Elijah – a name that means “My God is Yah” according to the Holman Bible Dictionary – that already sounds “special” to me. And not that I doubt what the Bible says, but I’m having a hard time really comprehending the fact that he was just an ordinary person like me. James 5:17 “Eliyahu [Elijah] was only a human being like us;…” and then his first miracle recorded in the Bible makes up the rest of that verse, “…yet he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and no rain fell on the Land for three years and six months.”
The next thing this ‘ordinary’ guy does is goes to the wilderness as he hears God tell him to do. He is told to drink from the stream there and that ravens would bring him food - and they did! That is, until the stream dried up from the lack of rain which Elijah had caused to afflict that land. So, off he goes to Zarephath, again at God’s direction. God says He has ordered a widow there to provide for Elijah, but the poor woman is getting ready to cook up the last of her food for her and her son and then they can die, she says. It doesn’t seem like she had any knowledge of this command by God to feed the prophet but she did as Elijah said. 1 Kings 17:10-16 (CJB) “… On reaching the gate of the city, he saw a widow there gathering sticks. He called out to her, "Please bring a little water in a container for me to drink." 11 As she was going to get it, he called after her, "Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand." 12 She answered, "As ADONAI your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a pot and a little oil in the jug. Here I am, gathering a couple sticks of wood, so that I can go and cook it for myself and my son. After we have eaten that, we will die." 13 Eliyahu said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go; and do what you said; but first, use a little of it to make me a small loaf of bread; and bring it out to me. After that, make food for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what ADONAI the God of Isra'el, says: 'The pot of meal will not get used up, nor will there fail to be oil in the jug, until the day ADONAI sends rain down on the land.'" 15 She went and acted according to what Eliyahu had said; and she, he and her household had food to eat for a long time. 16 The pot of meal did not get used up, nor did there fail to be oil in the jug, in fulfillment of the word of ADONAI spoken through Eliyahu.”
Then the lady’s son gets sick and dies, and she is upset with Elijah, who in turn cries out to God for an answer. 1 Kings 17:17-24 (CJB) 17 A while later, the son of the woman whose house it was fell ill; his illness grew increasingly serious until his breathing stopped. 18 She said to Eliyahu, "What do you have against me, you man of God? Did you come to me just to remind me how sinful I am by killing my son?" 19 "Give me your son," he said to her. Taking him from her lap, he carried him into the room upstairs where he was staying and laid him on his own bed. 20 Then he cried out to ADONAI: "ADONAI my God! Have you brought also this misery on the widow I'm staying with by killing her son?" 21 He stretched himself out on the child three times and cried out to ADONAI: "ADONAI my God, please! Let this child's soul come back into him!" 22 ADONAI heard Eliyahu's cry, the child's soul came back into him, and he revived. 23 Eliyahu took the child, brought him down from the upstairs room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Eliyahu said, "See? Your son is alive." 24 The woman replied to Eliyahu, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of ADONAI that you speak is the truth."
The next chapter starts with Elijah getting ready to pray for relief from the drought he caused to occur three years before, and a meeting with Obadiah – not the prophet Obadiah – in preparation for the well-known story of God burning up a water soaked altar. Then in chapter 19, Jezebel sends a message to Elijah, “May the gods do terrible things to me and worse ones besides if by this time tomorrow I haven't taken your life, just as you took theirs!" (verse 2)
It surprised me a little that a man with as much power with God as Elijah had, would actually turn tail and run away to hide, but he did. He felt very poorly about himself and prayed to God for his own death. He didn’t get death, rather, he got fed by an angel. After sleeping, the angel feeds him again and tells him that he better eat hearty because that meal would have to keep him going for forty days. At the end of the forty days Elijah finds a cave in Mt Horeb where God asks him, “What are you doing here?” This great prophet admits to God that he’s scared, by saying, “…I have been very zealous for ADONAI the God of armies, because the people of Isra'el have abandoned your covenant, broken down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. Now I'm the only one left, and they're coming after me to kill me too." 1 Kings 19:10 (CJB)
Then one of my favorite scriptures about God’s might is given to us. 1 Kings 19:11-12 (CJB) 11 He said, "Go outside, and stand on the mountain before ADONAI"; and right then and there, ADONAI went past. A mighty blast of wind tore the mountains apart and broke the rocks in pieces before ADONAI, but ADONAI was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake, but ADONAI was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake, fire broke out; but ADONAI was not in the fire. And after the fire came a quiet, subdued voice.
It wasn’t in the wind or the earthquake or the fire…it was a still, small voice when God spoke to him.
There is a lot more we can read about Elijah, a man who was not flawless, but was instantly obedient in whatever God told him to do. Study this prophet's life and see what difficult things God asked of him. God sent him to the wilderness of Kerith/Cherith to be ministered to by ravens and to Zarephath to be cared for by a lowly widow, a person at the very bottom of the social ladder in those days. Then Almighty God tells Elijah to go show himself to the king who has been hunting all over the area to find him so he could kill him. He hasn't asked anything so frightful of me but He knows I'm still working on that “instant obedience” thing. Elijah feared God – but not a fear as in being afraid of God. Its like raising children – only when they are very young is fear of discipline a useful, beneficial tool. When they get a little older we, as parents, want them to be obedient out of respect for us and trust in our guidance, which builds a relationship rather than simple fear of punishment being the outcome. Fear of God is to be in awe of Him in addition to having that same kind of trust and respect we want from our children.
