On Friday, April 27, 2018 (Last Updated on 7/13/2022), Yujin wrote,
Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth” (1 Kings 17:24).
Elijah was tasked with prophecying three years of famine in Israel. God supernaturally supplied him food, including a continuous supply of oil and bread for the widow and son he stayed with. But then the son died. The woman complained to Elijah, and Elijah complained in prayer to the LORD. Then the LORD resuscitated the boy to life. After this, the widow believed that Elijah spoke the Word of God.
Why indeed would the LORD cause the widow to lose her son when she was faithfully caring for the prophet of God in her house?
She was not yet convinced that Elijah spoke the Word of God. She may have served him out of fear or fateful resignation rather than true conviction. But this wonderful miracle convinced her, and she believed.
Friends, we may not always understand why God initiates or allows calamities to happen to us or to those we cherish; however, let us take this lesson from Elijah and the widow. Let us obey and trust God. He knows what He is doing. Nothing takes Him by surprise. He will bring everything to a good conclusion in keeping with His unfailing promises to us:
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).
On Sunday, April 27, 2014 (Last Updated on 4/26/2015), Yujin wrote,
Now the rest of all the acts of Asa and all his might and all that he did and the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet (1 Kings 15:23).
The account of Asa's reign is much more extensive in the Second Book of Chronicles, covering three chapters (cf. 2 Chronicles 14-16). What is most interesting is how this godly king stopped relying on the LORD in the latter days of his reign:
At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war" (2 Chronicles 16:7-10).
The Chronicler also suggests that the king might have even been healed of his diseased feet if he had sought help from the LORD (cf. 2 Chronicles 16:12).
Friends, I recommend that as you read the account of some of these kings of Judah, take time to also to read the parallel accounts in 2 Chronicles. The things you discover will not only be informative but morally enlightening and spiritually fruitful.
In the case of Asa, we learn that he was not such a perfectly faithful king, as one might presume from just the account in 1 Kings, and that his latter years were worse than his former years. This serves as a moral and spiritual warning for us all, who having begun well in the faith, may be tempted to be more cavalier in our Bible study and our striving against sin as we grow older.
No, my friends, we must never let up. As the Book of Hebrews reminds us,
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood (Hebrews 12:4).
And Ezekiel's warning should also keep us alert and fervent:
Therefore, son of man, say to your people, ‘If someone who is righteous disobeys, that person’s former righteousness will count for nothing. And if someone who is wicked repents, that person’s former wickedness will not bring condemnation. The righteous person who sins will not be allowed to live even though they were formerly righteous.’ If I tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered; they will die for the evil they have done. And if I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but they then turn away from their sin and do what is just and right— if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil—that person will surely live; they will not die. None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live (Ezekiel 33:12-16).
Friends, we must not be like Solomon, who forsook the Lord in his old age, being led astray by his Canaanite wives, to worship other gods. We must not be like Asa, who began well but then stopped seeking and trusting the LORD in his latter years. Instead, let us be like Paul, who said in his final days:
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing (2 Timothy 4:6-8).
Friends, we are called to a persevering faith. This is confirmed by the Book of Hebrews:
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For,
“In just a little while,
he who is coming will come
and will not delay."
And,
“But my righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back" (Hebrews 10:36-38).
Yet, as we persevere, let us not lose hope, because our hope does not rest on our deeds but on what Christ has accomplished for us (cf. Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Peter 1:3-5). Therefore, the writer of Hebrews affirms,
But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved (Hebrews 10:36-39).
Yet, let us persevere and continue to grow in our faith, so that we might make our calling and election abundantly clear to ourselves and to all who might question the genuineness of our faith (cf. 2 Peter 1:10-11; cf. 1 Peter 1:6-7).
On Sunday, April 29, 2012, Fernando wrote,
We get a repeated theme from scripture that Faith, your position under God's authority, is the only means to please God. Asa is regarded, officially by scripture, as doing right in the eyes of God. What righteous deeds did he do?
V14, he lead a revival, a return to God. He did it with the only qualifier in God's kingdom being 'wholly true to God ALL the days of his life.'
'ALL?' The Book of James says the signs of faith are the good works done, even though we are not saved by them. Ephesians says we are saved by faith, this being the gift of God, not a product of works.
Asa is regarded as being wholly true all the days of his life, like David.
Yes, like David. Like the one who had an affair, murdered, and didn't discipline his sons.
2 Chronicles 15-16, gives us a more complete story. The one who was 'wholly true all the days of his life' has the seer Hanani, revealing Asa's smallness of faith concerning partnering with the King of Syria. King Asa, out of anger has the Seer imprisoned. It is also noted that King Asa inflicted cruelties to the people.
How Godly would the people say he was?
He did some good. He did some bad. But from the big picture, the eternal picture, the only one that matters, his heart was true. Even though in the end you would not know since he did not rely on God, but physicians, about his foot disease.
