DAYS OF ELIJAH - Loving People through Hard Times

Pray – (1/2 minute)

Read – (2 1/2 minutes) – “Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing.” (1 Kings 17:17)
     Passage: Psalm 145:1-7

 When the brook dried up in Gilead, God sent Elijah to Zeraphath, right in the area of the pagan nation where Jezebel was from. It was an area that King Ahab would never have thought to look for Elijah as the drought got longer and famine grew greater. There at the home of a widow with one son, God did a miracle every day to keep flour in a jar and oil in a jug. All seemed well for her. With food to eat and the prophet of God in her home, she was experiencing the blessings and seeing God work in her life. Then tragedy struck. He son became ill unexpectedly and the illness progressively. Then he died.

God wired us for relationship. To love and be loved. When a loved one dies, that person will be missed and grief comes to the heart. Loving people doesn’t not just apply to good times. It applies to hard times and it is actually demonstrated the most in those times. God designed local churches to gatherings of His family who do life together. When people are going through hard times, whether the battle against an unexpected and life threatening illness, the loss of a job, a natural disaster or a death of a loved one, God’s people are called to show love through those times. Elijah did that for the widow of Zeraphath and when the need arises, you can help others too.  

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