Sow a Radical Seed

      ​Rain in the Bible is symbolic of God’s blessing.
     
     Ezekiel 34: 26-27 says, “I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops…”
     
     And Psalm 68: 7-9 says, “When You went out before your people, O God…the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain, before…the God of Israel. You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed Your weary inheritance.”
     
     One story in the Bible about rain is the account of Elijah the Tishbite in 1 Kings chapter 17. In verse one it says, “Now Elijah the Tishbite…said to Ahab, ‘As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”
     
     Elijah said these words to king Ahab because Ahab and his father’s family had abandoned the Lord’s commands and followed the Baals, false gods.
   
     God commanded Elijah to hide in the Kerith ravine east of the Jordon River. God ordered the ravens to bring Elijah bread and meat in the morning and evening and Elijah drank from the brook.
     
     All was well until the brook dried up from lack of rain. God told Elijah to go to a widow who lived in Zarephath, who God had commanded to supply Elijah with food.
     
     When Elijah arrived in Zarephath, he asked the widow for a little water in a jar. Remember, it hadn’t rained in the land; water was scarce. As she went to get it, she heard the prophet ask for a piece of bread as well.
     
     The widow’s response was blunt. “I only have a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug.” She told him that she was gathering sticks to go home and make the last meal for her and her son before they died. I’d say she was in dire circumstances.
   
     Elijah was even more audacious. He asked her to FIRST make a small cake of bread for him and then make something for her son and herself.
     
      What would you have done?
     
     But then Elijah spoke a message from God to the woman. He told her not to be afraid and that the jar of flour would not be used up and the jug of oil wouldn’t run dry until the day the Lord provided rain.
     
     The widow had a choice, didn’t she? She could believe and obey the word of the Lord through the prophet or she could look after her own needs first.
   
      What would you have done?
   
     The widow of Zarephath decided to obey the word of God and to sew a radical seed. To sew a radical seed is to obey God, even when it’s hard. And the result? She received a radical blessing. As God had said, there was food everyday for Elijah, the woman and her family. The jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry. She lived a miracle – as if there was an abundance of rain in the land.
     
     Lord, help me today to sew radical seeds, no matter how difficult, knowing that You are always faithful to Your word and Your promises.