A Person of God

Toward a New Creation
A World Gone Wrong

Ignoring God's Plain Truth

Hebrews 11:1-6  The Message

1 Kings 17:17-23  The Message

¹⁷ Later on the woman’s son became sick. The sickness took a turn for the worse—and then he stopped breathing.
¹⁸ The woman said to Elijah, “Why did you ever show up here in the first place—a holy man barging in, exposing my sins, and killing my son?”
^19-20 Elijah said, “Hand me your son.”
He then took him from her bosom, carried him up to the loft where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he prayed, “O God, my God, why have you brought this terrible thing on this widow who has opened her home to me? Why have you killed her son?”
^21-23 Three times he stretched himself out full-length on the boy, praying with all his might, “God, my God, put breath back into this boy’s body!” God listened to Elijah’s prayer and put breath back into his body—he was alive! Elijah picked the boy up, carried him downstairs from the loft, and gave him to his mother. “Here’s your son,” said Elijah, “alive!”

For Reflection

Where shall I start.  Shall I focus on the woman who blames Elijah and thus God?  It is a typical response to a tragic loss of a loved one.  Shall I focus on the woman's trust in a man whom she has just blamed for her son's death?  Should I focus on the faith of Elijah, who risked his and God's reputation on an unreasonable task?  Shall I focus on the miraculous recovery and the potential for meaning in the young boy's future contribution to the world. Shall I focus on the power of Elijah to heal?

Instead, I will point our that Elijah did not heal or raise the boy from death.  Elijah prayed and God healed.  This is God's plain truth.  God heals.  In prayer we find the most intimate relationship to God.   Prayer strengthens faith.  Prayer is the sign of ultimate worship.  The plain truth is that God is in charge and God wants each of us to worship God through prayer so that the love of God is infused into the essence of our lives.

Pray

that you will pray often in intimate conversations with God.  Pray that you will place your life into the hands of God through  worshipful acts of prayer.