February 18, 2013 – 1 Kings 17

www.ldolphin.org/kings.html

That is why Ahab sounds familiar, because he is that king during the time of Elijah.  The story of the widow is one that Christ brings up when talking about the lack of faith in Israel during His time and is almost thrown from a hill saying it.  It also comes up in our children’s Bibles.  It is not a story I would consider so popular that I expected it in a children’s Bible, but there it is.  We see the devotion of Elijah to God and that this devotion motivates those that don’t even follow Elijah’s God.  The woman does have her doubts and questions God when the son stops breathing, but for the most part, follows through because of her faith in Elijah’s faith.  Have you ever believed something based solely on someone else’s strong belief that it was true.  I think that is how all of our faith in God starts.  Paul sees his mother and father believing in something and so he believes.  It is not based in anything he has really experienced, but in the faith he has in his parents.  We see this example in other people such as Naman (sp) the leper, Rahab, from Jericho.  It shows how important it is for a person to live a life in God and also shows how influential we can really be on others.  It brings the sin of scandal to a whole new level when you realize people’s faith might be totally relying on how they view your faith.