Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun
Come Lord, join us today,
Most all the hard things will come to us in time
For many of us it is always on our minds
Never forgotten
It seems more difficult to remember that
Most all the good things will come as well
Many here already
And we miss them
Take them for granted
Dismiss them.
This morning allow us to give thanks for all the good we have
Today we come as creatures in creation because that is who we are
And you our creator, maker of heaven and earth, and all that means
Thank you Lord for those moments of creaturely comforts of just being alive
Let us hold each one for a moment with reverence and gratitude.
For the warm sun on our faces
The cool breeze on our skin
We thank You
For the clouds and the fog, and the sun that streaks through them and the changing color of the sun in the evening as autumn approaches
We thank you
For the flowers we see, in every color, on our walks, or in our garden, or in a vase at home
We thank You
For the sound of the ocean with waves crashing and spray blowing, or the gentle quiet lapping at the pebbles on a beach, permeated with the smell of salt and sea
We thank you
For the song of birds everywhere, their flitting from place to place, their grace, their freedom
We thank you
For the howling of coyotes, the barking of seals, the cooing of owls and the lowing of cows
We thank you
For our pets who greet us, play with us, tease us, play with us, need us, and love us
We thank you
For our neighbors and their greetings and smiles and good words and unexpected kindness and welcomed affection
We thank you
And for the opportunity to be all that and more to our neighbors and build lasting bonds and grow as people and to journey further
We thank you
For our families and our friends, the strong ones, the ones who are sick and who are suffering, the bright ones, the ones who are making their way barely able to look up, the fortunate, the needy, and the difficult, and the ones filled with joy
We thank you
And for our place with our families and with our friends, every struggle, every laugh, every tear, every long talk, every story told, every confidence given, every smile, every hug, every kiss we thank you
For all of this and more, so much more
We thank you
We thank you
Amen
Morning talk: chuck smith, jr.
Now Naboth the Jezreelite
had a vineyard in Jezreel,
beside the palace of Ahab
king of Samaria 1 Kings 21:1
King Ahab left the battlefield, victorious over the Syrians, but he arrived home moody and sullen. In theory, there’s no reason for kings to be “moody and sullen.” If they are troubled, they have counselors. If they feel sad, they have jesters. If they need comfort, the priest is always on call. Having the luxuries afforded them by wealth and power, one imagines they could avoid ever being moody and sullen.
Ahab may have assumed he did a good thing, releasing the enemy king who had attacked Israel, and sending him back to Syria with a slap on the wrist. But as he was riding through his troops with them congratulating him, there was suddenly that miserable prophet standing in his way, telling him God did not want King Ben-hadad to go free, and Ahab would pay for that wrong he did in releasing him. That spoiled everything.
Soon after this discouraging episode, Ahab took his queen and together they went to their palace in Jezreel for rest and entertainment. One evening, strolling the palace grounds, the king paused at the section of his wall that bordered the property of his closest neighbor. He stood there a good awhile, looking over the vineyard that thrived in the luxuriant field. This had always been the favorite part of his walk. Gradually, a picture formed in his mind, followed by an idea, and then a plan. He had work to do, and that pleased him.
Rising early the next morning, Ahab’s brain was racing through the steps he had to take. In truth, his imagination was already far beyond the first steps–way past the negotiation and purchase stage. He was mentally dividing and redesigning the entire field, and deciding what he would plant in every square foot. The king was walking so fast, his attendants were having difficulty keeping up with him. He knocked, perhaps too loudly, on the door of Naboth his neighbor. The door had barely opened when Ahab asked Naboth’s wife, “Where’s your husband, now?” Controlling the shock she felt seeing the king up close, she managed to say, “Out there–somewhere,” pointing to the vineyard.
Ahab turned and began scanning the vineyard as he was already rushing into it. He finally discovered Naboth, crouching by a vine, pulling at weeds near its roots. “Naboth,” the king startled him. “Naboth, let’s strike a deal. I want your vineyard–after all, it’s right next to my home. I will trade you an even better vineyard for it; or if you prefer, I’ll buy it outright–top dollar. The decision is yours,” Ahab said, and then asked again, “Which do you want, a better vineyard or the money?” He was not really giving Naboth much of a choice.
