“And the Word of ADONAI came unto him saying arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her and said, fetch me I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her and said, bring me I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, as ADONAI thy ELOHIM liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruse: and behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die. And Elijah said unto her, fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first and bring it unto me and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith Adonai Eloheinu of Yisrael, the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that ADONAI sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she and he and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the Word of ADONAI, which He spake by Elijah. And it came to pass after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah, what have I to do with thee, O thou man of YAHVEH? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son? And he said unto her, give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom and carried him up into a loft, where he abode and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto ADONAI and said, O ADONAI my Elohim, hast Thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried unto ADONAI and said, O ADONAI my Elohim, I pray Thee, let this child's soul come into him again. And Adonai heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down out of the chamber into the house and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, see thy son liveth. And the woman said to Elijah, now by this I know that thou art a man of YAHVEH and that the Word of ADONAI in thy mouth is truth.” (1 Kings 17:8-24)

We live in a cycle of dependent relationships. A cycle of dependent relationships rises from the above Scripture to meet us. Elijah is dependent on the woman who provides him with shelter from the world and with a haven from Ahab. The woman is dependent on Elijah, who provides her with the promise of sustenance during the famine. They are both dependent on YAHVEH, who brought them together and who offers ongoing provision. At first this cycle of dependent relationships is working out fine; Elijah has shelter, the woman has food and YAHVEH is providing it all. Because of the drought and the resulting famine, the woman had expected that she and her son would die of starvation, but they were spared that fate through the intervention of YAHVEH through Elijah. Suddenly though, the boy becomes ill and dies.

1.) The cycle is threatened when a crisis arises. The woman’s newfound stability is now rocked by instability; her gain is marred by loss; her sense of favour is shattered by a sense of judgment. So threats have landed in the woman’s life and when the threats land, the accusations fly! They fly toward Elijah: “What have you against me?” The implication is clear: “Had you not come into our lives this would not have happened.” She exhibits the human tendency, when things go wrong and pain comes into our lives or the lives of those we love, to lash a third party with the blame. They fly toward the woman herself: “You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance.” In times of pain and loss, our sharpest barbs are often reserved for ourselves. In the woman’s eyes, the prophet represents YAHVEH; therefore, Elijah’s presence provides an opportunity for YAHVEH to know about her sin, sin of which she is all too painfully aware. So the woman blames herself: “My son is paying the price for the sin of which I am guilty.” They fly toward YAHVEH: “What have You against me, O man of YAHVEH?” This accusation is implicit; the woman does not directly blame YAHVEH for what is happening. Again though, she does associate the presence of Elijah with the presence of YAHVEH; thus she accuses Elijah as the “man of YAHVEH,” thereby blaming YAHVEH, too. Here is another human habit: we blame YAHVEH for what happens in our lives. Clearly then, the cycle of dependence that had developed between the woman, Elijah and YAHVEH had broken down. It broke down because tragedy had disturbed the equilibrium of the situation; it broke down further because in her pain, the woman blamed everyone in the cycle for what was happening. She blamed Elijah, she blamed herself and she blamed YAHVEH.

2.) We sometimes practice the art of “taking for granted.” We can understand how things got to this point. Still, we must note that the woman practiced a selective forgetfulness. Clearly, she interpreted the death of her son as a judgment upon her by YAHVEH for things she had done. Not clear is how she interpreted the positive events that she had previously experienced, for she makes no comment on them. This is not unusual, for people are all too quick to blame YAHVEH for the bad and all too slow to thank YAHVEH for the good. But must we not interpret the previous positive events as an act of sheer grace on the part of YAHVEH? Did the woman and her son deserve to be spared the effects of the drought, whereas others in the area did not? Did they deserve the presence of YAHVEH through his prophet, whereas others did not? Did they deserve the miraculously perpetual grain and oil, whereas others did not? There is absolutely no indication that they did, so what we have here is the operation of YAHVEH’s grace in the lives of the woman and her son. Is it possible then that the woman had come to practice the art of “taking for granted”? Is it possible that she had come to associate the presence of Elijah and his Elohim with good times and abundance and blessing so that when things changed, she suddenly saw no good in them and in their presence? Is it possible that some of us are practicing the art of “taking for granted,” having come to take those in our cycle of dependence for granted? We are dependent too, on our spouses, on our children, on our parents, on our extended families, on our friends, on our church family and ultimately on YAHVEH. This is a mutually beneficial cycle of relationships when the cycle is working, for through it we are blessed and helped by each other. In a sense, we are even helpful to YAHVEH and a blessing to YAHVEH. At its best, this cycle of dependence is also a cycle of grace, everybody loving and helping the others and freely giving what is needed for no other reason than that we feel love and grace in our hearts.

3.) There is the danger of withdrawing from the cycle of dependence. But what happens when something occurs that no longer allows us to take each other for granted? What happens when some bad creeps into the good and some curse creeps into the blessing and some pain creeps into the comfort and some lack creeps into the abundance? What then? Then we sometimes lash out toward those around us in the cycle. We blame people; we blame ourselves; we blame YAHVEH. How could they; how could we; let this happen? And we begin to withdraw from the cycle of dependence. This is a dangerous predicament, for dependence is a matter of life and death for human beings. Some people never get that far though; that is, they never get far enough into the cycle to have the chance to withdraw. Those are the people who have, from the outside, observed the potential for pain and loss in relationships and who therefore choose to attempt to live independently from other people. They may stay away from relationships as completely as possible. Or they may live alongside people in the usual settings as spouse, parent and grandparent, but never really let others into their lives and never really let themselves into the lives of others.

4.) We can know the touch of YAHVEH through the touch of others. Dependence is a matter of life and death for human beings because access to the power of YAHVEH is a matter of life and death for human beings. At its heart, this story is about the power of YAHVEH; its purpose is to show that the power of YAHVEH is present in the person of Elijah. It is a matter of ultimate importance; a matter of life and death; that we know the presence of the power of YAHVEH. Sometimes we know that power directly. But sometimes; oftentimes; YAHVEH chooses to communicate His powerful presence through the presence and the touch of people. We sympathize and some of us empathize, with the woman’s pain. She had lost her only son, the only family she had. But the accusations that emerged from her pain threatened to cut her off from the only source of help she had: the presence of YAHVEH through His prophet, Elijah. Elijah felt that pain too. So he took the boy in his arms, laid him on his bed and stretched himself out over the boy’s body three times, praying for the reviving of the child. And YAHVEH answered the prayer! But do not undervalue the truth that YAHVEH worked through Elijah’s very personal touch. Then Elijah, the prophet of YAHVEH and the friend of the family, gave the woman her son back. You see, being open to the sustaining, healing, helping power of YAHVEH in our lives requires being open to the fact that YAHVEH often sustains, heals and helps us through the presence and through the touch of the people who are around us. We dare not cut ourselves off from the help that YAHVEH wants to give through other people. When the woman’s son came back to life, the truth was underscored that YAHVEH is the ELOHIM who gives life. But the fact that YAHVEH did so in this instance through the touch and prayer of Elijah, who had become in essence a part of that family, underscores how vital is our openness to YAHVEH’s channelling of His power to us through the people in our cycle of dependence. It is a matter of life and death, for how much more alive we will be when we learn to accept the healing touch that YAHVEH offers through the touch of others.

Love in Yeshua
Be blessed and stay blessed!
Have a joyful day and remember to thank Yahweh יהוה for it!