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1 Kings 17:21-24, And he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, please let this child’s life return to him.”  The Lord heard Elijah’s prayer, and the life of the child returned, and he revived!  Then Elijah brought him down from the upper room and gave him to his mother. “Look!” he said. “Your son is alive!”

Then the woman told Elijah, “Now I know for sure that you are a man of God, and that the Lord truly speaks through you.”

The evil of King Ahab and the idolatry and disobedience among God’s people has gotten really, really bad.  Thus, God sends prophets to point out the error of their ways and essentially be their theological conscience. 

In this chapter, we meet the prophet Elijah.  His name literally means “My God is Yahweh” and that is basically the theme of his entire career.   The chapter begins with Elijah proclaiming to King Ahab that there would be no rain for the next few years until the one true God declared it so.  This is particularly important because the main Canaanite god, Baal, was worshiped as the god of rain.  By Yahweh stopping all rain and dew, he is declaring that HE alone is God and that Baal is a fake god with no power.

The Scripture doesn’t explicitly state the response of King Ahab but we can guess it wasn’t good, for God tells Elijah to leave the area and go hide by Kerith Brook.

As you read through the chapter, Elijah’s obedience and trust in God are quite remarkable.  He trusts God to provide provisions for food and water through animals and people!  My favorite aspect of this chapter is how God uses an impoverished outsider, the widow of Sidon (a city in what is now Lebanon), to provide care and nourishment to one of the most faithful of all of God’s prophets.  Keep in mind that a widow would have been one of the poorest and most vulnerable people in that world.  And yet, God chooses her and she (possibly out of desperation) agrees to be part of God’s plan.  As a result, she and her son are saved from the drought, the ensuing famine, and even illness.  At the end of the chapter, her faithfulness to Elijah is rewarded with God bringing her son back to life.  By being faithful and open to God at work, this widow puts to shame many others who rejected the one true God.

How often God uses the weak and lowly to shame the powerful.  I think this is something we all need to reflect on today.  When have you personally seen this at work?

Let’s pray…Lord, Help us remember who and whose we are.  How often we behave like we have all the answers, like we don’t need you, like we know better than you.  Forgive us, God.  Help us live with a spirit of humility and grace, being open to new things you are doing in our lives.  In Your Name, Amen.