Generosity and receptiveness go hand in hand.
When Elijah sealed the heavens, he was not immune to the effects of the drought. For a time, ravens brought him food and he drank from a brook near the river Jordan. But as the drought wore on, the brook dried up, and God sent him out of Israel to the Phoenician city of Zarephath, promising that a widow would feed him (1 Kings 17:3-9).
Approaching the gate of the city, he found the woman. She was gathering sticks to build a fire so that she could prepare one last meal for herself and her son. Elijah made a bold request with a promise:
Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
1 Kings 17:13-14
For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.
Why was she willing to do this for a complete stranger? What made her trust Elijah? We don’t know. We only know that she followed his instructions and received the promised blessing. “The barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah” (1 Kings 17:16). Elijah later raised her son from the dead, and she testified that he was a prophet. “I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth” (1 Kings 17:24).
In the Book of Mormon, we read of another prophet entering a city with a request for food. Alma had previously been preaching in the city of Ammonihah and had been violently kicked out. The Lord commanded him to return, and entering the city through the south gate, he approached a stranger with a request: “Will ye give to an humble servant of God something to eat?” (Alma 8:19).
The man was Amulek, and he immediately invited Alma into his home, explaining that an angel had told him to receive him. “I will impart unto thee of my food; and I know that thou wilt be a blessing unto me and my house” (Alma 8:20).
Amulek later explained the change of heart that had preceded this event. For many years, he had ignored the miracles that surrounded him. “I was called many times,” he said, “and I would not hear; therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know” (Alma 10:6). But when the angel instructed him to return home and feed a prophet, Amulek immediately obeyed (Alma 10:7-8). He fed Alma physically, and Alma fed him spiritually. “he hath blessed mine house, … and the blessing of the Lord hath rested upon us according to the words which he spake” (Alma 10:11).
Amulek was one of the few in the city who were willing to listen to Alma, and by his own admission, this was a new posture for him. The widow of Zarephath was similarly unique. As Jesus later pointed out, “many widows were in Israel in the days of [Elijah], when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; but unto none of them was [Elijah] sent, save unto [Zarephath], a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow” (Luke 4:25-26). Apparently the openness of heart that leads to extreme generosity and receptiveness is rare. God led Elijah and Alma to people who were unusually prepared to both give and receive.
Today I will cultivate a generous and a receptive heart. I will be willing to let things go to bless other people, knowing that an heart that is willing to give is also ready to receive.
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