Hearts Turning

1 Kings 17-19; Colossians 2 

“…He gave him to his mother and said, ‘Look your son is alive!’ Then the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth!’…’Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.’”

1 Kings 17:23, 24; 18:37

Why did God allow the death of the widow of Zarepheth’s son?

Why did God allow a famine and no rain in Israel for three years?

In these experiences of Elijah, God was turning the hearts of people to him and even back to him. The widow of Zarepheth could only think of sin as the cause of her son’s death. God’s heart toward her was full of mercy and forgiveness. Zarepheth was the birthplace of Jezebel and centre of Baal worship. In that very place God was turning hearts toward himself. The dramatic fire from heaven which consumed the soaked sacrifice at Carmel reminds us of the tongues of fire on the heads of 120 seekers in an upper room at Pentecost. God allows pain, yet he responds to prayer because he wants our hearts turned toward him. 

Will we turn toward the Lord today?

“Lord Jesus, I offer my heart to you and thank you for mercy, for your glory.”