This morning in my devo time, I was reading I KIngs 17:7-24. I know you guys remember the story. Elijah is told by God to go this lady’s house during the famine, and she has just enough food to bake a cake for herself and her son, so they can eat it and die, because they had given up hope. Elijah, totaly just rolling on what God told him to do, tells this lady, on his authority as a prophet, to bake food for him. And, as you remember, God multiplies the food and they all eat and eat and eat with no end to the food.
And we all think, awesome, she obeyed, and gave, and was blessed.
But look at the rest of the story. The lady’s son get ill. Very ill. So ill he’s almost dead. And Elijah, no understanding, prays over the kid and cries out to God, “My Lord God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow I am staying with by killing her son?” (I KIngs 17:20). And he begs God to restore life to her son, and He does.
And they all live happily ever after.
So the church I’ve been going to listed this passage in a devotional for the week, and as I read it this week, what jumps out at me is, what if the lady hadn’t given sacrificially. Elijah wouldn’t have eaten, right? No. Her son would have died. God told her, give all you have for a reason you can’t see the logic in, because I told you to. Trust me.
And she does. And because she does, when her son becomes ill, Elijah is there, and his intercession persuades God to spare her son.
Would that have happened if he hadn’t been there?
I guess there’s no way for us to really know, but I would say that it might well not have.
Being pretty open will in my theology, I have no problem saying that God changes His mind. But I think that He had this planned out. He wanted Elijah there to interecede for the lady’s son. It wasn’t Elijah that saved her son, it was God.
She gave, and she received more abundantly than she could have imagined. Just like He promised through Malachai. Actually, in Micah, He told us to “test” Him on this (Malachai 3:10). At the risk of sounding cliche, you can’t outgive God. But it’s almost like He’s telling us to try.
I certainly need to work on this. But I’m trying.
Hit me back and let me know what you think.
I haven’t thought about that story in that particular light before. I love those words from Malachi though. My pastor does a month of sermons every year on stewardship and those have been some of the best sermons I’ve heard. I think too many pastors are afraid to touch any subject related to money, which is sad. They do a disservice to their flock by avoiding the topic. I, for one, am glad my pastor was willing to teach the truth from God’s Word without caring whether anyone was “offended.” Good stuff Dave!