The High Cost of Living, Part 1: The High Cost of Trust

The High Cost of Living (1 Kings 17:7-12)

       ⁷ Some time later, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. ⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to him: ⁹ “Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.” ¹⁰ So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” ¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”
       ¹² “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” 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 die.”

Parallels to our current reality:

This is an unprecedented time of and

This family has a

This single mom has moved beyond fear to

Biblical Principle: When God’s people , God .

1 Kings 17:13-14
       ¹³ Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. 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. ¹⁴ 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.’”

Trusting God to supply is

Trusting God to supply is

God has called us to act counterintuitively in times of

God has called us to extravagant in the face of personal need

In the face of an economic crisis, there is a crisis of faith:
1 Kings 17:17-24
       ¹⁷ Some time, later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. ¹⁸ She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”
       ¹⁹ “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. ²⁰ Then he cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” ²¹ Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”
       ²² The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. ²³ Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”
      ²⁴ Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

An interesting note:
Elijah’s name means “My God is ”

In this time of crisis and dependence we find God revealed in his Hebrew names:

Jehovah-Rophi – the Lord who

Jehovah-Jireh – the Lord will

Jehovah-Shalom – the Lord our

Jehovah-Shamma – the Lord is

Jehovah-‘Ez-Lami – the Lord my

Jehovah-Ganan – the Lord our

Today, where are you putting your trust?

Small Group Questions

1. What did you do for Super Bowl Sunday? For those who don’t like football, state emphatically and with passion, “I don’t care!”
2. What adjustments, if any, have you had to make due to the current high cost of living?
3. Have you ever faced true economic uncertainty or food insecurity? How did God show up for you in those trying moments?
4. What does “living with an open hand” mean to you as you follow Jesus?
5. Which of the names of God do you need to become your reality right now? Why?
6. How can we pray for you right now and throughout the week?