THE RESURRECTIONS BEFORE THE RESURRECTION (part one)
1st Kings 17:7-24
Easter is four Sundays away. As we begin to focus on what it represents, I thought it would be good to begin by looking at the resurrections that preceded Jesus'. There were actually five instances of people coming back from the dead that took place before Jesus'. Today we'll look at the first one; the encounter between Elijah and the widow's son.
1) From famine to plenty (7-16).
God sent Elijah to tell the king that there would be a drought for the next few years. Then God sent Elijah to a different region to receive food, shelter and water. But when the brook that he was getting his water from dried up, God sent him to Zarephath.
1st Kings 17:7-16, "Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.” So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”
How sad is that? She lost her husband. Then comes the drought and now she's down to her last meal, talking death for her and her son. Talk about hopelessness. But there was hope.
"Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.’ ” She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah."
So we have this incident where God sends Elijah to encounter this widow and have an exchange with her. We see that God had also spoken to the widow, letting her know that Elijah was coming. Which is interesting considering the situation. There is a drought and subsequent famine in the land yet God commands this woman to feed this stranger.
I wonder what thoughts may have been running through her mind as she anticipated his arrival and the sacrifice God was asking her to make? "Why me? Can't you send him to someone else? What if I don't end up having enough for myself and my son?"
God will challenge our faith and trust in extreme ways. God will challenge us to serve and give sacrificially when doing so would put us in a position to depend completely on God to come through. In his book, Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby wrote, "Encounters with God are God-sized". It makes sense. When God comes to you with something he wants you to do it's always going to be bigger than yourself. He's going to set the bar higher, he's going to challenge you to step further and it's going to require more from you.
So this widow encounters Elijah and even though there is a drought she turns to get water for this stranger. But then, when he asks for bread, she explains her situation. She wasn't refusing as much as she was explaining. Then Elijah challenges her to first do for him and then do for herself. This would be a test of her faith and devotion to God.
Would she do as God had commanded or would she conclude that it wasn't possible? She could've easily said, "Listen, I don't have it like that. You need to go ask someone else who has more than just barely enough."
But, we see that he precedes his request by telling her to not be afraid. God will do the same for us. He will calm our fears when asking us to do what is risky. And when we show that faith and trust we will be rewarded. Instead of there being only enough for a final meal for this widow and her son, there was going to be enough food to last continually. When we trust God with what little we have he will take care of us. When we do what God tells us to do no matter how sacrificial it is we can trust that he has everything under control and that he loves us.
2) From joy to sorrow (17-18).
"Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”
This widow had seen God work in a miraculous way; he saved their lives. She had displayed faith in making Elijah a meal before preparing one for herself and her son. Why this negative reaction now? Where was her faith?
This was different; the boy is dead-it's too late for saving. Plus, during the famine she was somber, for it was expected that the meal she was preparing would be the last because they were going to be out of food. This was different because it was unexpected and it happened more quickly. When something unexpected happens we will have a more severe emotional reaction.
Another factor in this reaction is that a lot of time had passed (some estimate up to two years). Therefore, there was a lot of time where there was enough food in the house and things were going well. She was housing the servant of God, there was plenty of food; all was well. When we're doing God's will and being blessed by God we can become comfortable in that and erroneously think it's smooth sailing from here on out.
But then the rug gets pulled out from under us and it feels like we just got the wind knocked out of us. And for this widow, the rug was pulled out not just once but twice. She already had to deal with the pain of death when she became a widow. The story doesn't tell us how long ago that was but now, with the death of her son the pain is in essence doubled because the pain of the loss of her husband comes rushing back to join the pain of the loss of her only child. So, I think we can see why she would be emotionally distraught.
"What have you against me? Did you come to remind me of my sin?" We don't know what that sin was but in her emotion she lashes out at innocent Elijah. When we're guilty we can deflect and make it out to be someone else's fault.
She concludes that this happened because of some sin she had done. We can have the tendency to think that if something bad happens to us it's automatically because we've sinned. Sometimes this is true but it's erroneous to think it as an absolute. Job didn't sin to bring about what happened to him.
The disciples made this mistake. When they came across the man born blind they asked Jesus who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was blind. Jesus said neither, but it happened so that the power of God might be displayed in his life. And here, with this widow, I believe it to be for the same reason, as we will see shortly.
