Elijah’s Letdown

Synopsis     1Kings 18:41-19:4     6/12/2019 

After Elijah had demonstrated God’s power by vanquishing the priests of Baal, he spoke to King Ahab. He told Ahab to get something to eat. And he also mentioned that it was about to rain – even though there had been no rain for three years. 

Then Elijah went on top of the mountain. And he prayed intensely until rain clouds began to form. Once they had formed, he warned Ahab of the coming deluge. Ahab departed for Jezreel on his chariot. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Elijah. And so, he ran under the influence of God’s spirit and somehow arrived in Jezreel before Ahab.

Later, Ahab reported to his wife, Queen Jezebel, all that Elijah had done in killing the prophets of the false god. Jezebel became incensed. And so, she sent a messenger to Elijah informing him that she intended to have him killed the next day. 

So, Elijah fled to the tribal lands of Judah. There, he went alone into the wilderness and sat underneath a solitary broom tree.  

Elijah’s Letdown 

Elijah vanquished four-hundred fifty prophets of Baal. After that, he prayed for rain. And God brought the rain that broke the three-year drought. Faith like a mustard seed. Success on top of success on top of success.

And then Queen Jezebel sent a messenger with a threat to kill Elijah. He was so affected that he took flight. As a result, he hid himself in the tribal lands of Judah – where he could expect to be relatively safe. And then he went into the wilderness and sat under a broom tree. There, feeling dejected, he prayed for death. 

He hit the letdown. 

Beware the Letdown 

The Way of Givenness is all about finding flow in the Christian walk. When we walk in this flow, it’s usually a wonderful experience. Sometimes people even describe it as a “mountain top” experience. In those moments, God’s hand is everywhere obvious. And His love is indisputable. Everything just seems to work with an easy confidence.

But then something happens. Instead of moving with flow, I return to the staccato haltering of uncertainty on top of uncertainty followed occasionally by a strangely hopeful overconfidence.

And so, before I know it, I’ve taken charge. And suddenly the flow is gone. It no longer seems real.

In fact, it doesn’t just seem not real, but the whole experience takes on a surreality. And in that moment, I doubt that I ever really had the experience at all. It’s the total loss of all consolation.

This is a debilitating and dangerous moment. It’s a lapse that almost always follows the most amazing experiences of God.  

So prepare yourself. This Way is a walk of faith. And faith is perfected through suffering.

“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered;” Heb 5:8 

Elijah’s Faith

Synopsis     1Kings 18:31-40     6/11/2019 

Elijah was ministering at Mount Carmel. Up on the mountain there was a competition to see whether the true God of Israel, or the false god Baal, would consume a sacrificial offering with fire. 

At the very top of the mountain, an assembly had formed at Eijah’s command. A large gathering of the people of Israel had come to watch. So, the four hundred-fifty priests of Baal attempted to induce Baal to accept the sacrificial offering. They prayed all morning and all afternoon. But they failed. Nothing happened.

So, at the time of the daily sacrifice, Elijah prepared a separate altar. This alter was symbolically made of twelve stones, representing the unity of the twelve tribes of Israel. And there, he arranged wood and the sacrifice. And then, he doused the sacrifice and the wood in water. And then he doused it two more times. 

After this he prayed to the Lord. And God brought fire from the sky which consumed the sacrifice in the presence of the assembly. At that moment, the people bowed down before the Lord. And they declared the Lord to be the one true God. After this, Elijah led the people to seize and execute the priests of the false-god Baal.

Elijah’s Faith 

Elijah had a clear sense of what God wanted. And so, he was bold.  

My Faith 

Listening to God is the ground of God’s next miracle.  

He said to them, “Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matt 17:20 

Elijah and Baal

Synopsis     1Kings 18:22-30     6/10/2019 

Elijah was a prophet of God. He lived in the northern kingdom during the reign of the evil king, Ahab. And he had set a meeting with King Ahab and a large contingent of priest who worshipped a false God named Baal. They were to meet on Mount Carmel. 

