Easter: From Death To Lifel
by Bill Muehenberg, CultureWatch:
The resurrection of Christ is the great boost that a weak faith needs:
There are ten accounts of people being raised from the dead in the Bible. Jesus is the most famous example of this of course, but the other nine are no less miraculous. I just read the account of the first case of this recorded in Scripture. My daily reading has me back in 1 Kings, and in 1 Kings 17 we read about the Widow of Zarephath. Verses 17-24 tell us about this resurrection:
After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. And he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.” And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”
There is much that can be said about this passage. What we read in verse 22 (“And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah”) certainly should encourage all of us as we pray. God does hear the prayers of his people. Of course he may not always answer them in the way that we prefer, but he is attentive to our cries.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
