THE LAST MEAL

I had the privilege of sharing with a community of believers last week and the topic was “The Last Meal”. This topic was intended to preach the message of hope in relation to brethren who may be passing through a hard time. As I began intensely understand the scripture to look into the concept of the last meal, I began to see more than what had always been the popular thought about this part of the scriptures.

The scripture in the book of 1King17 gave us the event of a man of God, Prophet Elijah, declaring famine in the land and he himself becoming a victim of the declaration. In the midst of the famine, the Lord made provisions of ravens and brook to feed Prophet Elijah. After the brook dried up, the Lord told him to go to Zarephath where He had instructed a widow to feed him.

In Zarephath was a widow who was also affected by the famine declared by the prophet of God upon the land. She had the ingredients to prepare a meal that would only be sufficient for herself and her son, hence, it was called the last meal. This directly means, this was the last events on earth for them. She had come to a state of accepting the present reality. I want us to see here first that the widow had given up on life. The meal was not any product of hope. Hope means you are looking forward to something, however, in this case there was nothing she was looking forward to but to die and her mind was settled about it. The same way you give up on some issues and situation. In fact, there are some things you have come to the conclusion that it just doesn’t belong to your class. If there is another life, perhaps you would choose better.  The widow was in this state.

At this point of already giving up on life, the prophet came and she gave the man of God a warm reception. Only for the prophet to ask that he needed the woman to prepare a meal for him, and expectedly, she explained her predicament to the prophet. Knowing fully well what God had told him, the prophet requested that she first prepare for him before preparing that of herself and her child and she yielded to his word. This would only happen ordinarily if the woman can sight some goodies in the prophet’s bag which would replace for what she and her child would eat.

There have been exploration of this last meal in relation to giving and hope and even some using it as a reference to drop all that is with you monetarily to bring forth an unending supply from God. However I see the Lord showing us something beyond just that.

Going back to the unfolding of the event, the Lord told Prophet Elijah that he had instructed a woman to feed him. But, if you check the lines of discussion well, the woman didn’t seem to have a definite word from God. When she saw the Prophet, she never spoke affirmatively in a way that showed she had received a definite word from God. If she had been spoken to the same way Prophet Elijah heard God, she would have welcomed the prophet and made statement like “the Lord had told me you were coming, your meal will be prepared shortly”.

God spoke to two people but the way they both received it differ: one heard it clearly; the other was just living in the reality of God’s word. When you are God’s, He works on you without your permission. When you go through hard times you may not have the capacity to hear God clearly due to the clouds of emotion, but, He is working out His word in you.

Now, this is the point am driving at, the woman didn’t just give out the last meal because she was generous. Not even because she wanted prosperity. The Lord had instructed her heart without her knowing. The word the Lord sent to her wasn’t an audible voice, it was grace in her heart to do the seeming impossible so as to cross to the other side. Even at the height of depression she was in God’s will. So, I see we so much concentrate on the fact that she gave up her last meal without looking closer into how she was able to do it. It was an unusual enablement- grace.

There is a grace for everything you go through. Every man goes through a different form of last meal period, that is, a state of hopelessness. Total lock-down. You won’t survive it without the commensurate grace for that situation. Have you not wondered how some people go through some situations and you ask how on earth did they survive that? There is a grace for every situation. You will think the condition is going to kill you naturally, but, grace will pull you through. There must have been many widows in Zarephath, if any of them offered her last meal, her obituary will be quicker than expected. Instruction comes with grace. God won’t tell you to do what He has not enabled you to do. And, it always yield results.

So, the last meal is not pointing us to going to give off what we have left, but, that there is grace to remain in His will in the midst of hopelessness. God was working in and through her; He is working in you and through you even inside of the dead end you may find yourself.

Have a blessed week. You are coming out stronger.

Be Innovated

Olufemi Ibitoye