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Our faith has been tested! Even severely tested! And we have come through that test: Now what?

Surely we have every reason to expect much smoother sailing now. We have fought our way through the severe test most successfully! Even: victoriously! Our faith has enabled us to claim the victory for the glory of the Lord. We have proved our loyalty, and demonstrated our love for the Lord.

Now, surely things will be much better. Smoother. Or, at least, less trying.

These questions focus on one of our most common mistakes. We really want as little testing and trial in our lives as possible. We just do not want to suffer. We quite naturally hope that things will show definite improvement.

But: that is not the actual Christian experience. That is not the reality which we are called to live out each day.

Consider Elijah. The first test of his faith: Confront Ahab with the Word of God.

The next test: Go to a brook. There depend on ravens to bring his daily food.

And then: Go to the Gentile city of Zarephath. There expect a poor widow woman to provide his daily fool.

Or, by way of contrast, consider that widow. She and her son were totally destitute. They were faced with inevitably starving to death.

Then: Required to give the last of her food to the prophet of the Lord. To find herself depending on the Lord to do the impossible!

Surely that was enough testing. Surely there would be no more trials. No?

What right do we today have to expect an easier path? Is such expectation true to the clear teaching of the Word of God?

After! After Elijah had so faithfully obeyed the Lord at every step along that path of faith, always giving total loyalty to the Word of the Lord. Seeking continually to honor and glorify the Lord. Giving faithful witness to the Lord's unfailing faithfulness.

No one could question the prophet's faith. Nor doubt his total obedience. There was no basis for faulting his loyalty to the Lord. Or his love for the Lord. Or his commitment to live by the Word of the Lord.

There was no way to take issue with his rejection of the idolatry. Or his denunciation of the totally depraved worship which that involved.

Elijah was a man above reproach. In every particular. In his life. His words. His actions. His attitudes.

Yet, it was: "after these things!" After these things what? A most severe test!

Those words: "After these things!" applied to the widow as well.

For her entire life she had lived in that entirely pagan country. Constantly surrounded by the vilest of heathen practices. Yet her first words to the prophet honored the Lord! "As the LORD thy God liveth!"

She had been at the point of extreme destitution. Actually staring death by starvation in the face. Yet all the prophet had to do was to ask for a drink, and she immediately went to meet that need!

On the basis of the promise of the Lord, she risked everything. She took the last of her food to give to the prophet. Trusting God to intervene. To provide her need as well as the need of her son!

She genuinely demonstrated selfdenying faith. Faith which was expressed in selfsacrificing love.

Why should Elijah, or the widow, be tested any further? Why should they have to endure any further suffering?

As we think about this, there are two things which are so vital for us to take into account.

The Lord had demonstrated that He was personally Involved. That He had intervened in love. In power. That He was so graciously working His purposes out.

The Lord had not deserted Elijah. Nor had He forsaken the widow. His love for them had in no way diminished. Neither had His commitment to them.

In all that He was doing: He was continuing to work in love! In perfect love! Even as He was still working in perfect power. He had not failed. He would not fail!

The Lord is still the same today. In every area of His involvement with us. Even when we are required to face the most severe trials. This is still ever the glorious unchanging reality.

The other thing which we need to note involved: The reality of the spiritual conflict.

When Elijah moved in obedience to the Lord at the same time he moved against Baal! Against all of the vile evil which Baal represented. He was taking an open and strong stand against the spiritual forces of evil.

It was inevitable that a most real spiritual conflict resulted. That was inescapable. How we need to understand this fact.

When the widow identified with Elijah she openly took sides. She came out for the Lord. She came out against the spiritual forces of evil.

We dare riot ignore that fact. This fact is so very vital for us today Spiritual conflict is raging! We must take a stand for the Lord. Doing so, knowing that we will face the attacks of the spiritual forces of evil. This is inevitable.

It is true, some have sought a way to avoid this conflict. They do so by avoiding taking an open stand. They hold back from making a strong commitment. Thus they hope that they will face no real spiritual opposition.

