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LESSONS FROM A LAST MEAL

As we study an Old Testament story about an ancient prophet like Elijah, I think we all have this picture in our minds of a rabid-looking man in an thorn-scarred robe, matted hair, walking stick, and a lot of mean-sounding warnings coming out of his mouth. I mean, the word “jeremiad” – a spiritual rant-and-rave – comes from the Bible name Jeremiah, and you have to set the dials on your time-travel machine for about 600 B.C. to get back to that kind of ambience.

Or maybe not. We were reading recently an eyewitness news account going back less than a decade, where two young Christians named David and Debbie Bunds were interviewed by journalist Richard Abanes from the Christian Research Institute. This is from 1993, and he was asking them about their own experience with a modern-day prophet.

“He was very humble,” David said, in describing the leader. “He was very sincere. He seemed to have a very good knowledge of the Bible and seemed to be very sure of what he was teaching so he came across to me as being a very likely candidate for a prophet of God. As I was with him for the following few months after I first met him he impressed me as being a true prophet who wanted to help the people . . . move on to the kingdom of God and to try to get back on track with the . . . message. I just thought of him very positively.” Later he added these words of praise: “He delivered [his doctrines] well. He’s charismatic. He speaks with authority. . . . He can quote entire chapters, especially from the Old Testament prophecies.”

And for 21 more pages of small-print type, David and Debbie described in full detail what it was like to sit at the feet of a 20th-century prophet. Having said that, I’m sure you join me in being thankful to God that this dedicated young couple wisely chose to leave Waco, Texas, rather than to die in the flames with Mr. David Koresh.

Now, why do we bring the Branch Davidian cult and the tragedy of that failed movement into our Friday discussion? We left off yesterday with a more reliable prophet named Elijah, and he’s just come up to the outskirts of the village of Zarephath. Famine is everywhere; there hasn’t been a drop of rain in the last 24 months. And a widow lady there, who has enough flour in her jar for one last meal with her son, and enough water for one final drink before they lay down to die in the dust, is told by this “man of God” to let HIM have that last little cake. “Don’t worry,” he says. “Trust me.” Here’s the verbatim transcript from I Kings 17:13:

“Elijah said to her, ‘Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. [Preparing that last meal.] But first make a small cake of bread FOR ME from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son.’” Now notice this: “‘For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.”’”

And we’re right back to the question we asked yesterday: How do we know whether to follow this prophet? Eighty-five people followed Vernon Howell, also known as David Koresh, also known as the Lamb of God . . . right to the cemetery. Thirty-nine people followed a man named Marshall, who said “God showed me thus-and-thus,” to the house in Rancho Santa Fe and the last meal of applesauce and vodka. And here a man who says he’s from God tells you to take YOUR last meal away from your kid and give it to him. “Fear not,” he says. “God will provide.”

I’m thankful that today we have a couple of protections this pagan woman didn’t have. Friend, we have the sure Word of God, so that when new prophets come along, we can compare what they say to what the original prophets said. How does THEIR word line up with THE Word? We have the safeguard announced by a prophet himself, a man of God named Isaiah. In chapter eight, he warns us:

“You need to pay attention to the law and the testimonies God has given you. If anyone speaks contrary to these, it’s because that person has no light in them.”

It’s well documented that David Koresh taught volumes of things that were in flat-out contradiction to the Bible. His many “wives” can personally testify to that. And yet the warning bells didn’t go off for enough of these devotees.

In any case, this heathen woman in Zarephath didn’t have the protection of a good Bible education. All she had, really, was an impulse. And friend, that’s not the most reliable of guides. Who knows? Perhaps in her desperation, she figured that being down to one last meal wasn’t a whole lot better than being down to NO last meals — and decided to give this self-proclaimed prophet the benefit of the doubt. Maybe, as an earlier verse suggests, God did somehow communicate to her, in a way that was unmistakable even to her, that she was facing the genuine article. Maybe, even living in that alien land, she had nurtured a spiritual sensitivity, and had a God-given ability to discern humble truth from self-serving greed. In any case, it was an act of faith for her to follow Elijah’s instructions . . . and he turned out to be right. Verses 15 and 16 tell us:

“She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.”

And that’s really it right there. These weren’t Elijah’s words; these were the words of the Lord . . . SPOKEN by Elijah. And the great challenge, the sober task we face today, is to know our Bibles well enough, and to be walking close enough to the Lord, that we know when we’re hearing the word of the Lord and when we’re not.

Going back to Monday’s radio study as we were just getting started, I mentioned how here at the Voice of Prophecy we stand in awe at how Elijah was so often willing to “bet it all” on the Word of the Lord. He gambled everything, every chip, on the promises of heaven. And here this no-name, no-reputation, no-account woman from outside the ranks of the Chosen People does the very same thing. With just one meal left in her kitchen, with just that wispy strand of hope connecting her to life, she gambles on God and wins. Isn’t that a great story? The New International Version Bible scholars who prepare the text notes stand back in awe and say:

“God miraculously provided for this non-Israelite who, in an act of faith in the Lord’s word, had laid her life on the line.”

Really, that’s the theme of this entire saga. Going for it with God. Betting your whole life on Him. Trusting His Word. Believing, when all the evidence is on the other side, that He’s going to be right and that He’s going to triumph.

By the way, this was a gamble for Elijah too, remember. He’s a decent human being. He’s not a monster. What kind of guts did it take for HIM to say to this starving woman, “As an act of faith, make that first little cake for ME . . . and then stand back and watch God provide LATER for you. Trust me, lady”? It had to take faith for him to make such an extravagant claim. The same NIV scholars say this about his decision:

“Elijah can tell the widow ‘Don’t be afraid’ because the demand of the covenant is not given without the promise of the covenant. The Lord does not ask more than He promises to give.”

It’s marvelous sometimes how the Lord can take just one response on a part of a man or woman. Just one moment of saying “yes” to His prompting. This woman had one flicker of faith — and yes, it was a big gamble. But after all, she was only postponing death by a few hours. And what happens? Her entire family survives! Permanently! For the entire duration of the drought, she’s got an inside track to heaven; there’s miracle food and miracle water for her household all the way to the finish line. All because of one act of trusting God.

In fact, if you read down to the end of this I Kings chapter 17, we find a Part Two to her reward. Her son gets sick and dies — and admittedly, Mom’s faith does falter in the face of that hailstorm. She wonders for a moment if Elijah is really God’s man after all. But he prays in agony before the Lord, and God works a miracle, restoring her son to life. And the chapter ends with the widow of Zarephath, who, previously gambling on her one slender shred of hope and belief — and winning — now saying with permanent conviction:

“Now I KNOW that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

Friend, that’s where I’d like to get to. Where I can look up at God and say with unshakable confidence: “Now I know. Thank You, Lord. Now I know.”