Elijah: A Man Just Like Us - Part 7

1 Kings 17v17-18

Last time, we saw how the widow of Zarephath accepted Elijah's prophesy, shared her last meal with him, and was saved through the famine. Had we never read the story before, we might have thought that all would be well with her from then on. However, the story continues:

1 Kings 17v17-18
Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 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?"

We can't be certain who "the woman who owned the house" was but, since the widow was penniless, it's unlikely that she was renting accommodation, and the most likely explanation is that it was the same person, and that the writer is merely saying that she owned the house that Elijah was staying in. If this is correct, then the same woman who was receiving miraculous help from God for both her son and herself now faced the prospect of losing her son to illness.

How can that make sense? How can someone be truly blessed by God and yet still have huge problems in their life?

It's not unlikely, dear reader, that you can identify with her. Most Christians are aware (of course) that God has forgiven them their sins, adopted them as his own children, given them His Holy Spirit, assured them of eternity in heaven, and blessed them in many ways on Earth. And yet, many Christians are also facing serious problems much of the time.

How does that make sense? Does God want to provide for us or not? If He loves us, why is life so tough?

Many books have been written about this sort of question, and there are many true but incomplete answers. Here are three:

• Some suffering is a gift from God (see Philippians 1v29)
• As long as we're in the world, which is imperfect, our lives will be imperfect
• When life is tough, that's the time you grow as a Christian

All those answers are true in part, but I'm not so holy that I like them much.

There are two other answers, that don't quite answer the question, but which are more helpful, I think:

• God loves Jesus, and Jesus never deserved to suffer, but Jesus suffered more than any of us
• The fact that you're suffering DOES NOT mean that God has stopped loving you, and it DOES NOT mean that He won't continue to help you

The woman's cry to Elijah may not strike us as particularly appropriate but she was HURTING. She didn't display much faith, but she did go to Elijah to say it. And in the midst of our own bewilderment, our prayers might not be quite right. Our tone of voice to God might not be as respectful as it should be, and we might not feel like we've got much faith. But - I hope - we still take our problems to God.

And, as we'll see next time, God had mercy on her.

How many times has God intervened to help you?

And how many times have you lost your sense of confidence that He would continue to do so?

But God still loves all His children. Including you.