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| Picture by George Hodan from PublicDomanPictures.net. |
As you read the verse above, realize that the woman speaking to Elijah was a widow and had only one living relative that we know of: her son. And that son had just died and been raised from the dead by the prayer of Elijah. And so she tells Elijah "NOW I know that you are a man of God".
This seems like a very reasonable response on her part...until we consider what has happened in this chapter, of which this is the very last verse. In this chapter, the widow, her son, and their house-guest, Elijah had been living for many days, in the midst of a drought and resultant famine, on a bit of food that was only enough for one small supper. The widow had been preparing to make this tiny bit of meal and oil into a last meal for her and her son when Elijah arrived, and since his arrival, they'd made that same bit of meal and oil into cake...after cake...after cake and had been sustained on one meal's worth of food for "many days".
So, why hadn't she said, "NOW I know"...days ago?!?
Is it because she was stubborn, just like we are? What does it take for us to finally get around to saying now I believe God will do what He says He will? Is it because we are waiting for some huge sign...and overlooking the many blessings God has given us? How long do we persist in a sin that we know is wrong until we finally repent and do what God is leading us to do? Are we waiting for some miraculous revelation to use personally...when the instruction He has given us is already clearly addressed in His Word?
We should consider, as we are being stubborn about accepting what God is showing us, what the cost might be. The woman in this story was eventually given a sign big enough for her to believe...but look at what she had to go through. She watched her son fall ill and die, and she suffered through that as any mother would.
Would the widow...and her son...have gone through that agony anyway if she had believed at first? Perhaps, or perhaps they only went through it because she kept stubbornly resisting what God was making plain to her, so He gave her a sign she couldn't ignore. We can't know the answer to that, but what we can know is that if God has revealed something to us that we should first believe and then act on that belief. There is no advantage to delaying that action. If God has put a calling on our hearts to change our behavior, habits, or character or to take a specific action, then the time to do that is NOW.
