Sickness and Healing
1 Kings 17:7-24
Sermon Outline
Introduction: ‘Some time later (v.7)’ suggest that Elijah would have had opportunity to become complacent in the Kerith Ravine, provided with natural water to drink and supernatural food to eat. After all he was where God had told him to go and he seems to be off the radar of King Ahab and his forces. How are you feeling today? Especially those who have been here many years, perhaps seeing people come and people go, but witnessing no real growth either personal, or corporate. Has this led to a lack of expectation for God to do anything in, or through your life? Has it led to taking for granted what he is doing every day? Have we forgotten that, when we were called to follow Jesus, we were called to a battle. Last Monday at the Prayer Ministry Team Meeting those present were reminded of this fact.
By now Elijah’s position might have been thought to be becoming perilous, because the brook was drying up, which would mean he would have no more water. For the leadership, over the last couple of weeks there have been some financial decisions to be taken in the aftermath of the severe cold snap before and over Christmas. Obviously, there were concerns about money expressed…or should it be ‘obviously’…? The problems come when we forget our Lord’s provision in the past, when we are confronted with present crises. Once again as we look at this passage briefly we will see how God is interested in people, uses people who are willing and does the unexpected.
Let’s look first at…
Prophetic Placement (vs.8-11): Remember Elijah had been told to go to the Kerith Ravine, having told King Ahab that the God of Israel would bring drought, which would last for as long as He decided. Whilst there he was provided with all he needed…including quiet time with God. Now the circumstances are changing. The drought is drying up the brook and God wants Elijah somewhere else so that he can learn more lessons.
The new place is…
A surprising place (v.9) – ‘Zarephath of Sidon’ was a surprising place, because it was on the coast deep in Phoenician Territory…where Jezebel came from and which was ruled by her father Ethbaal (1 Kings 16:31). Why would a prophet of the Living God, from Israel, be sent to a widow deep in the heart of the god Baal’s territory – enemy territory? There have been a number of strange instructions from God during my ministry. My first full-time church was one in which the membership did not want a student, thinking they needed a mature minister. The call to Nottingham came so clearly at a time when Cathryn and I had expressed the desire to stay either in, or south of the M4 corridor – in fact we had said no to churches in the Birmingham area for that reason and I felt that we would be called to the Bristol area. Stockwood was one of the churches on the list of those seeking a pastor when we were called to Nottingham and yet 2.5 years later we were on our way to Stockwood. Finally we have ended up here in Wincanton Baptist. There has been a purpose behind God’s instruction in each case, although it was not always clear at the time. We have tried to be obedient, as was Elijah.
Not only was the prophetic placement a surprising place it was also…
A planned place (v.9) – ‘I have commanded a widow in that place…’ God was clearly informing Elijah that his next place had already been prepared. God, Himself, had gone before to prepare the way. God said the same thing to Paul, when telling him to go to Corinth (Acts 18). Part of the healing every Christian needs is to be released from doubt and walk in faith according to the instruction of a God, our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who is faithful in every way. Sometimes we are prophetically prepared for the future, as for Elijah in this case, but there will be others when we are just asked to step out in faith.
The prophetic placement was a surprising place, a planned place and thirdly it was…
A providing place (v.9) – ‘I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food’’. So God is saying that in the midst of Baal worshipping Zarephath, I’ve organised a widow who will meet your needs.
Have you ever thought that Wincanton Baptist Church, despite our human frailties and shortcomings, is where God wants us to be surprised and provided for in His perfectly planned way? This is not to do with feeling comfortable – at least not all the time – but rather being challenged to grow into the person/people God wants us to be. Thus God’s place needs to be one of obedience and extension of our minds and our perceptions of the potential God has placed in us for His purpose. Remember it is not really about us, but all about Him – the God whom we claim to worship. God reached out to Elijah and as he was willing to go, God reached out to the foreign god worshipping widow.
This leads us from the prophetic placement to the…
Widow’s Welfare (vs. 11-16): Elijah encounters the woman gathering sticks at the town gate. This suggests desperate times…possibly no money to buy any. The sticks are to cook a meal for her son and herself. She thinks it will be their final meal. How did Elijah find out this information? He recognised the woman as God’s provision and asked her for a drink and a piece of bread. Elijah was acting in line with God’s promise. I wonder how often in our lives, you and I have had the opportunity to act in line with God’s promise and…I know I’ve missed the opportunity many times and yet…
AN ex-pupil contacted me on Facebook. That’s scarey, when I think how many years ago I left teaching. Having checked that I was the Andrew Ireland, who had taught in Llantwit Major she asked what I was doing. I mentioned that I was in the ministry and planning to start a spiritual direction course. She replied that she now lived in Somerset and had become a ‘spirit guide’ or something like that helping people to see the light. Needless to say I felt the need to talk about Jesus as the ‘Light of the World’, and how as a Christian I have received the Holy Spirit, who brings God’s word to life in a way that guides me through life. Unfortunately, she hasn’t been back in touch since, but I know God is interested in her welfare, in the same way He was interested in the widow’s welfare.
Having been asked for the water, which she was going to get, and the bread which seemed to hold back because of her virtually non-existant food supplies. Elijah sensing her reticence brings God into the equation by saying, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 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 gives rain on the land’” (vs.13-14).
