Don’s Daily Devotions

Tues 11^th August                   Read 2 Kings chapter 1:5-8:

V5:  As the messengers return to the king, he knows they have not had time to reach the land of the Philistines and return, so ” Why have you come back?”

V6:  They tell of their meeting with ” a man” – it seems they do not know, or recognise Elijah – but they faithfully report his message, both of rebuke and judgement. Surely, some kind of divine compulsion must be upon them!

V7:  The king – surely with some suspicion already in his mind – asks what this “prophet of doom” was like?

V8:  They describe him – our first clear awareness of his rugged and ” wild ” appearance and attire. In the NT the same is said of John the baptist, of  course ( Matthew 3:4.). Remember that Jesus spoke of John as ” a second Elijah” – indeed the fulfillment of the prophecy that Elijah would come again before the coming of Messiah. ( See Malachi 4:5-6; Matthew 11:13-14.) The king knows Elijah from this description – a distinctive servant of God with a distinctive ministry!

Mon 10^th August   –   Read 2 Kings chapter 1:1-4:

V1:  Since our concern is with Elijah, we now move on to this chapter. Ahab is now dead, his son Ahaziah is king in his place, but sadly is as godless and rebellious as his father was. Moab, traditional enemies of Israel are in rebellion against them – surely part of God’s ongoing judgement.

V2:  Ahaziah injures himself in a bizarre accident, is reduced to a sick-bed, but has no thought of calling upon the Lord, either for his own condition or for the nation’s need. Instead, he sends to consult the false god Baal Zebub – (  interesting to note that in the NT Beelzebub is another name for ” the prince of demons ” – Satan himself – e.g. Matthew 12:24-27.)  How many false and vain sources people will look to when in trouble, rather than turn to the living God.

V3:  So, the angel of the Lord – remember, we take this to be more than ” an angel”, but the Lord himself, manifesting Himself to chosen servants – though we don ‘t know if there was a visible  manifestation here – sends Elijah to intercept Ahaziah’s messengers with the stark question ” Is there no God in Israel?”

.V4:  Solemnly, God’s message to Ahaziah through Elijah is that he will not recover, but die of his injuries. Elijah delivers this word of judgement unflinchingly, as he had so often to Ahaziah’s father. We too must warn people of God’s judgement and never shy away from the message.

Sat 8^th August  –  Read 1 Kings 21:25-29:

V25:  Here is the solemn record of Scripture, that even among the godless kings of Israel, there was none like Ahab – he is, as it were ” the worst of a bad bunch!” and Jezebel was instrumental in inciting him to this wickedness.

V26:  Again it is recorded how he pursued the worship of abominable false gods, like those of the nations God had previously driven out of the land to give His people possession of it – now, under Ahab, they are just like those nations – but “God is not mocked.”

V27-29:  So it is almost with amazement that we now read that Ahab is now brought, in fear, to humble himself before God. and the Lord tells Elijah that because of this, the full judgement he has declared will not fall in Ahab’s own day, but once his son has succeeded him. These are difficult verses to understand – clearly Ahab’s ” change of heart” falls far short of genuine repentance. and he surely does not come to real faith, yet God will at times tarry judgement in temporal mercy at even a measure of contrition under the convicting power of His Word. But praise God, if we know the full measure of His mercy and grace, through true repentance and saving faith in Christ.

Fri 7^th August  –  Read 1 Kings 21:17-24:

As we are following Scriptures record of Elijah and his ministry, we now ” jump” to this passage. The earlier verses of ch 21 record how Ahab, egged on by Jezebel, has continued in his godlessness, untouched by God’s mercy after the drought, to covet the vineyard of a man named Naboth, and had Naboth falsely accused and condemned to death so that he can take it.

V17-18:  God now sends Elijah to confront Ahab in the very vineyard he has stolen so wickedly.

V19:  God is never ” unaware” – nothing takes Him by surprise and though His judgement may tarry – in mercy, to give space for repentance, – it never sleeps. Elijah is sent to face Ahab with what he has done, and speak in the starkest terms of God’s judgement to come upon him. Do we shy back from delivering God’s warnings of sure judgement to come?

