There Can Be Miracles When You Believe

1 Kings 17:1-24

Elijah’s Ministry

When you see most people rebel against God, succumbing to sin and wickedness; when evil and violence prevail, causing chaos and moral decadence; when God’s people are lukewarm in their faith, unwilling to obey God; how then would you conduct yourself?

During the reign of King Ahab, the Northern Kingdom of Israel underwent a faith and morality crisis. The Israelites, though not totally forsaking Yahweh, were crippled in their faith. They were not able to go to worship in the temple in Jerusalem.

Coming from Phoenicia, Queen Jezebel propagated the worship of Baal (1 Kings 16:31-32). For the Canaanites, Baal was worshipped as a god of prosperity, rain, harvest, soil and human fertility. Israel turned to Baal because its form of idol worship encouraged unrestrained sensual living, promised abundant crop and material blessing.

Against this backdrop, Elijah called on his people—the Israelites, to stay away from Baal worship and be faithful to Yahweh alone. Courageously, though in grief, Elijah confronted the hostile crowd, or effectively the entire nation.

We will examine Elijah’s ministry, focusing at the dynamics of narrative plot and prophet’s characterization.

From the outset, Elijah was introduced as a Tishbite from Gilead, an insignificant epithet. Elijah was not mentioned as a prophet and there was no “thus said the LORD”. Elijah simply told King Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand; there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” (v.1)

A hitherto unknown character making pronouncements; how could Ahab (and we readers) believe Elijah to be a prophet? Will his words come to pass? Will the LORD overcome Baal?

The LORD God commanded Elijah to go to the Jordan River and hide near the brook Cherith. Elijah obeyed and went. At the brook, Elijah had water but no food. Elijah experienced his first miracle when God sent ravens to deliver bread and meat, twice a day.

The world out there was experiencing a severe drought, poor harvest, and famine, yet Elijah was protected from all these. He stayed alone for some time, living a peaceful, stress-free, quiet life. It was also a passive and inaction situation because God supplied all he needed.

The LORD, God alone, confronted the Israelites— with judgment of drought, without the presence of His prophets and His words. What a tragic God!

Eventually the brook ran dry. The plot continues to unfold where God commanded Elijah to go into the Gentile territory of Sidon to look for a widow.

Ravens were unclean creatures and that corresponded with the Gentile widow – both were marginalized according to Israel’s tradition. Yet they obeyed God’s command and willingly became His messengers to aid Elijah.

Sidon was where Jezebel, the wicked queen, hailed from. Sidon was also the birthplace of Baal and the center of Canaanite culture. Elijah had ventured into the dragon’s lair! Could the LORD, God exercise His authority and power in the domain of the Gentile Canaanites?

Once again, Elijah obeyed God and went to Sidon. There later, he would not only proclaim God’s word, but appropriate and actualize God’s word himself.

Elijah met the widow while she was collecting wood. The widow did not say a word but Elijah believed God’s word and he convinced her to take a step of faith to partner with him to usher in a miracle.

Elijah took the initiative to ask her for water, and the widow gave some to him. He also wanted some bread, but she said that she only had a little flour and water left; barely enough for herself and her son. Both mother and son risked dying of hunger the following day.

Elijah took the next step to make God’s miracle happen. He promised the widow that if she let him eat the food first, the flour and oil would not be depleted. The widow obeyed just as Elijah obeyed the LORD God.

When Elijah visited the widow, he was passively accepting God’s command. But from then on, he became responsible for solving the problem of food and water. The outcome was God’s provision of unceasing supply of bread and oil not only for Elijah, but also for the widow and her son.

Charity and hospitality generate abundant supply because God’s grace is sufficient for His faithful people. By faith, we can rely on God to multiply what little we have for the benefit of others.

Now we are certain that God’s power and authority extended beyond the boundaries of Israel into Sidon, demolishing the citadel of Baal.

The plot continued to unfold with Elijah facing another crisis. The widow’s son died of illness and she put the blame on Elijah, saying to him, “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!”

The death of the boy was totally unexpected and Elijah panicked. The LORD God said nothing and did nothing. Facing the death of the boy, Elijah was in a daze.