Three years before, Elijah had prophesied Israel would experience a drought. According to this prophecy, the drought would not end until he prayed for its end. And the drought had been severe. So, severe, in fact, that Ahab’s kingdom experienced a great famine.  

Elijah intended the meeting to be a showdown. Much as Joshua had down centuries before, he wanted to force the people to make a decision. He challenged them to choose either Baal or God. But, not both.  

With this, a competition began. The people gave the priests of Baal a bull to sacrifice. And they also gave Elijah a bull. So, they took turns preparing the sacrifices on each respective altar. But neither Elijah nor the priests of Baal were to light the sacrificial fire. God would light the fire. And so, either Baal or God would consume the sacrifice by fire. Which sacrifice indicated who was actually God. 

The priests of Baal went first. They were, of course, unsuccessful. And Elijah seemed to take a certain satisfaction in mocking the hapless priests in their futile effort.  

Elijah and Baal 

Elijah knew that any synthetic community would always struggle with the idea of an absolute God. The God of all creation is, after all, God. His existence is not dependent on a community of people who believe in Him.  

But in a synthetic community, the members of the community decide the nature of the community. And so, if a synthetic community is going to have a god, it’s most likely going to be a god that everyone in the community agrees upon. And, that’s pretty much the definition of a false god. 

Communities and Their False Gods 

Many centuries later, the prophet Isaiah recognized this same idea. He realized that false gods are a nonsensical farce used to encourage people to get along. In fact, at one point he exclaimed in wonder how men could make a “god” out of a piece of wood. “One end of a piece of wood”, he exclaimed, “men use to light a fire. The other end they fashion into a figurine and then bow down to it.”

It is a farce. Its purpose is to manipulate people into compliant behavior. 

Naturally, the farce shows up most in the morals of a culture. God is good and right and true and beautiful. But a false god is none of these things. Yet the purpose of a false god is to establish standards within a synthetic community that mimic the virtues of God. 

Curiously, there was a time in my life when I couldn’t see this. I denied the one true God. Yet, even then I continued to believe in goodness, and rightness, and truth and beauty. But one of the frustrating things about living in a social contract is that few people really agree on what all these things might mean.  

And so, moral standards in synthetic communities are rarely more than expressions of personal preference – which is a very different thing than an absolute standard.  And this is an insight into a deeply conflicted world that desperately seeks answers. 

The rest of it he makes into a god, an image to worship and adore. He prays to it and says, “Help me! You are my god!” They do not know, do not understand; their eyes are too clouded to see, their minds, to perceive.” Isaiah 44:17-18 

Obadiah’s Excuse

Synopsis     1Kings 18:12-21     6/7/2019 

Obadiah defended himself to Elijah. He didn’t want to be the messenger between Elijah and King Ahab. He was afraid that if things didn’t go well with Elijah, that Ahab would blame him. 

In the process, Obadiah defended his faithfulness. And he mentioned how Queen Jezebel had persecuted and murdered the prophets of God. In this context, he explained how he alone had hid one-hundred prophets to protect them from the persecutions. 

Elijah ignored Obadiah’s protests. And, he gave him a message to convey to King Ahab. The message was an instruction to meet him on Mount Carmel. In addition, he asked Ahab to assemble all the people of Israel and a large number of priests of both Baal and Asherah.

On the mountain, Elijah challenged the people. Specifically, he asked them to choose between serving the God of Israel or Baal.  Elijah had set up a showdown to demonstrate God’s power and legitimacy once and for all times.  

Obadiah’s Excuse 

As written, it’s almost comical the way that Obadiah attempted to evade Elijah. He had all these excuses justifying why he was not the right guy to give the message to King Ahab.  

And they weren’t small reasons. He was afraid for his life. In those days, true believers were persecuted just for their beliefs. Not to mention the fact that he had already risked his life saving other prophets. He was vulnerable. So, he felt entirely justified in refusing Elijah’s request.

