Elijah, the first in a line of important prophets, comes on the scene and has to tell Ahab that there is going to be a famine. Ahab is shocked because Baal is supposed to be a rain producer.....this probably annoys old King Ahab, because God tells Elijah to go hide and that the ravens will take care of him. God provides! This is interesting because a raven is an unclean bird, so God provides help where we least expect it...
Then the spring dried up so God provided in another unexpected way...through a widow.....this widow thought she was preparing her last meal, but she trusted Elijah (would you trust a man that spoke to you out of the clear blue like that?) and her supplies never ran dry.....her son then became ill and died and the widow asks Elijah if he had come to remind her of her sin and kill her son........Elijah begged God to help and he allowed Elijah to bring the son back to life....the woman realizes without a doubt that Elijah is a man of God...
God tells Elijah to go back to Ahab.....Elijah tells Ahab to call on the Baal prophets to bring rain and they cannot....Elijah builds an altar with 12 stones (significant of an undivided kingdom) for sacrifice and calls on the Lord for rain....it happens and Elijah kills the prophets of Baal....as a result, he has to go hide again....he goes to Horeb, a holy mountain of God where Abraham had to obediently try and sacrifice his son....he has had enough and falls into a deep depression.....sometimes this is the way the devil attacks immediately following a huge spiritual high....the Lord nurtures him and gives him perspective and appears to him.
Elijah has to annoint three people..Hazael, king of Aram is an enemy king that will be used to punish Israel for its sin. Jehu is going to be the next king of Israel and the pagans are going bye-bye. Elisha is called to assist Elijah. It is significant that the wealthy farmer slaughters is oxen because he has just ended his livlihood as a farmer.
Look what comes up from the depths of the sea.
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Ok....as I was reading about how Elijah took the son and carried him upstairs and asked God to let his soul come back to him and the boy lived......that made me think of Jesus saving people......
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine being able to see God light a fire when asked? That would be so cool!!
My Bible says that Elijah prayed confidently and we should also come boldly into His presence.
It also says that when Queen Jezebel threatened to kill Elijah for executing her false prophets, he panicked ran, and hid. This was because of stress and once he recalled God's faithfulness, he knew he could return for God's mission.
My Bible also says that so many of us spend time praying to God, but not time to listen to God. This silence, like when Elijah went to the cave, is when we can really listen to God.