Reading: Devotional
August 31
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Solomon’s Problem
1 Kings 10:23–11:8
I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man
lacking sense…it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground
was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.
Proverbs 24:30–31 (ESV)
Later in life, Solomon lost some of the wisdom for which he was reputed. Wisdom gave way to foolishness as his attention was diverted from the Lord, the original object of his devotion, to his possessions, building projects, and wives. The signs of trouble surfaced already at the start of Solomon’s reign, when, ignoring God’s command against such things (see Deut. 17:16–17), he began to accumulate horses, wealth, and wives of foreign birth.
Solomon’s marriages were mostly political arrangements and not unusual for his time. But most of the time they violated God’s command against intermarriage with idol worshipers. What happened was just what God had said would happen; Solomon’s wives turned his heart to their gods.
This turning of Solomon’s heart was also connected to his failure to write out a copy of God’s law for himself and to read it every day as instructed in Deuteronomy 17:18–20. If the king did this, the Lord promised success for him and a long reign in Israel for him and his family.
By secular standards, Solomon was a great ruler. Yet, he did not take enough time to worship in the temple that he had built for God. Nor did he pay enough attention to the commandments and warnings that God had given. Solomon took care of many things, but he neglected his heart and soul. He wrote about the sluggards who neglected their property, but he himself was a spiritual sluggard who permitted his life to go to ruin. If Solomon did repent it was too late to avoid all the consequences of his sin and neglect, and so he stands as a perpetual warning that we also must always keep first things first.
September 1
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The Beginning of Israel’s Decline
1 Kings 11:9–43
And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve
him with a whole heart and with a willing mind...If you seek him, he
will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.
1 Chronicles 28:9 (ESV)
There were many significant milestones in Israel’s journey to find all of the blessings that God had promised Abraham’s descendants. But the pinnacle, so far as anyone could see, was reached during the reign of King Solomon. Palestine was strategically positioned for trade over land and by sea. It was especially under Solomon that Israel’s economy flourished.
It was also under Solomon that the temple was built as a permanent structure to replace the moveable Tent of Meeting that had been positioned at the center of Israel’s encampment during their years in the desert. The temple was meant to reinforce and make permanent the truth that all of Israel’s life and blessings were attributable to the Lord, without whom Israel’s people had neither purpose nor hope for a future.
Although Solomon was faithful to the Lord in building the temple, he became unfaithful in both his personal walk with God and his official responsibilities. He tolerated and even built worship centers for idol gods. As a result, God told him that he would no longer rule over a united Israel, but only over one tribe—Judah. Although the division would not happen until Solomon’s death, the fracturing of Israel began already during his life. The Lord raised up adversaries against this increasingly foolish son of David.
It was the beginning of a sad chapter for the tribes of Israel, whose unity the Lord had wanted so much. The civil wars would not only make things difficult for Israel, they would also prevent Israel from blessing the rest of the world as God had promised Abraham they would.
September 2
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The Sins of Jeroboam
1 Kings 11:44–12:33
What is this breach of faith…against the God of Israel in
turning away this day from following the Lord by building
yourselves an altar this day in rebellion against the Lord?
Joshua 22:16–17 (ESV)
The precipitating event for civil war within Israel was the refusal of Solomon’s successor to listen to the advice of his elders. They advised the king to reduce the forced labor and taxes that had financed Solomon’s projects. But King Rehoboam refused; as a result Jeroboam led the other tribes in a revolt against Judah.
Jeroboam was afraid, however, of the long-term viability of his kingdom if his people kept going to Jerusalem to offer their sacrifices at the temple. His solution was to set up alternate worship centers outside of Jerusalem. This was the very problem that had so concerned Joshua and God’s people hundreds of years before. Then, they had perceived the altar built by the trans-Jordan tribes to be for the purpose of providing an alternate place for worship. Civil war was averted that time when they learned that the altar was not for alternate worship, but simply as a testimony that the Lord alone was God and deserving of worship.
To compound Jeroboam’s problem, he appointed priests who were not authorized by God. In place of the ark of the covenant he made golden calves to put in his shrines. The calves were meant to symbolize the Lord’s presence, but this act constituted idolatry; it was the very deed by which Aaron had brought God’s anger down on himself and the people at the time of the giving of the law through Moses (Ex. 32).