Naboth had to restrain the anger from seeping into his voice. “God forbid!” he blurted out. “Yehovah will never allow me to give up or sell the inheritance of my fathers.” Ahab took a step back. He was not prepared for this response. In all of his dreaming and planning, the possibility Naboth could refuse him had not entered his mind. And even though Ahab was king, Naboth had the winning hand.
When Israel entered the land of Canaan, a great deal of care was given to locating where each of the twelve tribes would settle. The leaders of each tribe gathered in Shiloh at the entrance of God’s sacred Tent. There, Joshua divined God’s will for the division of the land and assigned each tribe their portion, which they then allowed each clan and family to claim their possession. Hundreds of years had passed from that time to the present, and still the portion of each family, with its defined boundary lines, was considered sacred. Ahab could not argue Naboth’s right to his property.
His spirit crushed, Ahab dragged himself away from the vineyard. Describing what happened next, we can hear the same exact phrase that we heard before, Ahab arrived home moody and sullen.
We could make a long list of pious individuals who believe it’s their job to discover and condemn the sins of everyone in the Bible–and everyone outside the Bible as well. Some of them have interpreted Ahab’s dejection as a moral failure. In their eyes, he was a sissy king who could not handle setbacks, but instantly fell into whiney self-pity in the face of disappointment. His morose feeling was “a lack of faith,” or “the sin of self-love,” or “the misery of the person who turns away from God.”
Perhaps they are right to find fault with Ahab’s grousing every time his path leads straight into a wall. But then again, there have been others who were righteous, yet also became moody and sullen at times.
“How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?” says the poet of Psalm 13.
“How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day? . . .
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death . . . .” (Ps. 13:1-3)
Some of God’s favorites resisted taking on the role he assigned them, or they felt oppressed by his will, or they accepted their task, but later wanted to resign. Others, like Ahab, went around moody and sullen, because they carried a great burden, had grown up in an insane home, or suffered unrelenting persecution.
King Ahab certainly had his faults, and reacting poorly to setbacks may have been one of them, but, even though God was clear regarding Ahab’s actual sins, he said nothing about his pathetic moods.
While Ahab made his way back to the palace, his conversation with Naboth was playing over and over in his head, “Naboth said, ‘I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.’” Once home, he went straight into his room and tossed himself on his bed. When his servants entered and asked what were his wishes, he turned his face away without answering them. He wanted nothing to eat, nothing to drink, nothing to do but lie there and sulk.
Concerned for his unhappiness, Queen Jezebel came to check on him. “Why haven’t you come to dinner? What makes you so miserable you won’t join us?” He looked up at her and told the story of his offer to Naboth, and how it was rejected. However, Ahab edited some of the details. He left out the part where Naboth mentioned the inheritance of his fathers. So it’s possible that Ahab’s version of the story caused Jezebel to assume that Naboth was just being peevish. It’s also possible, that being a foreigner in Israel, she was not aware of the sacredness of maintaining ownership of the land of one’s family.
“Is that all?” she asked, as if it were nothing. “You’re the king of Israel! Now start acting like a king. Get up. Go feast on something. Call for entertainment. I’ll get you Naboth’s vineyard. Cheer up; it is practically yours already.”
Jezebel hurried off to the chamber where the king’s official documents were written and stored. She called for a scribe, and with his help, she forged a legal decree in the name of her husband and then secured it with his personal seal. Jezebel had the document delivered to the leaders of Jezreel; all of them, of course, men who knew Naboth. Here is what was written in the letter they assumed came from the king:
“By royal decree, you are to proclaim a public fast. Make this announcement, ‘We must seek the will of God and learn why he has withheld his blessings from our land. If we do not discover the guilty party and rid ourselves of his sin, God will continue his punishment.’ Once the city has gathered, set Naboth in front of crowd. Hire two lowlifes to come forward and accuse Naboth of blasphemy, saying, ‘We have heard you curse both God and our king!’ Then drag Naboth outside the gate of the city, and stone him to death.”