The widow had a choice, although not much of one I suppose. She could ignore Elijah, go home make and eat the meal with her son and wait to die, or she could step out and do what Elijah said. Like so many people faced with such choices the woman decided some hope is better than no hope and fed Elijah. Having taken the step, the woman found Elijah’s God to be faithful to His promises, because the flour and oil never ran out despite Elijah staying as her guest. During the time they were together, the widow came to know Elijah was a man of God (v.18).
God had chosen this alien woman to see that He was and is faithful to His word. This woman, by giving the bread to Elijah first was acting in the way God’s people should act towards Him. We are called to present the first fruits of our lives to Him as an act of worship.
Despite God providing for the widow’s welfare, things seemed to go wrong and lead to the…
Widow’s Wailing (v.17 – 18): Her son, became ill, deteriorated steadily until he died. You can imagine that the woman was beside herself. We also see that she fell into a common human state of wondering what she might have done to cause her son’s death. Interestingly, she now associates Elijah, through whom God had provided for her welfare and that of her son as being the one through whom God has reminded her of her sin and brought about the consequent death of her son. In John 9 the disciples ask Jesus whether a man is blind because of his own sin, or the sin of his parents. People today are too quick to link sickness, or bad situations with past or present personal sin. I wonder whether we here this morning can be guilty of doing so. One example might be the person who either fears becoming a Christian because they will have to give something up, or having become a Christian blames God for what happens afterwards. Sometimes illness is linked to our lifestyle choices, but it is more often not. We are all part of fallen humanity, whether Christian, or not, and as a result we live under the curse of sickness and death. The process began with the first human beings, Adam and Eve, whose story is to be found in Genesis 3. Genesis 4 shows how the human condition deteriorated further as a consequence.
God’s Grace (vs.19-23): But to counteract this fall and its consequent sickness and death we have God’s Grace. In this passage we see this expressed in the first raising from the dead recorded in Scripture. I find this whole healing process fascinating.
Removal of the body (v.19) – to the upper room where Elijah was staying. In a sense this represents God’s space in the pagan house. It is a place of relative peace as the wailing widow is not there. It is a place where he can concentrate on God.
Seeking God’s will (v.20) – Elijah first asks whether God has brought tragedy on the woman through the death of her son. This could either be seen as a challenge, or a seeking of God’s will in this situation.
Practical/prayerful action (v.21) – Elijah lays on the boy. This could be similar to the giving of mouth to mouth resuscitation, or transfer of body heat to warm the boy. At least these are the explanations that the secular world would try to use to explain away the miraculous intervention of God. Yet throughout the structured process, Elijah cries out to God, “O Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him (v.21). There is no doubt in Elijah’s mind that it is all down to God – His will and His power. If Elijah thought he had the power, would he have not tried to intervene earlier in the boy’s illness?
Healing Hailed (vs.24): Any way the boy was healed and raised to life by God as in the case of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour. Then comes an amazing statement of faith from the widow – ‘Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is truth’. This is why the widow was chosen – or at least one of the reasons – so that she could encounter and acknowledge the Living God for herself. She attributes the glory for the healing to God…not Elijah. She acknowledges that Elijah is used by/a servant of God. In a way I suspect she partially saw God through the miraculous ongoing provision of flour and oil, but it was the raising of her son that caused her to respond to God in the healing hailed.
Isn’t this the purpose of God’s healing throughout Scripture to point people, whether individuals, groups, or nations to saving relations with Him.
Conclusion: Having looked at the prophetic placement, widow , widow wailing, God’s Grace and Healing Hailed, let us finish by fixing our eyes on Jesus the greatest miracle of them all. God becoming human, allowing Himself to be sacrifices on the cross to pay the price for our sin to God, Himself, God accepting the price and raising Himself from the dead, so that you and I can be set free for eternity from sin and its consequence – eternal separation from God. Will you join with me in hailing our Lord’s healing grace, which is at work today as it was in Elijah’s day? Will you seek the Lord’s will as you pray for healing? Will you move from where you are to where God wants to use you, because that is where you will grow in knowledge of the healing God, whom we worship? Amen.
Questions for further reflection
Are you in a spiritual condition where you can hear God’s instructions (Mark 6:30ff)? Was Elijah? If so, how?
What are you facing in your life right now that needs God’s help/supply? Are you resting in him for your needs? What does ‘resting’ mean for Elijah inthis passage?
Where is your focus? Are you focused on the problem rather than the Lord? Are you seeing the agents of supply in your life as totally inadequate, which is resulting in you questioning what God can do?
If you were Elijah, how would you have responded firstly to God’s instruction and secondly to seeing a widow collecting sticks at the city gate?
Dos your present situatio seem impossible? Does it look as if there is no way that God can meet your needs through what he has brought into your life? If you had been the widow, how would you have responded to lijah’s request for bread?
Have you considered that before God meets your need, or that in meeting your need, he wants to use you to meet the need of someone else? Again taking the role of the widow, discuss thoughts you might have had in response to Elijah’s message from God re. the flour and oil?
Have you ever been in situations where:-
- you have wanted to rant at God, because you have thought he has allowed just one more ting that has ‘broken the camel’s back’?
- you have wondered whether something that is happenning to you, or someone else might be down to some unknown sin of yours?
How have you responded? How has God helped you through such situations?
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