God has faithfully kept his word and there has been no rain. God sends Elijah to live with a family on the edge of disaster. Will he look after them? Will they survive the drought?

Join Dave as he retells the Bible Story from 1 Kings 17:7-24 in the 2nd of a 5 part series looking at what God did through Elijah.

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If you're a teen or adult, be sure to check out Dave's other podcast, Stories of a Faithful God, to take a deeper dive into these same passages.

The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.

Welcome back to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids… The Podcast where we listen carefully to the stories God’s told us about himself in the Bible.

I’m Dave, your host. I hope you’re ready to find out what God’s going to do with Elijah. In the last episode God was feeding him by raven delivery service. Its only going to get more weird and more spectacular as we go along.

But before we get into it… let me ask you a question.

How do you know when someone really is speaking for God? How do you know they’re telling the truth about God? How do you spot the truth tellers from the liars?

This is really important! Last week I read out a promise from God Jesus said. He said:

For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son…(that’s Jesus). God gave his Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.

So if you want to have eternal life… believe in Jesus.

But what if Jesus got it wrong… or was lying. What if he had no idea what God says.

What if someone comes up to you and says, “no no no. God says that the only way to have eternal life is if… every morning… you pick your nose and feed it to a cat.”

That’d be weird, right? I don’t want to pick my nose and feed it to a cat. I’d much prefer to eat it myself. But if that person’s right and God really said that… then I’m picking my nose and feeding it to a cat.

Or what if someone says…, “God says that if you want eternal life, you have to stand on your left leg in the morning and your right leg in the afternoon.”

How do you know who’s telling the truth?

In Elijah’s day, 860 years before Jesus came… He walked up to King Ahab and said… “God says there won’t be any more rain or dew until I say so”. That’s a bit scary if Elijah speaks for God. But if he’s just making it up… you don’t have to worry.

Well let’s find out if he really does speak for God. We’re looking at 1 Kings chapter 17. And this is Episode 2 of Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

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We left Elijah, hiding out all by himself in a ravine. There’s a creek that he can drink water from… and for food… God’s commanded ravens… yes ravens… to bring him bread and meat every morning and evening.

A problem happens though. Remember, God’s stopped all the rain. And so eventually… the creek stops flowing. Elijah has no water to drink.

Now, God could send Elijah back to King Ahab and say, “ok, God’s going to send the rain now.” Its not time for that yet though.

So instead… God speak to Elijah and sends him to another country. Not just any country though. He sends him to a little town called Zarephath. And Zarephath is in the country of none other… than Sidon.

Wait a minute… that wasn’t dramatic enough. Let me try again.

And Zarephath is owned by, none other… than Sidon.

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN

That’s better. If you’re wondering what all the fuss is about… remember back to the last episode. King Ahab… instead of trusting the faithful God of Israel… and finding an Israelite wife who trusted God… he went off to Sidon. He got a wife from there, Jezebel. And he also brought back their gods… Baal and Asherah. He was more interested in trusting Baal than trusting God.

Well now God… the true and faithful God… sends Elijah into Baal’s home country.

He doesn’t send him to the big important people like the king or soldiers. He sends Elijah to a widow. That’s a lady whose husband has died. That’s bad at any time, but back in Elijah’s time it was even worse. Widows could be treated really horribly… especially when times are tough like in a drought. When there’s not enough food to go around, people might hold onto it for their own families… and not share it with the widow down the street.

Other people might not care about widows… but God does.

And he tells Elijah that he’s commanded this widow to take care of him.

Again… Elijah trusts God. Hey, its probably better getting food from a widow than a raven, right?

So he heads off to this town of Zarephath… and because God’s in charge of everything… he just happens to meet this widow at the entrance to the town.

He has this conversation with her… at it really shows how little food and water is around. In fact… the conversation is a little bit heart breaking. Remember… these aren’t made up characters… they’re real people. Let me read to you from 1 Kings 17 verse 10. Again, I’m using the International Children’s Bible. It says:

So Elijah went to Zarephath. When he reached the town gate, he saw a widow there. She was gathering wood for a fire. Elijah asked her, “Would you bring me a little water in a cup? I would like to have a drink.” (Notice it’s a little water. There’s not much to go around because of the drought. The Bible tells us that she kindly goes to get the water. Then…) 11 As she was going to get his water, Elijah said, “Please bring me a piece of bread, too.”

12 The woman answered, “As surely as the Lord your God lives, I tell you the truth. I have no bread. I have only a handful of flour in a jar. And I have only a little olive oil in a jug. I came here to gather some wood. I will take it home and cook our last meal. My son and I will eat it and then die from hunger.”

