Have
you ever had an occasion where you thought that your faith was being tested,
especially in unusual circumstances? If so, you’re not alone. Sometimes God
uses unusual circumstances to test a person’s faith. For example, in 1 Kings
17:8-24 he told Elijah to go to an unlikely place-Zarapeth, the very centre of
Baal worship and the home of Queen Jezebel. He told Elijah to go at the
unlikely time when King Ahab of Israel wanted to kill him. Then God sent him to
an unlikely person-a poor Gentile widow from a Baal-worshipping nation. In
addition to testing Elijah’s faith, the circumstances provided God with an
opportunity to demonstrate his power and his compassion to people living
outside of Israel.
Elijah
is in foreign territory where the people worship a different god. They were
very different, but they taught him something about God. God sends people like
Elijah to tell us about God all of the time, and sometimes they come from the
unlikeliest of places. Elijah heard God’s commands and acted on them. To hear
God, one must first adopt a discipline of listening for God’s word.
Elijah
went outside of Israel’s borders to provide for a widow’s needs and to heal her
son. The church has to go outside of its comfort zone in order for its members
to find true faith in God. The widow in this story is a good example of faith
found in someone who wasn’t a Jew.
The
widow’s resources were too limited to meet the need in her own family. Elijah
asked her to act in faith, feeding him first, and when she put God first, he
provided. People often worry about future needs, but Elijah’s experience
reveals God’s miraculous provision for each day, just like he provided every
day for the needs of the Israelites when they spent 40 years in the desert.
When God is the supplier, he has what a person needs. He does not run dry. With
God, a little goes a long way. A good example of this is the feeding of the
5,000. Jesus took the lunch of one small boy-a lunch that was just enough for
the boy-and used it to feed the multitudes. God’s choice of a widow to feed
Elijah is a demonstration of his power. He uses the least and the unlikeliest
to accomplish a seemingly impossible task.
The
widow was convinced of the truth of Elijah’s religion by the demonstration of
God’s power. In a world where there is only one true God, everything in the end
must rely on his power. When Elijah asked the widow to use her last supply of
oil and flour to bake a cake for him, it was a true test of faith. She stepped
out in faith, giving up the certain for the uncertain and obediently trusting
his word. Her reward was an unending supply of oil and flour.
Those
who suffer will receive comfort from God, even in dire circumstances. We might be
standing in front of an almost empty cupboard, staring at the very little we
have when God is inviting us to participate in his generous, life-giving
abundance. If that's the reality we're living by, then we have given in to
life-stealing circumstances and world-imposed limitations and forgotten that
God's reality for our lives can be so much different.
Our
love for God is measured and tested by the hold we have on our possessions.
Everything we have starts from God. He gives us our possessions and our jobs.
If we put God first in our lives like the widow put God first, we will give him
the first fruits, not the leftovers. If we put God first, he will take care of
us.
The
ultimate test of her faith was the resurrection of her dead son. Her faith was
immature, and she assumed that her son’s death was God’s punishment for sin in
her life. That was a common belief at that time. Unfortunately, some people have the same
belief today. She believed that Elijah’s saintly presence drew God’s attention
to her. When the boy came back to life, the miracle reinforced Elijah’s faith.
It gave him courage to face King Ahab. Ahab would only be a puppet in God’s
hands. As Elijah later prophesied, God played a role in Ahab’s death.
Tragedy
comes into the lives of both believers and the ungodly. Part of life involves
dealing with the unexpected circumstances life sends our way. When her son
died, the widow blamed God. In contrast, Elijah took the situation to God and
asked him to restore the boy’s life. In the lives of believers, God can take
tragedy and use it for his glory. He will wipe away our tears. He is a friend who
is closer to us than a brother.
Supernatural
events in the Old Testament were uncommon. They were mainly used by God to show
the weakness of pagan religions and call the people of Israel to repentance and
faith. God heard Elijah’s cry to restore the boy to life. Similarly, he will
hear and answer our prayers. Miracles don’t happen when things are comfortable.
They happen when things are uncomfortable. They don’t happen when we are in our
comfort zone. They happen when we’re on edge or scared to death or insecure.
