Lesson 3 – The Word of the Lord is Truth
 Read 1 Kings 17:17-24 https://www.bible.com/bible/59/1KI.17.ESV  
 1 Kings 17:24 – Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.

 God provided food and lodging for His servant Elijah through a widow whose husband had given her a son before he died. One day her beloved son became very ill, and then stopped breathing. The widow confronted Elijah with her questions – “Why did you come here in the first place? You, a holy man, exposed my sins and killed my son!”

Elijah asked her to give him the boy, and she released her son’s dead body into Elijah’s arms. Elijah carried the boy up to his room in the widow’s home and laid him gently on the bed.

 Now it was Elijah’s turn to ask questions – “Oh God, my God, why have You brought this terrible tragedy on this widow who opened her home to me? Why have You killed her son?”

 Elijah stretched his body over the boy’s body three times, praying hard – “God, my God, put breath back into this boy’s body!”

God listened to and answered Elijah’s prayer, miraculously bringing the boy back to life. Elijah carried him downstairs to his weeping mother and said – “Look! Your son is alive!”

The widow embraced her son and exclaimed – “You ARE a holy man! God speaks His truth through you!”


The disciples asked Jesus about this same issue one day – who had sinned to make the man whom they met be born blind. Jesus had an amazing answer for them. This disability was not the result of sin, but so God could be glorified through this man – read the story in John 9. When trouble comes our way, we do need to make sure we are cleansed before God, but we should not seek Him from fear of punishment. If it is punishment you fear, God will already have been convicting you of the sin long before drastic punishment arrives – you will know exactly what you have done and not confessed.

Troubles should drive us to Jesus, but not in fear if we have maintained our relationship with Jesus daily. Troubles should only cause us to seek Him to find out what He wants to do in or through us to make our faith in Him grow even stronger.
 
*When have you faced a very hard time in your life and you remembered to go to Jesus right away? How did Jesus guide you to go beyond your questions to ask God to be glorified through it?