Everyday Miracles

HIGHLIGHT: 1 Kings 17:1-24

Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe[a] in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

Elijah Fed by Ravens

2 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”

5 So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath

7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

12 “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”

15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

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, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on 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 out to the Lord, “Lordmy 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 motherand 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.”

EXPLAIN:

There are two people introduced in this chapter: Ahab (who we actually meet in chapter 16) as one of, if not the most, evil Kings in Israel's history. The other is Elijah, the prophet of God. Elijah's life does not take a lot of space when it come to paper, but is regarded in Israel as one of the most monumental people in the story of God.

In this first verse, Elijah is an outsider who addresses the insider (King Ahab) and declares there will be no more rain or dew until he says so. His authority? The very God that He serves and stands before is the only source of the words Elijah speaks.

After he speaks, knowing that God sent him to speak the words to King Ahab, God then sends him away. Leadership is never an easy thing, but when you are the outsider speaking to the one who has authority to declare right and wrong in a nation, then leadership can be very difficult. So it is with all boldness that Elijah had spoken with the authority of God and it is with obedience that he follows God's directions and leaves town.

Elijah goes to Kerith Brook, where God had told him to go, and where the Ravens are supposed to feed him and a brook is going to refresh him. The key here is that the Hebrew word (beduin/bedouin) for ravens can also be translated as Arabic nomads - people who knew how to survive in the desert.·

The brook dries up and God sends Elijah from the desert to the Lebanese coast, to Sidon, to live with a widow who will now take care of him. She understandably is concerned when he asks for a drink and a bite of bread, and there seems to be a sense that she does not fully trust this Israelite (she talks about God as "your God" when speaking to Elijah). However, Elijah reassures her not to worry, that there will be enough food for all of them because God will provide,

The widow who, most likely due to the nature of culture, lives off of other's charity agrees and sure enough there is plenty of oil and flour to consistently provide food. This is a great realization point, but there is a small amount of trouble. Her son, the orphan, becomes sick and dies. The widow gets upset and blames Elijah for the issue, but he ends up healing and bringing the boy back to life. However, the widow ends by saying, "Now I know..." as if implying that she did not trust him at first, but now she gets the idea of what God is doing.

APPLY:

There are three short stories that make up this one account of Elijah's life. The first is when Elijah speaks for God as an outsider to the insider (one with "no authority" other than what God has given him). The second is God sending Elijah to the Arabs in the desert. They do not have much because they are nomads, but God declares they will take care of him. When the brook dries up, God sends Elijah the Israelite to the Lebanese coast where a widow and orphan will take of his room and board.

There are many who, when reading this account of Elijah, get excited at the miracles listed: no rain or dew until I say so, being fed by birds/raven, and oil and flour that miraculously appear every time they run out. The truth is that I do not want to take away from God's miracles. I understand that life itself is a miracle each day. However, there are some other key things to take into consideration.

The Hebrew word for Raves also means Arabic nomads. These people literally learned how to survive in the desert.

Their whole life consisted of scavenging and moving from place to place in order to survive. However, God had people known for scavenging ready to supply Elijah with the necessities of life.

The widow and the orphan were people on the outside. People who were consistently living off the well being and charity of other people. However, in this instance, God helped these two beneficiaries to become providers of charity. That was probably a huge leap of faith, but one they would never forget.

What really seems to happen in this section is an outsider speaks with authority for God. God has the bedouin, outsiders in their own right, supply for someone else when they were used to scavenging. God then has a Lebanese widow and orphan, beneficiaries of charity turn around and become the provider of charity.

God is taking normal relationships - outsiders and insiders - and turning them upside down. Allowing lives where scavengers become suppliers and beneficiaries become charitable providers. Where Arabs and a Lebanese widow and orphan, care for an Israelite man (someone outside their own race) out of meagre resources.

It got me thinking: What if the miracles are not in brids or in flour and oil that constantly show up, but in the willingness of people to say yes? I do believe God can and still does miracles. I also believe that those miracles can and do become part of our story. It is when we recognize that God is inviting us into His story to bring miracles into other's people's lives.

The catch is what if the miracles God wants to do in you, and even through you, are simply waiting on a yes from you?

What if your house became a new opportunity to invite people to journey life together and see God's work in each other's lives? What if my car became a new opportunity to get people to the store or doctor so they can take care of their health? What if I recognized that everyday there are unlimited opportunities to be generous in other's people's lives in my word, actions and finances? What if I realized that this is where the true miracles happen?

RESPONSE: Lord, you have blessed me more than I could ever imagine. Thank you for each one of those! Would you give me eyes to see the opportunities, regardless of what I have or don't have, to give away the blessings for the sake of bringing miracles into someone else's life. I say yes to whatever you want me to do today.