1 Kings 17:19-24: a reflection

19He said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed. 20He cried to the LORD and said, “LORD my God, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?” 21He stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to the LORD and said, “LORD my God, please let this child’s soul come into him again.” 22The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23Elijah took the child and brought him down out of the room into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Elijah said, “Behold, your son lives.” 24The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the LORD’s word in your mouth is truth.”

The widow who had sheltered the prophet Elijah suffers a devastating loss: her son falls ill and dies. Elijah takes the boy from her, carries him to his own room, and there wrestles with God in earnest prayer. He cries out over the child, stretches himself upon him three times, and pleads, LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again. And the LORD listens to Elijah; the child's life returns, and he revives. Elijah brings him down and gives him back to his mother alive.

Notice what Elijah did with the widow's grief: he brought it to God in earnest, persistent prayer. He did not merely offer sympathy; he took the dead child, went to God, and wrestled in prayer for his life, crying out, pleading, not giving up. And God heard him, and gave the child back. Into the deepest grief, the loss of a child, Elijah brought the power of prayer to the God who is able even over death.

That points us to what to do with our own deepest griefs and losses. When sorrow strikes, when we face losses that seem beyond remedy, we are to bring them to God, who hears, and who is able. This does not mean God will always answer as he did here, restoring what was lost in this life; but it means no grief is too deep to bring to him, and that he is able even over death. And this restoration was a foretaste of the greater truth that in Christ, God has conquered death itself. Bring your deepest sorrows to God in earnest prayer, as Elijah did; he hears the cries of the grieving, and he is the God who, in the end, gives back what death has taken.

Lord, when the widow's son died, Elijah took the child, went to you, and wrestled in earnest prayer for his life, crying out and pleading until you heard him and restored the child to his mother alive. Show me what to do with my own deepest griefs. When sorrow strikes, when I face losses that seem beyond remedy, help me bring them to you, who hear, and who are able. I know you will not always answer as you did here, restoring what was lost in this life; but no grief is too deep to bring to you, and you are able even over death. And thank you that this restoration was a foretaste of the greater truth: that in Christ you have conquered death itself. Help me bring my deepest sorrows to you in earnest prayer, as Elijah did. You hear the cries of the grieving, and you are the God who, in the end, gives back what death has taken. I bring my griefs to you.