Wisdom (Part 1): Week 2, Day 2

Wasn't yesterday's reading pretty remarkable?  I'm so excited to dig into this even deeper with you today and INTERPRET the text.  As a reminder, read through 1 Kings 3:16-28 again.

Now, read through it again, and answer these questions in your notebook:

1. Verses 16-22 present a problem.  Summarize this problem.
2. What is verse 23?.  Can you already see Solomon's wisdom shining through?
3. Verses 25-27 show Solomon solving the problem. Summarize these verses.
4. Verse 28 shows the kingdom's response to Solomon's wisdom. How did they react?
5. How is Solomon's wisdom identified in verse 28?

This is a short, yet extremely sweet, passage of Scripture.  Passages that read as stories are generally easier for me to understand, but it does not take away from the importance of the Scripture. As we move into our time of APPLICATION, what are you already gathering from this week's study? Be in prayer about how this section of Scripture can be applicable to your daily life.

To read the previous posts on Wisdom, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 2: Day 1

Wisdom (Part 1): Week 2, Day 3

Welcome back to this Bible study!  Today we are going to APPLY the text of 1 Kings 3:16-28 to our lives.  This is where we take what the Lord has given us, and we live it out in our daily lives.  What can we gain from reading this passage about Solomon gaining, and then showing, his wisdom?  Before we get into the meaning of this text, take the time to re-read it for yourselves.

As this story starts, we are brought into a harsh reality of the times of Solomon.  Two women, two harlots, two prostitutes, living together in house.  There was no one else in the house with them, which tells us that they were unmarried.  They were each other's support system in this terrible life that they were living.  I'm sure before they both got pregnant, they were living together as roommates.  These women could have very well been best friends.  After all, if you have a choice as to who you would pick as a roommate, wouldn't you choose a friend?  Now, the Scripture does not go into this detail, so this is all speculation on my part.  Both of these prostitutes end up pregnant at the same time.  They go through the nine months of pregnancy together - the joys, the scary times, the unknown - they lived it as friends and roommates.

Now there are two babies, born just three days apart, living in this house with their mommas.  In an extremely tragic event, one of the mommas rolled over on her baby in the night, suffocated it, and killed it.  In her grief, pain, trauma, insanity...whatever emotions she was feeling at the time, she made a terrible decision to switch the babies and lie about the truth of the event.

Now think about the other momma.  She, too, was feeling very emotional, as all new mothers do.  She woke up to a dead baby beside her.  I can't imagine the pain, the grief, how upset she was to think that her baby had died.  But as she looked closer, she knew that this was not her baby.  She knew in her heart that her friend and roommate had committed a terrible act.

Enter King Solomon.  He was able to sum this story up in one short verse (verse 23). One momma says that the living baby is hers, the other momma says that the living baby belongs to her.  What is the King to do?  Last week we studied about how Solomon asked for wisdom from the Lord so that he could properly judge the kingdom.  This is how God is going to show the world how much wisdom he have to Solomon.

Solomon's judgement was to order that the living baby be cut in half.  One half was to go to one of the mommas, the other half to the other momma.  Can you imagine hearing King Solomon order this to happen?  I'm sure that the guards and others on duty at the time thought that Solomon had lost his mind.  Here was the King of Israel, God's chosen King of God's chosen people, and he is ordering the murder of an innocent baby.

But, of course, the killing of the baby didn't have to happen.  The true momma could not stand the fact that her baby was about to be killed.  She loved her baby so much that she was willing to give it up to the other momma just to save its life.  Solomon knew right away that that woman was the true momma of the baby.  The other woman was going to let the baby be killed.  Solomon, in all of his wisdom, was able to determine the true momma of that sweet innocent baby.

We are not told what happened to these two women after this event.  But, we do know that one of the mommas was able to take her baby home alive.

1 Kings 3:28 shows us how this one decision impacted the entire nation of Israel.  Everyone in the kingdom "feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice."  The kingdom knew that Solomon's wisdom came from God.  They knew that this was a king that they needed to respect and honor, because he had God's favor.

