Elijah: A Man Just Like Us - Part 8

1 Kings 17v19-24

Last time, we read:

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?"

Elijah was a man just like us. Through meeting him, a poor widow woman had found faith in God, and God had provided for her and her son. Now she comes to him and tells him that her sin is dead. She's taking her anger and anguish out on him. And he's helpless. He's a man just like us. What's he supposed to do? What would you do?

Well, this is what he did:

1 Kings 17v19-22
"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. 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?" 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!" The LORD heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived.

Elijah prayed. That was all he could do. He cried out to the Lord. Then he laid three times on the child, breaking any taboo he felt about touching the dead, and he cried out to the Lord again. There are situations when you know you can't fix the problem. All you can do is cry out to God.

And The LORD heard Elijah's cry. A great miracle happened! The boy's life returned to him.

What would you have done? What would I have done?

Elijah was a man just like us. The boy lived because of God's power and love, not because of Elijah. And if a man just like us can ask God for a miracle, then so can we.

1 Kings 17v23-24
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!" 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."

As a pastor, it's obvious to me that I can't help all the people who ask me for help, but I can pray for them. My job is not to act like God, it's to be a signpost to God, reminding people to pray, and sometimes helping people to pray.

We're all in the same place. We all know people we'd love to help. We can help some of them, and we can't help others. But God can. God is all-powerful, and He loves us. And if we pray, we just might see miracles.