And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, ‘ “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.” ‘ ” 1 Kings 18:1.
Holy Father, here we are again, before Your Throne of Grace; needing an anointing from You, that our beclouded eyes, and our hard of hearing ears may be opened to see and hear the wonderful ways You work in the history of humankind. When we are enlightened, may our faith be strengthened, and may we go forth in the power of the Lord to tell others what great things You are doing in our world. In the blessed name of Jesus Christ we humbly pray. Amen.
Yesterday we began this topic. We presented the background scenario that led to Elijah’s mountain top experience. Today let us take a closer look at the call to this assignment: ‘ “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.” ‘ ”
For the first time I am seeing an element in this call that I never saw before. Scripture does not say that God said, “Go and tell Ahab that I am going to send rain. That might have been the complete message, but as far as our eyes can see, the message was, “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.” No promise of protection from that terrible two. Just Go, and I will . . .!
How many of us respond promptly and bravely to God’s call to Go without complete explanations on the Why, How, Where, and When, of the mission? Speaking for myself, I can remember times when I made every possible excuse to the Lord, because I was either afraid, or not too excited, to do what I felt God was calling me to do! I look back at these occasions with keen regret! What opportunities to see God’s omnipotence at work in the face of my weakness might have been mine!
Responding to this command to “Go” could have caused Elijah his life! Yet this man of God, acting upon his faith in God “Went”! I do not believe that even in his wildest dreams could he have imagined the experience that was in store for him! He simply did his part as God had asked him to, he showed up before Ahab, and as we will see in tomorrow’s episode, God did . . .!
Listen to the conversation between Elijah and Ahab as the two meet:
“Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?” And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals. Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table” (1 Kings 18:17-19).
As we draw closer to the end of time, (and we are almost there); God is going to send some of us on some very challenging missions. We may have to stand before the powers that be, and tell them that certain policies that they are endorsing and embracing are not of God! Are we willing to do this and not be “afraid of their faces,” but rather put our trust in God (Jeremiah 1:8)?
Remember the order of things is: “You show up. I will show My wonders!”
We will talk some more tomorrow.