I guess it is pretty obvious that Elijah is one of my favorite Bible characters. And I know I get long-winded so before this gets any longer, I’ll just say that even reading only this much about Elijah has made one thing very clear to me - response is required from us! We have to hear God’s direction and act on it every step of the way…instantly.
The next thing this ‘ordinary’ guy does is goes to the wilderness as he hears God tell him to do. He is told to drink from the stream there and that ravens would bring him food - and they did! That is, until the stream dried up from the lack of rain which Elijah had caused to afflict that land. So, off he goes to Zarephath, again at God’s direction. God says He has ordered a widow there to provide for Elijah, but the poor woman is getting ready to cook up the last of her food for her and her son and then they can die, she says. It doesn’t seem like she had any knowledge of this command by God to feed the prophet but she did as Elijah said. 1 Kings 17:10-16 (CJB) “… On reaching the gate of the city, he saw a widow there gathering sticks. He called out to her, "Please bring a little water in a container for me to drink." 11 As she was going to get it, he called after her, "Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand." 12 She answered, "As ADONAI your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a pot and a little oil in the jug. Here I am, gathering a couple sticks of wood, so that I can go and cook it for myself and my son. After we have eaten that, we will die." 13 Eliyahu said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go; and do what you said; but first, use a little of it to make me a small loaf of bread; and bring it out to me. After that, make food for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what ADONAI the God of Isra'el, says: 'The pot of meal will not get used up, nor will there fail to be oil in the jug, until the day ADONAI sends rain down on the land.'" 15 She went and acted according to what Eliyahu had said; and she, he and her household had food to eat for a long time. 16 The pot of meal did not get used up, nor did there fail to be oil in the jug, in fulfillment of the word of ADONAI spoken through Eliyahu.”
Then the lady’s son gets sick and dies, and she is upset with Elijah, who in turn cries out to God for an answer. 1 Kings 17:17-24 (CJB) 17 A while later, the son of the woman whose house it was fell ill; his illness grew increasingly serious until his breathing stopped. 18 She said to Eliyahu, "What do you have against me, you man of God? Did you come to me just to remind me how sinful I am by killing my son?" 19 "Give me your son," he said to her. Taking him from her lap, he carried him into the room upstairs where he was staying and laid him on his own bed. 20 Then he cried out to ADONAI: "ADONAI my God! Have you brought also this misery on the widow I'm staying with by killing her son?" 21 He stretched himself out on the child three times and cried out to ADONAI: "ADONAI my God, please! Let this child's soul come back into him!" 22 ADONAI heard Eliyahu's cry, the child's soul came back into him, and he revived. 23 Eliyahu took the child, brought him down from the upstairs room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Eliyahu said, "See? Your son is alive." 24 The woman replied to Eliyahu, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of ADONAI that you speak is the truth."
The next chapter starts with Elijah getting ready to pray for relief from the drought he caused to occur three years before, and a meeting with Obadiah – not the prophet Obadiah – in preparation for the well-known story of God burning up a water soaked altar. Then in chapter 19, Jezebel sends a message to Elijah, “May the gods do terrible things to me and worse ones besides if by this time tomorrow I haven't taken your life, just as you took theirs!" (verse 2)
It surprised me a little that a man with as much power with God as Elijah had, would actually turn tail and run away to hide, but he did. He felt very poorly about himself and prayed to God for his own death. He didn’t get death, rather, he got fed by an angel. After sleeping, the angel feeds him again and tells him that he better eat hearty because that meal would have to keep him going for forty days. At the end of the forty days Elijah finds a cave in Mt Horeb where God asks him, “What are you doing here?” This great prophet admits to God that he’s scared, by saying, “…I have been very zealous for ADONAI the God of armies, because the people of Isra'el have abandoned your covenant, broken down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. Now I'm the only one left, and they're coming after me to kill me too." 1 Kings 19:10 (CJB)
Then one of my favorite scriptures about God’s might is given to us. 1 Kings 19:11-12 (CJB) 11 He said, "Go outside, and stand on the mountain before ADONAI"; and right then and there, ADONAI went past. A mighty blast of wind tore the mountains apart and broke the rocks in pieces before ADONAI, but ADONAI was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake, but ADONAI was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake, fire broke out; but ADONAI was not in the fire. And after the fire came a quiet, subdued voice.
It wasn’t in the wind or the earthquake or the fire…it was a still, small voice when God spoke to him.
There is a lot more we can read about Elijah, a man who was not flawless, but was instantly obedient in whatever God told him to do. Study this prophet's life and see what difficult things God asked of him. God sent him to the wilderness of Kerith/Cherith to be ministered to by ravens and to Zarephath to be cared for by a lowly widow, a person at the very bottom of the social ladder in those days. Then Almighty God tells Elijah to go show himself to the king who has been hunting all over the area to find him so he could kill him. He hasn't asked anything so frightful of me but He knows I'm still working on that “instant obedience” thing. Elijah feared God – but not a fear as in being afraid of God. Its like raising children – only when they are very young is fear of discipline a useful, beneficial tool. When they get a little older we, as parents, want them to be obedient out of respect for us and trust in our guidance, which builds a relationship rather than simple fear of punishment being the outcome. Fear of God is to be in awe of Him in addition to having that same kind of trust and respect we want from our children.
I guess it is pretty obvious that Elijah is one of my favorite Bible characters. And I know I get long-winded so before this gets any longer, I’ll just say that even reading only this much about Elijah has made one thing very clear to me - response is required from us! We have to hear God’s direction and act on it every step of the way…instantly.