This happened to Elijah in I Kings 17. Starting in verse 8 it says:
God spoke to him: “Get up and go to Zarephath in Sidon and live there. I’ve instructed a woman who lives there, a widow, to feed you.”
So he got up and went to Zarephath. As he came to the entrance of the village he met a woman, a widow, gathering firewood. He asked her, “Please, would you bring me a little water in a jug? I need a drink.” As she went to get it, he called out, “And while you’re at it, would you bring me something to eat?”
She said, “I swear, as surely as your God lives, I don’t have so much as a biscuit. I have a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a bottle; you found me scratching together just enough firewood to make a last meal for my son and me. After we eat it, we’ll die.”I bet Elijah was thinking, "Did I hear wrong? Why would God tell me that he has a widow to feed me, and then send me to someone who is going to die of starvation if she shares her food with me?"
But you may know the rest of the story. If you don't you should read it. The widow obeys and because of it she has a food supply that never dries up. And it gets better and more complex after that. But the bottom line is that God had a plan ... not only to bless Elijah but to bless the widow as well.
God's plans don't look like ours. We don't have ultimate wisdom, unlimited resources, and we aren't all powerful. But with that combination, He has a plan much different than ours.
His plan doesn't just include us - but He has a plan where He uses us to change the lives of the people around us. We can't see the bigger picture, but He can and His instructions for us are to obey so that the Master Plan can come to be.
But here's the catch: the adventure is in seeing what that plan is, but if you don't take those first steps of obedience you'll never see it.
Who wants to miss out on an adventure? Not me. That's for sure.
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