Upon receiving these orders, that is what the leaders, the elders, and the men of the city did. They proclaimed a fast, brought Naboth forward, and two scum bags stepped forward and accused him of cursing God and the king. So the people took him outside the city gates, and there they executed him. Afterward, the leaders sent word back to the palace that Naboth had been stoned and was dead.
As soon as Jezebel received this message, she hurried back to Ahab. “Get up!” she said. “You can go now, and take possession of the vineyard you offered to buy, but that Naboth refused to sell to you. He’s no longer alive, so he can’t stand in your way. The vineyard is yours.”
Once the king learned that Naboth was dead, he immediately hurried back to the vineyard.
Around the same time that Ahab received word of Naboth’s death, someone else was receiving a word regarding the King and Queen. The word of Yehovah came to the prophet Elijah. “Get up,” God told him, “and go down to confront Ahab king of Israel. You will see him standing in the vineyard of Naboth, that he has entered and taken over its ownership. When you reach him, say to him, “Hear the word of Yehovah! In the same place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick up your blood as well.” The meaning of this message was obvious. Like Naboth, Ahab was going to die a miserable and dishonorable death.
When Elijah entered the vineyard, Ahab looked up and recognizing the prophet, he asked, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” The question dripped with irony. If Elijah were Ahab’s enemy, it was the king’s doing, not the prophet’s. Besides, Elijah was not the one Ahab had to fear, it was Yehovah who opposed him.
Elijah answered him, “I have found you, and the reason is because you’ve sold out–sold out to do nothing but evil in the sight of Yehovah. God tells you to look away from this vineyard to the disaster that coming for you, to consume you and cut off your posterity from every person in Israel. Yehovah says, ‘I am going to erase your house and dynasty the way I erased Jeroboam’s, the first king of Israel; and the way I erased the dynasty of Baasha, who was king prior to your father Omri. I will do this because you have sinned and spread your sin throughout Israel. Regarding Jezebel, your wife, dogs will eat her body, not outside the gates of the city, but within the walls of Jezreel. Anyone in your family that dies within a city, dogs will eat, and anyone who dies in the open countryside, the birds of the sky will eat.’”
If we are stunned by this message from God, then we are feeling the terror it was meant to provoke. Until now, Ahab had not taken his or his wife’s offenses against Yehovah seriously enough to turn from the other gods and their idols, and begin walking in the ways of the God of Israel. Now, without a shred of compassion, they had murdered one of their own subjects in order to take ownership of his land.
Ahab’s final brief biography reads like this:
“There had never been someone who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of Yehovah like Ahab, whose wrongdoing was incited by his wife Jezebel. His actions were heinous in devotion to pagan deities and their idols. He became as evil as the people who had lived in the land previously, and whom God had removed before Israel arrived.”
When King Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes from his body and wrapped himself in sackcloth. He fasted from all foods, and went about his life in a deep depression.
Once again, the word of Yehovah came to Elijah, and it is impossible to hear what God had to say without being amazed. God asked Elijah, “Have you see this? Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me, and how he has shown respect for my word? Because he has taken my word to heart and humbled himself before me, I will delay my punishment, so that he will not see the worst of it. I will not bring the complete disaster during his lifetime, but will unleash it on his heirs after he is gone.”
Although Ahab failed at being a decent king, it is Jezebel’s name that is remembered for its wicked connotations. For better or worse, the name of Jezebel has been so overused and subjected to so many different forms of insidious behavior, that it is currently more useful in comedy than tragedy. A few years ago, a group of Christian leaders began warning believers that some women could be possessed by the spirit of Jezebel. That sort of teaching is embarrassing for its complete silliness (although I know a few husbands who wanted to believe it could be true). Nonsense like this may shield us from the real danger that lurks in this story, and therefore it could fail to provide the serious warning that we need for such a time as this present hour.
When Jezebel told Ahab to “act like a king,” her concept of what that meant was foreign to the role of the kings of Israel according to God’s specifications. In fact, Jezebel’s model king was what could be applied to all the worst leaders of history and the world today.
When David–Israel’s model king–was chosen, the characteristic that qualified him was he was a man after God’s own heart. The devotion he showed his sheep as a shepherd–willing to risk his life for the runt of the flock–mirrored God’s heart for his people.
