1 Kings 17:17-24 (NRSV)
Read 1 Kings 17:17-24 on biblegateway.com
Verse 17After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. Verse 18She then 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!" Verse 19But he said to her, "Give me your son." He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. Verse 20He cried out to the Lord, "O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?" Verse 21Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the Lord, "O Lord my God, let this child's life come into him again." Verse 22The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. Verse 23Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, "See, your son is alive." Verse 24So 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."
Devotion
It's not the time or place, but I would love to have a theological argument with Elijah. When you are standing over a deathbed with weeping coming from the other room, it is not the moment to quibble over theology. Still, I question Elijah's accusation of God: "O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying by killing her son?" Elijah implies, "Yes;" I would argue, "No." God is not in the calamity business; rather, God is present precisely in the midst of suffering. Perhaps Elijah's perception is skewed by his anger with God over this situation. Yet even if I disagree with his theology, Elijah still communicates the presence of God in that upper chamber. See how he stretches himself over the dead child while crying out to God? In that very moment I see our God in flesh and in tears.
Prayer
Weeping God, when we gather bedside or graveside, you are present amid our pain and tears. Only by your tender presence are we led out from suffering's shadow into the light of your eternal joy. And there—with you—our mourning is no more. Amen.