V. 17 SURPIZED BY TRAGEDY
For a good while everything was great, God was performing daily miracles with the jar of oil and the barrel, but just when everything seemed to be going the widow’s way, tragedy strikes. Her son dies, the boy who God was keeping alive with the miracle of food everyday just up and dies. This must have been the darkest day of the widow’s life, her whole future rested on her son. She must have been looking forward to the day when her son would be old enough to go out and make a living and provide for her. Who would take care of her in her later years now that her son was dead? On top of that the worst thing that can happen to a person is to lose a child.
This reminds me of the women around the cross, it must have been a tragic day for them when Jesus was crucified, but three days later God turned it all around with the resurrection.
V. 18 TRAGEDY MAKES US EXAMINE OURSELVES.
We can be enjoying God’s miracles everyday and still not have our heart right with Him.
Deut 6:10-12
10When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you--a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant--then when you eat and are satisfied, 12be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
Even though the widow was enjoying God’s miracles everyday her heart wasn’t totally turned over to God. The main thing that had to be dealt with was her faith in God and her sins that stood between her and God.
IN TRAGIDY WE EITHER GET BETTER OR BITTER
When we see tragedy from a temporary humanistic standpoint it’s easy to get bitter. Back in this day there was neither hospitals nor any procedure for healing. So the boy grew worse and worse until the boy died. The woman turns to the man of God and in essence and blames him with his connection with God. Even though she was probably a baal worshiper the guilt of her sins come to surface in her emotional upheaval. She is very frustrated and irrational when she accuses the prophet and says, “Have you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” Also we will see later in this series how Ahab blames Elijah for the drought. Elijah is just the messenger living in her house and she has unfairly accused him of having the power of life and death.
ELIJAH WAS HUMBLE AND CONTENT
He didn’t have a harsh rebuke for the woman who falsely accused him; he didn’t try to defend himself or his God. And think about what he had been eating for the past few years; I don’t know what the ravens brought him, but we know what the widow fixed every day…BREAD. We get board with the same thing easily don’t we? We love variety in life; like when the nation of Israel was wandering in the wilderness and God gave the manna EVERY DAY.
Num 11:4-6
4The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat! 5We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost--also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!"
CONTENTMENT IS A GIFT
Phil 4:11-13
11I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Wouldn’t you rather have a heart of contentment; be happy with all that God has given you, than to have an abundance of material possessions and not be happy with anything? This is what we see in Elijah contentment with what God supplied him and this prepared him to face this situation with the widow in who has just lost the most important thing in her life. She is angry and irrational and falsely accuses him and he very quietly says give me your son and takes the dead boy.
TRAGIDY IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE MEANS TO HELP US GROW V.19
God prepared the widow to give up her son by first giving up her food. The widow learned form giving up her food first to Elijah that God could provide when she trusts Him. Now she must trust Him with the thing she cares for more than anything in her whole world. Before David faced Goliath, God prepared him by defeating the lion and the bear that attacked his flock. When we see through the eyes of faith we know our God is bigger than our problems, even something as devastating and final as death. Through this God is preparing Elijah for Mount Carmel.
I have no ideal what must have been going through the mind of Elijah as he carried the boy up to his room because up to this point there is no record of a resurrection. I don’t now exactly what was going through Elijah’s mind but I do know he was intending on praying.
V. 20 PRAY OR PANIC
Elijah doesn’t ask God the all-consuming question we always ask God when tragedy befalls us; WHY? Instead he just brings it back to the Sovereign God, the Almighty. There is a theology going around today that God would never bring prosperity and then deliver tragedy. They believe God would never do that, once He blesses you you’re blessed for life; all good days no bad days. That’s not the God of the Bible, that’s the God of our own making.
Job 2:10
10He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
Job doesn’t sin by ascribing his pain to God. There is no cosmic struggle going on between God and the devil, God is Almighty, All-powerful, Sovereign, in total control. If their was a struggle going on between God and the devil for ultimate power then God would not be All-powerful.
V. 21 WE MUST PERSEVERE IN PRAYER
At death our spirit is separated from our body. And here Elijah without any record in history of a person’s spirit returning to them after death is praying for God to resurrect this boy. What an awesome prayer of faith.