These allowances for false worship became known after this as “the sins of Jeroboam.” The verdict for each subsequent king of Israel was: “He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he continued in them.”
September 3
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The Time of the Prophets
Deuteronomy 18:14–22; 1 Kings 14:1–18
If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself
known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.
Numbers 12:6 (ESV)
After Solomon’s death and the split of his kingdom into two, the Lord made clear to both Israel and Judah that he still expected wholehearted service. To that end, God often sent prophets to tell the people what he wanted. Sometimes they reminded the people of God’s will as previously revealed through Moses and his successors. But sometimes, too, as with Ahijah who predicted the loss of Jeroboam’s kingdom and the death of his son, they were given new revelations that were specific for the person, place, or time. Either way, they could and did say with conviction, “Thus says the Lord.”
There was a plethora of false prophets as well—those who pretended to speak for God even if they had not been sent by him. These were usually in the employ of a king who really did not want to hear the word of the Lord. Moses had made clear long before that such prophets could be identified by the discrepancies between God’s words and their words, and by the failure of their predictions. True prophets, on the other hand, didn’t have to worry about either of these outcomes; true prophets had only to be faithful to the calling and word of the Lord.
There were prophets in Israel before the split; Moses, Aaron, and Miriam were all prophets, as was Samuel, who, at God’s command, anointed both Saul and David as king. Among those who worked during David’s lifetime were the prophets Nathan and Gad. But prophets became particularly active during the time of Israel’s decline in faithfulness—between Solomon’s death and the exile of God’s people from the Promised Land. They did not call the people to some new and unknown task, but simply told them to recall what God had done for them, and return to his service.
September 4
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The High Calling of the Prophets
1 Kings 13
Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
Ephesians 4:1 (ESV)
This story illustrates the typical response that Israel’s kings would give on hearing the prophetic word of the Lord. They would usually ignore it or resist it instead of repenting and bowing to the Lord’s will.
The truth of the message Jeroboam received was proved as soon as the king tried to silence the man of God. Jeroboam immediately recognized his mistake and pled with the prophet to ask the Lord for the restoration of his crippled hand. He was granted this request and was grateful for it. But his gratitude neither lasted nor went far enough. Later on Jeroboam “appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places. This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth” (1 Kings 13:33-34).
This story also illustrates the absolute faithfulness required of those who were called to bring the word of the Lord; the prophets had to be very careful to do and say only and exactly what God directed. The man of God, who gave Jeroboam God’s message but didn’t obey the Lord’s command not to eat or drink until he got back home, paid for his disobedience with his life. However, from the respect accorded him by the other prophet, it appears that he was not entirely rejected by God for his failure. Nor was his previous message to the king compromised.
What happened to the man of God remains somewhat puzzling. But at least this much is clear: those who bring the word of the Lord are themselves subject to its demands. The apostle Paul confirms this in his warning that believers must live a life worthy of their calling. This is a warning, moreover, that applies doubly to those in leadership in Christ’s church.
September 5
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Asa’s Response to Prophetic Warning
2 Chronicles 15
Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.
Malachi 3:7 (ESV)
Asa’s father Abijah trusted in God and led the people to follow the Lord’s requirements, but left some foreign altars and high places in the land. Asa had the wisdom to destroy these when he became king, and to call on the people to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to obey his laws and commands. In doing so, King Asa illustrates the sort of response that God wanted his people to make to the warnings of his prophets.
At first things went well under Asa; God blessed Judah and gave them victory over their enemies. But gradually the devotion of the people waned, at least partly through the influence of Asa’s idol-worshiping grandmother. As a result, the Lord’s altar fell into disrepair while the altars of idol gods were rebuilt.
God allowed the people to suffer the consequences of their sin. Crime increased so that it was not safe to travel. Nations and cities waged war against each other. God was troubling the people to get their attention. He sent the prophet Azariah to Asa with the message that the Lord had not left his people; rather they had left him. If the people persisted in their disobedience, the Lord would leave them in their misery. However, if they would seek him, he would be found by them.
Asa took God’s word seriously. He removed the idols, repaired the Lord’s altar, and called all the people together. They came eagerly. Convicted of their sin, they sought the Lord with all their heart and soul. And true to God’s word, the Lord was found by them, and their repentance was followed by the great joy of revival. God’s loving discipline worked. At least tempor-arily, his royal representative and the people he ruled experienced the joy that God intended for the citizens of his kingdom.
