Good morning.
If you haven’t read part one of this series yet, please first read it before continuing here. We are busy with 1 Kings 17-19, so I trust you’ve read it. We’re mirroring our hearts in the life of Elijah so we can see who the real men and women of God are.
Yesterday we put Elijah in our shoes, since we know he was just a man like us, i.e. he had to overcome the same carnal nature that we have to. This we’ll do continuously throughout this teaching to help us realise we have the same potential he had.
In 1 Kings 17:1 we find the key words to Elijah’s power and confidence that helped him overcome his weaknesses and fear: “Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” He called on the name of the Lord – ‘as the LORD, the God of Israel lives’. This is the key to any confidence we need – God is alive. If we have the faith to really believe it, we’ll see great things happening through our calling. These words put both Elijah and King Ahab’s focus immediately on the Lord.
The problem we have in today’s society is that the culture puts pressure on individuals to perform, to look good and impress. It’s expected of us at work, in social life and even extends into our homes and often creates a competitive spirit. This also reaches into the church where we often seek position and desire to be- and look important. We put our best foot forward and fear to offend, don’t we? Elijah was not scared to offend. His image and credibility lay with the Lord. As long as the Lord looked good, he was happy.
Elijah was not particularly popular with King Ahab. We see in 1 Kings 18:17 that when Ahab “saw Elijah, he said to him: ‘Is that you, you troubler of Israel?’” We also saw in verses 9-14 that Obadiah, Ahab’s servant, was dead scared of Ahab whose wife, Jezebel, was killing the prophets. Yet when Elijah addressed Ahab in verse one of chapter 17, he boldly stated that “there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” He didn’t use the words “thus says the Lord”, he simply said “at my word”. Why do you think he did it this way? Where did he get the courage to say it in the midst of the circumstances of prophets being killed by Jezebel? I’m quite sure that, since he was a man like us, his legs probably felt a little like jelly. Did he actually hear right from the Lord, or was he treading on thin ice?
As with us, Elijah had a choice whether to obey the Lord or to please man. He could have impressed Ahab to save his own skin as the church often does with the world. But the Lord had a better plan, and Elijah believed Him. If the drought would only end by Elijah’s word, Ahab would not dare killing him like Jezebel did with the other prophets, for Elijah had to be there to speak it. And I thought the moviemakers designed the idea of the dead-man-trigger to a bomb. This clever approach caused Ahab to respect men of God and the Lord got glorified. Isn’t the Lord smart! He desires to be smart through you as well (see Matthew 5:16). How would you have fared in Elijah’s position?
The Lord works with a plan and, if we choose to obey the Lord rather than man and act bravely in faith, we will experience great things even if we don’t always feel up to it.
Lord, please give me the courage to obey.
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