James 5 points us to Elijah as one who, though human like us, prayed, and saw the Lord accomplish great things. In the Wednesday evening Bible study at Trinity Presbyterian Church we look at some of those prayers in 1 Kings 17 and 18.
Elijah’s prayer restored to life the son of the widow of Zarapheth.
“Living daily with that miracle must have been a constant joy for his [Elijah’s] faith and hers [the widow’s]. Do we live any differently? That there is still a Word of grace today, that there is grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, is a miracle. Yet, it is through this grace that we receive all things. Everything we receive is a revelation of the miracle of grace in the Christ. This realization is the key to a life full of joy.” (S. G. De Graaf, Promise and Deliverance, Vol 2, p. 249).
In contrast to the frenzied prayers of the prophets of Baal, Elijah quietly prayed–and the Lord sent fire from heaven on the altar the prophet had made.
“The sign Elijah asked for is not the last word. Rather, it cries out for a greater, more powerful, more elevated demonstration of God’s truthfulness. It cries out for the One in whom all signs and wonders find their fulfillment. In that great Miracle, the truthfulness of the God of the covenant, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, the God of historical revelation, will be fully manifested.” (M. B. van’t Veer, My God is Yahweh, pp. 269, 270).