But Elijah wasn’t having it. In kind, he refused to accept Obadiah’s excuses. As a result, he didn’t debate. And, he didn’t attempt to persuade. He simply restated his message. And for his part, Obadiah did what was required of him.

My Excuses 

I think that I try to do God’s will. But the truth is, most of the time I feel like I’ve failed. I fail God with my sins. And I’ve failed to provide the life that I imagined for my family. And, I fail to be there as a parent – I fail to know what to do or say when my children are struggling. 

But perhaps more specifically, I’m often tempted to believe that I simply don’t have anything to offer. I am, after all – only a vapor in the wind. Failed and unrighteous – what use could I be to the God of all creation? 

And then it comes. A request. Someone has asked me to do some small thing. And a still small voice inside my head lets me know there isn’t going to be any evading. I protest. I know I’m not the best person to do this work. But it’s no use. Jesus is polite. And He forgives my sins. But He never accepts my excuses.

But he answered him, “Please, my Lord, how can I save Israel? My family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the most insignificant in my father’s house.” The LORD said to him: I will be with you, and you will cut down Midian to the last man.” Judges 6:16-17 

Obadiah Served Ahab

Synopsis     1Kings 18:1-11     6/4/2019 

Obadiah was a faithful man of God who lived in Israel.  And, he served King Ahab as his estate manager.  

Because of the drought, Ahab’s personal estate was in danger. So, he sent Obadiah out to look for water in order to save their livestock.  

Meanwhile, God spoke to Elijah the prophet. After hiding from King Ahab for the three years of the famine, God told him to visit him. So, Elijah returned to Israel. As he journeyed, he encountered Obadiah. And he told Obadiah to convey a message to Ahab. Elijah wanted to meet with the king.

But Obadiah was fearful. Ahab had been looking for Elijah for years without success. He was afraid that if something went wrong with the meeting that he would be blamed. So, he did not want to serve as Elijah’s intermediary or messenger. 

Obadiah Served Ahab 

Obadiah was a faithful man. In other words, he followed the God of Israel and rejected the worship of Ahab’s false god. 

Yet, Obadiah worked for Ahab. In fact, he ran the king’s personal estate. So, in effect, this made him the chief employee of the most evil king in all of Israel’s history.

Choosing Who To Serve

The modern temptation is to think, “I could never have served the most evil person in all the world.” And personally, I might even wonder at how any faithful man could willingly choose to serve a person who had committed so many evil acts. What’s more, I may even find myself wondering: How faithful could Obadiah have really been? 

Of course, this is the modern tendency of the Synthetic Community. We point fingers and call for boycotts. We collectivize the righteous and do our best to reject and isolate the evil-doers.

But, there are two intrinsic problems with the modern, synthetic approach. First, when I focus my attention on someone else’s moral failure for the purpose of isolating them, I am condemning them. The unvarying result of this kind of condemnation is a fracture in community. 

The second intrinsic problem is that we live in a culture where most people do not even agree on the difference between good and evil. And, on top of this, I have my own moral failures.  And typically I don’t want other people to condemn me for them.

We all do evil things.  

So, what – does the Authentic Community weakly accept evil?

No, Christian. The call is to love. And this is a personal call. In other words, it is to me. I am called to do all things as unto the Lord. 

And this means that my mandate is to simply meet the people I meet in the moment I meet them, and love them there.

“Whatever you do, do from the heart, as for the Lord and not for others, knowing that you will receive from the Lord the due payment of the inheritance; be slaves of the Lord Christ.” Col 3:23 

The Widow Encounters God

Synopsis     1Kings 17:15-24     6/3/2019 

Elijah and the Sidonian widow survived the famine together. And neither her flour jar or her oil jar went empty.  

But then, after she had served Elijah for a long time, her son became ill and died. She told Elijah what had happened. And so, Elijah took the boy’s lifeless body and prayed. Specifically, he prayed for the child’s life-breath to return. After this, the boy began to breathe again. And then, Elijah returned the boy to his mother.

In the end, she exulted in her son’s salvation. But more remarkably, she acknowledged that God had saved him through the prayers of Elijah. 

