Elijah and the Power of God

(1 Kgs. 17)

Wicked King Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God to anger than all the Kings of Israel who had lived before him. And because of his wickedness, the prophet Elijah warned Ahab: “As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, [except] according to my word.” Then the Lord told Elijah to hide himself by the brook Cherith, where he would find water. There the Lord cared for Elijah by sending ravens with bread and meat each morning and evening. But after a while the brook dried up because of the lack of rainfall. Then Elijah was told by the Lord to arise and go to the city of Zarephath where he would find a widow who would feed him.

When Elijah came to the gate of the city, the widow was nearby gathering sticks. He called to her, “Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.”

As the woman turned to leave, Elijah added, “Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.”

The widow answered, “I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and [prepare] it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”

Elijah said unto her, “Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make [one] for thee and for thy son.

“For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.”

The widow followed Elijah’s request and made the cakes, “and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.”

The widow and her son were remarkably blessed because of her faith in the word of the Lord and His prophet.

One day it happened that the widow’s son became ill and “there was no breath left in him.” Filled with grief and sorrow, the widow cried unto Elijah, “Art thou come unto me … to slay my son?”

Elijah answered, “Give me thy son. And he … carried him up into a loft, where [Elijah] abode, and laid him upon his own bed.” Then Elijah cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again.”

The Lord heard Elijah’s prayer, “and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.” Elijah took the boy back down to his mother and said, “See, thy son liveth.”

The grateful widow replied, “I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.”