Two Thoughts

Two thoughts.  I wrestled with two thoughts from today’s reading.  The first was the widow’s response to her son becoming ill and dying.  The widow asked Elijah, “Man of God, why are you here?  Have you come to call attention to my iniquity so that my son is put to death” (1 Kings 17:18).  I don’t want to get into whether this train of thought was right or not.  I just want to point out that this sickness and devastation brought an immediate thought to this widow about iniquity.  Now, we do not know what iniquity, but evidently she had something, or some things, in mind.  Shouldn’t we be more spiritually minded?  I’m not suggesting every sickness or tragedy is because of sin, but do we immediately begin to search and pray to see if it might be?  The second thought is regarding patience.  After Elijah prayed and God healed the widow’s son, the next verse we read says, “After a long time, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year” (1 Kings 18:1).  Do you every get nervous or concerned that maybe you missed a message?  You received instructions and went, and initially things went as expected, but now there is no new news.  Should I still be here?  Elijah maintained the course, as he should have, and in the right time, God’s time, he received a word from the Lord.