September 6
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Ahab’s Idolatrous Kingdom—Part 1
1 Kings 16:15–33
You shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry,
and you shall know that I am the Lord God.
Ezekiel 23:49 (ESV)
Israel, Judah’s northern neighbor, did not demonstrate Judah’s sensitivity to God’s warnings through the prophets. This is extensively illustrated in the biblical record of the confrontations between Israel’s King Ahab, who allowed the worship of Canaanite idols, and the prophet Elijah, who represented the Lord’s claim to Israel’s worship.
Ahab’s course was influenced by the example of his father Omri, a talented leader whose building projects in Samaria rivaled those that Solomon had previously carried out in Jerusalem. The surrounding world was undoubtedly impressed by Omri. However, the Lord was not; Scripture says that he did evil in the Lord’s eyes and sinned more than all those before him.
Ahab, who succeeded his father after twelve years, was worse: “He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him” (1 Kings 16:31).
The main gods of Jezebel and the Canaanites were the fertility gods, Baal and Asherah, to whom sacrifices were made in the hope that they would bless the people with good harvests and many children. Ahab not only tolerated the worship of his pagan wife, he took an active role in leading Israel in her false religion, enabling the hold of sin to become stronger and stronger.
The ensuing spiritual warfare would be intense; reminiscent of one that took place centuries before between Pharaoh, false claimant to Israel’s worship, and Moses, who represented the true claim of the Creator. In the end, however, the Lord would prevail.
September 7
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Ahab’s Idolatrous Kingdom—Part 2
1 Kings 16:23–33
When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest
son had done to him, he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of
servants shall he be to his brothers.” He also said, “Blessed be
the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant.”
Genesis 9:24–26 (ESV)
As descendants of Noah’s son Shem, the Israelites were heirs to a rich blessing. By contrast, Ham and his son Canaan were told that they would be dominated by Noah’s other sons, and particularly by Shem and his offspring. This prophecy had started to come true already with Abraham, who prospered in what was called the land of Canaan. Further fulfillment came under Joshua when God brought Israel back to the land of Canaan.
However, by Ahab’s sponsorship of the worship of Baal and Asherah, he effectively made his people subject to the Canaanites. It wasn’t that Ahab wanted to outlaw the worship of the Lord—not like his wife Jezebel, who wanted that and wanted also to destroy God’s prophets and even God himself, if she could. Yet, Ahab was doing something suicidal in compromising Israel’s worship of the Lord. If this continued, it really wouldn’t matter how much Israel prospered, because they would be separated from God, apart from whom they had no identity or future.
Ahab violated many of God’s commandments, but the first and greatest one especially: “You shall have no other gods before me!” This was God’s fundamental rule for life. Ahab also broke another long-standing command of God, the command to leave the broken walls of Jericho as a perpetual reminder to keep Israel’s worship pure.
But God would not give up his claim on his people so easily, for he had made a sacred covenant with them. For centuries nations tried to conquer or subvert the loyalty of Israel, but the Lord always brought them back. He would do that this time as well.
September 8
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The Sinful Rebuilding of Jericho
1 Kings 16:34
Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying, “Cursed
before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city,
Jericho. ‘At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation,
and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.’”
Joshua 6:26 (ESV)
Since Joshua’s time, Jericho had remained an unfortified settlement. But, being a border city on a well-traveled route qualified it as an important line of defense against Israel’s enemies. So Ahab commissioned Hiel to rebuild Jericho’s walls. As much political sense as that made, it was a big mistake. The moment Hiel went to work he unleashed the curse that the Lord had put on Jericho and its rebuilders centuries earlier.
Perhaps it was partly out of fear that the previous kings of Israel had left Jericho unfortified. However, they also knew the lesson Jericho’s ruins told. They reminded everyone of God’s judgment against the Canaanites and their false worship. The ruins also proclaimed to both Israel and the world the grace and power by which God had settled his people in the Promised Land.
Ahab, and much of Israel with him, had become deaf to this message. Instead, Ahab proclaimed another message. Whether or not he put his name on Jericho’s rebuilt walls, he meant them as a testament to his own success and glory. But Hiel paid a big price; he lost what an Israelite treasured above all—children to ensure that his family would not die out. It may even be that, encouraged by Ahab, Hiel sacrificed his own sons in pagan rituals. However he lost them, he suffered for disobeying the Lord; he lost his inheritance in the Promised Land.
