She stands there, tears streaming down her face, holding the body of her child in her arms. And at that exact moment, Elijah holds out his arms and claims, “Give him to me.”.

He claimed to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the higher room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed. And Elijah simply announces, “Give him to me.”. Somehow he knows that nothing he will be able to say at this moment will satisfy this mourning mother. No words from him can ease her stricken spirit.

He does not remind her of all she owes him or of how humiliated she deserves to be for blaming him. He simply asks her to put her burden in his arms.

Pause for a moment to notice that Elijah is again in a situation that, at least from a human viewpoint, he does not merit.

He has obeyed God by going to Ahab then hiding at Cherith. He has walked with Our Lord God from Cherith to Zarephath. He’s done precisely as the Lord instructed, He is trusted God, and now he is receiving the brunt of this girl’s blame.

God often appears to put us in the vise, and then He tightens it and tightens it more, till we think, in the agony of His sovereign squeeze, “What’s He attempting to do to me?” We walk closer to Him and even nearer to Him. We do not see how we could walk any closer, but still more tests come, one on top of another. He stands proud and silent in the shade of The Lord God, grounded in religion, assured of his Lord’s power. He simply claims, with quiet compassion, “Give me the boy.”.