Tragedy

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:

17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”

19 “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the LORD, “LORD my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the LORD, “LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”

22 The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”

24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth.” (1 Kings 17:17-24, NIV)

REFLECTIONS:

How long has Elijah lived in the widow's home in Zarephath with her son? Apparently, not long enough for her to trust him. "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?" Indicting herself, she blames Elijah for her son's death.

Elijah cries out to God, charging God with the death, but he does so with a question. "Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?" Elijah includes himself in the question.

When tragedy comes, we try to explain it; finding no reason, we assign blame. We often look to ourselves first, even as we accuse others. The widow feels overwhelmed with her own shortcomings, remembering every mistake, failure, and sin in her life. Elijah is upset that God would bring catastrophe anywhere near him. Regardless of our relationship to death, we want and need to find ways to make sense of it. We need clarity in the midst of confusion. We need truth.

The boy revives and returns to his mother. How does this happen? The Lord listens to Elijah. He hears Elijah's faith as well as his fear. God hears his call and answers his question. God hears the widows cry and answers her accusation. The child does not die because of her sin. God does not choose to bring calamity on this household by killing the boy. Tragically, the child became severely ill and died. Miraculously, God brought the child back to life.

For the woman of Zarephath, life is truth. All that Elijah has said about God is true. Grain and oil sustained life, but her child—standing in front of her—is life. Jesus stands now, fully alive, ready to prove God true. Are we ready to ask God for life, even in the face of death?

PRAYER:

God of truth, open us to speak with you in faith, even in the face of fear and pain. When hardship comes our way, it's so easy for us to become confused and disoriented, filled with doubt and despair. We feel as if we need answers, clarity, insight as to why things happen. But what we need most of all is you. We need your grace and your strength and your steadfast love to draw us near and to give us life. So help us, in your kindness and compassion, to look to you and to cry out for life.

WHO AM I?

I am Tres Sansom, and I am all too familiar with the sort of questions that the widow and Elijah asked. I think back to just a few years ago, when Kate and I were seeking to have children.

We were both involved in ministry—Kate as one of the interim worship leaders, and me as the youth pastor. We were giving ourselves in service to God and his kingdom—expending our prayers, time, energy, money, and gifts in the hopes of seeing people brought into relationship with the living God.

Through the financial generosity of others, we began seeking to expand our family with the help of IVF (in vitro fertilization). Prior to making that decision, we had spent months in prayer and felt as if God had invited us to move forward. Not only were we praying for ourselves and our family, but we felt buoyed along by the prayers of our church family and others.

We were completely at peace about the entire process, and hopeful that we would soon be welcoming children into our family. We were so confident in God's kindness that we picked out names and prayed for our future kids. We spoke often and laughed about what it would be like to have little rug rats running around our house.

Finally, Kate underwent the procedure to implant two healthy fertilized eggs into her uterus. It was finally happening! At long last, Kate was carrying our children! She returned to the doctor for tests and everything looked great! Then more tests that revealed more promising signs! The numbers were off the charts good!

But then… it all stopped.

The doctor was hoping for better results. Those numbers should be higher, the doctor said. Things weren't looking good. Finally, he diagnosed it as a "chemical pregnancy." The fertilized eggs had ceased developing. We were told to expect a miscarriage. And then it happened. On Sunday morning. As we were about to walk out the door to go to church. So Kate could lead worship. She miscarried.

We were devastated. Our hearts were wrenched in two. Our heads were spinning. We were hurt. We were angry. We were confused. Why did such a thing happen? We just didn't understand.

But there was one thing we knew to be true. Our God was with us through it all. We never wavered in our belief that God is good, God is for us, God is love.

Throughout our lives, God had graciously led us through enough tumultuous experiences to prove to us that he is good and beautiful and faithful to the end. And so, despite all our heartache and confusion and gut wrenching pain, we held fast to the God who is life.

Our pain was real. Our confusion was real. Even our doubt was real. But our faith was all the more real.

And now, years later, with two other adopted children that are absolutely perfect for us, we can look back on the experience and declare afresh and new that God is good, God is for us, God is love, God is life.