Ahab showed more concern for building his own legacy than he did for what God wanted. But, in the effects of the curse, he got a preview of the lesson that Elijah would reinforce: “No one can prevail against the Lord.”
September 9
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Covenant Blessings Disappear
1 Kings 17:1
If you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments…the Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down upon you until you are destroyed.
Deuteronomy 28:15, 24 (ESV)
God sent his faithful prophet Elijah, whose very name means “My God is Yahweh,” to bring Ahab to his senses over his leadership of Israel. Drought was a particularly appropriate con-sequence, given Ahab’s idolatrous worship of the Canaanite fertility gods.
The ensuing famine was severe. Even King Ahab had trouble finding enough food to keep his animals alive. The nation staggered under the Lord’s judgment. Nor was it only Israel’s idol worshipers who suffered. We find out later that there were at least seven thousand people in Samaria who did not worship false gods. However, as part of the disobedient nation, they also suffered the consequences of the sins of the majority. They too had to watch their land dry up and their animals die. That’s often the way sin works. Until Christ comes again, those who are righteous may not escape the impact of the sin of which they are innocent.
Elijah disappeared after he announced the drought, withdrawing to allow the effects of the Lord’s judgment to become fully apparent. The people found out what misery it was to live without God; they had a little taste of hell.
Yet this was not a final judgment for them. Elijah had said, “There will be no more rain except at my word,” implying that such a word would eventually come. So then, each day that went by was a learning aid to help the people realize how important God was and how powerless were the false prophets and false gods in the face of such a catastrophe. This drought was an opportunity and incentive for Israel, and for Israel’s King Ahab, to repent and return to the Lord.
September 10
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Patient Waiting and Prayer
1 Kings 17:2–6
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that
it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain.
James 5:17 (ESV)
In the midst of this time of judgment, the Lord took care of Elijah. He provided food and water for his servant in this time of scarcity. We do not know exactly where the brook Cherith was, or how the birds fed Elijah, or where they found the food, or even if Elijah had scruples about receiving nourishment from birds that God had labeled unclean. All we know is that the Lord took care of him.
The point of this story is not that true believers will never go hungry or thirsty. There were other believers in Israel who suffered along with the unfaithful. Yet, it is true that the grace the Lord showed to Elijah is a sample of the grace that he shows to his covenant people throughout history—his church of all ages. As the Lord kept Elijah alive, he was keeping his word alive, and with it, the hope of a future when things would be different.
Elijah was surely aware that he was being preserved because there was still more for him to do. However, it seems that he was in the dark about what that was. He didn’t know how long the drought would last, nor how long it would be before the Lord sent him to Ahab again. As he had followed God’s orders in his speaking, so also he would have to wait and trust without knowing just how or when God might use him next.
As a faithful prophet, however, Elijah also took what initiative he could; he prayed. It’s the same initiative that Scripture repeatedly impresses as necessity upon all God’s people, no matter how limited our other courses of action. Prayer is sometimes the only action we can take, as it likely appeared to be to Elijah during this time of waiting. So we may be sure that Elijah kept praying that Ahab and Israel might learn their lesson from God.
September 11
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Grace Outside of Israel
1 Kings 17:7–16
Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of
Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also…through faith.
Romans 3:29-30 (ESV)
Zarephath was in Queen Jezebel’s homeland of Sidon. The religion of this place was the very reason that Israel was in trouble now, for with his marriage to Jezebel, Ahab had contaminated the covenant community with false religion. But now, God unexpectedly imported true religion into Sidon. This would be a twofold lesson:
· Israel should not take God’s grace for granted.
· God had a bigger prize than Israel in mind. This foreign woman was to help restore God’s own people and also to help make God’s power known to a people who were not his own.
The widow’s hospitality to Elijah was no small matter; she was in desperate circumstances. All that she owned had been used up. She and her son had only one meal left, and yet Elijah required even that of her. For that matter, the demand that God, through Elijah, made on this widow was not really different from the demand that God makes on everyone he calls into relationship with himself. God always asks for everything. He demands complete faith, complete trust. At the same time, his demands are always accompanied by his assurance of sufficient grace.
Neither the widow nor Israel could participate in the life God offered or in the covenant blessings without putting their faith and their lives on the line. And that’s just what the widow did; she believed that the word of God was worth more than food. Her belief was confirmed by the miracle of God’s provision.