So how does this impact our lives?  We do not live in a time where we would ever have to make the kind of decision that Solomon made.  But what we do know from this chapter of 1 Kings is this: if we ask God for something, and that something is in His will, He will provide it for us.  His provision will be tens and hundreds of times more amazing than we could ever have imagined for ourselves.  Let's relate this directly back to wisdom, as that is our focus.  God has told us that He will give us wisdom, if we ask for it.  James 1:5 says, "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him."

God wants us to have wisdom, and oh my sisters, do we ever need it!  I have told you before, I pray for wisdom and discernment every single time I open my Bible.  I know that God gives it to me, because there are times when I struggle understanding His Word.  I have read passages of Scripture that I just do not understand at all.  But with the help of the Lord, He gives me the understanding that He wants me to have at the time.  The cool thing about studying the Word of God is that it is truly living and breathing, and I gain new meaning and new understanding every time I study.  I would not be able to do this without the wisdom and help of God.

Pray, sisters, for the wisdom of God.  Pray for wisdom as you open His Word to study and learn.  Pray for wisdom as you make small, daily decisions.  Pray for wisdom as you make large, monumental decisions for your life and the lives of others in your family.  Pray for wisdom as you encounter different people every day.  Pray for wisdom.  God will give it to you!

To read the previous posts on Wisdom, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 2: Day 1, Day 2

Wisdom (Part 1): Week 2, Day 1

Welcome back to our study of wisdom.  Last week we spent time learning about how Solomon asked God for wisdom.  This week we are going to read about how God demonstrated Solomon's wisdom to the world.  Get ready, sisters.  This is pretty awesome!

Today we are going to OBSERVE the text.  Take time to read through today's passage, 1 Kings 3:16-28.

16 Then two women who were harlots came to the king and stood before him. 17 The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house.18 It happened on the third day after I gave birth, that this woman also gave birth to a child, and we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, only the two of us in the house. 19 This woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on it. 20 So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom. 21 When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead; but when I looked at him carefully in the morning, behold, he was not my son, whom I had borne.” 22 Then the other woman said, “No! For the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” But the first woman said, “No! For the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king.

23 Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son who is living, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’” 24 The king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. 25 The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” 26 Then the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for she was deeply stirred over her son and said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him!” 27 Then the king said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother.” 28 When all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had handed down, they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. 

Now, read through the passage again, and use the following markings to help you observe the text:

• This passage is divided into three distinct pieces.  Use a bracket or a line in the margin of your Bible to divide the sections:
• verses 16-22
• verse 23
• verses 24-27
• Mark God with a purple triangle colored yellow, color pronouns yellow
• Mark wisdom with a blue cloud colored yellow

Read the passage one more time, and write a thought from today's study in your notebook.  In our next study we will INTERPRET the meaning of this text.

To read the previous posts on Wisdom, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Wisdom (Part 1): Week 1, Day 3

What a great day this is!  I love to be in the Word of God, and I am so thankful for you and your dedication to knowing more about Him and studying His Word.  Today we are going to take what we have studied in 1 Kings 3:3-18 and APPLY it to our lives.

This is a fairly famous passage of Scripture, where King Solomon becomes the wisest king in the Bible.  The passage starts off telling us about the character of King Solomon - that he loved the Lord as his father King David had done, but that he also sacrificed offerings and offered incense on the high places.  This is the Scripture's way of telling us that Solomon loved the Lord, but he also worshiped false gods and idols.  Solomon was caught between two completely separate things - God and false gods.  He was not actively choosing one over the other, but sitting comfortably between the two.  What a terrible place to be.  We should never become complacent in our relationship with the Lord.  We should always be moving forward, focusing all of our attention on Him and His plan for our lives.  God chose to appear to Solomon in Gibeon, at the place where he offered true and false offerings.

God asked Solomon what he wished for.  This almost reminds me of the big, blue Genie in the movie Aladdin.  Solomon could be granted any wish that he could wish for.  What a question!  What a temptation!  The whole world was available to Solomon at that point in time, if God had chosen to grant his request.  Skip down to verse 11, where God list out the three things that Solomon could have asked for, but didn't.  We listed these things in our notebooks during our last time of study together.

