God’s Miraculous Provision
Review:
His
question, "Hast Thou also brought calamity . . ."
expresses that he recognizes that God is involved
in all that happens in life, but the fact he connected this death with his
presence in the home of the widow suggests the realization of some special
purpose of God for him in this tragedy.
God had
placed another bend in the road and he was considering what God had done and
what the Lord might want to do through him.
But above
all, the repetition with the repeated prayer, reminds us that it is persistence
in prayer that often leads to answers to our prayers.
Note
Elijah's words, "See, your son is alive." It's like he was saying, "you see, the
God of Israel is not only the only true and mighty God with whom nothing is
impossible, but He is also loving, forgiving, and merciful."
Today,
our evidence is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus which declares Him to be
both God's eternal Son and the only one who can take away our sin, give us
eternal life, and give us capacity for real life. (Compare
For
resurrection to occur, two things must happen.
1. The physical body must be rejuvenated even to the point of
re-creation as when the body has decayed.
2. The soul and spirit or the immaterial part of man must be reunited
with the body, the physical part.
Here is
one of the major reasons for this incident.
Certainly, God was concerned for this widow, but He did not do this for
every widow who lost her son. This
miracle was designed to teach important truth.
1. It shows the general purpose of
miracles in the Bible. They occurred to
confirm God's messengers and thus God's message of grace (
2. But in the process (by way of
application to us) it reminds us again of our purpose and of one of the major
purposes for suffering.
Suffering
gives God an opportunity to manifest His power and the power of His Word
through the production of godly character.
3. True godly character, not just
external conformity, is always the result of the Word of God in one's life. It is the work of faith, the result of
fellowship with the living God.
18:1-6 The
Confrontation on
The
setting of
Chapter 18 is a
very important account of Elijah's confrontation with the Baal priests on
The confrontation
on
(1) that the drought was not
merely an unfortunate coincidence of nature, but divine discipline from Yahweh,
the one and only true God; and
2) that
the rain and the end of the drought were the work of Yahweh.
I believe that
chapter 18 and the
First let's focus our attention on the coming of the Word of the Lord to
Elijah and the new directions he received from the Lord, which stand in such
stark contrast to the actions of Ahab.
As a brief review
to set the stage, we have seen Elijah in varying conditions:
1. In 17:1 we saw him openly confront evil Ahab for the first time and
warn him about the coming drought.
2. Then we saw the prophet in seclusion by the brook Cherith, which
undoubtedly became a time for him to be alone with God to draw upon his
supernatural resources, the Word and prayer.
This was a time of preparation for things to come.
3. Finally, we saw Elijah in Zeraphath at the home of the poor
widow. This became a place of testing,
testimony, and confirmation.
Elijah was an
instrument, a tool being shaped and fashioned for things to come, but it is to
be no different for us--since we are also to be shaped and prepared by the
circumstances of life to be used by God.
"Now it came
about"
is the same construction we had in 1 Kings 17:7 and 17. Literally it is, "and it came to pass."
"After many days."
Notice--not simply after years, or in the third
year, but the verse says, "after many days . . . in the third
year." Let's note some
observations, about the wording here?
(1) For God's people, no matter how fast or slow
the years may seem to pass, God always deals with us on a day-by-day,
day-at-a-time basis. Every day of the
believer's life is important to God and should be so for us also.
Why?
(a)
Because
no day for a believer is unimportant to God regardless of who we are, where we
are, or how seemingly insignificant or how painful our situation may be. God cares for us and for all the details of
our lives (1 Pet. 5:7).
(b)
If
God is so concerned, shouldn't I be as well?
This means we need to carefully watch how we are walking day by day.
(c)
Each
day is to be redeemed by walking circumspectly and wisely because of our own
sinful propensities and the constant threat of our enemies to sidetrack us
(Eph.
(d)
Each
day is to be numbered, reckoned as important with opportunities in view of the
shortness of life (Ps. 90:12; 39:4-5).
(e)
Each
day is to be viewed in the light of eternity because every day has eternal
ramifications.
PRINCIPLE: It takes earthly
time to lay up heavenly treasure
(2) The term "many" brings up another point to be pondered. As we saw in 17:7, the text there was
literally "at the end of days."
There the point was
a specific time and plan. God had
provision for Elijah for a certain number of days at the brook, known only to
God from all eternity, though unknown to Elijah.