And he went and hid himself, being fed by ravens and drinking of the water of the brook.
Here is a man who, in working together with God he is co-operating with God to the end that God may come into His place in fullness...
He finds that his very jealousy for God requires sometimes that he himself stands back, keeps quiet, waits, while God works.
It is a difficult thing to do, to wait and wait, and not put your hand on things, not show yourself, but keep holding on with God in secret.
Oh, we must be so busy, we must be doing something, be always on the go, or else we imagine that nothing is being done, or that God is not doing anything.
We think that if we are not doing anything, then God is not doing anything.
That is our attitude, and very often the real work of God is spoiled by our interference, by our trying to do it for Him, and by our being so busy in His things.
There is a time when God's greatest interests are best reached by our getting away and being quiet, and holding on to Him in the secret place.
Then when the brook dried up, the Lord said, "Arise, get thee to Zarephath...behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee."
He went to Zarephath and found the woman, and called to her, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel that I may drink and bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.
And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in the barrel, and a little oil in the cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
And Elijah said unto her, Fear not - make me thereof a little cake first....
Make me first! Make me first!
It sounds selfish, almost cruel, but what does Elijah stand for if not for the recognition of God's true place.
He is as God.
God's representative in this situation, and so he makes this claim.
The woman was obedient in faith.
What happened?
She did not die, neither did her son, but she had heavenly fulness when she put God first.
That is the way to heavenly fullness.
Elijah stood for God's rights and said: God must be first.
Whenever that is recognized and acknowledged, it is found to be the very way of enlargement, the way to new discoveries.
The rest of the story is well known.
For the woman there was enlargement indeed.
Her son dies, and all seems to speak of loss, but in resurrection life he was given back and possessed on resurrection ground.
A miracle, the incoming of heavenly fullness in the place of what before was merely earthly.
~T. Austin Sparks