Sharp Afflictions

[1 Kgs. 17:17] And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.
She requires of Elijah “Wherein have I upset you? Or, why did you come to rest in my house, if this be the fruit of it?” They are the words of a troubled mind.
“Did you come for this end, that you might severely watch my sins, and by your prayers bring down G-d's just judgment upon me, as you hast brought down this famine upon the nation?”
To G-d's remembrance: for G-d is said in Scripture, to remember sins, when He punishes them; and to forget them, when He spares the sinner. She is sensitive to the power of evil, fearing that her son’s death was caused by some secret sin she had committed. And she has the spiritual perceptiveness and maturity to recognize and acknowledge Elijah as the bearer of the genuine word of G-d (Deut. 18:15-22). This Canaanite woman is a model of openness to the genuine prophet of G-d.
A severe home calamity seems to have led her to think that, as G-d had shut up heaven upon a sinful land in result of the prophet, she was suffering on a similar account. Without answering her bitter upbraiding, the prophet takes the child, lays it on his bed, and after a very earnest prayer, had the happiness of seeing its restoration, and along with it, gladness to the widow's heart and home.
One of the most effective strategies of evil is to seduce people into thinking that good and evil are compatible. The true significance of Elijah is that he resisted this insidious development with all his being, insisting that the two religions were mismatched and conflicting. His ministry is a reminder that there are values and practices which biblical religion must reject, and he remains a prime example of the importance of prophetic protest.
Elijah’s protest was effective because he was well prepared, an intensive course at Cherith, schooled in obedience and prayer, waiting on G-d for his needs. Elijah relied on the word of G-d in the confidence that it would not return empty (Isa. 55:10-11). Elijah was not only a spokesperson of the word; he was himself a living word, proclaiming through his name and life-style his wholehearted and exclusive devotion to G-d.
The best proof of the effectiveness of Elijah’s preparation is that he was verified as a genuine man of G-d and the bearer of G-d’s word by a daughter of the very people he opposed.
The prophet was sent to this widow, not merely for his own security, but on account of her faith, to strengthen and promote which he was directed to go to her rather than to many widows in Israel, who would have eagerly received him on the same privileged terms of exception from the grinding famine. The relief of her bodily necessities became the introductory means of supplying her spiritual wants, and bringing her and her son, through the teachings of the prophet, to a clear knowledge of G-d, and a firm faith in His word (Luke 4:25).
The son died. We must not think it strange, if we meet with sharp afflictions, even when we are in the way of well-known service to G-d.
Those who live by faith and miracle are not exempt from trouble.