V20: As once before, Ahab tries to blame Elijah – his “enemy”. With his old God-given boldness restored, Elijah tells him how he has given himself entirely to evil in God’s sight.

V21-22:  Elijah delivers God’s message of judgement – the “I” of these verses is, of course, God Himself, not Elijah – Ahab’s whole line will perish, as had that of other godless kings before him, for he has made the whole nation sin against the Lord, and brought forth God’s wrath.

V23-24:  Again in the grimmest terms, the judgement that will come upon Jezebel, and all who show them allegiance is foretold.

We might not like verses like these, but we dare not deny or sanitise the truth of God’s judgement. The final outpouring of His wrath against sin will go far beyond the gruesome fates spoken of here. But, praise God, in the Lord Jesus Christ there is an escape from that wrath for all who will trust in Him, for He has born it for us. ( Romans 5:9.)

Thurs 6^th August   –  Read 1 Kings 19:19-21:

V19:  Elijah is again in God’s will and obedient to His command – surely God’s revelation of Himself has restored him. He goes first to find Elisha, who is ploughing his father’s land. The 12 yoke of Oxen indicate a wealthy, perhaps influential, family, probably very different from Elijah’s own background. God calls His people from all walks and conditions of life. The cloak appears to be symbolic of the prophetic office, and of God’s call to it.

V20:  Elisha knows at once he has been called to follow Elijah, and asks to be allowed to go and say farewell to his parents. Elijah’s brusque response may puzzle us. Does he suspect the kind of limited response Jesus speaks of in Matthew 8:21-22, where the point is that the father is not yet dead, and the man seeks to delay his commitment? Or more likely, is he simply testing Elisha, will he truly follow or will he be easily put off?

V21:  Elisha does go back home for a while, but only to offer the oxen with which he had been ploughing as a sacrifice to God, and feast ” the people” – his servants? – with their flesh. He is surely saying farewell to, and putting off his old life to heed God’s call. Then he goes to follow Elijah, first as his servant/assistant. There was surely to be a period of preparation for service, which Scripture does not record, serving and learning from the older prophet.

Wed 5^th August   –   Read 1 Kings 19:14-18:

V14:  Out pours the same complaint, word for word. Isn’t this Elijah ” digging his heels in”, as we say. How often we do that, when we don’t want to accept what God is saying to us from His Word – yet to me the repeated complaint is surely with less conviction, though still in stubbornness.

V15:  God’s response is, in effect ” Snap out of it, Elijah. I still have work for you to do. You are to anoint a new king of Syria – a remarkable instance of God’s sovereignty over the nations, in which Elijah will be His instrument.

V16:  Then, to anoint a new king of Israel ( Ahab’s days are numbered, and he will not escape God’s judgement.) And then, to anoint a new prophet, who will in due time succeed Elijah himself as God’s appointed “voice to the nation”, the young man Elisha. God’s work does not depend on any one man, however greatly used by God, He will raise up the servants of His choice to continue His work – the power is His, and His work is in His own Sovereign hand. ( So, compare His word to Joshua, in Joshua 1:1-2, 5.)

V17:  These men, each in his own context, will be instruments of God’s judgement. Perhaps only Elisha will be conscious of this, but compare Isaiah 10:5-7; 45:1-3.

V18:  But Elijah is told his view of himself as ” the only servant of God left in Israel” is very skewed. He does not see the whole picture, but God does. How often we need this lesson too. God has 7000 in Israel who have never truly compromised with Baal worship. Elijah has looked too much at himself ( v 10/14.) – we too can be tempted to do this, especially when we are feeling “down”.

Tues 4^th August    –   Read 1 Kings 19:11-13:

V11:  God brings him to the entrance of the cave, and sends mighty physical manifestations of power, a wind so strong it devastates the hillside, an earthquake, yet ” the Lord was not in them”. What does this mean? Obviously it was God’s power that produced them, but they were not the revelation of God that Elijah needs at this moment – they are not what the Lord has to say to him to deal with his condition.

