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God must have chuckled as He stowed Elijah away in Zarephath. You might even say that God has a sense of humor! He hid His prophet right at enemy headquarters, the very last place where Ahab and Jezebel would think to look. He placed him in the home of a woman who no one would even guess had the means to sustain a visitor. The widow of Zarephath was not some wealthy businesswoman. She was poor as a church mouse, and about to die.

Yes, God does have a sense of humor. His directions may not sound logical at times. He may tuck you securely away in what seems like a dangerous place. But if God chooses to hide you under the shadow of His pavilion, and that pavilion happens to be in the heart of enemy headquarters, that’s where you need to go. God has promised to care for His own, and He will never—no never–fail.

When Elijah reached the city of Zarephath, he found the woman gathering sticks. And he found her, in spite of an apparent lack of detailed directions from God. The prophet knew the town where this woman lived, and he knew that she was a widow. But the Lord didn’t give out a house address, or a phone number, or even an e-mail address. All He said was “Elijah, go to Zarephath. There is a widow woman there to meet you.” Yet somehow Elijah was able to find the widow God had in mind.

How could Elijah know that this was the right widow? And how did the widow woman know that she was to care for him? My dear friends, it wasn’t by chance that Elijah met that woman. Before Elijah set out on the journey, God started a work in the heart of that woman.

Nothing happens by chance to the Christian. If you have given your life to Christ, anything that happens in your life is specially designed by an Almighty Creator. A Lord who is still in control and still on His throne, guides the affairs of your life. He watches over the good times and the bad, the celebrations and the sorrow. Once you set your foot on the path of obedience, there is nothing that happens in your life by chance. The Lord is working on the hearts of others, sending them to meet you at the appointed hour. They may not be gathering sticks, but they will be in your path for a purpose, all according to the timing of our great and powerful God.

Before Jacob sent his children to Egypt seeking for food, the Lord raised Joseph up as a Prime Minister/provider. Before Israel sent spies to Jericho, God raised up Rahab to shield them. Before the Ethiopian eunuch cried out for help in understanding the Bible, the Lord tugged at the heart of Philip to study it for himself. At the very moment Cornelius was praying for the gospel to be spread in Caesarea, the Lord sent Peter a dream with orders for a trip to that city. And before Elijah set even one foot on Zarephath road, God prepared the heart of this widow.

My dear friends, there is no chance in the life of a Christian. Which is why the Bible uses the word “Behold” (which means what a surprise) to describe what happened when Elijah came to the city. Behold! The widow woman was outside of the city, gathering sticks. Perhaps Elijah didn’t know at that moment that this was the right widow woman, but he called to her anyway.

“Fetch me, I pray, a little water that I may drink,” was the prophet’s request. Apparently the Lord was putting this woman, as well as Elijah, to a test. Her very salvation depended on sharing her meager store.

Similarly, our salvation will depend on whether we share our faith. You can’t be a Christian while you sit there, not sharing the gospel. You must share your resources, no matter how meager. Share your faith. Share your time. Share your dinner table, share those unused clothes in your closet. The Lord wants you to share, for His work will be greatly furthered if each one of us stops filling our closets and brings all we can spare for the furtherance of God’s gospel. Like the woman of Zarephath, our very future depends on our willingness to share.

In addition to the woman’s need to share, God had another reason for sending Elijah to Zarephath. It’s relatively easy for us to be good Christians when we’re all by ourselves at Cherith. It’s easy to be a saint when no one is bothering you. You can be as holy as you want to be when you are all by yourself. It’s also relatively easy to be Christian while conducting the choir, or standing on top of Mount Carmel. But it’s quite another thing to be a Christian in your day-to-day interactions at home.

Elijah was single and needed the experience of a home life. He needed training in a house where there was a woman and a little baby. He needed a bit of “homeschooling” in what it took to be a family man, and so the Lord sent him where he could experience of the joy and frustrations of everyday. Elijah needed to learn how to act when someone left the cap off the toothpaste, how to wash dishes and handle a crying baby. Perhaps he needed more patience.

My dear friends, we can’t stand on Mount Carmel unless each one of us has passed the test of the home life. Our families must be able to say “My wife, husband or father is a real Christian.”

If you are not Christian now, it will take courage to change. This is especially true if you are married. Your spouse may think your marriage is the result of chance. You may be even tempted to think you made a mistake. But regardless of whatever mistakes you have made, the Lord has allowed your spouse to come into your life for a reason. Perhaps God wants to bring out the very worst in your life, so you can see it clearly and receive power to overcome your personal weaknesses.

If you live in a dormitory and have a cantankerous roommate, know that it isn’t by chance. The Lord is letting you see a bit of yourself—a bit that you wouldn’t have seen on the mountain, in the monastery, or at the brook Cherith. Sometimes God has to let the very worst of us show forth, before He can bring out the best. God has a training for you, my friend. He wants to refine you and bring out the best. He wants to bring out the best in your home life. And God in His great mercy knew that Elijah needed the refining experience of Zarephath, the experience of a home life.

There is another interesting point we can gather in this story. Notice that while Elijah was a Jew, the woman of Zarephath was a Gentile. There is a suggestion here, a suggestion that we cannot stand on Mount Carmel unless there is harmony again between races, genders and cultures.

My dear friends, we cannot pass this test until we break down the divisions of race. No doubt you’ve heard of the sad events in Rwanda. In less than three months more than one million people were killed in tribal warfare, a form of racism. Ten thousand of the people who died were Seventh-day Adventists. The saddest part of all is that some Adventists killed their fellow believers. But sad to say, there is an even worse form of tribalism in this country.

You can call it by any name, but I am speaking of the black and white issue in this church, the fact that our congregations are mostly split along racial lines. No matter what the history may have been, the idea of black churches and white churches is still not best for today. We have to break down those walls. We need to start inviting white members to worship in and even pastor black churches, and black ministers to do the same in white churches. There is no need for black and white churches. We are all part of the family of God. The walls that divide us must fall. Elijah must meet the widow.

Sorry to say, the church is also segregated around special interest groups. We have men’s groups, women’s groups, youth groups, children’s groups, and single’s groups. How did we come up with these interest groups? We take surveys to find out what the interest groups want, then we plan special events for their needs.

I am not saying there is anything wrong with these groups. They have their place. But deliberately dividing the church along interest group lines is not God’s plan. The church needs to be a family. Let the little children be with us during church service, to learn what true worship is. Let them see the beauty, joy and solemnity of the church on its knees before God, as a unified and praying family.

We need the experience of Elijah, my friends. We have already had division. We need the church as a family. Let us not be separated by our college degrees, or doctoral marks of identity. Let us put aside our points of pride, and not be offended if someone forgets to call us “Pastor” or “Doctor”. We need the experience of family. We need the singles and the married in the church. We need the men and the women, the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the divorced and the homeless. We need those with doctorates from the School of Hard Knocks, those with degrees from Harvard, and everyone in between.

God says “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.” Red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in His sight. In the new earth all nations will come to worship before him, but we need all nations–and all kinds of people–in the church right now. Like the prophet Elijah, we need the refining experience of Zarephath. Then and only then will God will use this family experience to reveal–and heal–our previously hidden weaknesses.

Adapted from a sermon by Dr. Samuel Pipim. Published online by permission. Copyright ©2008 Cari Haus.