Join us as we read the scriptures and a daily devotion written by Don Crisp. We pray these messages will bless us all at this time.
Mon 13th July – The life and ministry of Elijah
Categories: Don’s Daily Devotions
Mon 13th July – The life and ministry of Elijah 1 Kings 17, 18
Introduction:
We now look at the Bible record of that great OT servant of God, Elijah. The narrative is such that the chapters don’t easily lend themselves to the exact weekly divisions of our previous books, so will at times run over such divisions, but there will still be 6 devotions per week.
Day 1: – Read 1 Kings 17:1-7
Ch17 v1: Elijah is introduced onto the pages of Scripture dramatically, with no details except those in this verse. Tishbe in Gilead identifies him as a countryman, no doubt a rustic in the eyes of the court of Ahab. – a nobody in the eyes of man, but a man in the hand of God, the living God he knows and serves in a day of sad apostasy, under the godless and cruel King Ahab. God sends him to Ahab with a message of judgement, a long period of drought. In 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 God declared such would be His way of punishing His people if they forsook him for false gods – but also that this was to call them to repentance.
V2-4: God’s protecting hand is surely on Elijah, as he brings him safely out of Ahab’s court, and tells him where he will be provided for during the drought – by the most unlikely means, humanly speaking. In all this, we see God’s sovereign power. Note, God’s provision and protection does not guarantee “luxury”.
V5: Elijah responds with unquestioning obedience and trust. Is this our response in situations we would never choose – as at this present moment?
V6: That obedience sees the promises fulfilled – only God’s hand could make the ravens behave like this.
V7: Yet after some time, even this brook dries up. Has God’s promise failed? Elijah’s trust was not to be in the brook, but in the God of the brook!