Elijah’s Widow Encountered God 

For the widow, everything was different since the time Elijah had arrived. She ate bread every day in the midst of a famine. And she knew that this was a miracle.  

But when she brought her dead child’s body to Elijah, she lamented. And she even rebuked Elijah for somehow sharing in responsibility for his death. Still, Elijah took no offense. 

Instead, he prayed fervently for the child. And God healed the boy.  

It was only then that the widow exalted and said, “Now indeed I know that you are a man of God…” She recognized that people were dying all around her because of the famine. And yet, her child was spared specifically because of the prayers of the prophet.  

And this brought her to a new level of awareness. It permanently altered her worldview. After this, she would never interpret the circumstances of her life in the same way.

Encountering God Changes Everything 

Sometimes I feel like the Sidonian widow. Everything I have, I receive from God on a daily basis. I know God as my provider.  

But when God does something still more extraordinary, it naturally takes me deeper in my relationship with Him. Like her, I am inclined to say, “Now I really know you”. And like Jesus said, “Believe the works…” In other words, He seems to be saying, “Believe in the actual experiences you have with Me.” 

However, this doesn’t mean I have to wait for some over-the-top miraculous sign before I experience God more deeply. My ever-deepening experience of God might be as simple, and as available, as spending twenty minutes each morning listening to His voice.  

If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize [and understand] that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” John 10:37 

Elijah: A Woman’s Dilemma

Synopsis     1Kings 17:2-14     5/29/2019 

The prophet Elijah emerged on the scene. He was a true prophet of the God of Israel. And he had prophesied against the evil king, Ahab. Specifically, he told King Ahab that God was withholding both dew and rain because of his evil. 

After delivering this message, God told Elijah to hide himself in a distant ravine as the region experienced a great famine. So, Elijah went the Wadi Cherith, just as God had instructed. While he hid there, he drank from the wadi. And ravens delivered food for him to eat every day, in both the morning and in the evening. 

After this, God directed Elijah to go to Sidon – Jezebel’s hometown. Once there, he found a widow who was destitute. Elijah met her at the water well outside the city. In accordance with God’s instructions, he asked the widow for food. But she let him know that she had only enough flour and oil for a single last meal for herself and her son.

Elijah assured the widow that neither she nor her son would starve to death if she shared her food with him. 

The Widow’s Dilemma 

It’s interesting. The widow wasn’t seeking an opportunity to demonstrate faith. She was hopeless and despondent. She had no money. And famine ravaged the entire region.  

There was no way of escape. There was nothing she could do. And so, she had resigned herself to her own imminent death. 

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a prophet showed up. Of course, he wanted food. And, of course, he’s wasn’t offering to pay. Instead, he simply promised that God would take care of her if she was generous with him.

She and her son were going to die. So, on the one hand, what did she have to lose by giving the food to the prophet? 

But, on the other hand, it’s counterintuitive for any human being caught in a famine to give up a final meal. We all naturally cling to life. She was in a dilemma. 

She could eat a final meal with her son and then simply wait to die. Or, she could give her final meal to an unknown man who claimed to be a prophet with the promise of life and survival. She had no way of knowing whether he was really a prophet. She had no way of knowing whether or not he was just another man trying to save himself at her expense. 

For whatever reason, she chose to believe Elijah. She made him a cake of bread. And she lived. 

My Dilemma 

There’s a modern expression concerning business startup: If you want to be successful in business, then work in the same way as a man whose hair is on fire works to put it out.  

What’s my dilemma? 

Believe Jesus. Or, don’t believe Jesus.  Live or die. Succeed or fail.

How desperate do I need be to believe enough to abandon everything? 

“And he said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land.” Luke 4:25-26 

Ahab’s Rejection

Synopsis     1Kings 16:26-7:1     5/28/2019 

Omri became king after thwarting the conspiracy of King Zimri. His reign was marked by the same form of idol worship first instituted by Jeroboam. And this displeased God. 

