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.”
It’s not very often when you get a message on ‘Elijah the Tishbite,’ but there are a lot of connections between Elijah, the Israelites, and our present day! As I was thinking about this lesson (my husband taught it at church ) I was astounded by the co-relations he presented to us. It brought home to me the relevance of the Bible to our world today. When people say it is an old book with nothing relevant for today, they just have not read it!
So, let’s look at Elijah for a few minutes. Open your Bible to I Kings Chapter 17. Previous to Chapter 17 there were a series of Kings in Israel, some good, some bad. On the scene comes a very bad King Ahab, with his wife Jezebel! This was a real bad power couple!
Elijah went to King Ahab, a real bad thing to do if you have not been summoned, but he had a ‘word from the Lord’ and he was determined to give it. He told the King there would be no rain, or even dew, for a period of years, unless he (Elijah) stated it! He did not wait around after he gave that word long enough for the King to respond to that. The Lord told Elijah to get away from there, go to the brook of Cherith (many miles away, on foot.) The Lord promised him ravens to feed him, and of course, the brook to give him water. Elijah was sustained by food and water while the agriculture and the economy shut down because of the drought. They were facing their own a pandemic in the drought as it was across the country. God has his ways of getting peoples attention!
A year later the Lord told him to go to the home of a widow woman and live in her upper room apartment. She would provide for him. These were separate from her home, with outdoor stairs to it. Elijah and the Lord were appalled by the fact that women would toss their newborn babies into the fire for a sacrifice to Baal, the ‘god of fertility. The worst part, these were a formerly Godly people. Today we call it abortion!
During this entire process Elijah was learning very valueable lessons that served him well as he served God as the voice for God to a sinful people. He learned that God would provide what he needed when he obeyed Him. As he continued inn his ministry of prophet he raised a boy from the dead, he called down fire from Heaven that burned up gallons of water to show the power of God over Baal. In each example Elijah implored these sinful people to return to the God of their Fathers. Though he did not see that happen he continued to tell them…return!
Today, God is saying the same thing, using a pandemic to get our attention. God does not try to confuse us with new tactics. If we study the old ways he used we will see them repeated in the new situations. His goal is always the same..return to God. Are we paying attention? There can be healing in this land IF we ‘return’ to our roots of a Judaeo-Christian ethic. God is not willing to see any perish without Him in their lives. But, the rules are set, the plan is in motion, and now it is our choice. Here’s my question; how badly do we want it? It will require some changes, some sacrifices, some prayer and repentance. We will re-visit these questions again.
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