“To Survive Or To Thrive

“To Survive Or To Thrive?”

Text: 1 Kings 17:8-16

© June 10, 2007 by C. Edward Bowen.

Did you ever hear of a hunger artist? Well, back during the 1920s in Berlin, Germany, there were at least six hunger artists who regularly performed. What a hunger artist did was he or she went out into some public place and went without eating for a prolonged period of time, while other people watched them.

For instance, one hunger artist did his work right in the middle of a crowded restaurant. He sat underneath a huge glass bell sipping a glass of water, with a chalkboard placed next to him that reported that he had not eaten in 28 days, while all around him chubby men and well-dressed women dined at tables, eating their bratwurst and sauerkraut, and debating with one another whether the man under the glass bell would be able to hang in there and break the world hunger record.[1]

Considering the fact that there are somewhere around 850 million people who go hungry in the world every day, it’s kind of difficult to imagine how you could ever see hunger as some kind of art form. Considering the fact that somewhere around 1 out of every 7 people on the face of the planet go hungry each day, it’s kind of difficult to imagine how you could ever see hunger as some kind of an amusement, as some kind of a game.

As far as that widow who lived in the town of Zarephath was concerned, the hunger that she and her son faced certainly was no game. As she looked at the reality that was right there in front of her, she knew that starvation wasn’t far off. And so clutching on to the few measly ounces of flour that she had left, she went off in search of some firewood so that she could cook one last pitiful little meal for son and herself, one last supper before the two of them would die from hunger.

But as the widow walked out to the city gate in search of wood, she met up with a man by the name of Elijah. Now, Elijah was what we call a prophet. Elijah was someone who God had appointed to go and do God’s work. In particular, Elijah was someone who God had appointed to go and confront the rulers of that day – King Ahab and Queen Jezebel – about the way that they were trying to lure the people away from God and trying to get them to worship other gods, like the god known as Baal. And one thing God did to get the people’s attention that God wasn’t happy with what was going on was that God caused it stop raining. And of course, without rain, the crops didn’t grow and pretty soon the supply of food in the land started to run out.

But during that drought, God provided for Elijah. First, God told Elijah to travel a ways to a particular dried-up river bed. And when he did that, every day God caused ravens to come and bring Elijah something to eat.

But after a while, God spoke to Elijah again, and told him to leave that dried-up river bed and to go outside of his homeland, outside of Israel, to a town called Zarephath, and there, God said, a widow would take care of him. And since that was what God told him to do, that is exactly what Elijah did.

But when Elijah, the man of God, the prophet of God, first saw that poor widow gathering sticks by the city gate there in Zarephath, what did he say to her? He didn’t say, “Oh, I’m so sorry about the hardships that you’re facing.” He didn’t say, “Ma’am, how can I help you?” No, the first words out of Elijah’s mouth were a request, a demand. He said to her, “Hey, lady, run off and get me something to drink.” Now, usually we don’t think that asking someone for a drink is such a big deal. But we need to remember that there was a drought going on. There wasn’t much water to be had, and here was a complete stranger asking, demanding, that widow to drop everything and to hurry and get him something to drink.

And just as soon as the widow started out in search of water, Elijah called out yet another request, yet another demand. He yelled, “Hey, lady, could you also cook me up something to eat. I’m starving!”

But the widow turned to him and said, “Sir, I don’t mean to be rude, but I just don’t have any food to spare. You see, all the food I have left in the world are these couple of measly little ounces of flour. And right now I’m trying to get a fire started so that I can cook what I have so that my son and I can eat one last time before we die from starvation.”

Well, how did Elijah respond? Did he say, “Oh, I’m so sorry I bothered you! I didn’t know”? Did he say, “Wow, I had no idea that things are so hard for you. I’ll go and ask someone else for some food.” No, of all things, Elijah said to her, “Stop being afraid! If you and your son want to go off and have a last supper and die, then go for it. But before you do that, take some of the flour that you have and cook me something to eat. Because God says that despite what you might think your flour isn’t going to run out.”

And so the widow went and did what Elijah said. She went and took those last measly ounces of flour that she had, scraped it all out of the bowl and cooked it for Elijah and fed him. But then, later on, when she went back and looked into the jar, it was just like Elijah had said – there was more flour in the bowl. And that went on, day after day, week after week, with that widow able to make enough food each day not only for her son and her, but also for Elijah.