How many of your friends have steered in the wrong direction, how many mentors, how many teachers, pastors, leaders, and family members? How many of you have strayed or would have the people directly affected by you say you are a poor witness - this does matter and should bother you. But your destiny is in His hands. If you breathe you can partake in revealing the mystery of Jesus Christ in your life by redeeming the errors.
Our will should always be a step away from standing and working again knowing that even though the people around may have a hard time confirming one's faith, God is the judge, has judged, and will not change what he has written next to your name - Right in God's eyes.
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1 kings 16:2��Since I exalted you out of the dust and made you leader over my people Israel..."
Israel, the 12 tribes, at this point of the scripture time line, are still Gods people, still eligible for God's promises under the mosaic law.
This stuck out to me because I always focused on Judea as if they were what remains of God's people. But God still claims them all.
(I hold that Jesus fulfilled the Mosaic Law and what Paul says in Ephesians 'he abolished the laws' to mean that all opportunities to be blessed and cursed by the Mosaic Laws are 'abolished.'
God's people are the same ones that always have been his people... The ones that trust in him.)
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1 kings 17
9��Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.�
The road that God has prepared for you may not always be an escalator-like road. There still might be some stairs to climb and convincing and influencing to do.
13�And Elijah said to her, �Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me,
I would have expected that since God said 'I have a meal prepared for you' that the road would have parted for me and birds would have brought me food, like earlier done to Elijah. But he had soem work. As little as it was he still had to ask for it, he had to convince the widow to go through a command that was unknown to her.
On Friday, April 29, 2011 (Last Updated on 4/27/2012), Unmi wrote,
The Prophet Elijah comes into the scene during the reign of Ahab, king of the Northern Kingdom. King Ahab "not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him." (1 Kings 16:31) So Ahab's wife was a daughter of the King of Sidon, a Phoenician city north of Israel in modern day Lebanon. Baal was the Phoenician god of rain and fertility (rain makes the land fertile). It is in this setting that Elijah comes into the scene with his great proclamation: drought throughout the land! Essentially saying if Baal is a true god, he will bring rain, but the God of Israel pronounces drought. The drought is so severe that even the brook at the Kerith Ravine from which Elijah has been drinking dries up. So what does God tell Elijah to do? Go to SIDON! What? Sidon is in heart of Baal territory, why would God tell Elijah to go there? When Elijah arrives at Sidon, he finds a widow who is about to eat her last meal with her son and is prepared to die. It appears that the drought not only affected Israel, but also Sidon and perhaps the other neighboring nations as well.
Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the land.’” (1 Kings 17:13-14)
On hearing this, the woman must choose whether to believe Elijah or not. She only had enough food for one last meal for her and her son. Will she believe this foreigner and give him her last bit of food? From her personal experience, the god of her nation, Baal, had failed her. Will she believe the God of Israel? But of course we know that she will believe for God had already ordained it. So for approximately 3 years the Lord provided for Elijah, the widow and her son. It is puzzling why God saved this particular Sidonian widow. In such a severe drought, there were probably numerous starving widows throughout the land of Israel, but God chooses to send Elijah to a Gentile woman living in the heart of Baal country. Perhaps God was teaching Elijah that He is not only the God of Israel but the God of all peoples and He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy and compassion on whom He will have compassion. (Exodus 33:19) Upon Elijah pleading for her dead son, he is brought back to life. This is the first recorded resuscitation in the Bible. Seeing this, 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.” (1 Kings 17:24) The widow gives a profession of faith in the one true God, the only God who can bring life from death!
I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. (Revelation 1:17-18)
On Wednesday, April 28, 2010, Fernando wrote,
I was listening to a sermon by Adrian rogers. I don' know a great deal of him, but think he is a southern baptist pastor (now with God). So I don't think he is a name it and claim it-type. He spoke about God's promise to moses and how it related to us. He said: when god spoke to joshua he said 'just as I was with moses and promised him, I am with you too.' The pastor extended that god is also with us. This had to do with the fulfillment of a non-mosaic law. I have only gathered that the law is no longer over us. So can we pull meaning from specific promise and stretch it out to us? Can we say, God has given me something now I need to claim it? If so can I take from 1 kings 18 that when God said, you will not run out before the rain comes, to mean if I have faith in God I won't starve to death? * christian in the Africa can possess this promise? Or can we only pull from this as another example where was faithful? Keeping his word.
On Tuesday, April 27, 2010 (Last Updated on 4/26/2015), John and Marsha wrote,
What incredible faith by the widow at Zarephath! Facing a cruel death of starvation and/or dehydration she still trusted Elijah to give him her "last" bit of oil and flour for a cake -- and GOD blessed her in her poverty for it!
-- John
Yujin adds... Rather, what amazing grace by the LORD, to have mercy on this foreign woman.