Israel had forgotten that connection between worshiping God and eating well. If you put the Lord first, he will take care of the food. But if you put food before the Lord, as disobedient Israel had done by worshiping fertility gods, that is your ruin.
September 12
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Brought to Complete Trust
1 Kings 17:17–24
Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.
Revelation 15:4 (ESV)
God miraculously provided for Elijah and his hosts. However, it was a big challenge to their trust when the widow’s son became ill and died. Neither one of the survivors doubted that the Lord’s hand was in it. They knew that it was God who had taken the boy away in death. But they didn’t understand it and cried out, “Why Lord! Why are you doing this?” The widow knew that she was a sinner; that’s clear from her question to Elijah. But she still felt deceived by the Lord and his prophet. What had been the use of that unending supply of food if her son was now dead of something else? More than that, what was left to cling to if the Lord had turned against her? She had lost her son, the joy of her life.
Elijah was confused and anguished as well. He was sure, however, that the kingdom of the Lord would somehow be advanced through the boy’s death. In that assurance Elijah went to work. He struggled in prayer for a miracle in which death would be reversed. Elijah was concerned not merely for the widow, but for the truth, power, and glory of God to be revealed.
The Lord heard Elijah’s prayer and brought the boy back to life. This no doubt confirmed Elijah’s faith, but the widow’s increase in faith was even more spectacular. Her declaration of complete trust in God and his prophet was a sign that she had come to true faith. Her declaration would also be a witness to Israel from one who’d been outside of God’s covenant of grace, but now had benefited from God’s grace. Israel would see again that in the face of privation and death, everyone is powerless, everyone except the true Lord of heaven and earth. He is the only one through whom life can be sustained and restored.
September 13
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Elijah Reappears in Israel
1 Kings 18:1–19
When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will
answer them; I the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
Isaiah 41:17 (ESV)
Although Obadiah probably was not very vocal about his faith, he was one of the truly devout and God-fearing people remaining in Israel. One time he risked his life to save the lives of a hundred of the Lord’s prophets. So he was probably pleased to see Elijah back in Israel. Even so, Obadiah was hesitant to arrange a meeting with Ahab; he was not sure that the Lord would not take Elijah away again, leaving Obadiah to suffer the consequences of Ahab’s disappointment.
Ahab had been desperate to find Elijah in the hope that the accursed drought might be lifted. Still, when they met, he called Elijah a “troubler of Israel.” This indicates that he was still only grudgingly ready to admit that the fertility of the land and the prosperity of Israel would not return except by the Lord’s command. What Ahab says sounds very much like what schoolchildren sometimes say of a teacher who reacts to their misbehavior with appropriate measures: “My teacher got me into trouble.” At a later time, Ahab calls Elijah his enemy. That’s someone who gets you in trouble once too often.
It galled Ahab that Elijah responded by saying that Ahab was the one who had troubled Israel by abandoning the Lord’s commands. However, as much as Ahab found Elijah to be a pain in his royal neck, it was the prophet who had announced the devastating drought and whose consent was needed for the rain to return. So Ahab knew he had no choice but to obey Elijah’s order to assemble representatives from all of Israel together with the prophets of the Canaanite gods on Mount Carmel. There, as Ahab would find out, the Lord would correct Ahab’s false leadership of Israel in a very public way.
September 14
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Elijah’s Discomfiting Question for Israel
1 Kings 18:20–21
O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?
Psalm 4:2 (ESV)
The question that Elijah asked the assembled multitude was one that reminded the Israelites of the covenant that God had made with their nation. The people of Ahab’s day may not have known their history very well, but they knew of the pledge of exclusive loyalty to the Lord that their ancestors had made. They also knew about the curses that would come to the disobedient—specifically the curse of Deuteronomy 28:23—“The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron.”
That’s just what had happened in the drought; the fertility of the soil and the livestock that Israel had counted on Baal and Asherah to provide had dried up along with the rain. So far, however, the people had not rejected those Canaanite gods. So Elijah’s question about how long the people would waver between allegiance to the Lord and Baal was very appropriate.
The people did not answer. Some were no doubt fuming with anger, some were probably resentful at being forced to account for their behavior, and some were likely feeling guilty because of Elijah’s question. Perhaps some of those gathered on Carmel did not even know what the right answer was; their faith was weak after so much neglect and false worship.