They may try to pretend that they have taken no stand. Yet in fact they have. In refusing to take a strong stand for the Lord, they have weakly surrendered to the devil. They have chosen to become numbered among his willing allies. They contribute to his vile victories. That is the way the Lord sees it!

Is it any wonder that such know by experience so little of actual spiritual conflict. The devil knows that he does not have to worry about them. They are no threat to him or to his work. They are pawns in his arsenal!

“And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him!”

Previously the widow had faced a terrible possibility. In fact it had appeared to be inescapable. Her son was about to die!

She had said to Elijah, "That we may eat it and die!" She fully expected that after she and her son had eaten the last of their food they would die. They would inevitably die of starvation.

But God intervened! She did not have to die. Neither did her son have to die. Her faith had been so gloriously rewarded. Her son would go on living. It is not hard to imagine the great joy which that had brought to the widow.

Her son "fell sick!" We have no idea what that illness was. We are not told.

The widow only had that one son. She would care for him with all the love that her heart could express. Her entire life was bound up in that son. Without her son she had no future. Without her son she had: nothing!

Yet all her best efforts proved to be in vain. His illness grew increasingly worse. She could do nothing. She would feel so utterly helpless!

What a portrayal of the most urgent love. So desperately wanting to help. Yet, sadly failing to make any difference. Every passing moment made that anxious widow all the more heart broken.

Why? She had obeyed the Lord. She had faithfully acted on His Word. She had risked everything on His faithfulness. Why?

It would be too easy to blame the Lord. And so very wrong! So completely blind to reality!

Yet that is the way in which we do often react! Especially when we are confronted by a most severe test! Why? Lord, we have tried to do our very best for you! We have attempted to serve you faithfully! We have given sacrificially! We have trusted everything to your faithfulness. Lord, Why?

“Therefore his sisters sent unto Him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick.”

“When He had heard, therefore, that he was sick, He abode still two days in the same place where He was" (John 11: 3, 5, 6).

Jesus loved Lazarus! But, He did not go to him! Even though He had received that most urgent message. Why?

Lazarus died! Mary and Martha had to bury him! Jesus did not go until after he was dead and buried! Why?

It is that same "Why?" Why did He let that happen? Why did He not move to intervene earlier?

“When Jesus heard that, He said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby" (John 11: 4).

We react the way we do because of our limited perspective. The immediate heartwrenching circumstances. That is why we cry: "Why?"

The Lord sees the end. The ultimate glory. He moves toward that glory. Even as He wants us to know that the severe test does have a glorious end in view! Every such trial does! He assures that!

It did not mean that He loved that widow any less. Or that He loved Mary and Martha any less. Nor that He was unmoved by the deep grief which they felt. Nothing could be further from the truth. For them!

He never stops loving us. He fully understands us. He understands our agonizing questions. He is always compassionate. Especially in His response to our anguish. Always. Yet in love He moves to the glorious goal. Assuring us that we will share in the glory of that goal! Saying to us: "Trust Me!"

“And she said unto Elijah, what have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sins to remembrance, and to slay my son?"

Elijah, was human as we are! It is equally true that that widow was: human as we are!

He had personally experienced the glorious intervention of the Lord. Her life had been totally transformed by His grace. Her most urgent needs had been fully met in His power. Yet all that was gone from her mind. Forgotten!

Gone! Yes! Forgotten! Yes! But we dare not express that fact in a critical attitude. It is in that very fact that this widow was proving to be so very much like us!

We forget so quickly. Especially when we are thrown into a severe trial! We may have experienced the most glorious evidence of the Lord's intervention. Yet in the fires of testing such experiences quickly fade from our thinking.

As human as we are! How fully we can identify with this, widow!

If only he had left her alone! Stayed out of her life! If only he had not spoken the Word of God to her! Left her the way she was!

“If only!” Those are the most commonly used words. Particularly when the trial gets fiercest. When the fires of testing get the hottest. "If only!"