Whoa. I told you it was heartbreaking. Imagine… there’s no food in the shops you can afford… there’s no food growing out in the fields… you’ve barely eaten for days. All you’ve got is this tiny amount of stuff to make a tiny bit if bread. The widow knows its going to be the last thing she and her son ever eat. They’re going to share it… lay down together… and then wait to die. This is so sad.

Pause

But then Elijah says the weirdest thing. If you didn’t know what Elijah was going to say next you might think he was being nasty. He says… “Don’t worry”. What are you talking about Elijah? She and her son are about to starve to death. Of course she’s going to worry! But listen to what he says. In verse 13 we read:

Elijah said to her, “Don’t worry. Go home and cook your food as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread from the flour you have. Bring it to me. Then cook something for yourself and your son. 14 The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘That jar of flour will never become empty. The jug will always have oil in it. This will continue until the day the Lord sends rain to the land.’”

Now… If Elijah is a liar… or if he’s a bit crazy… and he has no idea what God actually wants… then he’s basically trying to steal this lady’s last meal. That’d be really evil. But he does speak for God. And this is what happens next, in verse 15:

So the woman went home. And she did what Elijah told her to do. So Elijah, the woman and her son had enough food every day. The jar of flour and the jug of oil were never empty. This happened just as the Lord, through Elijah, said it would.

God’s word never fails. And because Elijah was speaking God’s word… then it happened just like he said it would. This woman and her son are saved from starvation.

Day after day they eat from this miraculously refilling food.

Until one day… something terrible happens.

The son… gets sick. So sick… that he dies.

I can’t imagine how terrible that is. The mum… she’s so… angry. She’d been given hope that she and her son will live… but now her son’s dead. She yells at Elijah. She thinks he must be trying to punish her for her sin. In verse 18 she yells:

“You are a man of God. What have you done to me? Did you come here to remind me of my sin? Did you come here to kill my son?”

I think she would have been happier to die of starvation with her son… rather than watch her son die like this.

Usually when someone dies… that’s the point where you stop trying to save them. But Elijah knows a powerful God. In verse 19:

Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” So Elijah took the boy from her and carried him upstairs. Elijah laid the boy on the bed in the room where he was staying. 20 Then he prayed to the Lord. He said, “Lord my God, this widow is letting me stay in her house. Why have you done this terrible thing to her? Why have you caused her son to die?” 21 Then Elijah lay on top of the boy three times. Elijah prayed to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy live again!”

22 The Lord answered Elijah’s prayer. The boy began breathing again, and he was alive. 23 Elijah carried the boy downstairs. He gave the boy to his mother and said, “See! Your son is alive!”

In case you’re wondering… That doesn’t normally happen. People don’t normally come back to life after they’ve died. We’ve seen God do some pr-ett-y amazing things in the story so far. He’s stopped the rain. He’s told ravens to feed Elijah twice a day. He’s made jars of flour and oil never run out. But all of those are nothing… to when he gives life to a dead boy.

It tells you about the power of God to give life. Like that Bible verse I read out before… John 3:16:

For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son. God gave his Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.

Can God give life? You bet he can. He’s done it here with this boy. So when he says he’ll give it to you… you don’t need to worry about whether he can or not.

But this event also says something about Elijah.

If he was a liar… if he didn’t really speak for God… then there’s no way that God would’ve listened to his prayer. God answered Elijah… because Elijah’s the real deal. Verse 24 says:

The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know you really are a man from God. I know that the Lord truly speaks through you!”

If he’s a liar… you can safely ignore him. But if he speaks the word of God… you have to listen. And now this woman is listening… and believing God’s word that Elijah says.

I asked at the beginning how you know if someone’s the real deal. Let’s think about Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus is the only way to become friends with God. He’s the only way to get eternal life.

People in his day said, “he’s a liar.” And the put him to death. But you know what God said to those people? He said, “you’re wrong. Jesus is my Son. He’s perfect and I love him and he’s done everything I’ve asked.” And then he proved it… by raising Jesus back to life.

If anyone ever says to you… you can’t really trust Jesus. He doesn’t really speak for God. Just remember what God’s done. He’s raised Jesus to life and made him king of the world. That way everyone can know that he really is from God.

Back in Elijah’s day… this is all really nice for the widow and her son to be looked after by God in this way… but what about all the people back in Israel? God’s special people who still believe the silly lie that Baal’s in charge. Is God going to help them? Will they listen to Elijah and turn back to God?

Well that’s a story… for next time.

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Hi everyone. Dave here.

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