Title: Lessons from Elijah/ Topic: Perseverance and Faith

Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 17; 1 Kings 18; 1 Kings 19; Colossians 2

Scripture: 1 Kings 17:19-22; 1 Kings 18:36-38, 42-44; 1 Kings 19:1-3
19 "Give me your son," Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?" 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this boy's life return to him!" 22 The LORD heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived.

36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." 38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

42 So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. 43 "Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. And he went up and looked. "There is nothing there," he said. Seven times Elijah said, "Go back." 44 The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea." So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.' "

1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them." 3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day's journey into the desert.

Observation: Elijah is one of my favorite Bible heroes. I observed a number of things concerning perseverance in prayer, faith, and human frailty and God's grace in these stories. First, when the widow's son dies, Elijah takes him to his room and begs God three times to restore the boy's life. God answers after the third request. The next time we see Elijah praying is when he has a showdown with the prophets of Baal. God answers his prayer immediately. After this, he prays for a miracle seven times before he sees the answer begin to appear. In the last group of verses we see Elijah giving in to fear. It's amazing to me that after seeing God work such awesome miracles on his behalf that he is so afraid of Jezebel that he flees for his life! But God is gracious to him and does not rebuke him for his weakness. Instead, he ministers to his needs and comforts him. It is an example of how God understands our weaknesses and our propensity toward depression and anxiety, and how he extends kindness to us to help us through those times.

Application: I don't understand why God sometimes answers prayer immediately and why he sometimes wants us to persevere in prayer before he answers, but the lesson is to KEEP PRAYING until we see the answer come. In our culture of instant gratification we really need to get this lesson. We want results now and if we don't get it, we tend to just give up. We need to not give up on God. The second lesson from these verses is that God doesn't give up on us! Even when we have breakdowns in our faith and endurance, he ministers to our needs and cares for us until we come again to understand that he will never leave us or forsake us.

Prayer: Father, I need to persevere in prayer much more than I do. Help me to keep extending my faith and to not grow weary in doing what I should do. I want to pray until I see the manifestation of the miracles that need to happen for me and others. Move in the Church so that others see that you are the only true God. And I also thank you so very much for not giving up on me when I succumb to depression or negative thoughts. You always bring me back to understanding that you are the Rock and Foundation on which I can firmly stand. Thank you for sending your Spirit to be my Comforter when I need one.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.