The Widow’s Journey: Why Obedience Alone Is Not Enough Without Faith and Trust
- Catherine Guillaume-Sackey
- Jun 16
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 17
Master of Public Affairs and Politics | 2024 Princeton P3 Scholar | 2022 Rutgers University Paul Robeson Scholar | Analyst | NJ Certified MWBE | Community Development Advocate | Leadership Development Consultant
1 Kings 17:8–24 By Catherine Sackey
There are moments in life when obedience is present, but trust is still absent. Obedience moves the hands—we follow instructions, serve where we're assigned, and give what we're asked. But trust governs the heart. Trust believes for what cannot be seen. Trust rests while waiting. Trust surrenders outcomes.
In the story of the widow of Zarephath, God reveals a pattern we all experience: obedience can sustain provision for a time, but full alignment requires obedience, faith, and trust working as one.
The widow’s journey began as she gathered sticks to prepare what she assumed would be her final meal (1 Kgs 17:12). She wasn’t hopeless; she was managing what she could see. She obeyed the prophet Elijah’s request for water and bread. She gave what was asked, but not from a place of expectation. She was simply responding to what stood before her. Her first now was obedience without expectation.
God honored her obedience and sustained her house. The flour did not run out. The oil did not dry up (1 Kgs 17:16). Provision flowed daily. Yet even with daily provision, trust was not fully formed. She was no longer expecting immediate death, but she was not resting in full surrender either. Provision carried her in the moment, but the deeper work in her heart remained unfinished. Her second now was provision without internal transformation.
Then loss came. Her son fell sick and died. And in her grief, her internal struggle surfaced: “Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” (1 Kgs 17:18). Her sin wasn’t scandalous or public—it was hidden in her incomplete surrender. She obeyed God’s word, but she had not fully trusted His character. Her son’s death exposed the place that obedience alone could not protect. She handed her son to Elijah, not in hope, but because she had no ability to do anything else. Her third now was surrender without expectation—simply letting go of what she could not hold.
It is here that Elijah carried her into a place she could not go herself. He took the boy to the upper room (1 Kgs 17:19). The widow did not follow. She stayed where she was—still in her now. She had obeyed, but she could not climb to the place of full alignment. The upper room became the space where what her obedience began, Elijah’s intercession would complete.
Elijah stretched himself out over the boy three times (1 Kgs 17:21). This was not repetition for its own sake; this was alignment on her behalf. Each stretch carried what the widow could not voice: her obedience, her unspoken faith, and her uncompleted trust. Elijah stood in the gap, praying: “Lord, complete what she cannot complete. Align what her heart cannot yet align. Bring her obedience, faith, and trust into one act before You.”
The upper room throughout Scripture is always a place of transaction and alignment. It was in an upper room that Jesus established covenant with His disciples at the Last Supper (Luke 22:12–20). It was in an upper room that the early church waited until the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost (Acts 1:13; 2:1–4). It was in another upper room that Elisha would later stretch over the dead son of the Shunammite woman (2 Kgs 4:32–37). Each time, the upper room represented a place where human limitation met divine completion. And here again, Elijah stood in the upper room, carrying the widow’s house into alignment before the Lord.
When the boy was restored, Elijah brought him down and returned him to his mother. And finally, the widow spoke words she had not been able to declare before: “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is truth” (1 Kgs 17:24). This was her final now—not the now of survival, not the now of loss, but the now of revelation. Obedience, faith, and trust had finally converged into one.
Her journey is not unlike many others. Some obey without expectation. Some receive provision but protect their hearts. Some experience loss that exposes incomplete surrender. And some are carried by intercession into places they cannot yet go on their own. But full alignment comes when obedience, faith, and trust are no longer divided—when God completes what we could not finish.
Obedience moves the hands. Provision sustains the house. Loss tests the heart. But trust secures the future. And when trust is secured, one can finally say: “Now I know that the word of the Lord is truth” (1 Kgs 17:24).
Reference Guide
All Scripture citations are from The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011).
Primary Text:
1 Kings 17:8–24 — The Widow of Zarephath’s journey
Key Moments in the Widow’s Journey:
1 Kings 17:12 — The widow’s initial now
1 Kings 17:16 — Daily provision sustained
1 Kings 17:17–18 — The crisis of loss
1 Kings 17:19 — Elijah carries her son to the upper room
1 Kings 17:21 — Elijah’s threefold intercession
1 Kings 17:24 — The widow’s final now of full alignment
The Upper Room Pattern in Scripture:
Luke 22:12–20 — The Last Supper in the upper room
Acts 1:13; 2:1–4 — Pentecost in the upper room
2 Kings 4:32–37 — Elisha and the Shunammite woman’s son in the upper room
Policy Over Politics Leadership Note
This teaching is part of the Policy Over Politics Christian Leadership Series. Every lesson is written to help align the leader's heart and decisions with the policy of God’s Word over the politics of the soul. Where policy represents God’s unchanging truth, politics represents the shifting desires, emotions, and negotiations of the flesh. Alignment requires that obedience, faith, and trust converge, so that God’s kingdom order governs both personal life and leadership decisions.
Definition of Leadership
Leadership is the stewardship of alignment — the ability to govern oneself, others, and assignments according to God’s divine order. It is not built on performance, power, or popularity, but on the leader’s capacity to obey, believe, and trust God fully while carrying others through their gaps until alignment is complete.
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