3) "What are you doing, God?" (19-21)
“Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”
Elijah himself was wondering too why God allowed this to happen. I think part of Elijah's cry had to do with feeling troubled that this widow is thinking he has turned against her. When we are wrongly accused, especially when we are simply doing the Lord's work, we can feel very troubled.
And Elijah's expression to God is one of confusion, wondering why God would allow this, knowing what the response would be. It's like he's saying, "I don't understand. You send me to this widow and her son and you show yourself to them in a miraculous way and you have me stay with her and minister to her and now you're going to allow this to happen? Don't you realize this could dismantle everything that's been accomplished up to now? This doesn't make any sense to me; I don't get it."
No matter how strong we are spiritually there will be times when God will confuse us with his ways. There are times when, to us, it may seem like things are going two steps forward and three steps back but we need to fight against thinking that God is "messing" things up.
But I like how Elijah cries out in private and not in front of the mother. I think it was out of respect for God and out of wanting to protect the mother from any further trauma.
We also see that even though Elijah was wondering why, it didn't deter him from doing God's will; it didn't change his attitude about believing that God could do the impossible. He may not have known what God would do, but he believed in what God could do. So, even though Elijah was confused and asked God, 'why', he still had the faith to do what God moved him to do.
And what we see God move him to do and ask for was unprecedented. We don't read of any occurrence of someone raising someone back to life before this incident; so it's probably safe to say it hadn't happened before now.
So think about what might have been going through Elijah's head when he is prompted by God to stretch himself out over this dead child. "You want me to do what? Are you serious?"
And not only once, but three times. Think of the faith and persistence this involves. Probably after the first time and definitely after the second time of doing this and getting no response I'd be like, "Ok, this isn't working. Am I doing it right? This is ridiculous."
But Elijah did this three times and cried out to God a much different cry than he did the first time. The first cry was one that said, "What are you doing?" but the second one was one that said, "I believe you can do this."
So for Elijah to stretch out over this lifeless child and pray for life to come back into him was pretty amazing. It shows that Elijah believed God could do anything. When we're confused about what God is doing we need to stay faithful. We need to pray for the impossible and move as God directs. When we do, we have the opportunity to see the incredible results.
4) "Here, I'll show you." (22-24)
"The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth.”
"Now I know." It's not that she didn't think he was a man of God before, after the miracle of the food happened, but the death of her son caused doubt to arise. Now, there was no doubt and chances are she was convinced enough that no future incidents would shatter her faith. For what greater miracle could someone witness than the raising of someone from the dead?
What about us? How does this affect our faith? We have a story like this to show us the unbelievable ability of God but what will we do with it? Will we allow it to strengthen our faith? Will we allow it to motivate us to believe like Elijah? Or will we still have doubts?
"But Derrick, this worked out for that widow but it didn't turn out that way in my situation. I prayed but it didn't do any good." You mean, it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to. It doesn't mean that God couldn't do what you wanted it just means he didn't. Why not? I'm not sure but that doesn't mean God doesn't care about you or your situation. His reasons for allowing or disallowing something are sometimes beyond our ability to comprehend.
But what he does want is our continued faith and trust. He knows it will be difficult for us to accept his will sometimes but he wants to comfort and strengthen us through it so that we can accept his will and continue doing his will despite it not always working out according to what we think is best.
Will we believe that God's will is best when things don't work out according to how we want them too? Will we trust that he still loves us? Will we still believe that he has our best in mind?
We think we know what's best but we can't always know because we can't see all that's going on; both now and in the future. God can though and so we trust in his wisdom and knowledge of all the facts.
It doesn't mean our wishes are wrong; wanting someone to be healed or alive is completely understandable but sometimes, for whatever reason, it doesn't always work out according to plan and we have to do our best, with God's help, to accept what is and move on. Easier said than done but better done than not.
When we think of the word resurrect we think of the meaning, to raise from the dead or to bring back to life. But the word also means to revive or restore. Perhaps you're someone who has been disappointed by the outcome of circumstances. You prayed but things didn't turn out so well for you. Your hopes were dashed; your faith was depleted.
This widow's son coming back to life not only restored him it restored her as well (and I'm sure it helped Elijah out a little bit too). How do you need to be restored? What needs to be resurrected in you? Your faith, trust, hope? What about your joy, love, passion and zeal? What about your life?
Whatever has been lying dormant in you can be revitalized if you call upon God for a resurrection. God is waiting for you to come to him so he can breathe new life into you. He wants you to be made alive again so you can thrive again. Maybe it's time for a resurrection.
