Ambush of the Mouth

I'm reading in the book of Kings, 1 Kings 17, where God sent Elijah to Zarephath, a town whose name means Ambush of the Mouth.

Ambush of the Mouth. And like most Bible names, it holds a story inside it.

In Zarephath, there lived a widow with her son, and they were dying of starvation due to a drought. They had enough oil and flour to cook one last meal and that was it - they were preparing to die.

They were ambushed with hunger.

But when God sent Elijah, he also sent a miracle: their ordinary almost-empty jars turned into always-full jars of flour and oil.  And so Elijah settled in with them and they lived together happily for many days. But then tragedy struck and the widow's son fell ill. The Scriptures describe it like this ...And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him (verse 17).

No breath left in him. Talk about Ambush of the Mouth!  Avoiding starvation by nothing but a blatant miracle of God only to die of suffocation?!

Ambush. I can just imagine the widow's heartbreak and bitter thoughts. Why would God have bothered to keep them alive for this?

But God wasn't done being awesome. 

Elijah prayed, and God chose to give the breath of life back to the son. Breathed into his mouth the breath of life.

And in the end? The widow testified:

And 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." (verse 24)

It's like she was worried, all that time. Like she couldn't rest in the miracle. This unusual abundance must fade sometime. 

But now - finally, now, she knew.

There was Elijah speaking the word of the Lord, raining abundance and restoration.  Truth.

I picture her throwing up arms of surrender as she gave in to the delight and relief of it all. Ambushed by love and miraculous restoration. ❤️