THE POWER OF MINISTRY IS IN PRAYER AND THE WORD OF GOD.
God knew He was going to raise the boy back to life so why did Elijah have to pray three times? To answer that question we must look at another question; what does God want from Elijah? To grow closer to Him, trust Him more and to lean harder on Him for strength and guidance. In Luke chapter eighteen Jesus tells a parable about a persistent widow who keeps pleading her case before a judge until he finally gives in a grants her request. Jesus says we should present our request to our Heavenly Father with the same persistence.
WE MUST PRAY EARNESTLY
Elijah lays his body down as if to lay his own life out before God and prays earnestly for the boy. Is there anything in your life you’re praying for that is so important to you that you’re willing to pray over and over day in and day out?
What are you trusting God for? Is their anything in your life that only God can do? Are you allowing God to stretch your faith by trusting Him for things that you’ve never trusted Him for before? I’m not saying a resurrection like this I’m just talking about something more that what you trusted Him for a year ago. Something that only God can do. The faith of Elijah here is bold isn’t it; “let the boys life return to him”?
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ELIJAH’S CRY AND GOD’S ACTION V. 22
Was Elijah ahead of God? No, God is always ahead of us. The prayer prayed in faith in accordance with God’s will for God’s glory was answered and the boy’s life was given back to him. Notice that it said that God heard Elijah’s cry not his prayer.
GOD REVEALS THREE THINGS
1. HIS RESURRECTION POWER
Illustration: During the day if you walk outside and look up at the sky you can’t see the stars because of the sunlight. But if you go out on a clear night and look at the same sky you will see a sky full of stars. The stars shine the brightest when it’s the darkest. At our darkest moments God’s light shines the brightest.
2. HIS FAITHFULNESS
God promised them He would see them through the drought this is the relationship between Elijah’s prayer, which was according to God’s Word and resulted in God’s action. One of God’s promises to the disciples that role over to us today is: Matt 28:20 And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Another promise of God’s faithfulness is: 2 Tim 2:13 if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. Just as God was faithful to Elijah and the widow He has promised to be faithful to us today.
GOD DID SOMETHING GREAT IN THE WIDOW’S HEART V. 23-24
How is it that the very same God who provides enough oil and flour everyday to keep the widow and her son alive the very next day allows her son to die? Let me remind you it hasn’t rained yet, so God is still providing the barrel with flour and the jar with oil, EVERYDAY. It’s hard for us to understand that the same God gives life and death. But then he gives life again through the prayer of Elijah and not only physical life but also spiritual life as the widow BELIEVES.
Could you imagine the joy the widow must have been experiencing? Notice her words, “Now I know”, she didn’t say she thought, or hoped, but she knew.
3. GOD REVEALS HIS GLORY
In the end the best thing that ever happened to this woman was the death of her son, because it opened an avenue for her to experience the power of God to a greater degree. It also opened a door for Elijah to minister to her on a deeper level.
WHEN TRAGEDY STRIKES YOUR LIFE IT’S NOT ONLY AN AVENUE FOR YOU TO GROW BUT ALSO AN AVENUE FOR YOU TO MINISTER TO OTHERS.
Rom 8:28
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
APPLICATION:
1. Responding to tragedy in faith brings growth.
2. Responding to tragedy with prayer bring results.
3. Jesus meets us at our ENDS, and offers us new beginnings.
Conclusion: I was told of a story of a missionary to Tyland who was stationed in a village with 152 families whose main life source was rice. They were in the midst of a drought when one Sunday morning the leading men of the village came walking in on the service and interrupted it with an announcement. “If the church will get God to give us rain we will all (the entire village) become Christians. The pastor said; “God doesn’t make deals, but we (the church) will pray for rain. So immediately the entire church began to fast and pray for rain. The did this for four days until finally storm clouds formed and it rained saving the rice crops. Not only did the entire village accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, but also so did many in the surrounding area.
What will it cost us to see God work in a more mighty way?
For many of us here today our jug and barrel is running over. Don’t forget it’s God’s blessings we enjoy, and that everything we have experienced here in the last year came from God.
LIKE THE LITTLE BOY I ONCE WAS DEAD BUT NOW I’M ALIVE!
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t pray like this. But today lets begin to pray for great and mighty things that only God can do.
