Thursday, February 28, 2013

Sovereign Over Death

"Then he cried out to the Lord and said, ‘Oh Lord my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?" (1 Kings 17:20)

Many today would not pray as Elijah did. We are not accustomed to coming to God with such strong words. Is it right to say to God "you also brought tragedy?" or "you killed her son?" Are these words irreverent? Is Elijah blaming God for something He didn’t do?

Today we might be prone to say "yes." We would say death or disease, not God, claimed the son. We may assign the death to Satan in an attempt to say God had nothing to do with it. We might blame the death on an accident for which God had no desire to happen. From our perspective these things might seem correct but do they offer long term comfort?

To give these things too much credence is to ultimately claim that in some way God lost sovereign control. If God loses His power, we have no hope. Elijah knew this. He knew that God was greater. He understood that God was the primary authority over all things and that all the players and events were secondary causes in His hands. He knew that to have a God without control was not to have a God at all.

That is why he attributed the death of the widow’s son to the Lord. God brought tragedy. God "caused her son to die." (NIV). Therefore God could also raise him. Elijah prayed this way because he knew God, not because he was irreverent.

Our view of the sovereignty of God is small. One day we will all have to come to grips with the truth that God is the ultimate giver of life or death. His will is the primary consideration. All the players and events are secondary. Disease, death and Satan are all subject to God. He is never caught by surprise. Death does not slip through His fingers. He doesn’t just allow it; there is a way beyond our comprehension in which He actually ordains it.

Elijah knew that the "Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up." (1 Samuel 2:6). This is why he could entrust himself to the Lord and call upon him for a resurrection. He understood that the God who numbers the very hairs of our heads (Matthew 10.30) also numbers our days. He who counts our days can take life or give it again. God heard the voice of Elijah and the son was raised.

 

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