1. Long life
2. Riches
3. Death of all his enemies

These are things that any one of us might have wished for, if given the opportunity.  I think that in today's day and time, number two seems the most appealing.  In a time where people are struggling to make ends meet from one month to the next, having an abundance of riches would seem amazing.  In Solomon's day, where there was so much fighting and people trying to overthrow the thrown, I could see where Solomon could have asked for the life of his enemies.  But, he did not ask for any of these things.  Instead, according to verse 9, Solomon asks God for wisdom.

Solomon recognized that God showed great mercy to David, and it was because of the mercy of God that he, himself, sat on the thrown.  Solomon recognized that God raises up kings, and takes kings down (look at Daniel 2:20-22).  Another thing that Solomon recognized was that he had a huge job ahead of him - to be the king over God's great nation.  In verse 7, Solomon says that God made him king over this great nation, but he was just a young child.  Solomon knew that he needed help being king, and here was his opportunity to ask for that help.  In verse 9, Solomon asks for understanding and discernment.  In this verse, understanding means: to hear, listen.  Discernment means: to understand, see; to pay attention, consider, teach, examine.  Solomon asks God for wisdom so that he could know what is good and what is evil

God was pleased with Solomon's request.  Oh, that we would ask things of God that are pleasing to Him! Not only did God grant Solomon the wisdom that he requested, but God also granted Solomon the things that he did not request - riches and honor.  God also told Solomon that if he were to walk in the ways of God, God would give him a long life.  In verse 12, God tells Solomon that he is going to be one of a kind. "There has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you."

Solomon awoke from this dream, went straight to Jerusalem, and offered sacrifices to the true God.  Solomon knew  that God granted his request, and he offered up praise and sacrifice to thank Him for it.

I made a reference to the Genie in Aladdin at the beginning of this post.  No, I do not think that God is in the "wish-granting" business.  I do not think that God will just give us anything that we ask for.  But, I do believe that if we ask God for wisdom and discernment, He will give it to us.  I do not ever start a time of Bible study without asking God for wisdom and discernment.  I could not understand the Scriptures without the help of the Holy Spirit. I know that He helps me in my understanding of His Word, and as I apply what I study to my life, He helps me discern how to properly live my daily life.  I'm not perfect by any means, but I strive to live my life the way the Lord would have me to live it, and I know that the time that I spend in prayer and Bible study help me to live in His ways.

My sisters, I challenge you to ask God for wisdom and discernment in your time of Bible study, and in your every day life.  We must live in the ways of the Lord, and in order to know what that is, we have to be in constant communication with God - through prayer and Bible study.  If we ask God for wisdom and discernment, He will give it to us.  Give it a try.  You won't be disappointed!

To read the previous posts on Wisdom, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1, Day 2

Wisdom (Part 1): Week 1, Day 2

Welcome to day two!  Today we are going to INTERPRET the Word of God in its own context, using the Scripture alone.  This is such a vital part of Bible study, because we are letting the Word of God speak for itself.

Read through 1 Kings 3:3-15 slowly, absorbing the words.

Now, read through the passage again, and write the answers to the following questions in your notebook:

1. What two significant pieces of information about Solomon were given to us in verse 3?
2. Where did Solomon go in verse 4? Who was he sacrificing to?
3. What did God ask Solomon in verse 5?
4. Solomon praised God in verse 6.  What was his specific praise?
5. The word "yet" in verse 7 shows a contrast.  What is the contrast?
6. What does Solomon ask God for in verse 9?
7. In verse 11, God lists three things that Solomon could have asked for instead of discernment and understanding.  List these three things.  Why do you think God chose those three things to list specifically?
8. In verse 12, did God grant Solomon his request?
9. Look at the words "so that" in verse 12.  What do they signify?
10. What else did God grant Solomon, according to verse 13? verse 14?
11. Where did Solomon go in verse 15? Who was he sacrificing to?
12. What do you think Solomon was thinking, to make such a contrast in his location and worship?

Tomorrow we will come back for the best part of Bible study - the APPLICATION.  I hope you will think on what we have studied so far, and be prepared to apply it to your life.

To read the previous posts on Wisdom, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1

Wisdom (Part 1): Week 1, Day 1

Welcome to our study of wisdom!  This study is going to be fantastic, and I am so glad that you are here with me.  As we go through this study together, we will be using the inductive method of Bible study.  For more information on this type of study, read My Purpose post.