If only we had been content to stay the way we were. Not get involved. Not make that commitment. Just go along with things as they had been.

That attitude is so very human. So very normal to the human way of looking at things. And: so very wrong.

The widow was wrong! As we are so very often. If Elijah had left her alone! If the Lord had left her alone! She would be dead! Her son would be dead!

“If only !” And where would we be? Certainly in a far worse condition than we are now!

The widow blamed herself! "Art thou come unto me to call my sins to remembrance?"

That must be why her son died! Because of her sins! The prophet's presence had accentuated her sinfulness to her! She was being punished by God! Through the death of her son!

Once again: how like us! The trial has become so severe. We have an explanation. It is because of our sin. We are being punished. We are suffering and so are others. All because of some sin of which we are guilty

The devil delights in encouraging that reaction. He so happily joins us as we condemn ourselves. He accentuates our feelings of guilt and shame. Focusing on our blame! Thus he gains the advantage over us!

Yet: it is all a lie. It was with the widow, even though she did not see that! It is today! Our severe trials have nothing to do with any sin or guilt. Nothing. Rather our trial has everything to do with God's perfect love for us. His gracious will for us!

“Though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:"

“That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1: 6, 7).

Concerning Lazarus, Jesus said, “For the glory of God! That the Son of God may be glorified thereby!”

There are two perspectives of severe trial. Ours! His! The widow was viewing her severe trial from our human perspective. So do we!

"And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.”

We think of Elijah as the strong fiery prophet. He boldly stood up to king Ahab. Later we see him defy hundreds of pagan prophets. Calling the nation to repentance.

Here we see another side of the prophet. His deep compassion. His tender loving gentleness. His patient understanding.

The widow had expressed her great grief. The anguish as well as the anger of that grief. She was not only deeply hurt. She was also greatly confused.

Elijah was the man of God. His experience of the Lord was much more mature. He stepped in to accept the responsibility. To take at least some of the burden from that greatly distressed mother.

That is one of the genuine marks of spiritual maturity. Identification with the deep hurts of another. Immediately reaching out in compassion. Seeking in the most practical way to help ease the load.

There are many who would present themselves as spiritually mature. Yet they betray themselves at this point. When confronted with a deep need, they resort to: words. Only words. Those words may sound good. Yet they are devoid of practical compassion. They fail utterly to ease the burden of grief.

The Lord Jesus spoke of this true compassion. "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,"

"And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him'' (Luke 10: 33, 34).

Elijah acted in compassion. He took charge of the situation. "Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom."

He understood the widow's grief. He knew that she was unable to deal with the situation. The problem so obviously crushed her.

He accepted responsibility. That is love. It is not love to demand too much of others. Nor is it love to fail to see that another is crushed beneath the load they carry. It is certainly not love to walk away. To leave them. Least of all to blame them!

Yet how often that is what happens today. Many are crushed. Broken. Despairing. They look for someone to care enough to intervene. Often they look in vain. They may get a few highsounding words. Or, even, blame!

And so very many never recover from such a disastrous experience.

To walk away from such people in need reveals our true condition. Revealing a lack of true Christlike love. Yet some would go even further. They would blame the victim for being crushed beneath such grief. That is not spiritual. That is devilish. That happens. Harsh heartless criticism. That is the devil's tool!

Elijah in compassion intervened. He "carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.”

That was: Elijah's territory. That place where he had so often been in prayer. There sharing in the closest fellowship with the Lord. Rejoicing in His presence. Thriving on that genuine relationship!

For Elijah, that was the only place to go. The place of spiritual strength. Spiritual effectiveness.

The situation demanded that. Such situations still demand that. That we today have such a place of spiritual strength and vitality. Where we have known so often the presence of the Lord. There to take the perplexity to Him.

“And he cried unto the LORD and said, O LORD my God, hast Thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?"

