A prophet prays for life to return

Background: During a severe drought, the LORD told Elijah the prophet to seek food and shelter in the home of a poor widow and child. When Elijah found the woman, she was getting ready to prepare the last meal for herself and her only son, but the prophet told her to share her food with him first and she would have all she needed until the drought ended. Though fearful, the woman believed Elijah and did as he said. The handful of flour and small amount of oil continued to flow, keeping Elijah, the widow, and child alive. Some time later, however, the boy became ill and died.

And the woman said to Elijah,
‘Man of God, what have you done?
Did you come to remind me of my sin
by killing my son?’

‘Give me your son,” Elijah said,
then took the boy to a room upstairs
where he’d been staying
and laying the child on the bed,
he prayed: ‘LORD God,
this woman let me stay in her home!
Oh, why have you done
this terrible thing and caused her son
to die?’

Then stretching himself out on the boy
three times, Elijah prayed to the LORD,
‘O, LORD, my God, let life come in
to this boy again!’

And the LORD answered the prayer
and the child began to breathe,
and Elijah carried the boy back
to his mother and said,
‘See! Your son is alive!’

And the woman said, ‘Now I know
you truly are a man of God,
and truly, through you, the LORD speaks.’


©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrase from today’s Daily Bible Reading of 1 Kings 17:17-24

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