1 Kings 17:17-24 - Blinded by feelings

Scripture:

1 Kings 17:17-24
17 Now it came about after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.
18 So she said to Elijah, "What do I have to do with you, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance and to put my son to death!"
19 He said to her, "Give me your son." Then he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the upper room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed.
20 He called to the Lord and said, "O Lord my God, have You also brought calamity to the widow with whom I am staying, by causing her son to die?"
21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to the Lord and said, "O Lord my God, I pray You, let this child's life return to him."
22 The Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child returned to him and he revived.
23 Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, "See, your son is alive."
24 Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth."
NASU


Thoughts:

Who can understand the hardness of our hearts toward God?  Miracles have been happening daily in this house (verse 16), and yet only after this most intense miracle (verse 22), does the widow fully believe (verse 24).

It's strange what power our emotions can have on us.  This woman seems depressed.  When Elijah came to her, she was ready to die:

1 Kings 17:12
12 But she said, "As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die."
NASU

Sometimes feeling down can keep us from seeing what God is doing around us.  Truly He is always at work, but sometimes our emotions blind us to what He is doing.  All we see in those times are our feelings and the tainted picture of reality they bring, not the truth.


Prayer:

Lord, let me be full of Your joy today.  May I look expectantly for Your hand at work in my life.  May I not allow my emotions to cloud my view of all that You are doing and to the truth concerning my circumstances.

Amen

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.