Omri reigned for twelve years. Initially he reigned from Tirzah. But in the middle of his reign he purchased a mountain which he named Samaria. It was on this mountain that he built the new city of Samaria. Omri reigned from Samaria for six years before he died. 

After Omri’s death, his son Ahab became king. And he reigned for twenty-two years.  

Ahab had no regard for the God of Israel. For, he married a woman named Jezebel. And, she was the daughter of the king of Sidon. She worshipped the false-god Baal. And so, Ahab also took up the worship of Baal. What’s more, he encouraged the worship of Baal throughout the kingdom of Israel.  

Because of his outright betrayal of the God of Israel, Ahab was considered the most corrupt of all the kings of Israel. 

The Challenge Ahab’s Rejection 

Ahab knew God. At least, he knew about God. He knew his lineage. And he understood the basic precepts of the Law of Moses. He was a child of Abraham. And he was a part of the heritage of Israel. 

And yet, he rejected all of this. Instead, he chose to follow his wife in the worship and service of a false-god.  

If I Reject Jesus

Of course, worshipping and serving any false idea, belief, value or god – is always a bad thing.  

But knowing and overtly rejecting God in favor of some false thing is extra bad. And what makes it so bad isn’t just the sinfulness of my infidelity. The greater challenge for me once I’ve known the one, true God and then rejected Him, is the hardness that comes to my heart.   

It makes me hard hearted when I reject God. In embracing what’s false in order to please other people, I commit myself to rationally defending the untruth. As such, I will argue against any and every true precept in the most militant and forceful way rather than allowing the untruth I’ve embraced to become exposed for the nonsense it truly is. 

But eventually the truth will prevail – every falsehood will be exposed. And when it does, then I, the one who has embraced the lie, have no where left to go. And in that moment, if even a hint of pride remains within me, I’ll prefer death over admitting the truth. 

This is the way of Judas. It’s the way of Ahab. It’s a trap. 

So, cling to Jesus and trust in the sufficiency of His righteousness alone.  

“For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment handed down to them.” 2Peter 2:21 

Zimri Violence to Violence

Zimri’s Thirst for Power

Synopsis     1Kings 16:5-14     5/23/2019 

King Baasha ruled the Israelite tribes in the north for twenty-four years. And then, he died. After his death, he was succeeded by his son Elah. 

King Elah ruled for two years. Among his staff, he had a military commander named Zimri. And Zimri held a critical position. In fact, he commanded half of Elah’s chariots. 

Zimri secretly plotted against Elah. So, one day when he found Elah drunk, he killed him. Not only did he kill his king, but he also killed all of the king’s family and even his friends.

Tragically, Zimri’s violent destruction of Baasha’s family fulfilled the prophecy of Jehu the prophet.

Zimri’s Thirst for Power 

The desire to have unnatural power over other human beings is infantile. 

Zimri sought power. And, once he had the extraordinary power of kingship, he wanted to make sure that no one could ever take away. And so, he killed an entire family of people simply because one of them might have a competing claim for the throne. 

Thirst for Power 

Children grow from total dependency to full maturity over a number of years. And along the path to maturity, there are waypoints that we pass through. As infants, we start with a worldview with the viewpoint of total expectation. We need a world that supplies our needs. It doesn’t matter if we understand the world. And it doesn’t matter if we serve the world. 

The mere fact of surviving infancy is good. But the process leaves us in the position of perpetual expectation. If, as an infant, someone has always served my needs, then my natural expectation is that someone always should serve my needs. 

And so, as I began to form understanding, I learned to do things. I learned to feed myself. And I learned to tie my own shoes.  But, unless it’s worked out of me with deliberate training, I tend to retain the belief that someone else ought to be supplying all my needs.  

And if I believe that someone else ought to be supplying for my needs, then I will feel justified in using my newfound skills to ensure they do. Social norms have a way of bending behavior temporarily. But if a person enters adulthood retaining this belief, the social norms that bend behavior will have less effect.

And it shows up in the attitude of wanting to rule rather than wanting to serve.  

“When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.” 1Cor 13:11