Level 2
Lesson 4: Cake for All

“One stick, two sticks,” counted the mother, as she lifted them from the ground. “Surely two sticks will make a fire big enough to cook such a little cake as I shall be able to make with just the handful of flour that is left in the barrel. There is hardly enough to make one small cake for my son and myself. When it is eaten, what shall we do? There is nothing to do but to lie down and die, for where, oh, where shall we find more food, now that the rain has ceased to fall and nothing will grow?”

She had no more than ceased speaking to herself when she heard a voice close beside her. What was that? She dropped one of her sticks as she turned quickly to see who was speaking.

It was Elijah, a good man, who had come a long way along the dusty road. He smiled at her, saying, “Bring me, please, a little water in a cup that I may drink.”

“Gladly,” said the woman. “Sit here in the shade while I go and get it.”

But, before she reached the house, Elijah called to her, saying, “Bring me, please, a piece of bread in your hand.”

The mother looked at him, “Bread!” she said. “As God lives, I have no bread, but only a handful of flour in the barrel, and a little oil in the jar. See! I am gathering two sticks that I may go in and bake a small cake for my son and myself, and when it is eaten there will be nothing left for us to do but to die. How can I give you food to eat when there is not enough for me and my son?”

Now Elijah was a man who often talked with God. He was sure God would take care of them all, so he said to the poor mother, “Fear not. Go and do as you have said. But make me a little cake and bring it to me, and afterward make for you and your son. God will take care of us. The barrel of flour shall not run out, neither shall the jar become empty, until the day that God sends rain upon the earth.”

What should the woman do? Her little boy was hungry, but the man, Elijah, was hungry, too. She would share the little that she had. She would make a cake for him as he had said.

So she made little cakes for Elijah, and for herself, and for her little boy, and the cakes were as brown and sweet as one could desire. She gave the first ones to Elijah, who ate them gladly.

And the story goes that although Elijah stayed with the mother and the little boy many days, not once did any of them go hungry, for it was even as Elijah had said it would be. There was flour and oil enough to last until the rain fell once more, and the new crops were gathered into the barns.

We could ask ourselves, is this a story about a man of God who selfishly asked for something for himself? Or, is this a story where the man of God knew what God was going to do and wanted to test the faith of the mother? Would she selfishly think only of her needs and therefore not provide for the man of God?

I wonder what we would have done if we were the mother. Isn’t it wonderful the way the story ended? I wonder if this kind of thing could happen today as we put God first in some area of our lives and then find out that doing that caused things to work out so much better than just selfishly thinking about number one all the time.

Let’s think about it.