V12:  Again, fire sweeps across the hillside, but again, this is not what God is saying to Elijah. He has seen the fire of God fall from heaven on Carmel, now he needs something else. It comes in ” a low whisper” – as the old AV so evocatively put it ” a still small voice”. Surely, what God is saying is ” Elijah, you’ve seen mighty demonstrations of my power, but it is not and will not always be like that. I’m with you even when “nothing seems to be happening”. Listen for what I’m saying to you in the quietness. Realise that I’m always with you! How often we need to realise this afresh – perhaps very much at this present moment.

V13:  Elijah clearly recognises God’s voice. Why then the repetition of the question? Because Elijah still needs to take the lesson to heart, as we so often do.

Mon 3^rd August – Read 1 Kings 19:9-10:

V9:  Elijah – who has been brought to Mount Horeb by God, with no such intention of his own, remember, comes to a cave on the mountainside, where ” the word of the Lord came to him”. Whether an audible voice or an inner conviction, we don’t know, but surely the source was the One who is the eternal Word of God (John 1:1.) The question ” what are you doing here Elijah?”, does not mean what are you doing in this place – he is only there because God has brought him there – but what are you doing in this current condition of spiritual lowness, this state of despair? What has brought you to this?

V10:  And Elijah pours out the burden of his heart – He alone has stood firm for God, he has faced and challenged the whole apostate nation for the Lord, and now “they seek my life”. Here surely is the aftermath of a hard and lonely ministry, and God’s servants do have such low times, when everything seems suddenly to overwhelm them. For Elijah, it seems that Jezebel’s threat has convinced him that despite the victory on Mount Carmel, in reality ” nothing has changed.” Do we ever feel like that? I know I do. Yet look how much “I” occurs in this verse – Elijah is for a moment focussed on himself rather than his Lord – and it may be like that for us sometimes too. We will go on to see how God deals with His servant’s low condition.

Sat 1^st August  –  Read 1 Kings 19:7-8

V7:  Now we learn something even more amazing. This is no “mere angel” – if we dare say that – but ” the angel of the Lord”, that mysterious figure who came to chosen servants of the Lord in the OT and left them somehow aware that they had met with God Himself, so that as narratives developed this person is called at times simply ” the Lord” ( See for example, Genesis 22:15-17; Exodus 3:2-6: Judges 6:12.) This person, meeting whom is meeting God, and would be devastating but for His grace, is regarded by most Bible scholars as a “pre-incarnation” appearance of Jesus Himself – eternally the Son of God – many think appearing in the form that would be His in His earthly life. So, we may say it is Jesus Himself who comes to minister to Elijah in his low condition, even to feed and sustain his body. He tells Elijah he needs this food to sustain him for a journey. Remember, he had no intention of making a journey – just wanted to die. God is still dealing with his servant  in His great mercy and tenderness.

V8:  And that ( miraculous?) food sustains him for a 40 day journey to Horeb, the mount of God, another name for Sinai, where God met with Moses to give him the law, and in the desert far below the southern border of Judah. God has his servant in His hand, and is preparing him for the revelation he needs, in his low state.

Fri 31^st July  –  Read 1 Kings 19:4-6

V4:  Fleeing alone into the desert, it seems that all Elijah wants is, as we might say, to curl up and die, pleading with God to take his life. This is not the positive longing of faith expressed by Paul in Philippians 1:23 – this is sheer despair. He feels a failure, his life and ministry have achieved nothing – he is no better than his ancestors. To his eyes, nothing has really changed after Carmel, Jezebel still exercises her cruel power, he wants to give up. Do we ever feel like this?

V5-6:  But God begins to deal with his overwrought servant. As he sleeps the sleep of sheer exhaustion, we read “an angel touched him”, telling him to eat, to sustain himself – and there beside him is a basic meal for his immediate physical need. How wise and caring God is for His people in need – often our physical state needs to be dealt with before our spiritual condition can be.