1 Kings 17:17-24 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is 1 Kings 17:17-24. As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first. See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
1 Kings 17:17-18 (NIV)
17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing.
18 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?”
On verses 17-18: A mother experiences her worst nightmare: the death of her child. In this case it wasn’t a sudden death but an illness which took her son’s life, one where his sickness got worse and worse until he was gone. It’s not clear why the woman would blame her son’s death on Elijah, the prophet who was staying as a guest in her house. Sometimes when we can’t understand why something is happening to us, we can be tempted to blame God for what we’re going through. It seems that in her grief this woman somehow believed that God was against her and that God only wanted to condemn her and bring death to her and her family. Many people have this view of God today. Despite serving God and witnessing miracles in their lives, they still veer toward believing that God is against them. God would use Elijah and this difficult circumstance to show this mother what God is really like.
1 Kings 17:19-24 (NIV)
19 “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.
20 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?”
21 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!”
22 The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived.
23 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!”
24 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.”
On verses 19-24: Elijah brings the dead boy up to his room, stretches himself out on the boy and cries out to God for this boy’s life. God hears Elijah’s prayer, the boy is brought back life and is returned to his mother. In response the mother said, “Now I know that you are a man of God” and that the prophetic words Elijah speaks are the truth. Interestingly, earlier in this chapter this woman experienced God doing a miracle through Elijah. Yet in the face of her son’s death and resurrection, this woman acts as if this is the first time she ever saw God perform any miracle through Elijah.
What can we learn from this?
1. Beware having a short memory when it comes to God’s miracles. That’s why it helps to keep a record of the miracles God has done in your life. Otherwise, you may find yourself needing God to how Himself to you again and again as if He never had before.
2. Sometimes God does miracles through our faith, and sometimes God does miracles despite our lack of faith.
Father, thank You that You are for me and not against me. Thank You for every miracle You have performed in my life. May I not forget them or take them for granted. Thank You for the times when You have performed miracles through my faith and also for those times when You performed a miracle despite my lack of faith. Thank You for being a God of miracles! In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
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