1 Kings 17:1-24
Today's
story is about a guy named Elijah. The author writes that Elijah
confronts the king and tells him a drought is coming. Not a drop of dew
or rain will fall. The author writes that Elijah hears God tell him to
get out of there fast and to go hide out at the Kereth ravine. So, he
goes. In this ravine, there's a brook to drink water from. The author
writes that the ravens provide Elijah with food. After awhile, the brook
runs dry because of the drought.
So, Elijah senses that God tells him to go to Sidon, where there is a woman. This woman will provide him with food. So, he goes.
He shows up to the entrance of the city and runs into a woman getting water. Elijah asks her to bring him a jug of water, and while she's at it a biscuit. The woman replies, "All I have is a few ounces of dough and a bottle of oil. It's just enough for my son and I to eat a last meal before we die of hunger."
Elijah responds, "Don't worry about a thing. My God says that your flour won't run out and your oil won't be empty until rain falls on the land. Go ahead and feed yourself and your son, but first bring me a biscuit."
She does what Elijah says, and the author writes that the promise came true - the flour and oil didn't run out, but fed her and her son day after day after day. Then, a sickness comes to her son. He stops breathing. The lady confronts Elijah and says, "Why did you even come in the first place? You barged in, exposed my sins, then killed my son!"
Elijah had pity on the woman and her son, and took the son from his mother. He took the boy upstairs to loft he was staying at, and began to pray. He asked God, "Why have you brought this terrible thing on this woman who's opened her home to me? Why have you killed her son?"
Elijah laid the boy on the bed, and stretched himself over him. He prayed with all his might that God would bring breath back into the boy. After doing this several times, the boy's chest started moving. Breath entered back into his lungs. Elijah took the boy and presented him to his mother, saying, "Here's your son. He's alive!"
This is another story that I seriously doubt when it comes to literalism. I've never experienced birds feeding a human being, and I've never heard of anyone laying on top of a dead person, bringing them back to life. If I don't have the ability to find a principle - a nugget of truth - lying in the middle of the story then I need to close the book. I need to call it quits. However, there is a principle in here.
There is an undercurrent of contrast throughout this passage. We have drought and water, death and life, hunger and nourishment. Drought comes before the water is found. Death comes before life is found. Nourishment comes after hunger is established.
What seemed impossible at the time became possible. What seemed hopeless began to reveal rays of hope.
I've given up on life before. Alcohol sucked the life out of me after once promising to deliver. Somewhere down the line, I'd crossed a line between reality and delusion. There was nowhere to go except down, and down I went. I remember the miserable, sleepless nights, wondering if life could ever change at all. All I could see was the chaos in front of me. The snapshot showed a miserable, hopeless life. I couldn't see the panorama, but thank God somebody else could.
I had a friend who saw the things I couldn't see. She could see a future. She could see hope. She could see relief when I couldn't. She showed me where to go when I was ready to do something differently. Through God's grace, I found the strength to stop drinking and start working on the real problem - my selfishness and self-centeredness.
When I don't have someone in my life who can see the panorama, life can easily turn into a pile of problems to no end. Death will have the last word. Drought will be the common theme. Malnutrition will take over. I will only see the present snapshot of suffering and hopelessness.
Sometimes, it takes just one person to start opening a crack of light inside of my heart. That crack of light will expose another side to the story - a side of hope and possibility. The things that seem impossibly difficult start becoming possibly salvageable. Life starts seeping in one moment, one day, one month at a time.
Today's Action: Do we have someone in our life who's able to see more than just a "snapshot" of life? When we're suffering, do we have someone who's able to come down to the gutter with us but also knows that suffering is not the last word? Do we have someone in our life who sees hope when we can't, sees water when we see drought, and sees nourishment when we see starvation?
So, Elijah senses that God tells him to go to Sidon, where there is a woman. This woman will provide him with food. So, he goes.
He shows up to the entrance of the city and runs into a woman getting water. Elijah asks her to bring him a jug of water, and while she's at it a biscuit. The woman replies, "All I have is a few ounces of dough and a bottle of oil. It's just enough for my son and I to eat a last meal before we die of hunger."
Elijah responds, "Don't worry about a thing. My God says that your flour won't run out and your oil won't be empty until rain falls on the land. Go ahead and feed yourself and your son, but first bring me a biscuit."
She does what Elijah says, and the author writes that the promise came true - the flour and oil didn't run out, but fed her and her son day after day after day. Then, a sickness comes to her son. He stops breathing. The lady confronts Elijah and says, "Why did you even come in the first place? You barged in, exposed my sins, then killed my son!"
Elijah had pity on the woman and her son, and took the son from his mother. He took the boy upstairs to loft he was staying at, and began to pray. He asked God, "Why have you brought this terrible thing on this woman who's opened her home to me? Why have you killed her son?"
Elijah laid the boy on the bed, and stretched himself over him. He prayed with all his might that God would bring breath back into the boy. After doing this several times, the boy's chest started moving. Breath entered back into his lungs. Elijah took the boy and presented him to his mother, saying, "Here's your son. He's alive!"
This is another story that I seriously doubt when it comes to literalism. I've never experienced birds feeding a human being, and I've never heard of anyone laying on top of a dead person, bringing them back to life. If I don't have the ability to find a principle - a nugget of truth - lying in the middle of the story then I need to close the book. I need to call it quits. However, there is a principle in here.
There is an undercurrent of contrast throughout this passage. We have drought and water, death and life, hunger and nourishment. Drought comes before the water is found. Death comes before life is found. Nourishment comes after hunger is established.
What seemed impossible at the time became possible. What seemed hopeless began to reveal rays of hope.
I've given up on life before. Alcohol sucked the life out of me after once promising to deliver. Somewhere down the line, I'd crossed a line between reality and delusion. There was nowhere to go except down, and down I went. I remember the miserable, sleepless nights, wondering if life could ever change at all. All I could see was the chaos in front of me. The snapshot showed a miserable, hopeless life. I couldn't see the panorama, but thank God somebody else could.
I had a friend who saw the things I couldn't see. She could see a future. She could see hope. She could see relief when I couldn't. She showed me where to go when I was ready to do something differently. Through God's grace, I found the strength to stop drinking and start working on the real problem - my selfishness and self-centeredness.
When I don't have someone in my life who can see the panorama, life can easily turn into a pile of problems to no end. Death will have the last word. Drought will be the common theme. Malnutrition will take over. I will only see the present snapshot of suffering and hopelessness.
Sometimes, it takes just one person to start opening a crack of light inside of my heart. That crack of light will expose another side to the story - a side of hope and possibility. The things that seem impossibly difficult start becoming possibly salvageable. Life starts seeping in one moment, one day, one month at a time.
Today's Action: Do we have someone in our life who's able to see more than just a "snapshot" of life? When we're suffering, do we have someone who's able to come down to the gutter with us but also knows that suffering is not the last word? Do we have someone in our life who sees hope when we can't, sees water when we see drought, and sees nourishment when we see starvation?
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