The widow of Zarephath has no name. God instructs her to feed the prophet but she doesn’t seem to have got the message. She is so poor and friendless that all that remains for her to do is to make a final meal for herself and her son and then wait for a lingering death by starvation. She knows enough about the God of Israel to discern that Elijah was his prophet. Or maybe he was famous beyond the borders of Israel.
Elijah speaks the words of consolation that appear again and again in the Bible, wherever an unlikely work of God is about to happen and the natural reaction of any mortal would be to be afraid (see the angel Gabriel greeting Mary for an example). In this case, the widow is being asked to exercise a great deal of faith and take what must have felt like the terrible step of cutting a portion of the dough for a loaf for Elijah. Perhaps her boy’s eyes were on her reproachfully, and her stomach rumbled as she prepared the prophet’s loaf, which would have been meagre enough. But something about the words, spoken on behalf of the Lord, the God of Israel, were enough to convince her that it was worth taking the risk.
And her faith and obedience were rewarded. Just as the prophet had promised, the flour and the oil did not run out and they were supplied throughout the famine. Surely this experience was enough to bring this poor widow to true faith and knowledge of the God of Israel, the great provider and keeper of promises?
But tragedy strikes. Her boy, the apple of eye, her only hope for the future, begins to ail and finally dies. Her confidence in the God of Israel as good and gracious, is shaken and she turns on Elijah to ask what she has done wrong to be robbed so cruelly of her precious son. Elijah seems shaken too. His cry to God is raw and heartfelt. After having brought tragedy to the people of Israel by declaring a drought, is this poor, hospitable, faithful widow now going to be so bereft? What purpose could this terrible loss serve?
Elijah does the only thing he can do, call out to God for this event to be reversed. He lies on the boy three times – why we don’t know – and life is restored to the boy.
Now, in the face of this greater miracle, the widow can say with all her heart, “I know that you are a man of God and the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.” What a constant supply of oil and flour had failed to do, the return of her son from the dead, did.
I wish I had a story of someone who experienced several miracles before they believed but I don't. However, I think this two-stage process (God shows himself to be real, followed by someone being raised from the dead) is how everyone is born again.