There have been many people who have either been thrown into leadership positions or finagled their way into leadership, who don’t belong there. Some of them are simply inept. They have no vision, or no integrity, or no skill in motivating or guiding followers. Others have talents that are useful in other departments, but not in the leader’s role. For example, it is a disaster for followers when their leader is a bean-counter. That is because the focus of the accountant is on money and math and analysis down to the fractions of a penny, rather than on human persons, who will always be the chief concern of every true and decent leader. Among the worst leaders, are not those who fail to serve people, but those who actually damage their followers. These are frequently the men and women who want to lead for what they get for themselves from it–perhaps wealth, attention, or the power of control.
God has provided plenty of instructions for leaders, and you don’t need to attend a conference to learn them. For instance, God told the prophet Ezekiel,
“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them” (Eze. 34:2-4)
We cannot always find a job working under the perfect boss or manager. In fact, I hear more terrible stories about bad managers than I do wise and helpful managers. However, we do have the freedom to choose our spiritual leaders and we can at least cast a vote for political leaders. I look for the most compassionate and understanding leader. I look for people who do care for the strays and the lost; those who fall through the cracks of society. But that’s just me.
If I were to give you any advice this morning, based on this chapter of Elijah’s story, it would be this: The one who brings us the truth is not our enemy. Ahab assumed Elijah was his enemy, because he brought him information he did not want to hear or believe. Of course, truth can be delivered in an unloving and criticizing way, but it is still better than being told lies. So . . .
Don’t follow the person who always asks for more from you
Follow the one who inspires you to be more
Don’t follow the person who says they love you
Follow the person who shows you they love you.
Follow the person who follows Jesus.
Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun
Come Lord and join us today
We are full of gratitude for all the good in our lives
For our friends and family
For our good fortune and happy memories.
Still we fret and worry
We strive and scramble
We hustle and grind
To fix what isn’t working
To patch up the holes in our lives and in our hearts
Often things go well,
our crisis averted
and we are on to our next thing,
not exactly at peace,
maybe wondering when the next shoe will drop.
Other times things don’t go as planned
We don’t seem able to satisfy our needs or expectations
We are confused by it all
We become frustrated,
We become isolated
We suffer, we suffer quietly and alone
(Or not so quietly and alone)
And we put our heads down and push forward
Day after day
Sometimes the suffering of a person bubbles up and boils over
When that happens suffering multiplies and spreads.
This happened this week in Georgia when the suffering of one family, one child,
burst the seams and cut through a school, a community and a nation.
Show us our part
Show us what we can do
How we can contribute
Show us how we are currently increasing our own suffering and the suffering of others
And give us practical ways to overcome those patterns and choices
Bring us the help we need.
Give us the ways to bring peace into our own lives
And show us, in ways that are timely and tangible how we can offer peace to others
To ease their pain and loneliness
To assist in their joy and hope
So their lives,
And our lives too,
against all we may have ever known will be filled with gratitude for all you do
Your rock solid love
Your tender considerations
Your gentle presence
And lead us
another step forward
Into our surrender to you
Amen
Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.
Ben-hadad the king of Syria,
gathered all his army together.
Thirty-two kings were with him,
and horses and chariots.
And he went up and closed in on Samaria
and fought against it 1 Kings 20:1
Today’s episode requires an explanation, because my plan was to skip this chapter. For the past seven weeks we’ve been immersed in the story of Elijah, but for some reason he does not appear here; not even his name is mentioned. But that is one of the curiosities in this episode that interests me. There are still gifted seers through whom God delivers messages to King Ahab, and these three fill the void that Elijah leaves. However, not even one of the three is named, but each one is identified by a title: the first is simply “a prophet,” the second is “a man of God,” and the third is “a certain man of the sons of the prophets,”
I have two reasons for including this chapter in the story of Elijah, even though we lose sight of him. First, there is a strong connection between the end of this episode and a moment in the next episode where an unusual phrase is repeated using the exact same words. The link is strong enough to suggest a theme that deserves attention.
The second reason I’m including this chapter is because I-love-this-story! The first time I discovered a truth revealed in this chapter, it was something I desperately needed to learn. So, here we go.
Ben-hadad, the king of Syria, was a bully.
