Widows in the ancient world were extremely vulnerable figures. No social service network, no one to care for them when they lost their means for economic support. That’s why the prophets talk so much about widows and orphans and our need to care for them. Elijah the Prophet appears on the scene in 1 Kings 17 and encounters a widow, living amidst a drought, and down to her last meal – about the lowest, you could go in the ancient world. God often comes into our lives precisely at our greatest moment of need. When the ego is riding high and confident, it rarely reaches out to God. It’s when the ego is knocked around, wounded and powerless, this is when God appears and asks us to give.