Unshaken Faith

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

UNSHAKEN FAITH

1 Kings 17:17-24

17 Some time later, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?" 19 "Give me your son," Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?" 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this boy's life return to him!" 22 The LORD heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, "Look, your son is alive!" 24 Then 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."

NIV

We could start right out with Elijah asking the LORD to bring life back into a dead boy. God is the author of life; He is the God of the living. Jesus made that clear to the Sadducees when they tried to trap him with the seven brothers who all married the same woman in an attempt to have a son for the first brother who died, and all seven died. When she died, they wanted to know whose wife she would be in the resurrection, which they did not believe in. According to the gospel of Luke, Jesus told them that God told Moses at the burning bush that he was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and that God is not a God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive. This son of the widow was alive as far as God was concerned,  but in the flesh, or the reality of this world, the boy stopped breathing and died. Elijah, being a man of God, knew that God was the God of the living, and the life of this boy was in the LORD’s hands. God did not disappoint and restored life to the boy's body.  Elijah knew the LORD would answer him. He had no doubt, yet he prayed over the boy three times until the LORD restored the boy’s life. Although we cannot or should not make this three times into a formula for prayer when we seek a specific answer from the Lord, it does give us the truth about being persistent in prayer. There is another story within this narrative that gives us another truth. We are not told how long elapsed between the time the jars of flour and oil never ran out and the time they had food until the son became ill. However, this widow witnessed the hand of God in her home, keeping flour and oil in the jars so she could make bread day after day. Yet, when her son became ill and stopped breathing, she became angry at Elijah, accusing him of having something against her or judging her sin. Because we do live in this world, and in our corruptible and perishable flesh, there may be things that happen to us as believers. We are subject to illnesses, or infirmities, broken bones, joint problems, and all sorts of physical difficulties,  or even the loss of a loved one. Our first response should not be to become angry and blame God for any trouble we might experience. After God responded to Elijah’s prayer and restored the son’s life, the woman knew that Elijah was truly a man of God. The full jars weren’t enough for her faith in God; she needed another miracle. Is our faith built on continued miracles from God, or do we believe in God just because he is God? Faith is the substance of things hoped for, yet not seen. Likely, most believers have never seen God, or a miracle for that matter, but that does not shake our faith, because we know God; we have the Spirit within bearing witness to God. We know he is real, that Jesus is true, that our sins have been forgiven, and that someday we will see Jesus face to face. No matter what we go through in this life, our faith in God will not be shaken.