The Cure for Pain
“And Elijah said unto her, 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.” — i Kings xvii. 13.
A wonderfully suggestive picture 1 The prophet of God brings to a starving woman the revelation of coming plenty, and He tells her to work on the faith of its coming. But strange to say, she is to begin her work not by getting but by giving. Her first gathering is to be not for herself but for another — for the prophet of God: “Make me a little cake first, and after make for thee and for thy son.” Do not wonder at such a command. Do not think that it implied any coldness in the heart of the prophet, any indifference to human want, any ignorance of the pains of poverty.
It was a command sublimely benevolent, far-reaching in its appreciation of the needs of man. Is not our first need, whether in things spiritual or things temporal, to be lifted out of ourselves? Selfthought is the deepest source of our pain. Am I oppressed with the burden and heat of the day? it will do me no good to dwell upon it, it will only be increased by meditation. Let me remember that other souls are also weighed down by the same burden and the same heat, that other hearts are also heavy with a like labour and ladenness. If I can remember this, my own burden shall fall from me; if I can give first to*others I shall be strong to procure for myself. Therefore, my soul, there is for thee a deep meaning in this picture. Art thou in trouble? others are in trouble. Art thou in bereavement % there is not a house without its vacant chair. Art thou perplexed with mystery? thou hast a fellowship in the mystery. Hast thou no thought for those who suffer what thou sufferestl arise and look around thee. There are hearts to be bound like thine, there are tears to be dried like thine, there are days to be illumined like thine. Thy very sorrow has put a gift into thy hand — sympathy. Give it, and the store of thine own strength shall be increased. Go forth from thyself but for an hour, and verily on thy return thou shalt find the old place radiant with a new light, beautiful with a new glory, holy with a new spirit — the Spirit of the Lord.