Elijah had been obedient to Yahweh yet he now suffered failure. This is a trial on the maturity of faith! Like Elijah, we often ask, “What is God’s plan? Why do I have to encounter such a problem? Can God overthrow the domain of death?”

How did Elijah deal with this situation?

Elijah took the child from his mother and carried him to his own room. He took on the widow’s problem as his own, and her complaint as if it was his verbatim, pouring out his heart to God at the top of his voice, “O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?” O the LORD my God, let this child’s soul come into him again.” (v.21)

Before this, Elijah told the widow what to do, and she obeyed him. Now he related her problem to God, and God answered him. Verse 22 says, “And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah. And the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.”

Here we see God is sovereign above all including the domain of life and death. By now Elijah’s prophetic ministry had matured and been accredited, as the widow testified; “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.” (v.24)

The widow’s comment echoed what the prophet had said earlier on, “… there shall be neither dew nor rain, except by my word.” (17:1)

Miracles of God Are For

Transformation of Lives

Elijah encountered one problem after another: from drought, no drinking water; to famine, no food, but God provided him all. Finally, through Elijah, God even performed the miracle of overcoming death.

So, we see the motifs of no water (drought), no food (famine), and no life (death). Interestingly, all these are perceived to be Baal’s domain, under his control.

As the plot unfolded, the narrator actually fore-grounded a fight between Baal and the LORD God, and he underscored that the Lord was the only true and living God whose power overcame Baal’s.

Additionally, the narrator employed an irony or parody: if even foreign ravens and widow submitted to the LORD God’s authority, then why did the people of God, the Israelites, waver in serving the LORD, having turned to the foreign idol Baal?

Chapter 17 underscores the overwhelming power of the LORD over Baal and foreshadows Chapter 18 – the tussle between Elijah and the priests of Baal to bring rain at Mt. Carmel where he would surely be victorious and Baal’s prophets would definitely be annihilated.

Also, we observe that the character of Elijah developed from being simple and passive to being proactive. He might not fully understand why crisis came his way, but as he cried to God, God answered him and revealed His will.

Elijah had learnt to always turn to God to make miracles happen, and not just waiting for miracles to happen. Soon Elijah would be alone to face the challenge of 450 Baal priests, where he should be mature in faith and proactive in overcoming the crisis by then.

This account of Elijah emphasizes that miracles are meant to manifest God’s power and authority, and then bring along transformation of lives. Since life changes, the adverse situation also changes. This is the only reason miracles are meaningful and important!

Many a time, we are not sure why certain events happened, like the case of the Sidon widow. She did not understand the cause of her son’s death and believed that it was the punishment for her own sins.

But as we rise up to undertake the responsibility, be proactive, by the power of God, miracles will happen! Our lives will undergo transformation, shaping us to be more steadfast, more versatile to overcome challenges, and bring about changes to our surroundings.

Let’s Embark on the Prophetic Ministry

Elijah experienced “drought, famine, and death”. Through this process, he gained maturity. Elijah started from fulfilling his own needs, to fulfilling the widow’s needs, to propelling her to believe in the LORD God, and, finally, to bringing life to her son.

 “Fighting evil, upholding the name of God, helping others to gain life”—is a model of prophetic ministry and it is realized in Jesus’ ministry too.

To save sinners, the Eternal Logos incarnated. Jesus crossed the boundary between heaven and earth, overriding the dividing line between the clean and the unclean, and entered into the domain of the “Ruler of this World”.

With the anointing of the Holy Spirit, he overcame the temptations of Satan, and contained evil. He upheld the holy name of God, served the needs of people, and resurrected to conquer death so as to give life to those who turn to Him for salvation.

Jesus gathered in Israel an eschatological prophetic community, which includes us now, as Christians, to venture into this chaotic world with a mission to “fight evil, uphold God’s name, and give life to people”. Eventually this corrupted world will turn to God anew.

Today many Christians come to God for miracles for their continual enjoyment at the “brook of Gilead”, leaving God alone to face the disastrous world out there. The irony is “the ravens and widow of Sidon” are at God’s disposal and will be used by God.

As Disciples of Christ; let’s get out of our comfort zone to partner God to usher in miracles of life. We exalt God’s name through miracles, through gaining maturity in life, and through bringing to others faith and new life. This is our purpose of experiencing miracles and this is also our mission.