May 11 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

1 Kings 17:17–24

Devotional

Elijah is in the home of a widow of Zarephath. God had used Elijah to work a miracle in this dear woman’s life. This widow and her only son were saved from starvation. Every day they received enough food. But then something happened. Death entered the home and the son died. The widow responded, “What have I to do with thee, oh man of God? You promised life, but death has come. It would have been better if you had never entered my house. Have you come to call my sins to remembrance?”

Elijah said to the widow, “Give me thy son.” Elijah here serves as an illustration of Christ. Elijah did not reason about the distress. He simply said, “Give him to me.” The Lord Jesus does not reason about sin, for that would not help a guilty person, but He comes to those in distress and says, “Give me your misery. Give me your death.”

Are there dead ones in your home—that is, spiritually dead ones? Perhaps you yourself are one of them. Perhaps you cannot find life in your own heart in spite of all God’s dealings with you. Perhaps it is a child who is spiritually dead. The Lord says, “Give me your need.”

Elijah said: “Give me thy son.” Other than this, he does not respond. He does not know what to say anymore. Elijah takes the child and carries him to his own room and lays him on his own bed. He then cries to the Lord and stretches himself out on the boy. He, as it were, becomes one with him. He becomes one with his death. What a beautiful illustration of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ! He became one with His people and their death.

Elijah became one with the widow’s dead boy. He called on the Name of the Lord and the result was that life returned. Now the widow realized that God does not only save from starvation, but that He also saves from death.

Has Christ saved you from death? Have you realized that He will carry the burdens that you cannot carry yourself? Without Christ, you cannot die, but in order to die with Him, you first need to learn to live with Him. True spiritual life entails that you cannot live anymore without Christ. There is no greater joy than to experience the sweetness of His presence in your soul. Sometimes the Lord removes the sweetness to expose you to the insufficiency of all your experiences. He brings you to an end within yourself to awaken your need for the Surety. The Lord teaches you not to rest on sweet experiences but on Christ alone as your Savior and Lord. He alone can lead you through death and carry you to eternal life on the other side of the grave. God works in this life to lead sinners to rest upon Christ alone. The result is that God views them as if they have never had nor done one sin.

The widow of Zarephath no longer lived by daily flour and oil but she lived with the God of eternal life. The One who is greater than Elijah would one day come to take her and her son to live with Him forever. It is a blessing to find death in everything God gives unless it is received through Christ. Those who hope on Him shall not be put to shame.

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.