The
Canaanites believed that Baal had to submit periodically to the god of death,
Mot. But here, deep in Baal country, God demonstrated not only his power to
sustain life in a time of drought, but his power to overcome death. This is the
first time in the Bible when a servant of God raises a dead person to life, but
it won’t be the last. Like Elijah, Jesus raised a widow’s son from death, and
he also raised Lazarus from the dead. All of these resurrections demonstrated
that God came to help his people.
The true focus of this story should be on God. It
is God who caused the drought, sent Elijah to Sidon, and provided food for the
widow. Why does the story commence with God saving this poor Phoenician woman?
There are probably many answers to that question, but let me offer three in
particular:
1.
Saving a Phoenician woman demonstrates God’s care for the world.
Although God will judge the Phoenician Jezebel, this is not a judgment on all
Phoenicians.
2.
In this story about competing religious claims, God’s ability both to
commence and to end drought undercuts the claim of both Israelites and
foreigners that Baal is the only effective weather god, not only in Israel, but
also across the globe.
3.
This is a story about the effects of economic injustice. The powerful,
like Ahab and Jezebel are not starving, although they live in the same
drought-stricken area. While they claim that the gods are on their side, the
story reveals that God is on the side of those ignored by policy-makers. Time
and time again God breaks the rules and blesses the younger and not the older,
the least important and not the most privileged, the poor and not the rich.
Pope Francis has declared 2016 to be a “Year of Mercy”. He has called us to be
in solidarity with the poor and find ways to reveal God’s love for them through
our words and actions. When we help the people in the world who need it, we
proclaim the Good News of the Gospel.
Elijah’s
real power, the Lord’s truth in his mouth, is that he can bring about life. This is the truth that is
more difficult to believe, the one that flies in the face of all we know about
the world, where death always seems to have the last word. Elijah’s miraculous,
never-ending oil jar hints at such life-giving power, but it is the widow’s
witnessing of her child’s renewed life that convinces her.
The
widow’s doubt, as well as her profession of faith, may also be our own. It is
easy to believe in death-dealing powers, for that is what we witness in the
world every day. It is much harder to imagine the power of love that conquers
death. Read anew in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the
story of Elijah and the widow adds to that “great cloud of witnesses” who
affirm God’s ultimate sovereignty over even death itself.
Do you believe the gospel? Do you
believe that God loves you? Do you believe that Christ died for the forgiveness
of your sins? Are you willing to trust him to lead and guide you and use you as
an instrument of his peace and love? Are you willing to go where he sends you and
speak and act in his name? It all boils down to a matter of trust.
Bibliography
1.
Jeremiah,
David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood,
TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; pp. 466-467)
2.
ESV Study
Bible. Part of Wordsearch 11 Bible software package.
3.
Dilday, R.
& Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s
Commentary Series, Vol. 9: 1,2, Kings (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.;
1987; pp. 185-190)
4.
MacArthur,
J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible, New
American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
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Stanley,
C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life
Principles Bible, New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles;
2005)
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Lucado, M.: The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible (Nashville,
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Dr. Tony
Evans, “Giving Reflects the Spiritual.” Retrieved from Christianity.com@crosswalkmail.com
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Butch Odom,
“Proper 27/Ordinary 32 2015-1 Kings 17:8-10.” Retrieved from comment-reply@wordpress.com
11.
Dr.
Rick Warren, “Path to Miracles: Goes Through Uncomfortable Territory.”
Retrieved from connect@newsletter.purposedriven.com
12.
Cameron B.R. Howard, “Commentary in 1 Kings 18:17-24.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1705
13.
Corrine Cavalho, “Commentary in 1 Kings 17:8-16.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1681
14.
Pastor Edward Markquart, “Old Testament Analysis: Elijah Raises the
Widow’s Son.” Retrieved from www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_elijah_raising_the_widows_som.htm
18.
Daniel Clendenin, Ph.D., “The Miracle of the Mundane.” Retrieved from http://journeywithjesus.net
19. Jude Siciliano, OP, “First Impressions, 10th
Sunday -C-, June 5, 2016.” Retrieved from firstimpressions@opsouth.org
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