Trials & Tribulation

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭17:7‭-9 ‭KJV‬‬

[7] And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. [8] And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, [9] Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. 

Elijah wanted to go against the idol worship, he wanted to fight Jezebel's corruption. But God sent him to Zarephath - interesting note that this was the place Jezebel had been born and raised. God told him that He would sustain him through this time, that a widow would provide him what he needed. As he gets there, that same widow is on the brink of starvation. God used Elijah's trial and testing to sustain that widow and her son miraculously. Later on, God used Elijah's trial and testing to bring the son back to life. Quite literally, what seemed like a detour through Hades for Elijah was God's miraculous provision and salvation for a widow and her son. 

Your season of trial and testing might just be the saving of someone else. We get so busy with "woe is me" and "why God?" looking for the miracles God can do FOR us that we can miss out on the miracles God wants to do THROUGH us. What if your fiery furnance is salvation for another soul? What if your trial is someone else's miracle? We need to grow out of our egocentrism. In the words of a friend of mine: "It ain't about you!" That's tough to swallow, I know. But it's necessary if God is going to work miracles through you. And don't worry, you'll be blessed too along the way. God didn't detour Elijah to Zarephath, the birth place of his greatest enemy, on accident. And God didn't detour your life on accident either.