Our God Of Restoration Series

OUR GOD OF RESTORATION

1 KINGS 17:17-24

In our passage today, we are going to study our Lord as the God of Restoration. The Hebrew word for “Restore” is “Chayah”.

The root word is “Chai” which means “life”.

Every morning Mrs Lana wakes up but seems half dead. She goes to the kitchen and makes her some Tea. (Chinese word for tea is “chai”). After drinking her tea, all of a sudden Mrs Lana is refreshed, renewed, and alive again. (I go thru the same ritual with Dr. Pepper).

* Jewish people use the phrase of celebration “L’Chiam” which means “to life”. It is kind of like a toast. A celebration of the life God gives.

“Chayah” means to “restore life”. It can speak of the restoration of physical life, as in revive or resurrection. It can speak of restoring the joy of life. It can speak about restoration of hope, faith, and spirit. The cool thing is that it speaks of restoring something to better than it was.

Now, for something to be restored, then it must have previously died or been destroyed or wasted away. And, you know, that is the awesome thing about Jesus Christ. He is in the business of restoring people. To bring life, joy, faith, and purpose to our life.

* When you feel that everything good in your life has been destroyed, then come to Jesus. He will not only restore it to the level it was, but He will restore your life to a level you never dreamed possible.

Lets see what Yahweh Chaya restores.

1 Kings 17:17-24

17 Now it came about after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18 So she said to Elijah, “What do I have to do with you, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance and to put my son to death!” 19 He said to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the upper room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed. 20 He called to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, have You also brought calamity to the widow with whom I am staying, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray You, let this child’s life return to him.” 22 The Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child returned to him and he revived. 23 Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

What do we see in this passage? We see a boy that has died, a boy in need of a resurrection. But he is not the only one in need of restoration. Our God of Restoration is watching over 3 people in this story and He is going to visit them and instantaneously restore life to each of them.

1. THE DEAD BOY.

The central tragedy in this passage is the death of the boy. Here was a young boy growing up in a difficult time of famine. He is growing up without a father, but has a mother that deeper loves him. God has met some needs for him, but then he gets very sick and dies.

All of the hopes and dreams of life are gone. His life is gone and all those around him are grieving the loss.

* Notice in the passage that everyone is asking the question of “Why did this boy have to die?” The mother is blaming herself thinking that her great sins have caused him to die. Elijah is basically stating that “God took the boy” when he is asking God “why?”. But nowhere in the passage does it say that God “took him”, only that “he died”.

Oftentimes God gets the blame for people dying. But, in truth, God is the giver of life. Life is truly a gift. I notice that in our losses, we seem to question “why God took someone’s life” but we rarely thank Him for “giving them the gift of life in the first place”.

* If we read the passage for what is said, then there is no one to blame for his death– not the mother, not Elijah, and not God.