We often tend to exalt others and think less ourselves, don’t we? We idolise movie stars, music stars, political heroes and certain men or women of God. The latter are usually the ones with big popular ministries toward which hundreds of people flock and whom many small church leaders probably envy. But I’d like us to ask who the real men and women of God are.
We read in James 5:17, 18 (NIV): “Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.” The English Standard Version puts it like this: “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours...” and the KJV says: “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are...”
James tells us that Elijah was just like us – the same fears, the same inferiority feelings, also self-centred at times and also getting tired and blaming God, like we would see as we study his life. In the next few messages, we’ll look at Elijah’s life and mirror ourselves in it. We’ll see how the Lord’s relationship with him was and then we’ll discover how important we are to the Lord.
To begin with, I’d like you to read 1 Kings 17. I use the NIV. Keep the Bible open next to you as you read this message, since I’ll refer to verses due to a lack of space to quote them.
The secret of Elijah’s power was his obedience to the Lord. Remember, he was no different from us. He also had the other voices in his head that attempted to drown the Lord’s still voice, and the Lord did not speak verbally with him either. Whenever the Lord chose to speak verbally in the Old Testament, He sent the Angel of the Lord who manifested as a person and we have no evidence that this happened to Elijah.
In 1 Kings 17:10-14 the Lord had commanded Elijah to go and depend on this widow. Can you picture Elijah’s uncertainty as he approached this widow? He had to act by faith. He had no evidence that this was actually the Lord who told him to do that, except for previous experience with the Lord’s guidance and his knowledge of the Lord. In verse 10 he approached her in this time of drought and, looking at this pathetic figure gathering sticks, he could have easily felt sorry for her and disobeyed God. He first asked her for water, to which she quickly agreed, but then he had to overcome his human feelings and call after her for bread as well – which he would eat alone.
“As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die,” (V12). I can imagine Elijah swallowing a lump. How could he do this? What if he’d heard wrong? He knew the Lord would supply her needs if it was actually His voice Elijah was obeying, but if it was not, he would eat her last bread and he would be guilty of robbing her.
How would you have reacted?
“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD,” (Isaiah 55:8) but how often do we react to our human way of thinking?
Lord, please open my eyes to see what you’re teaching me.
This seems to turn out like a TV series, so we’ll continue tomorrow.
If you benefited from this, why don’t you link it to your Facebook or Twitter to make it available to your friends? You can also use the e-mail link to pass it on. Please also pray for the spreading of it to those who need it. Please feel free to ask questions or discuss thoughts.
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