Today we are going to OBSERVE the text of 1 Kings 3:3-15.  Start by reading this passage slowly, absorbing each word as your read.

3 Now Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. 4 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what you wish Me to give you.”

6 Then Solomon said, “You have shown great lovingkindness to Your servant David my father, according as he walked before You in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You; and You have reserved for him this great lovingkindness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7 Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 Your servant is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. 9 So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

10 It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, 12 behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. 13 I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days. 14 If you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days.”

15 Then Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and made peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. 

Now read through the text again, and use the following markings:

• Mark every reference to God and Lord using a purple triangle colored yellow, and color all pronouns yellow
• Mark every location by coloring them green and underlining them brown
• Mark Jerusalem, Israel, and any reference to God's people with a blue star of David
• Mark time phrases with a green clock
• Mark the word yet by circling it in blue
• Mark wise and wisdom with a blue cloud colored yellow
• Mark understand and discern by coloring them green
• Mark that, so that, and because by circling them in red

Read back through the text again slowly, and see if these markings bring any more clarity to what you have already read.  Write in your notebook one take-away from today's reading.

Tomorrow, we will INTERPRET this passage of Scripture.  I can't wait for you to gain even more understanding of what we have already read!

Bible Study: Wisdom (Part 1)

Get excited, ladies!  We are starting a new study soon.  This will be a study on wisdom, divided into two parts.

During the first part of the study, we will go through the following scriptures:

• 1 Kings 3:3-28
• Proverbs 8:1-36
• Proverbs 9:1-18

During the second part of the study, we will study the following passages of scripture:

• Matthew 12:38-42
• 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
• 1 Corinthians 2:1-13
• James 1:5-8, 3:13-18

I am so ready to share this study with you about true wisdom, and I hope that you are ready to learn and study with me.  Stay tuned for more!

To see all the posts on Wisdom, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 2: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 3: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 4: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 5: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

The Widow of Zarephath

On the second Saturday of every month, I teach a women's Bible study at my church.  I have considered writing these up as blog posts for awhile, and I feel now that this is the most appropriate time for me to begin this work.  My first online Bible study officially starts on Monday, and this is not related to that, but I still would like to put these out there for anyone to read, and hopefully receive a blessing from.  These will not be written as the online Bible studies are written.  These will be more like true bog posts - the Scripture with my thoughts attached.  As always, I challenge you to study the Scripture verses on your own.  Always check the Bible before you assume that what someone else says is accurate.  If you find something that sounds questionable in this post, please write me a comment.  I am always looking to grow more and more in my spiritual life, and I know that I am far from perfect in my interpretation of the Scripture.

All that being said, today's post talks about the Widow of Zarephath.  Her story is told in 1 Kings 17:1-24.

Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”2 The word of the Lord came to him, saying, 3 “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4 It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. 7 It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.” 11 As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” 12 But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.” 13 Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. 14 For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.’” 15 So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.17 Now it came about after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18 So she said to Elijah, “What do I have to do with you, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance and to put my son to death!” 19 He said to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the upper room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed.20 He called to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, have You also brought calamity to the widow with whom I am staying, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray You, let this child’s life return to him.” 22 The Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child returned to him and he revived. 23 Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

 Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

The first few verses in this passage give us some background knowledge on who one of the key players was in this story, and the circumstances that he was living in at the time.  Elijah was the prophet during this time in history.  He presented a word of the Lord to Ahab, the king of Israel, that promised a major drought to the land.  After that word, Elijah was told by the Lord to go eastward and hide near the brook Cherith.  The Lord promised Elijah that he would be able to survive by drinking the water in the brook, and that ravens would bring him food.

Let's stop for a minute and talk about the Lord and His provision.  In a miraculous event, the Lord kept Elijah alive and well by bringing his food to him by birds.  Birds!  The Lord has promised to take care of us and our needs in life.  He showed His great power by using birds to bring food to Elijah.  More specifically, God had the birds bring bread and meat to Elijah every morning and every evening.  We haven't even talked about the Widow of Zarephath, yet, and already the Lord is teaching us a valuable lesson through His Holy Word.  God will supply our needs!  Philippians 4:19 makes this quite clear.