Back in the 1940s a psychologist by the name of Abraham Maslow came out with a theory that basically said that the only way that people can focus their attention on the higher things in life – like on God and on what God wants us to do in life – is if a person’s satisfies all of their more basic needs first. One of those basic needs, Maslow said, is the need to be loved, the need to have friends and a social network that can be there to help you in the difficult times of life. According to Maslow, if you can’t get that need met in your life, then you’re not going to be able to focus on God. But even though that widow didn’t seem to have any friends to help her, even though she didn’t seem to have any kind of support system to be with her in her time of crisis, she focused herself on God and did what God was commanding her to do through the words of the prophet Elijah.

Or according to Maslow’s theory, another basic need that people have is the need for safety, the need to feel secure – which includes not only a need for physical security, to feel safe from being harmed by other people, but also a need for financial security, to feel that you have enough money not necessarily to buy everything you want, but at least to have enough money to buy the things that you really need to make it through from one day to the next. According to Maslow, if you can’t get that need met in your life, then you’re not going to be able to focus on God. But even though that widow didn’t have money, even though she wasn’t able to buy the things she needed to make it from one day to the next, she still was willing to pay attention to what God wanted her to do.

Or perhaps the most basic need, according to Maslow’s theory, is the need for those things to keep our bodies alive and well – things like water to drink and food to eat. According to Maslow, if you can’t get that need met in your life, then there’s no way you’re going to be able to pay attention to what God wants you to be doing. But even though that widow was living on the very brink of hunger and thirst, she still was willing to obey what God was calling her to do.

Many people in the world take the approach, “Hey, once I get my life together, once I take care of myself and get all my problems under control, once I get a handle on all my basic needs, then I’ll come to church, then I’ll starting focusing on God.” Over the years, I’ve heard lots and lots of people say that sort of thing. But as far as I can remember, not one of those people ever got around to actually coming to church or focusing on God.”

You see, even though psychologists might tell us that what you need to do is to focus on all your needs first, and then look to God, the Bible tells us to do the exact opposite. For instance, I want to invite you to turn into the pew Bibles to page 6 in the back part, in the New Testament, to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, starting at verse 31. On page 6 in the New Testament, in the 6^th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew beginning at verse 31 Jesus says: “Therefore do not worry, saying ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” In other words, instead of obsessing and focusing on what we don’t have, or on how little we have, or paralyzing ourselves by trying to figure out how we’re going to survive from one day to the next, if we focus on God and seek God first, then God will take care of all the other things we need, just like God took care of that widow.

For instance, one of the things we’re doing in worship today is commissioning the members of the group who will be going on the mission trip to Washington, D.C., this summer. And as you’ll be able to tell when we bring the group forward, it’s not a talented bunch. On the whole it’s a pretty pathetic bunch! You see, most places that host mission groups expect the groups that come to be able to do something – to be able to put roofs on houses, or to rebuild porches, or to do electrical or plumbing work. But our group can’t do any of those things. When it comes to those kinds of talents and skills, we’re about as incompetent and hopeless as you can get.

But instead of sitting at home and feeling bad about all the things we can’t do, the mission trip group has found a place in Washington where they basically have the attitude, “If you want to focus on God and on doing what God wants you to do, then we’ll help you do that.” And so for a week this summer the mission trip group will be helping at soup kitchens, food banks, homeless shelters, senior citizen facilities, and at a variety of other locations to do what they can to be of service to other people, to try and show other people the love that God has for them. And again, the group is doing that because instead of focusing on what they don’t have or on what they can’t do, they’re focusing on God and trusting God to open up the doors that need to be opened for great things to happen.

This morning we’re also going to be recognizing our graduates. And when young people leave high school or college, many have the same questions running through their minds: “How can I make a money?” “How can I survive in this world?” “How can I put bread on the table?” But the good news, and it’s something that we’re especially reminded of as we gather together for communion, is that ultimately we don’t have to worry about putting bread on the table. That’s because God has already put bread on the table.

A real temptation is for us to spend our lives focusing on and worrying about the things that we need to survive, to make it from one day to the next. But stories that we read in the Bible, like the one that we heard today, remind us that God knows that we need those things. And so instead of focusing on and worrying about those things, we’re invited to focus first and foremost on God – to seek God first. Because, as Jesus said, if we do that, God will eventually take care of everything else that needs to be taken care of. Because what matters most to God is not that we simply survive in this world. Rather what matters most to God is that we thrive, that we thrive by living as the people that God has created us to be.

Let us pray. Almighty God, give us a vision of the purpose that you have for each of our lives. And as we seek you above all else, may we hold fast to the hope that you have given to us in Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.