A man like we are! In the most urgent prayer he cried to the Lord. In that prayer he identified with the grief of that widow. He was expressing her anguish. Here we see the total identification of truly compassionate and genuine intercession.

Such prayer is always powerful prayer. It is the expression of intercession which honors the Lord. Which the Lord Himself honors

So much of our intercession for others is empty. Barren. Shallow, superficial words. Nothing but a matter of form. Praying for the sake of praying. For the effect of appearance. It is all so superficial!

The agonizing situations of life demand a different quality of intercession. Intercession which is alive with pure passion! That burning spiritual passion which is the life blood of compassion.

It is that intercession which genuinely identifies. Personally identifies with the one for whom we pray. It feels not only for them but with them! Hurts with them! Cries with them! Bleeds with them!

Elijah's strong cry of intercession was most personal. "O Lord my God!" "My God!" The God for whom I live! The God in whom I fully believe! The God whom I serve! The only true and living God. The Lord! The God I know!

Such intercession is so personal. Therefore: also powerful. That is another dimension of the intercession which lives so dynamically, and prevails so effectively.

That is the dynamic intercession which is so urgently needed today. Yet which is so very rare!

"Hast Thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn by slaying her son?"

"Also!" In addition to! The Lord had brought Elijah to the widow. He had commanded the widow to sustain him. He had put the prophet in her home. He had blessed her. Provided so gloriously for her. Saved her life, and her son's life.

"Also!" with all that: this? Elijah was in the center of the Lord's will. The widow was in the center of the Lord's will. Also: this! In the center of the Lord's will?

Elijah's intercession involved this interrogation. Such interrogation is based on the revealed will of the Lord. Lord: what does it mean? What can this mean for us in your will for us at this time?

We today need to study this incident so very closely. To grasp the emphasis of Elijah's intercession. The objective of his cry to God.

The cry of intercession accentuates: the Lord. All that He has already done. His Word. Knowing that you are in the center of His will. All this is so very vital to us today.

“And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray Thee, let this child's soul come into him again.”

"He stretched himself upon the child three times!" Why? What did this signify?

We really do not know why Elijah did that. Any suggestion offered would be hypothetical. It may have been an act of personal identification. Symbolically making himself one with the child. We cannot be sure.

Whatever the reason, Elijah did so because he knew that it was important. He saw it as an integral part of his ministry of intercession. It expressed part of his personal obedience to the leading of the Lord.

This situation is not unusual. There are times when. we wrestle with perplexity. Serious problems confront us. We turn to the Lord in prayer. He commands us to do something. Yet we may not see all that He commands as being relevant. Particularly to what we are facing in our perplexing trials.

“Whatsoever He saith unto you, Do it!" Do it! Do not question. Do not look for explanations. Obey!

The Lord has His reasons. Even if He decides not to share those reasons with us.

“O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again."

“O LORD my God!" Those four words again. They are such vital words. There was perplexity. There was great heartache. There were so many questions. Yet this reality had not changed! "O LORD my God!"

His vital relationship with the Lord had not changed. Elijah held firmly to his personal commitment. To his personal faith. Even as he fully believed that nothing had changed the Lord's commitment to him. Or to the widow.

The relationship was still so strong. So vital! Alive! That is the key to effective intercession.

The widow knew that her son was dead. Elijah knew that the boy was dead. But Elijah also knew that the Lord was alive! While God is alive even death is not the end! Death is never final.

Jesus said, "Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him" (Join 11: 14, 15).

"That ye may believe!" Death is never the ultimate reality. The Lord of life is the ultimate reality. Nothing can ever change that.

"And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived!”

Elijah prayed. "The LORD heard the voice of Elijah" The key is: the Lord was able to hear the prayer of Elijah. Elijah's life and commitment gave the Lord the opportunity which He sought.

Elijah heard the voice of the Lord! In faith he obeyed the Word of the Lord. His faith expressed his love, his devotion to the Lord. He wanted only to glorify the Lord.

There are many "prayers" which He does not hear. Many desperate cries for help to which He cannot respond.