He commanded one of the most impressive armies east of the Mediterranean Sea. He increased his dominance and control by conquering smaller kingdoms in the region of Aram, and then replacing their kings with his own governors. The powerful nations in the ancient world found it easier and more profitable to force weaker nations to pay them for protection rather than increase the burden of taxation on one’s own people. In his current campaign, Ben-hadad brought thirty-two governors of his vassal kingdoms with him along with their armed troops to assist in attacking Israel. When Syria’s soldiers were on the march, nations trembled.
In his current campaign, he had his eyes on Samaria, the capital city of Israel.
The Syrian strategy was classic. The simplest way to conquer a city was to form a blockade around it. If no one was able to escape, and all supplies of food and water were cut off, then starvation and disease would eventually force the helpless city to open its gates. All a general needed was enough provisions for his own troops to be able to wait out the people in the city.
Ben-hadad’s certainty of victory was absolute. An idea entered his cruel mind, to harass the king and people of Samaria, the way a cat plays with a mouse before crushing it. That the city would fall was obvious, so why not humiliate Israel and at the same time plunder them without having to shoot an arrow or break down the gates? With that intention, he sent a delegation from his camp to King Ahab to deliver his message: “This word comes straight from the lips of King Ben-hadad. You are to hand over to me your silver and your gold. Also, your wives and their children are mine.”
Without expressing a word of complaint, Ahab told the messengers: “Give my answer to your master, ‘O king, I am yours, and so is all that I have. I accept your terms.’”
Did Israel’s king actually find his situation so hopeless that he sent this shocking reply? Was he going to hand over his wealth to Ben-hadad, as well as his royal family and harem just like that?! The Syrian king’s assessment of Samaria’s desperation was correct. They were terrified of the suffering that would follow in the wake of his invasion.
This was almost too easy. Ben-hadad decided he would press for even more.
In a very short time, the Syrian delegation was back at the gates of Samaria. They brought a new message addressed to King Ahab, that went like this, “From his royal majesty, King Ben-hadad. Previously I sent word to you, demanding that you surrender to me your silver and gold, and your wives and children. But now I am changing my terms. Besides what I set forth at first, I hereby order you to show my representatives every room in your palace and all the quarters of your servants and officials. They will watch you closely, and whenever they notice something that is precious in your eyes, they will lay hands on that, and bring it to me in my camp.”
Unlike Ben-hadad’s first demand, Ahab did not respond immediately. Instead, he summoned the chief leaders of the people, and presented to them Ben-hadad’s message. Then he said, “Please take note, and see for yourselves how this man is up to no good. When he sent me his demand for my family and my treasures, I did not resist him. But now he’s telling us he wants more. What should we do?” Among all of Ahab’s advisers, the answer was unanimous. “Don’t listen to that tyrant,” they said, “and don’t give into his ridiculous requirements!”
Ahab needed this support. When he received Ben-hadad’s first message, he could make his decision without consulting with anyone else. That was because, the extortion required him to give only what was his own to give. But now the families and belongings of others in his kingdom were at stake. Of course, as king, he could have consented to the Syrian king without the permission of his subjects. But the throne of Israel was always unsteady, and to surrender the property of his people could be his last official act. He was replaceable.
The next message that went from Ahab to Ben-hadad was simple, without any disrespect or defiance. “From King Ahab” it read, “To my lord the king, I am still willing to give you everything you required in your first message, but what your are asking now, I cannot do.” Of course, this did not go over well, and soon Ahab received Ben-hadad’s furious response. “May the gods do so to me and more also,” he swore, “if when I am finished with you, there will be enough of Samaria left for each soldier who follows me to take away even a handful of its dust!”
No doubt, Ben-hadad meant to terrify the king of Israel with that response. With a flare of brave repartee, Ahab’s answer came in a proverb, “The one who is strapping his armor on should not brag as one who is taking his armor off.” I suppose we could compare that to the more simple advice, “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.” The Syrian king was enraged, and told his soldiers to prepare to move out. Nevertheless, Ben-hadad remained in his bivouac with his governors, drinking wine. He was that confident that Samaria would soon fall into his hands.
