Daily Lesson for September 8, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Kings chapter 17 verses 17 through 24:

17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18She then said to Elijah, ‘What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!’ 19But he said to her, ‘Give me your son.’ He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. 20He cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?’ 21Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.’ 22The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, ‘See, your son is alive.’ 24So 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.’

This is a hard Lesson to speak to this morning.

Yesterday we lost a friend, whose life is too soon gone. A bright and shining light was lost. He will be missed.

I take some solace this morning in Jesus' commentary on this Lesson this morning. "Were there not many other widows?" Jesus asked.

Yes, many other widows, and orphans, and sons, and daughters, and children, and families worried sick for someone they love and care for.

Many. So many. Too many.

Too many for one man of God to save all.

So, the prophet saved one. He healed one. He healed where and whom he could.

There are so many struggling now, beloved. So, so many. So much suffering, and pain, and hurt, and illness. Too much.

Perhaps there is one whom we can love and care for. Perhaps there is one we can help to heal. One we can hold onto.

One is not many. But to this one mother it is everything . . .

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.