God can use tragedy to bring realisation of truth because He is a Redeemer. Circumstances we immediately judge as negative, pointless, and unnecessary God employs in His sovereign plans for good. A situation in the life of Elijah presents an example.
The background is Elijah was a prophet of the God of Israel, yet king Ahab and many Israelites worshipped Baal: the god of fertility, weather, rain, wind, lightning, war, and seasons. Elijah prayed it would not rain, and through the ensuing drought and famine which lasted over three years it was evident Baal was powerless to bring the necessary rain. God directed the prophet Elijah to live with a poor widow woman and her young son, and God miraculously provided for their needs.
Over the course of time the little boy became ill and died. The heartbroken woman was distraught and 1 Kings 17:18 reads, "So she said to Elijah, "What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?" In her grief the woman felt judged by God because of the unthinkable tragedy of losing a child to illness. Perhaps she felt extending hospitality to a man of God ought to bring blessings, and the death of her only son seemed a curse. Elijah took the body of the deceased child and placed him on his own bed.
1 Kings 17:20-22 says, "Then he cried out to the LORD and said, "O LORD my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?" 21 And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the LORD and said, "O LORD my God, I pray, let this child's soul come back to him." 22 Then the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived." James says the fervent prayers of the righteous avail much, and Elijah cried out to God. The woman who kindly received Elijah lost her son to sickness, and for some reason God allowed it as the giver of life. In his praying Elijah did not tell God reasons why He ought to answer, but cried out to the LORD for the boy to live again. God heard the prayers of Elijah and the child miraculously revived.
The ways of God are higher than we can comprehend, yet one purpose behind God's revival of the child is found in the mother's response in 1 Kings 17:23-24: "And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, "See, your son lives!" 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth." The widow called Elijah a "man of God" likely sarcastically in derision before, but after the revival of her child she acknowledged the power of God, Elijah was God's prophet, and the word of the LORD spoken through him was truth. As in the life of Jesus and His followers, the miraculous confirmed the truth of what they spoke.
When Elijah first met this woman, she was resigned to starvation because she only had a little flour and oil left. Though she daily witnessed the provision of God by causing the meal and oil to last days, weeks, months, even years, she did not believe the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah. It seems it was only after her son died, her heart was crushed, and he was graciously revived that her perspective changed. It took tragedy to make way for truth. This passage had a happy ending: not that the boy was raised from the dead (as awesome that it is), but the woman came to realise God is the LORD and His Word was true. May tragedy cause us to seek and trust God more, not run from Him in denial.
The background is Elijah was a prophet of the God of Israel, yet king Ahab and many Israelites worshipped Baal: the god of fertility, weather, rain, wind, lightning, war, and seasons. Elijah prayed it would not rain, and through the ensuing drought and famine which lasted over three years it was evident Baal was powerless to bring the necessary rain. God directed the prophet Elijah to live with a poor widow woman and her young son, and God miraculously provided for their needs.
Over the course of time the little boy became ill and died. The heartbroken woman was distraught and 1 Kings 17:18 reads, "So she said to Elijah, "What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?" In her grief the woman felt judged by God because of the unthinkable tragedy of losing a child to illness. Perhaps she felt extending hospitality to a man of God ought to bring blessings, and the death of her only son seemed a curse. Elijah took the body of the deceased child and placed him on his own bed.
1 Kings 17:20-22 says, "Then he cried out to the LORD and said, "O LORD my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?" 21 And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the LORD and said, "O LORD my God, I pray, let this child's soul come back to him." 22 Then the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived." James says the fervent prayers of the righteous avail much, and Elijah cried out to God. The woman who kindly received Elijah lost her son to sickness, and for some reason God allowed it as the giver of life. In his praying Elijah did not tell God reasons why He ought to answer, but cried out to the LORD for the boy to live again. God heard the prayers of Elijah and the child miraculously revived.
The ways of God are higher than we can comprehend, yet one purpose behind God's revival of the child is found in the mother's response in 1 Kings 17:23-24: "And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, "See, your son lives!" 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth." The widow called Elijah a "man of God" likely sarcastically in derision before, but after the revival of her child she acknowledged the power of God, Elijah was God's prophet, and the word of the LORD spoken through him was truth. As in the life of Jesus and His followers, the miraculous confirmed the truth of what they spoke.
When Elijah first met this woman, she was resigned to starvation because she only had a little flour and oil left. Though she daily witnessed the provision of God by causing the meal and oil to last days, weeks, months, even years, she did not believe the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah. It seems it was only after her son died, her heart was crushed, and he was graciously revived that her perspective changed. It took tragedy to make way for truth. This passage had a happy ending: not that the boy was raised from the dead (as awesome that it is), but the woman came to realise God is the LORD and His Word was true. May tragedy cause us to seek and trust God more, not run from Him in denial.
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