Then [Elijah] cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have You brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?" — 1 Kings 17:20
I want to focus in on one word in this verse: the word "also."
God’s judgment had fallen upon a nation. For three successive years, famine left people starving and in desperate need. Dying of hunger or of disease was a commonplace fact of life. I’m sure the survivors looked at each other and asked, "Where will it end?" and "Are we all going to die?"
A widow’s son gets sick and dies. That won’t even make the six o’clock news. Nobody is going to care. Everybody has problems of their own.
But God cares. Deep down Elijah knows that God cares — that something is amiss here — that he shouldn’t take this blow lying down.
I would like to suggest to you that there is an invisible line around the people of God. There is a boundary that is not to be crossed. Does that mean that we are all exempt from trouble, that sickness and death will never claim any of us? No. But it does mean that we are God’s property and he watches over what is His.
There is a line that cannot be crossed drawn around you. I don’t know exactly where that line is and neither do you. But God does. And that line has been drawn so that you and I won’t become another "also," another statistic in a meaningless sea of tragedies. Jesus said, "Whoever lives and believes in Me will never die." (John 11:26) God’s resilient eternal life has been planted in us, and all the forces of hell and all the tragedies of this world cannot snuff it out.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
Dwight Clough is the author of four Christian books and is an active member of Lake City Church in Madison. This devotional is also available via email and you may review the archives back to 2002. Dwight and his wife Kim provide prayer ministry for inner healing / transformation and coaching in prayer ministry. He is available to speak to your group or church. To contact Dwight or Kim, use their contact form. You may also support their ministry.