1 Kings 17: When You Think You Have Arrived

Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe 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.”

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

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

Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 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?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

“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.”

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. 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.’”

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. 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.

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?”

“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, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “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 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.” - 1 Kings 17

I guess the moral of this chapter is 'don't limit the ways God will provide.' Nothing in Elijah's plan for the future included "get feed by carrion birds" or "ask for handouts from a single mother with a kid in a foreign country" Nothing in the widow's life plan said, your husband will die, you will be desperate but daily food will come by miraculous handouts from a foreigner's God, your son will become deathly ill but life will come by miraculous healing from God.

I think this tells me not put conditions on where my life is going, because God will test that plan, to see if I am relying on it or on God. Elijah may have been thinking: 'this is my test' and I will prove my dependence on God and everything from now on will be smooth. He had a plan about how his future career would look. He thought he had it figured out. But God had more: Mt. Carmel and fire from heaven, living on the run from Jezebel in desperation and meeting Elisha. 

I'm 54. I think I've got life mapped out from now on. But this chapter says: don't be presumptous, God has more.

2 Kings 8: Self-Serving Interpretations

In the book of 2nd Kings, chapter 8, there is one of those confusing prophecies which makes you question if you really know how God works and thinks (see also 1 Kings 22). The king of Aram, Ben-Hadad, is very sick and sends his right-hand man, Hazael to ask Elisha about his future. Elisha says to him: “Go and say to him, ‘You will certainly recover.’ Nevertheless, the Lord has revealed to me that he will in fact die.” (2 Kings 8:10)

So Hazael goes back to Ben-Hadad, tells him the first part, and on the next day, smothers him to death with a water soaked cloth. (vs. 15)

Did God instruct Elisha to tell Hazael to lie? No. He likely did recover. But 'nevertheless' he died: murdered. Like many of the other prophecies of Elisha (cf. 2 Kings 7:2), these double-edged prophecies serve to reveal the character of the hearer. By how he responds, Hazael will show what kind of man he is. Watch the sequence of events.

First, he reveals himself by his reaction to the prophecy. After Elisha gives this prophecy, there is curious phrase: "He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael was embarrassed." (vs. 11a) God knew that the coup attempt was already in Hazael's thoughts. Elisha watched his reaction. When there was none, "Then the man of God began to weep." (vs. 11b) He did not care about the king. The king's death was not a loss for Hazael, but an opportunity.

Second, he reveals himself by pretending to not understand. He tries to cover it up. “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. (vs. 12) When Elisha tells him that he will be responsible for terrible acts of violence against Israel's people, he is not insulted or horrified. Instead he asks how he would get that kind of power and position: "Hazael said, “How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?” (vs. 13a) There it is: ambition cloaked in false humility.

When Elisha tells him what he wants to hear: “The Lord has shown me that you will become king of Aram,” (vs. 13b), he does not pause to consider: "I could serve the king faithfully until he dies and he or the leaders will make me the next king." No, he takes Elisha's words as a mandate from heaven and carries out the coup against the king who trusted him with his life. He gains his secret desire at the cost of becoming the worst sort of man. He took the prophecy, not as a judgement, but as a get-out-of-jail-free card to carry out his own desires.

We also do this. Many times we select the parts of the truth we listen to; we select the parts of the truth we pass on to others; and we edit God's word so that it seems to authorize the accomplishment of what we want. Even at the cost of becoming the worst sort of man or woman. Check your ambitions, your big goals, your hearts desire, your unspoken wishes, and see if you aren't sacrificing your character on their altar. God will offer a test. Will you follow your own self-serving interpretation? Do you have people who can tell you when you're off course?

What good is it for someone to gain the world, yet forfeit their soul? (Mark 8:36)