Elijah has been faithful to honor God and teach His Word. He obeyed God when it was a strange request, but he obeyed. Sometimes God asks us to do what we think is strange but in the end we can see the wisdom of God.
God said to Elijah: go to the brook and the ravens will feed you? How odd. Ravens are dirty birds! Go to the town in the Gentile territory and there a widow will feed you. What? Elijah is a Jew and she will be a Gentile! Again how odd. Just like the Samaritan woman said to Jesus: Jews did not spend time with Gentiles. But the oddest thing was that both the widow and the palace person, Obadiah, immediately thought of their sin when God asked them to do something that would require them to trust God. What do I think about if God asks me to do something strange? Do I immediately respond with; what have I done that God is bringing my sin to my remembrance instead of what Isaiah said; here I am, send me.
What is the lesson here for us? God might ask us to do something odd or strange but remember these words from Isaiah: God’s ways are higher than ours. What He asks and what He plans are to bring glory to Him. That is what happened to the widow and Obadiah. God blessed both and He will bless us when we obey. Satan will try to do just as he did with the widow and Obadiah to distract us from being obedient. Beware of Satan’s work and trust God.
