"Obedience" Kathryn Kuhlman Elijah and the Widow 1 Kings Chapter 17

Today I'm going to continue my heart -to -heart talk regarding something that is the most practical thing in the world. And it's a part of our inheritance in Christ Jesus. Oh, if only we could learn how to live. Honestly, there never was a generation that knew more about life than this generation. And it's just like that. And yet... I still contend that there never was a generation that knew less about living than this generation. And if only you and I could learn how to live this Christian life. Because every provision has been made by the Master for a daily, triumphant, consistent, happy life. But there are some things that are necessary if we're going to live according to God's plan for a happy life. I talked to you, you know, about the power of God. Oh, you've heard me talk over and over again about the power of God. And that's the only part that I play in this ministry, really, is to just get you to see how big, God is. Just to remind you how great is His power. And when once you realize the bigness, the greatness of God, then it's simple, it's easy for the two of you to work everything else out from there on out. But there's something else I want you to see. Not only the bigness of His power, But the fact that his presence with his people is real, it's not just a theory. Oh, you know, we've got so many theories. But this, what I'm talking to you about, is something that is not a theory, but a fact. The most real thing to you as an individual. And that is his presence. presence with you. Now some folk act as though they feel that when they have troubles, when there's sorrow, when tragedy comes to them, that God just turns his back and he walks away, leaving them. That's the way people do sometimes, you know. People are so fickle. Oh, sure, most of our friends, when you really analyze it, are sunny weather friends. As long as you can buy them a meal, and as long as you are doing the giving, and as long as they are receiving from you, as long as the sun's shining and everything's going well, they're good friends. But just a minute, something goes wrong. Where are they? They never come around any longer. As long as your husband is footing the bill. But the minute he loses his job, where are they? They aren't hanging around anymore. They don't come to your house anymore. Oh, human nature is so fickle. And some of us get the idea that God is like that. But he's there. He's just as real. He's just as near to you. He's just as dependable. He is just as powerful as He was when you were in the Holy Sanctuary feeling the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit. And you were receiving His glorious presence. Oh, that's glorious. Remember that. presence with His people is not merely a theory, it's a fact. But I want you to see something. We're going to go a little deeper. The Word of God says, obedience is greater than sacrifice. I didn't say that, but I have found it's true. God knows exactly what he's talking about. Now, if I were to have made a statement, in my limited knowledge, I would have said, the greatest thing in the world to you is sacrifice. And we hear so much about sacrifice. Oh, sacrifice. Sacrifice. Sacrifice is wonderful, but... I found out that there is a place in Christ Jesus that when we love him enough, nothing is really a sacrifice. When you love somebody enough, no matter what you do for them, you never consider it a sacrifice. Because love is something you do. Nothing. No matter what you paid for it. No matter what you had to go through to get it, no matter how much of yourself was involved, when you love someone enough, nothing is a sacrifice. You only wish you could do more. If you really want to test your love, that's one of the greatest tests I know anything about. Mm -hmm. And so it is with the master. When you love him enough, The hours are never too long. You're never too tired. Nothing that you give, nothing that you do, is ever considered a sacrifice. You only wish you could do more. The Word of God says that obedience is greater than sacrifice. Obedience is something. That was one of the lessons I had to learn early in life. And I learned it the hard way. Seems to me that everything I've ever learned in life was the hard way. Oh, dear me. What I've gone through in life would have been enough to kill the average person. But I was always the kind that... Every time I got knocked down, up I came again, you know. A little stronger. Fought a little harder. I've always tried to learn. And everything. You see, it's because I didn't get anything that I know from a seminary. I didn't get anything that I have learned in life out of a textbook. I never went to a college in my life. I never went to a university. In my life, I didn't have these privileges. I got mine the hard way. Sometimes it was mighty hard. And this is one of the lessons I had to learn. This thing of obedience. And sometimes you follow him in obedience in blind faith. Mm -hmm. Yeah. Abraham, go. Go where, God? Where? Never mind, Abraham. Go. Go. I've given the command. Go. And he went. Moses, go. But I can't, Lord. I have a stammering tongue. I'm not big enough to meet the situation. I can't carry this responsibility. Lord, dear me, are you sure you're not making a mistake? Go, Moses. All that I ask of you is to be obedient. That's all. And God didn't show Moses how he was going to lead. He didn't lay out a blueprint before him. He didn't give him one bit of assurance. Of any provision. Not really. He just showed Moses himself. And said, Moses, keep your eyes on me. Go. And as long as you are obedient to me. And there came the hour when Moses stood