A Handful of Hope: Finding Faith When You’re Down to Nothing
Have you ever felt like you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel? Like you’ve exhausted every option and you’re down to your last handful of hope? The story of Elijah and the widow in 1 Kings 17 speaks directly to those moments when we feel we have nothing left to give.
When Hope Feels Deferred
The widow in Zarephath had reached her breaking point. After years of drought and famine, she was down to a handful of flour and a little oil – enough for one last meal before she and her son would die. She had moved from thriving to surviving, and now she couldn’t even survive.
This is what happens when hope is deferred. As Proverbs 13:12 tells us, “Hope deferred makes the heart grow sick.” When we’ve been waiting for breakthrough in our families, finances, health, or dreams, and nothing seems to change, our hearts can become weary.
How Deferred Hope Makes Us Sick
When hope is delayed, it affects us in three critical ways:
We Question Whether We Hear God
We begin to doubt our ability to hear from God. We create distance in our prayer life and lower our expectations because we’re not sure God sees us, hears us, or knows us. We start questioning whether that dream or vision was really from God or just our own imagination.
Our Faith Gets Robbed
We stop expecting good things because we don’t want to get our hopes up only to be disappointed again. Our faith becomes weary, and we pull back from believing God can do the impossible. We quit asking God for those big things we once believed for.
Our Willingness to Obey Diminishes
We stop making preparations for the breakthrough we once believed was coming. Maybe we were disciplined with our finances, diligent in our giving, or faithful in our prayers – but when hope is deferred, we often abandon these practices because we’ve lost faith in the dream.
Three Ways to Prepare When Hope Is Wavering
Even when your faith feels weak, you can still be “a prisoner of hope.” Here are three ways to prepare for what God wants to do in your life:
1. Increase Your Ability to Hear God
Stop praying for answers and start praying for direction. Instead of asking God when your breakthrough will come, ask Him for wisdom about the next steps. God orders the steps of the righteous – focus on just the next few steps rather than trying to see the entire horizon.
Sometimes you have to go through something to get to something. Keep moving in the right direction, even if you can only crawl. Read God’s Word while you pray, because He never speaks contrary to what He’s already said.
2. Increase Your Capacity to Believe God
Feed your faith intentionally. When hope is deferred, faith gets weak, so you need to do even more to strengthen it. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, so listen to messages that build your faith, read Scripture out loud, and pray audibly.
Take small faith steps. Do something that exercises your faith, even if it’s small. Buy the business cards before you have the business. Get the laptop case before you can afford the laptop. These mustard seed acts of faith help rebuild your capacity to believe.
3. Increase Your Willingness to Obey God
Use what you have instead of focusing on what you don’t have. The widow only had a handful of flour and a little oil, but God said that was enough to work with. Stop measuring your lack and start using what’s in your hand.
Separate your obedience from outcomes. Obey God because of His character, not because of the promise. True discipleship means obeying when you don’t feel like it and when nothing seems to be working.
God Makes the Way, You Make the Room
When Elijah asked the widow to make him bread first, he was asking her to make room for God to work supernaturally. She had to let go of what she was clinging to – that last handful of flour – and trust God with the outcome.
God wasn’t asking her to make a way; He was asking her to make room. Sometimes surrendering what we’re holding onto is exactly what God needs to perform a miracle in our lives.
Your Assignment Is Someone Else’s Answer
The widow’s story teaches us two powerful truths: Your assignment is the answer to someone else’s need, and your unleashed potential is someone else’s unmet need. When God works in your life, it’s not just about you – it’s about how He can work through you to bless others.
After the widow obeyed, the Bible says she fed not just herself and her son, but her extended family. Your obedience to God doesn’t just affect you – it can change things for many people.
Life Application
This week, identify one area where your hope has been deferred. Instead of asking God for the complete answer, ask Him for direction on the next step. Take one small faith action – something that moves you toward your dream even if you can’t see how it will all work out.
Consider these questions: What am I clinging to that I need to surrender to God? How can I separate my obedience from my desired outcomes? What small step of faith can I take this week with what I currently have in my hands?
Remember, sometimes the “suddenlies” in the Bible took 15-20 years. Your handful of hope might be exactly what God needs to work a miracle in your life. Don’t give up – prepare to prosper by increasing your ability to hear God, strengthening your faith, and stepping out in obedience with whatever you have.