Psalm 135 testifies to the unspeaking mouths, unseeing eyes, unhearing ears, and lack of breath of the silver and gold idols of the nations. Verse 18 of that chapter further claims, “Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” That’s just what had happened: Israel had become dumb, blind, deaf, and dead, like its idols. The power of the Lord would have to be displayed before the people could discern the truth and give an obedient response.
September 15
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The Contest Begins
1 Kings 18:22–29
They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in
carved idols, who say to metal images, “You are our gods.”
Isaiah 42:17 (ESV)
The prophets of the Canaanite gods had the first chance to win the contest proposed by Elijah. Some probably believed they had a chance of success—not the con artists who just told people what they wanted to hear but—those who seriously believed they could harness occult powers. These prophets hoped and tried to believe that their gods would respond. Indeed, if it were possible anywhere, it should have been on Mount Carmel where the power of Baal to nurture life was supposed to be the strongest.
But Baal’s prophets took nothing for granted. They never tried harder than they did that day. They did everything they knew to do: frantic, mindless dancing, cutting themselves, loud and urgent chants and spells, some of which may have been drug-induced. But it wasn’t enough; there was no response from Baal.
As I read this story, I think about all the things that modern people do to make God do what they want him to do, or otherwise try to control their destiny. Too many act as though salvation or utopia can be achieved by human effort and technique.
If it could, those hard-working prophets would likely have succeeded. But human effort can never manufacture something from nothing. Watching them, Elijah began to laugh. God also mocks such pretended wisdom; it would be the supreme joke if it weren’t so tragic.
Wherever such godless ideas still appear as wisdom, the end of the day has not yet come. But it did come for those false prophets. By evening, their bodies caked with blood, they were exhausted, miserable, and silent, with no sign of success. Their foolishness was exposed. It can be no other way with those who will not bow to the Lord.
September 16
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Elijah’s Turn in the Contest
1 Kings 18:30–37
Are there any…false gods of the nations that can bring rain?
Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he O Lord our God?
We set our hope on you, for you do all these things.
Jeremiah 14:22 (ESV)
Elijah began by repairing the altar of the Lord, which, in its present state of disrepair, was a silent testimony to the present distance between Israel and the Lord. The twelve stones Elijah used pointed to the importance of the unified worship still demanded of Israel. This altar was the foundation upon which true sacrifice could be offered.
When the altar had been repaired, Elijah prepared the sacrifice. There was no great difference between what he did and what Baal’s prophets had done. But with the water that he poured over the altar, Elijah ensured that the impact of the coming proof would be as great as possible.
Even so, the water poured over the altar was not the fundamental difference between the two sides. That difference was in the results to come, which followed from the respective gods to whom the sacrifices were made and prayers were offered. Elijah, confident that he was following the will of the one and only God of the universe, prayed for the Lord to demonstrate his authority over the nothing idol gods. The Lord responded with an answer that left no doubt about who was the true God. Elijah’s prayer was effective because only Elijah’s God was real.
Since Elijah’s time, Christ Jesus has become the ultimate sacrifice for sin and the only path to the Holy God. There is no way to catch God’s ear or to enjoy his mercy as long as his approved sin-bearer is neglected or rejected. However, when Christ is at the center of our lives and worship we, like Elijah, may be sure that God will reveal himself in power and mercy to answer our hopes and prayers.
September 17
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Israel’s Response to Revealed Truth
1 Kings 18:39–40
With the heart one believes and is justified,
and with the mouth confesses and is saved.
Romans 10:10 (ESV)
The fire that God sent in response to Elijah’s prayer was meant to remind the people of God’s previous revelations to their nation and to recall them to whole-hearted service. If the Lord’s voice had thundered from heaven, things could not have been clearer.
The response of the people was similar to that of their ancestors when the tent of meeting was dedicated at Mount Sinai. At that time, “Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown” (Lev. 9:24). Here too, the people knew they were in the presence of Almighty God and they fell flat on their faces before him. Their faith returned with strength and they cried out, “The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!”
Not everyone came to faith by God’s revelation. The crowd of false prophets and priests who had vainly cried out to their gods for hours did not repent. Therefore, what repentant Israel experienced that day as a miracle of Almighty God, the unrepentant prophets of false gods experienced as the beginning of God’s judgment. The now-faithful people seized the idol prophets and put them to death. It was the only possible end for those who persisted in defying the Lord God.
