Elijah was a man who served God faithfully as a prophet in Israel.   At that time the wicked king Ahab had followed the advice of his evil wife, Jezebel.  What had he done?  He had made the priests of the false god, Baal, set up idol worship among the people of Israel.

Was God happy with this? (Let the children respond).  No!  This was totally wrong and the laws of God forbade this!   There was only the one true God whom the people were to worship, so it was totally wrong for their king to cause them to worship any other god.

And so God sent Elijah to warn the king and to tell him that as a punishment, there would be no more rain and a bad drought until the prophet said it could rain again.  What would this punishment mean to the king and the people of Israel?  Do you think that kind Ahab was happy? (Let the children respond).  No, king Ahab was extremely angry and so Elijah had to run away and hide, or else the king would have killed him!  But, God always takes care of those who obey Him and do what He wants them to!

And how did God take care of Elijah?  God told Elijah of a place by the side of a brook named Cherith.  Probably it was in a sheltered place in the woods where Elijah could hide.  While he remained there God took care of him in a most unusual way.  He sent birds called Ravens to Elijah every night and every morning.

Ravens, as you know are large black birds and they brought bread and meat to the prophet twice every day.  Of course Elijah had all the water he needed from the brook, but eventually the brook dried up, just as Elijah warned the wicked king Ahab that there would be no more rain for a long time.  And now what was Elijah to do?

But God was taking care of Elijah and told him to move to place called Zarephath, and there he would find a widow woman who would look after him.  Elijah went there and found the widow gathering sticks.  He called to her and asked, "Would you bring me a little water so that I can have a drink?"  As she was going to get it, he called again, "And please bring me some food."

She replied, "I don't have any bread - only a handful of flour in a jar and a little 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 then die."

The dry weather had also caused a famine where this widow lived, and she was nearly out of food.  All she had was enough flour and a little olive oil to mix with the flour to make a small loaf of bread.  It didn't seem a nice thing for a man to do, to ask the poor woman for a cake of bread, the very last bit of food that she had!  What would you have done? (Let the children respond).

Elijah didn't do this because he was selfish, but because he was putting his trust in God.  God had told him that this widow would take care of him, and he was sure that God was able to fulfill his promise.

The widow did as Elijah asked her to do, and what do you suppose happened?  Why, the little supply of oil and flour never ran out!  The widow kept the oil in a clay jar and every time she used oil from it, she found more oil there to take its place.  Wasn't that wonderful!  And it was the same way with the flour.  And so day after day the widow, her son and the prophet were supplied with food and she never ran out of flour and oil during that long dry spell.  

The widow had a young son and one day he became very ill and died.  His mother was heartbroken.  At first she blamed it on Elijah, but of course Elijah had nothing to do with the boy's becoming ill and dying.   But Elijah could do something about it, so he carried the boy upstairs and laid him on the bed.  Then he cried out to the Lord, "O Lord my God, let this boy's life return to him!"

God heard Elijah's prayer and the boy's life returned to him.  Elijah picked up the child and carried him down and gave him to his mother and said, "Look, your son is alive!"  The happy woman replied, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth."  You can just imagine how happy that mother was to have her boy alive again!

God has the power to do anything and everything He that has promised.  And we know that He will fulfill His promises in the Bible.  The Bible tells us this, and we know that the Bible is true!

God always keeps His word and so we always need to trust Him.  Let's pray now and ask God to bless us and work out His plan for our lives, just as He did for Elijah!

God bless.