Taking a walk on the Obedience Side!!

I know the last post was a long one. There was no good place to break so I carried on through. Today, however, we will be looking at just two verses of scripture. Let's pray first:

Father, You are God alone. In the secret and the quiet you are there. And I thank you. Be with us, your children today. May you find us always faithfully serving you in the whole of our lives and not just one part. You are God. Help us to be all that you have created us to be. Now, open our hearts as we study Your Word. May we glean truth from every word written in Your Holy Writ. Thank you for the opportunity to serve You, Praise Your Holy Name. . .Amen

So let's look at our text for today. I Kings 18:1-2:
"After a long time, in the third year, the Word of the LORD came to Elijah: 'Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land. 2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab."

Well, in these verses we find Elijah in the third year of a "few" years drought on the land (I Kings 17:1-2). Now let's think about this for a minute. Where were you three years ago? Now fast forward your brain to today as you sit and read this post, what if for the last three years there had been no rain. How would your life be different today because of that?

Rain is a huge need for us in this world that we now live. Before Noah and the Ark the earth was watered from springs beneath. There was no rain from the heavens, because there was no need. But when God destroyed the earth with the flood saving only Noah and his wife, sons, daughters-in-law, and animals the earth was changed and rain was how the earth was watered. So to be without it is devastating to the land. Nothing can grow without rain, and if nothing grows we don't eat. Even in this technology driven world we live in, it is crucial that we grow food. Droughts leave the land desolate and empty, cracked and dried up. No life can grow in drought stricken lands.

This is where we find Elijah in this text today. Sometimes it is easy to think that since he is who God used to bring these miracles to fruition that somehow he didn't hurt or suffer in the midst, but that is not true. If you look back over the text we have read, he had a very hard time and I believe that if we will put ourselves in Elijah's shoes for a moment, we might better understand his predicament. So let's put Elijah's sandals on for a moment shall we? :)

Elijah was a man of God, that is certainly apparent from the moment he steps onto the scene in Chapter 17, but look at what happens. He goes to the king tells him no rain for the next few years, so yep he has to leave in a hurry, so the Lord leads him to a ravine where he is fed by the birds and given drink by the brook; the Lord takes care of him. Well, the brook dries up as a result of the drought, so he must move on. Drought brings consequences, but the Lord takes care of his us.

Then he goes to the widow of Zarephath via the Lord's instructions and the miraculous happens again and he is taken care of as well as the widow and her son with the steady supply of flour and oil. But then just when all is well and he's surviving the drought, the widow's son dies. Are you in his shoes? Uncomfortable huh?!! But God, (love that) raises this child from the dead. Are you still in his shoes? Can you imagine the joy and relief? Amazing!!

So now we find him three years into this drought and God tells him to go and present himself to Ahab. Can you imagine what might have been going through his mind? ~~ Back to Ahab? Lord if I go back he's going to dry me up!! Lord Ahab is one bad dude are you sure I need to go back there? Lord just let me pray here for the rain to start that would work right?

Listen God had a plan here and He has a plan for us, we must trust him as Elijah does here. So after verse 1 is verse 2 Hallelujah!! God told Elijah what to do and what would happen. Present yourself to Ahab and I will send rain. So Elijah goes. No hesitation. No relunctancy on his part; nope just obedience.

I love that!! Elijah's story screams obedience to us. God wants us to know the fullness of living in Him, and we can only know that through obedient living. If you are wondering what that looks like, you can find it in God's Word. We are studying the life of Elijah this summer, but I do hope that you will take this example in God's Word and run with it. Let me challenge you this summer to really study His Word. A great way to do that even while we study Elijah is to look at the references for the verses in the margin and then look up those references. If you don't have a cross referencing Bible it is well worth it to have one. When you do this, one verse lends itself to another, because all of God's Word is true, you will find yourself on a wonderful journey of truth which will help lead you to obedience in your life. It is a great way to study His Word.

Have a Beautiful Monday.

In Christ Alone,
Dawn