Standing Orders

Then the word of the LORD came to him, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”  1 Kings 17:8-9

In medicine, nurses generally do not place orders. Rather, the ordering of labs, imaging, and medications is generally considered to be the domain of the physician. There are some common scenarios however, in which it is more efficient for the nursing staff to place the order. For instance, in Urgent Care, we see enough sore throats that it saves time if the nurses can order a strep test before I see the patient. Armed with these standing orders, when a nurse meets a patient with a sore throat, it’s simply a knee-jerk reaction to order a strep test.

I too, have my own standing orders. Every morning, I pray that God would provide me with opportunities to share his love with others. Some days it’s clear that a specific encounter was divinely inspired. God sent that patient who just walked up and asked me about addiction. There are other days though, when God sends no one. I could view those days from two different perspectives. First, I could believe that for some reason, God simply had nothing for me to do. All caught up. No work today. The second perspective is that God has already put numerous people in my life and he’s already commanded me to share his love with them. From this perspective, I already have standing orders to share God’s love and I shouldn’t require any special prompt to do so. When I meet someone in need, it should simply be my knee-jerk reaction to show them the love that God has shown me.

This, I think, is illustrated in today’s passage, which tells the story of Elijah and the widow at Zarephath. During a time of famine and drought, God told Elijah to go to Zarephath where a widow would feed him. God also told Elijah that he’d already commanded the widow to feed Elijah, but when he arrived, it appears the woman was not expecting him. Rather, she was expecting that she and her son would soon die from starvation. A miracle ensued and everyone was fed, but the part of the story that stands out to me, is that it doesn’t appear that God actually told the widow to feed Elijah. Rather, there was simply this expectation on God’s part that any one of his followers would provide for a prophet in need.

This then, is my standing order – Love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31). As a follower of Christ, I must share the love he’s shown me with those he’s put in my life. I shouldn’t need him to reach down and prompt me to do this only in special circumstances. Rather, it is simply a standing order that I must obey.