Too many people selfishly want to use the Lord. Not honor Him. Nor glorify Him. They certainly do not live by His Word. Nor do they seek to do His will. Only: use Him!

"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Psalm 66: 18).

"Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear:"

"But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that He will not hear" (Isaiah 59: 1, 2).

That is such a common situation today. Yet it does not have to be that way. It can be changed. If we are humbly willing to change. If we will return to the Lord in repentance, in confession, and in faith.

"The LORD heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived!"

The Lord heard and responded. Reaching out in infinite grace. In grace which abounded! Abounded to Elijah! To the widow! To the boy!

His soul came into him again! He was restored to life. He was fully revived.

“And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth "

Not too long before he had taken the boy from his mother's arms. Then he was limp. Lifeless. He had carried him up into that chamber. Placed that little dead body on his bed.

Now, he picked the boy up. Alive! He carried that living boy down those same steps. He was no longer a dead weight. He was a living child. Fully revived.

In between Elijah had met with the Lord. The Lord made the difference. The Lord responded to His servant's prayer of faith. The Lord intervened in power. HE was the total difference!

The Lord is always the One who makes the difference. He is the only one who can make the difference! In every situation we must face!

"The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones... And, lo, they were very dry,”

"And He said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, Thou knowest!" (Ezekiel 37: 1, 2, 3).

Ezekiel was right! "O Lord God, Thou knowest!" Life or death. It was in His hands! He alone knew the answer!

Yet: the Lord called on Ezekiel to cooperate with Him. Even as He required Elijah to fully cooperate with Him. He knew! Yes! And He used His servants to turn death into Life!

“See: thy son LIVETH.” See! This is the glory of the Lord's grace. Reaching out and embracing the grieving widow. This is the end result of that most severe test.

The LORD our GOD is still the same today! That is His Word to us today. Even in the face of the most severe testing and trial. To see HIM as The Living God. To share the Glory of His grace in life! To proclaim: Life! By faith claim: LIFE!

Our message is still the message of the most glorious REVIVAL! Of full and glorious restoration to living fellowship with our living Lord.

This is the message which the Church needs so desperately today. It is most certainly the message which the world needs.

"And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the Word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth."

Faith so severely tested! Thrust so abruptly into the fury of the fire. Enduring the great anguish of the deepest of grief. Crushed by the very heavy load of false guilt. Yet: rewarded! Rewarded by grace! Rewarded so gloriously. So abundantly.

That faith was now so greatly strengthened. "Now by this I KNOW!" "I KNOW!" That is the deep inner conviction of a strong living personal faith!

Her son was alive. There could be only one explanation. "Thou art a man of God!" She had that unshakable assurance.

The next step was so obvious. "The Word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth!"

She had gone through a most heartrending experience. It had been so very tragic to her personally. Yet the Lord led her through it into His glorious liberating reality.

Now her faith was so much more alive! Vital! Her relationship with the Lord was much deeper. This was all the Lord's doing.

What of Elijah? His faith had also been so severely tested. He had cried out in anguish to the Lord.

He had the witness of the Lord. The Lord heard his cry. The Lord answered in power. His faith was honored and fully revitalized by the Lord.

He had the witness of the widow. "Thou art a man of God!" His faith had been so wonderfully rewarded. His prayer of intercession had been so gloriously answered.

The widow said to him. "I know that the Word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth!"

She fully identified him with the Lord. She confidently affirmed his claim to speak the Word of' the Lord. In every way his life and experience were so greatly enriched.

Yes! Faith had been so severely tested. The faith of the widow. The faith of Elijah.

T'here was only one thing that mattered. The Lord knew what He was doing! In unfailing love He led them both through. In grace He fully accomplished His purposes.

This is The Lord whom we serve! He knows when our faith must be tested. Even most severely tested.

He brings us into the fire! To lead us triumphantly through the fire. Into the fight where we enjoy the fullness of His grace. Into the experience of the wonder of His glory!