Their sad end is a sign for all people that there is no grace and no salvation without judgment, and no love without justice. As Elijah was God’s agent in rescuing God’s people from disaster, so he was God’s agent in dispatching the enemies of God. It’s the same thing that will happen eventually to all who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of their lives; those who will not repent will be caught in God’s awful judgment.
September 18
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The Blessings Return
1 Kings 18:41–46
If you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God...
[he] will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the
rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands.
Deuteronomy 28:1, 12 (ESV)
With divine help the people finally sorted out who the real God was and how awful had been their rebellion against him. With repentance and confession, the way was open for a restoration of the covenant with all its blessings. The blessed rain could now return, both the physical rain and the rain of spiritual blessings.
However, as Elijah knew, the blessings would not come without prayer. At first, his servant saw no results from Elijah’s prayers. Nor did he see any results the second time Elijah sent him to look, nor the third, fourth, fifth, or sixth times. Only after the servant’s seventh trip from the place where Elijah was praying to where the servant could look out over the distant western horizon did he see a little cloud rising from the sea. He reported it to Elijah, who knew that it was the sign of the imminent return of God’s covenant blessings. It wouldn’t be long now before Ahab and his people would enjoy the favor of God.
Elijah told Ahab to get going before the rain stopped him. By the power of the Lord whom he represented, Elijah ran ahead of the king. Ahab had gone up the mountain following hundreds of false prophets, only to have his misguided plans fail. Now he was on his way back down, but this time following Elijah, the true prophet of the Lord. Hopefully Ahab had learned that he could continue as king only by truly following the Lord.
What was true for Ahab and Israel is still no less true today. Real and continuing life is possible only when you follow the Lord; every other path is destined for failure. God will always win over those who oppose him and sooner or later vindicate those who put their trust in him.
September 19
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Elijah’s Model Prayer—Part 1
1 Kings 18:36, 38
Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted
among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
Psalm 46:10 (ESV)
Elijah’s prayers were obviously effective and well-suited to the challenges of his day. What may not be quite as clear is how well they serve as a model for us to follow. I’m confident that whether or not we see equally spectacular results, we cannot go wrong praying as Elijah prayed.
The first thing Elijah asked for was that the Lord God would make himself known as the one true God: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel.”
Elijah wasn’t asking the Lord to do something new and different here, for God had a history of revealing himself as the true God and worthy of all praise, adoration, and obedience. So really what Elijah was asking was that God would do it again. The people had forgotten; they no longer believed. So Elijah wanted the Lord to show himself again to be God and to make what he had done in the past relevant and immediate to his people of that day. Elijah asked that God would light the fire, not for Elijah’s sake but for God’s sake, so that the people would get beyond a merely formal understanding of God and get to know him as their Lord.
What an excellent prayer for us today—that the church and the world both will know that the Lord God is the true God. The continuing existence of God’s people today is dependent upon the knowledge of God, upon God making himself real and known. God wants to do that, so we can pray that prayer with confidence, sure that God will confirm himself to his people as their sovereign creator and redeemer, and that he will also help the unbelieving world know this truth.
September 20
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Elijah’s Model Prayer—Part 2
1 Kings 18:36, 38
The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know I shall
not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near.
Isaiah 50:7–8 (ESV)
The second part of Elijah’s prayer followed from the first: “[And] let it be known…that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.” God had called Elijah to be his servant and to speak for him. So Elijah was quite properly praying for God to validate him: Lord, prove that I’m not just making all this up out of my own head, but that I’ve been acting at your direction. I’m just speaking your Word. I don’t have in myself the power to bring your promises to fulfillment; you have to do that. Validate that the word I speak is your word.
Elijah’s prayer for God to validate him was not a self-seeking or proud prayer. He could have become proud when Ahab credited him with bringing the country to a standstill in the drought. But he didn’t; he had only God’s glory in mind. He knew how unimportant he was, but also how important his work was—his work to reveal the glory and promote the honor of God. Only as a servant on a mission did Elijah demand the people’s attention; he wanted everyone to recognize they were all called to be the servants of the Most High God.
We can and must also pray for the Lord to support and defend his true church as servant and agent of his saving work. We can pray boldly and confidently for this because God tells us that this is his desire. God lifts up his church not so it will get the glory, but so the attention of the world will be focused more and more on Christ. What is to be glorified is not the persons of the church, but the work and the service of the church, which is for Christ’s sake. May the world come to realize, in its encounters with God’s people, that they are dealing with God himself.
