In the seventeenth chapter of I Kings we read of the widow woman to whom the prophet Elijah was divinely directed when he was in need of sustenance. There were other widows in Zarephath, but this woman was ready to share in Elijah's rich understanding of spiritual substance. When Elijah asked her for water and some bread, she replied that her store was limited to barely enough for one last meal for herself and her son. Nevertheless, Elijah said (verse 13), "Make me thereof a little cake first." She did so, and her needs, the prophet's needs, and the needs of her household were met.
It is interesting to note that the widow gave of her own meager food supply before she saw the abundance of good made manifest. Her thought was at its lowest ebb in her dire extremity; yet Elijah turned her from the contemplation of lack by asking her to share what she had. He confidently assured her that her own store would not be depleted by this act of kindness but that her limited quantity of meal and oil would be replenished, supplying all present and future necessities. Elijah had had proof of God's law of abundance operating in behalf of men. He knew that the sustaining power of Truth was adequate to meet all deficiencies.
Elijah was a prophet. Apparently the woman recognized this fact. On page 593 in the Glossary of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy gives the definition of "prophet" as, "A spiritual seer; disappearance of material sense before the conscious facts of spiritual Truth." Elijah saw the abundance of good so clearly that the widow shared in his spiritually reflected understanding of substance. He knew that the spiritual idea is always present to meet the human need.
