Give To The Last Drop

When Cortez began his conquest of the Americas, he had his ships burned so that his men would have no other choice but to carry out their campaign. It was harsh but effective. Sometimes the Lord requires a similarly extreme measure from us. When Elijah visited the widow of Zarephath, the widow was down to her last handful of flour and her last drop of oil. She knew that this would not be enough. She was staring death for her and for her son in the face. Her little handful of flour and drop of oil would not save her but it was all she had. Elijah offered her a way out. He offered her and her son a chance to live, but only if she was all in. She had to give up everything she had, down to the last drop. It was the only way. If there was even a tiny sliver of a hopeless chance that she could still maybe make it on her own without the Lord's help, then her faith would not be sufficient for the promised miracle. She would have to burn the ship behind her, so that she had no choice but to put her whole trust in the Lord. Once she scraped out the barrel of the very last of the old, unremarkable, insufficient meal, and shook out the cruse of the very last drop of the old, unremarkable, insufficient oil, then she finally had made space for the Lord to place His miracle. If we want the Lord to fill us with belief, then we have to dump out all of our doubts and unbeliefs. If we want to be filled with faith, then we have to shake out all of our fears. If we want to be filled to overflowing with true, unadulterated joy, then we have to throw out every cheap imitation knockoff happiness that the world has to offer but only poisons our heart with sadness and regret. If we want our strength to be as unending as the widow of Zarephath's barrel of meal and cruse of oil, then we have to give up all of the things in our lives that we, in our weakness, are convinced that we desperately need, not because they will help us survive, but because they might just postpone our inevitable destruction for one day more. If we are holding onto even a handful of our own "strength", then we will not be able to lay our hands upon the Lord's power. A single drop of doubt and fear and despair stood between the widow and a limitless supply of miraculous sustenance. Once she gave up that last drop, the oil did not cease to flow for as long as the famine lasted. We have to clear out the thorns that choke and the stones that stifle and plow the field of our hearts before the seed of faith can grow. We have to cast fear out before perfect love can fill us to the brim. We have to sacrifice the old, broken way of doing things so that we can do them the Lord's way. We have to give to the last drop, until nothing stands between us and our Heavenly Father. I know that God is a God of miracles and the only reason that all of our barrels aren't overflowing is because we're too fearful to give up all of our boring, non-miracle flour. Giving up the very last of her flour and oil so that she and her son truly had nothing left must have been one of the hardest things the Widow ever did, but on the other side of her fear and sacrifice waited one of the greatest miracles she would ever see. Our Heavenly Father has promised us everything He has, but if we want to lay claim to our inheritance, then we must first give up everything we have, down to the very last drop.