Hello my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
Sometimes I pause and just reflect on that phrase “Walking with Jesus”. The disciples did it for several months with Jesus visible to them everyday! But all through history others have done it, as you and I are challenged to do it… WITHOUT Jesus physically present and visible! Part of my purpose in our daily times together is seeking to learn how others have ‘walked with Jesus’ especially in difficult, complex times in history. Times like our world today.
Let’s return to join Elijah, the widow and her son in the Sidon region town of Zarephath during a terrible, prolonged, God sent drought. You might say they are ‘living the dream’ because each day, miraculously, there is flour and oil replenished in their jugs so the widow can make the bread they need to live. And this daily miracle continued for months!
But then the boy got sick. We don’t know what the malady was but he grew sicker by the day and one sad day he died. For the widow, could there have been anything more heartbreaking?
Often in such a situation heartbroken people say foolish things, things they don’t really mean, and this widow lashed out at Elijah, holding him responsible for her son’s death. (1 Kings 17:18) I imagine the old prophet was also heartbroken, for in these months together it’s very likely he became like a father and a grandfather to the boy. But rather than anger, Elijah’s compassion welled up and he asked permission to take the boy’s limp body into his room for prayer.
There is no indication in the Biblical account that God had told Elijah to do this, and so I assume his actions are the direct result of what I call “Walking with Jesus”. It means the relationship Elijah had developed with God permeated his life so whenever something significant happened, good or bad, Elijah was looking for God’s Presence, God’s involvement in that situation, especially if it was a crisis.
Now pause a second and let’s look at ourselves, our extended families, all the people we know… who has a relationship with Jesus like that today and how do you think such a profound relationship with God can be developed over time?
The record tells us Elijah took the boy to his room and laid the boy’s body on his bed. There is no evidence Elijah had ever done anything like this before, nor had he ever seen anyone do this, but it’s clear he felt strongly that the best thing he could do in this crisis was to bring the boy’s dead body before God and ask for God’s powerful, miraculous intervention in this death crisis.
Meanwhile, I presume the dear widow was in her room crying, perhaps some of her friends and had come and were grieving with her. Hearing those sobs, Elijah could only ask God why! “LORD my God, have You brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” (1 Kings 17:20)
Those are harsh words aren’t they? What do the words tell you about the type of relationship Elijah and God had developed? How do you communicate with God when you are confused or heartbroken or even angry? Just as in human relationships, so in our relationship with God, the strength of the relationship, developed over time, determines the amount of stress the relationship can endure!
Elijah felt confident he could unload his broken heart to God, yet do so with respect for God’s holiness, His majesty and His sovereignty. But complaining or blaming God was not helpful to the situation and Elijah knew that, so Elijah took action.
Elijah interceded with God on behalf of the broken hearted widow. Three times Elijah cried out to God “LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”. The record even tells us Elijah stretched himself out on the boy as he prayed. I can’t explain why Elijah did that, there is no other such occurrence in Elijah’s life or in Biblical history. But what we do know is God responded miraculously!
The record explains it like this: “The LORD God heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him to his mother and said, ‘Look, your son is alive!’ (1 Kings 17:20-23) Now friends, I wonder how you explain this miracle in practical terms? What happened here?
We know God creates life, sustains life and at the time a human body ceases to function, God sustains their soul & spirit, still fully alive, for the rest of eternity. The phrase “the boy’s life RETURNED to him” is a carefully chosen phrase which makes it clear that in his death, only the boy’s body died, his soul and spirit remained alive; so when God brought his soul & spirit back into his body, life was restored!
That’s what we call ‘resurrection’. We don’t know how long the boy had been dead, but I presume it was only a matter of hours at most. It is very important though, that we understand this was a resurrection miracle similar to Jesus raising the widow’s son to life in the town of Nain as recorded in Luke 7:11-17; or Jesus raising Jairus’ dead daughter back to life as recorded in Luke 8:49-56; or Jesus raising His friend Lazarus to life after he was dead 5 days. (John 11:1-44) Jesus, God incarnate, had the power to raise dead people to life.
But did you know there are two other Biblical accounts of resurrection miracles similar to Elijah’s? In the town of Joppa a woman died and her friends sent for the apostle Peter. After Peter prayed for her, Tabitha’s (Dorcas) dead body came back to life! (Acts 9:36-42) Elijah’s miracle is also similar to the resurrection of a young man named Eutychus who died falling out of a third story window as the apostle Paul preached long into the night. (Acts 20:7-12)
So my “Walking with Jesus” friends, what can we conclude from these amazing death to life accounts?
No, I don’t believe either Elijah nor Peter nor Paul had the power of restoring life to a dead person. But they were all men of great, great faith in God, who ‘walked with God’ developing remarkably close and strong relationships with God. They responded to a death crisis by crying out to God requesting that God restore life to the dead person! And in each of these unique cases God restored life to dead bodies. These formerly dead people continued to live normal lives, and God was greatly glorified and praised by the people who witnessed these miracles.
These remarkable events call us to significant reflection on the authenticity, the scope and the magnitude of our relationships with God in our day. Do you and I have a passion to genuinely “walk with God” as these men did, bringing the very Presence and Power of God into any situation in which we find ourselves? If so, how are you and I developing that type of relationship with God?
The title of this worship song is “Divine Exchange”. Do we understand what God has designed and accomplished for you and me to live a transformed, “Walking with Jesus” life as we’ve studied today?
Today’s Scripture: 1 Kings 17:17-24.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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