September 21
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Elijah’s Model Prayer—Part 3
1 Kings 18:37–39
[John the Baptist] will go before [the Messiah] in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.
Luke 1:17 (ESV)
The third part of Elijah’s prayer was for a proper response—for the people to recognize God and confess him. “Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
Elijah knew that every revelation of God—whether of mercy or of power—demands an answer from the people who witness it. He also knew that people would not necessarily be changed by such a revelation. That is, not all hard-hearted people who see God’s miracles become believers. For example, Pharaoh’s heart had not become soft when he had seen the Lord’s power in Egypt. Nor did the prophets of Baal get soft hearts when they saw fire from the Lord. It’s not enough for people merely to recognize the might and power of God; they must also accept his rule with a willing and believing heart.
The long drought had made the people sad, to be sure, but it had not made them recognize that the Lord was God and return to him. At this point, they were still faithless. So along with the outward and visible revelation of God in fire, Elijah prayed for an inward revelation, a change of heart, demonstrated by repentance and conversion.
This prayer was magnificently answered in all respects. God did just what Elijah asked. He revealed himself as Lord, he proved that Elijah was a faithful prophet, and he brought the people to repentance and devotion. We must likewise pray that people today not only recognize God’s power, but that they also respond to his call to put away their idols and come over to his side.
September 22
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Elijah’s Model Prayer—Part 4
1 Kings 18:41–45
I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the
dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit upon your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
Isaiah 44:3 (ESV)
God’s answer to the first parts of Elijah’s prayer testified to the power and grace of God. Yet, a most important thing was still lacking. So, after his prayers for God’s glory, his own vindication, and the people’s response had been answered, “Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.” He was ready to ask now for the return of the covenant blessings and specifically the blessing of rain.
Elijah prayed seven times, the number seven symbolizing the fullness of the rich communion possible between the Lord and his people. But that repeated prayer also shows Elijah’s persistence in prayer. It is possible, after all, to miss out on God’s blessings by giving up too easily.
God’s answer began in the form of a little cloud that grew and finally brought an end to the drought. Neither the fire nor the rain came automatically, but only after prolonged prayer. Elijah prayed so intensely that a watcher might have thought that the blessing was entirely dependent on his prayer. In a way it was; it was what God expected and desired from his servant partner—Elijah raising the needs of the people to their sovereign Lord, just as Christ would later do and teach his followers to do.
I wonder how often our prayers are like Elijah’s. We are invited to approach God with pitiful cries for help, painful prayers of repentance, and joyful prayers of thanksgiving and praise. But, also, as partner-servants of Almighty God, we need to pray the bold, working prayers of Elijah. The more we get to know the Scripture in which God reveals so much of his plans, goals, and promises, the more we can pray like this.
September 23
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Why Elijah’s Prayers Worked
1 Kings 18:25–46
Pray then like this: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Matthew 6:9–10 (ESV)
Before leaving this story, I want to emphasize the main factors that ensured the success of Elijah’s prayers. On the surface the prayers of the idol prophets had much in common with Elijah’s prayers. They were offered to someone unseen, they asked for similar things, and they were energetic. Elijah’s prayer does seem to have been offered with more confidence. And yet, it was not his confidence that made the prayer work; it was God. Prayer only works for the ones whose God is real. That was the first factor in Elijah’s success.
A second factor of equal importance was that Elijah prayed according to God’s directions. He knew in advance that God wanted the very things for which Elijah prayed.
· God wants it known that only he is God.
· God promises to validate those who do his bidding.
· God repeatedly makes clear the results he intends from the revelation of his power.
· God’s blessings are meant for those who are in a proper relationship with him.
It’s no wonder Elijah’s prayers worked. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that they were unnecessary because they just summarized what Elijah already knew God wanted to do. Elijah understood that the prayers of believers are part of the process by which God advances his kingdom and fulfills his promises.
May our prayers be as urgent, knowledgeable, to the point, confident, and persevering for our world. As God’s partner-servants, let’s keep praying, “Reveal yourself, vindicate your servants, bring people to repentance, and send the blessings that you promised. Do it for your glory Lord, over and over again.”
Last modified: Thursday, August 9, 2018, 3:10 PM