1 Kings 17:17-18 Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. And his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him. 18 So she said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?
Faith? Once again faith comes to the forefront. I understand the dire circumstances that the widow was facing, in that her son was so sick that the breath left his body. She immediately went on the attack in her statement to Elijah. She became defensive in mentioning her sin but seems to blame Elijah for this disaster by saying that his presence was to remind her of her sins and kill her son.
I can understand this emotional response from the woman who was a widow because her husband was dead and her son was probably the only reason she felt she had to continue to live. I can understand this response but where is the faith? I mean, this is the same woman who only had a handful of flour and a little jar of oil and she witnessed GOD’s miraculous provision through that handful of flour and little jar of oil not running out; feeding her, Elijah, and her household for many days. That was a major miracle that GOD performed but it seems as if that has so quickly faded from her memory in the midst of this new difficult circumstance.
I suppose that we are not much different. We face a difficult situation but GOD comes in and works everything out in such an amazing way, but when another difficult situation comes our way we forget about what GOD did, all faith is lost, and we begin the “complain game.”
We begin questioning GOD. Notice, I said “we” because I am prone to this as well. I want to grow, where faith is my first response instead of complaints. I want to grow where faith is my first response instead of trying to figure everything out and pinpoint everything that is going on behind the scenes.
I honestly empathize with the widow, knowing that was a hard thing for her to be confronted with, however, she was in the midst of GOD taking care of a hard thing (flour & oil not running out during the drought). We so easily forget what GOD did. We so easily forgot how great HE is and the great things that we have seen HIM do in our lives.
Or, maybe we have enough faith to trust GOD with one situation but not enough to trust HIM with the next. Maybe we feel like, “Sure, GOD can sustain the flour and the oil, but can HE really heal my son?” Or maybe, “Sure, GOD can sustain the flour and the oil, but can HE really restore life back to human beings?”
Trusting GOD is the issue for all people and this can be hard from situation to situation. No matter what situation comes, let’s strive to remember GOD. Let GOD be our first response. May HE grant grace and mercy when HE is not.
Grace and peace brethren.