face to face with the Red Sea. With the thousands behind him that he was leading. to the word of God, and God never opened the Red Sea three feet ahead of Moses. I do not believe that the waters of the Red Sea parted two feet, 18 inches, 12 inches. God said, go, Moses, and it was when Moses literally lifted his foot, as though he were placing it up on water, that the waters of the Red Sea rolled back as mold and glass on either side, and God led through. Obedience, that's it. And there's more involved in obedience than you and I can realize. Do something, if you will, please. Turn to the portion of the Word of God, and I won't have time to read it all to you. You read it. It's 1 Kings, the 17th chapter. Just mark it down if your Bible isn't handy. I want you to read the whole thing. Spend time with it. Elijah is involved in this one. Elijah was obedient to the Lord. And you are never in God's perfect will unless you are following Him in obedience. All the way. But there's more than Elijah mixed up in this portion of the Word of God. Before we're through the entire thing, there's Elijah, who was obedient first, then a little widow who was obedient. And then finally, because this thing is like a snowball, it keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Obedience isn't for just a moment, not for just that one experience, not for just a day. When you're obedient to him, the thing keeps snowballing and gets bigger and bigger and bigger. All right, watch it. Elijah, arise. And in obedience, he did exactly that. Behold, I have commanded a widow woman to sustain thee. I am now beginning with the ninth verse of the 17th chapter of 1 Kings, but you read the entire thing. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks. And he called to her and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in the vessel that I may drink. He probably had never seen her before. She had never seen him. She didn't even know who he was. But God knew the whole thing, and he never makes a mistake. Oh, I'll tell you, and he runs on schedule. And as she was going to fetch it, he called her and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. See, the water? She could get him. But when she started to get the water, he called back and said, And say, would you mind please bringing me a morsel of bread? And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake. I don't have. a cake. I'm a poor little widow woman. All on earth I have is a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruise. And behold, I'm gathering two sticks that I may go in and dress it for me and my son that we may eat it and die because that was all she had. That was all honors. Wouldn't one have thought that God would have sent Elijah in his time of need? To a wealthy person? Somebody who had much to give? It's the strangest thing. God doesn't work that way. Do you want to know who is supporting his work? Not the millionaires, but those who have just a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in the cruise, and they are the ones who will receive the reward. It's always been like that. She said, that's all I've got. I've only got a little handful of meal, just enough for one meal for my son and myself. I've got a little oil in the cruise. And behold, I'm getting sticks. That's what I was doing when you saw me, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die. Because that's all we have. There's no chance of getting any more. And Elijah said unto her, fear not. Go and do it as thou hast said. But make me, therefore, a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruise of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah. And she... And he and her house did eat many days. God always blesses obedience. Always. I've learned a long time ago that the reason many, many people never get anywhere in life is because they have never learned of this wonderful secret of being obedient unto the Lord. They get so greedy. They get so selfish. And the minute that you do, you lose the blessing, and year passes, and five years pass, and still you have no more than you had the first year. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruise of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord. which he spake by Elijah, is at the end. No, it's not the end, because obedience continues. It grows. Because the little widow woman was obedient in something that on the surface seemed very small, there came a time when she needed something big from the Lord. He remembered her obedience. This continues. And it came to pass after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick. And his sickness was so sore that there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah, she remembered the preacher. What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou coming to me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son? And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, carried him up into a loft, where he abode. They were just poor people. They'd lived up in a loft. And he laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the Lord and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourned by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried unto the Lord and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child. brought him down out of the chamber into the house and delivered him unto his mother. And Elijah said, See, thy son liveth. And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth. But I do not... believe that this miracle would have happened if the little widow woman had not been obedient with the handful of meal in the barrel and the little oil that was left in the cruise. God bless you.