19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Not some.  Not one.  All!  He knows what our needs our before they even arise, and He is faithful to us to make sure that we have what we need.  Once the brook that God told Elijah to drink out of had dried up, God didn't forget about Elijah and let him die there.  Instead, God used His miraculous sovereignty to provide for him again.  This time, the provision was going to come in the form of a person, not a bird.

God told Elijah to go to Zarephath.  God said that He had commanded a widow to provide for Elijah.  Can you imagine being that widow and hearing God's command at that time?  This was not a happy time in her life.  We go on to read that she is at the brink of starvation, and she is preparing for her final meal with her son (which isn't going to be much), and she was planning on dying very soon.  This widow was miserable, starving, thirsty, and most likely lonely.  She didn't have much to her name, and she had very little, if any, hope.  God spoke to her, and commanded her to take care of His prophet Elijah.  Before Elijah came to Zarephath, I could imagine what her response to God was.  "How am I supposed to take care of this prophet when I can't hardly take care of myself?"

When Elijah gets to town, he finds the widow.  She is very honest with him, and tells him that she has no bread, and just a small amount of flour and oil.  She tells Elijah that she is getting ready to prepare her and her son's final meal before they die of starvation.  She is in a low, low place in her life.  Elijah the prophet tells her to not be afraid, and to go ahead and prepare a bread cake for him, for herself, and for her son.  He then tells her that the Lord God of Israel has promised that her flour and her oil will not run out during the entire length of the drought that is in the land.

At this point, the Widow of Zarephath has two choices:

1. Obey God and live.
2. Disobey God and die.

Oh my sisters, isn't it just as simple as that for us, too?  We have two choices in this life.  We can choose God, or not choose God.  One way leads to eternal life, the other to eternal death.  I pray that you have chosen to obey God and have eternal life.  If you haven't done this, please get in contact with me or someone else that you trust, that can lead you to knowing Jesus Christ as your Savior.

In this story, the widow did not hesitate.  She didn't ask any questions.  The widow had faith that her needs would be met by God, so she went and did what Elijah had her do.  Because of that choice, she and her son continued to have as much flour and oil as they needed to survive.  The Lord supplied the needs of the Widow of Zarephath because she chose to trust in Him.

Once again, we could stop here and have heard two great lessons from the Bible.  However, the widow's story doesn't end here.  After all of these things happened, after the widow obeyed the Lord and took care of Elijah, after the Lord took care of the widow and supplied her with food to last throughout the drought, her son becomes deathly ill.  This is her only family.  Her son is all she has left on earth.  And now, he is sick to the point of death.

When things were going right in her life, she trusted in God.  When tragedy came, she immediately placed blame.  She blamed Elijah for her sons sickness.  How easy is it for us to immediately place blame on someone or something when tragedy hits?  It is so easy!  But, we have to remember that God is in control of situations in the good times, and God is in control of situations in the bad times.  God is sovereign.  He knows what is going to happen before it even happens.  God knew that the widow's son was going to get sick.  We have to remember in the good times and in the bad times that God knows what is going on!  We have to continue to trust Him, and believe that His will will be accomplished in our lives.

Elijah intervened on behalf of the widow and prayed for the healing of her son.  The Lord heard Elijah's prayer and healed the son.  God showed His faithfulness to her by healing her son, and her faith in God was renewed.  If you have lost faith in God, please return to Him!  He has not left you, He is just waiting on you to come back.  God is faithful, just and true.  God may do things that we do not understand, things that may not fit pretty into our plans, but God's ways are always better than our ways, and we have to continue to trust in Him, no matter what.

There are so many things that we can take away from this passage of Scripture.  We have learned that God will supply our needs, even when things seem so dim for us.  But I think the major lesson from today is about God's faithfulness.  God is faithful to us and He will supply our needs.  It is important for us to remain faithful to Him, even when we go through tough times.  For this widow, it took a major tragedy and a major miracle for her to really trust God.  What does it take for us to really trust Him? A huge tragedy? A minor hiccup?  Or do we trust Him every day knowing that He will do the right thing for us, according to His will?  Oh sisters, trust God!