Faith : Having your cake and eating too

Elijah was on the run, Jezebel had sworn to kill him. He was exhausted when he reached the widow's house that God had sent him to. All he wanted now was a chance to rest, a cool drink of water, and just a little bite to eat.
1 Kings 17:10-11 (KJV)
¹⁰ So he arose and went to Zarephath. 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 a vessel, that I may drink.
¹¹ And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. Had he forgotten there was a famine in the land? No one had bread to spare.
1 Kings 17:12 (KJV)
¹² And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a 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.
The widow is a good example of so many of us Christians, once our material means are gone, most often, so is our faith. "We believe God just as far was we can see 'im." As mortal man our entire way of thinking is backward when it comes to faith. Man says "show me and i'll believe, God says believe and i'll show ya!"


1 Kings 17:13-14 (KJV)
¹³ And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
¹⁴ For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.
"What, didn't he hear her, didn't he hear her say that there was just enough for her and her child?" It was bad enough that it was her and the boy's last meal, now a stranger arrives asking for to have that!" Talk about feeling forgotten and forsaken, and this guy's not only asking her to give him her last morsel of bread, but now he's asking her to believe the impossible.
"Go ahead make me a cake and your barrel will never run dry! Sure, and it's gonna rain any minute now." But wait, God had told her that he was sending a stranger, and after all this it what did she have to lose? Many times when in the midst of a trial we plead with the Lord to deliver us, yet many times we ask, never really believing that he will. I am sure this little widow mixed that cake with a heavy heart,all the while looking at her hungry boy. There it was done, he had his cake! Looking at the boy as he watched the old prophet eat the cake, maybe, just maybe there was enough for him a little cake. Returning to the barrel she dipped in, and to her surprise came up with a measure of meal! She wanted to shout but she kept her peace, there was still the matter of the oil. Walking over to the cruise she tilted it and to her surprise out poured, beautiful oil! This miracle was repeated time and again until the Lord God ended the famine.  If we press through the doubt and put God first, we really can have our cake and eat it too!!