Elijah and the Widow's Son

Elijah and the Widow's Son, James Tissot

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.   1 Kings 17:21-22

From the BKC:

This is the first recorded instance in Scripture of restoration to life of one who had died.

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"He is very particular in his prayer: I pray thee let this child's soul come into him again, which plainly supposes the existence of the soul in a state of separation from the body, and consequently its immortality, which Grotius thinks God designed by this miracle to give intimation and evidence of, for the encouragement of his suffering people." -Matthew Henry

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"listened" shâma‛
shaw-mah'

A primitive root; to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.; causatively to tell, etc.): -  X attentively, call (gather) together, X carefully, X certainly, consent, consider, be content, declare, X diligently, discern, give ear, (cause to, let, make to) hear (-ken, tell)

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"Persistence in prayer is a fundamental requisite for obtaining one’s petitions (cf. Matthew 7:7-8; Luke11:5-13). It proved effective in this case."  -BKC

Lovely commentary from Frederick Meyer on this scene:

"1. Lonely wrestlings. “He took him out of her bosom,” etc. We are not specific enough in prayer; and we do not spend enough time in intercession, dwelling with holy ardour on each beloved name, and on each heart-rending case. What wonder that we achieve so little!

2. Humility. “He measured himself upon the child.” How wonderful that so great a man should spend so much time and thought on that slender frame, and be content to bring himself into direct contact with that which might be thought to defile! It is a touching spectacle.

3. Perseverance. “He measured himself three times, and cried unto the Lord.” He was not soon daunted. It is thus that God tests the genuineness of our desire. These deferred answers lead us to lengths of holy boldness and pertinacity of which we should not otherwise have dreamed, but from which we shall never go back. “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” 

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Hard mirror to gaze into here---do I persist in prayer?  Often, I wrestle not only with the request, but with getting the prayer out of my heart with any degree of rigor and depth.  I feel that the Lord has already made up His mind, and the prayer is more for me--to acquiesce.  It feels like it's something to muster up on my "on my own."  It feels aimless at times--inefficient use of time,  without gratification or reply.   

Yes, He answers.  I feel those answers in quiet moments or equally often when I am busy with other things.  His answers to me are not typically straightforward or clean cut.   

There is a piece of me that longs for the physical, tangible kind of reply we see here with Elijah. Elijah wrestled, but still, in that same effort, the boy came back to life.  Immediate clean cut reply.  Nice.   

Does God work the same way most of the time? these days?  From my experience?  Most of the time: no.  These days: rarely   From my experience: God has worked in powerful and miraculous ways in our lives---I dare not deny it--yet, I've never seen a person raised from the dead. 

Out of the scope of my life, I earnestly petitioned the Lord for children.  He did honor that request--blessed!  Briggs had an accident and should have died from the resulting pulmonary embolism, but he didn't!   Praise God. I prayed also that He spare my father's life---a situation much like this widow.  My father also endured heartbreak and difficulty--in his case with the degeneration of his bride, changing jobs often, watching his children work out their adult lives with strife at times.  God chose not to heal my father physically, though I do believe He chose to heal him spiritually.  He confessed faith in the Lord before he left us.  So, sometimes I wonder why is that such a short end of the stick in my heart.  A partially fulfilled prayer?  The Lord honored the nobler and more significant part, though I didn't get the whole answer to prayer I craved.

Why does He chose to heal or not heal on this earth?  Better minds have wrestled with that question for centuries.  I view it as one of the "great mysteries" of our faith, no getting to the bottom of it anytime soon...

Early 16th century, South Netherlands, probably Brussels

Another curious piece of this story is the way that the widow suspects her son's death is a byproduct of her sin:


"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!"" 1 Kings 17:18

It's remarkable that she goes right to her point of weakness under duress.  Culturally, we so resent any indication of sin or our own culpability that we wave our angry finger the other way.  Our initial response (and often sustained reflection) on any tragedy in our lives is "How dare God subject me to this?"  Not, "What mistake did I make that might justify such an event."