom was still mentally unstable and would hit her for no apparent reason. “Why was I born into this family? Why do I have to live like this?’ She lived day by day in despair.

One day her mom started to go to a Good News Mission church and her family started to settle down. Her mom arranged for her to go to Canada to study abroad. She stayed in the church and started to listen to the gospel from the pastor while she studied for two years. She went to church ever since she was little but she didn’t know the gospel. One day she finally realized the gospel, and her life changed greatly since.

She returned from Canada and is now living with her mom and stepfather. For more than ten years, she never called him “Dad” so it felt embarrassing and awkward to start, but she did. She showed me a letter that she wrote, that said when she met her parents again inside the Lord, her family was peaceful and comforting. She was going to live in darkness and despair all her life but as Jesus Christ entered into her heart, He gave her peace and joy that other people in the world don’t have.

The woman tasted a new world that she never experienced before

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1) We can’t touch God with our hand, see Him with our eyes, or feel Him with our senses but as we deal with the Word of God, we can know that, "this is God's Word; this Word is God." Just as the Word gave hope, joy, and faith to the Zarephath widow who only had despair, many times I saw people who were in despair, whose life became bright and happy after God’s Word entered into their heart.

As the widow of Zarephath stood before death, how much would she have blamed her husband and the world her misfortune? However, when Elijah said, “The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail,” the word entered amazingly into her heart. People would naturally think that once the meal was finished, there wouldn’t be anymore left in the barrel. But the widow accepted those words as the Word of God and not as the word of man. The Word entered into the widow and worked to cast out all fear and despair, creating a new world.

“I’m going to scoop up some meal, and bake bread for my mother’s family. How happy will she be as eats the bread? How happy will my family be? In this famine…!”

The woman was excited. A new world that she never experienced before; she tasted that new heart. When I think about it, I can’t express in words how amazing it is.

Whoever receives God’s Word into their heart can’t help but change. The Word casts out all the worries, concerns, and fears and makes a new world of joy and hope in our heart. I believe the peace, joy, and faith the Zarephath widow received from God will fill the hearts of all people who truly meet God and accept the Word.