Look now! A prophet approaches King Ahab and delivers a message to him from Yehovah. He said, “Listen to the word of Yehovah, ‘Have you viewed this massive army preparing to take the city? Watch carefully, because I am going to hand all of them over to you, and then you will know that I am Yehovah, Israel’s one and only God.’” Ahab asked the prophet, “Who among our troops is God going to use to win this victory?” The prophet answered, “Yehovah says that it will be by those who serve the chief leaders of the people.” Again, Ahab asked, “And who will lead the charge?” The prophet’s one-word answer, “You.”
King Ahab quickly ordered the chief leaders to fall in behind him–232 men–and after them, the army of Israel numbered, that numbered seven thousand. At noon, they set out for the Syrian camp. By then, Ben-hadad and his crew had been drinking themselves drunk. When he received word that a contingent of soldiers had come out of Samaria and was approaching their camp, Ben-hadad ordered his scouts to go out and meet them. “If they have come to make peace,” he told his scouts, “take them alive. Or, if they have come to make war with us, take them alive.” Naturally, he did not consider them a serious threat.
As Syria’s scouts reached Ahab and his soldiers, and immediately Israel’s troops attacked them. The initial onslaught was aggressive enough, and successful enough, to create a panic in the Syrian camp, and all of Ben-hadad’s army took flight. With their backs to Israel, they became easy targets, and Syria’s army suffered great losses of men, chariots and horses. With help from his commanders, Ben-hadad managed to mount a horse and flee to safety.
The same prophet who predicted this outcome showed up again, on the heels of Israel’s victory. He advised King Ahab, “Prepare yourself, strengthen your forces and give serious thought to what you need to do next, because when spring comes, so will the king of Syria, and he will launch another attack against you.”
Time passed. King Ben-hadad sobered up. Still licking his wounds from their humiliating defeat, his military advisers came to him with a new war plan. They had an explanation for Israel’s victory. “Their gods are gods of the hills, and that is why they were able to overpower us. But if we engage them on a valley’s level ground, we will have the advantage. What we must do, is get rid of the governors you placed in charge of the troops and put veteran commanders in those positions. Then build an army like we had before; soldier for soldier, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot. Then, when we draw them onto the level plain, our forces will be so much greater than theirs, that they won’t stand a chance of defending themselves.”
The adaptations that they recommended were straight out of the strategic military thinking of that period of history. Whenever armies fought in mountainous terrain, those at a higher elevation had the advantage. Stones thrown or slung from a slingshot, arrows shot from a bow, or spears thrown at specific targets had the advantage of both gravity and vantage point. Then, when it came to having a large, level battlefield, the advantage went to the army that could deploy a greater number of chariots and horses, leaving little foot soldiers could do to protect themselves. A third tactic was to wait until spring before their next engagement. The wet, inclement weather could make guiding a chariot through a muddy fields difficult, if not impossible.
Spring arrived, and Syria, with its massive army descended on Israel. The small force that Israel was able to muster looked pitiful compared to the Syrian camp. The picture that comes to mind is that the Israelite troops looked like two small flocks of goats in a large open space, while Syrian troops filled the entire landscape.
As before the previous battle, someone approached the king of Israel, only this time he’s not described as a prophet, but as a “man of God,” which is probably another way of saying the same thing. “Listen to the word of Yehovah,” he told Ahab, “The Syrians have said that ‘Yehovah is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys,’ and for that reason I am going to hand you the victory. Then you will know that I am Yehovah, Israel’s one and only God.”
The two armies spent a week observing and spying on each other. Then, on the seventh day, the battle began. The fighting went as the prophet predicted. Israel killed thousands of Syrian soldiers while thousands more. Thousands of others took refuge in a nearby city, but were killed when a large wall collapsed on them. Again, Ben-hadad fled, but he didn’t get far. He was holed up in one of the villages of Israel. When his servants found him, they suggested a plan.
“Look, your highness. Word on the street is that the kings of Israel are known for the mercy they show their enemies. With your permission, we’ll disguise ourselves as if we were prisoners of war, present ourselves to the king of Israel, and test him to see if he is willing to negotiate. If this works, we may be able to get him to spare your life.”
Their ploy worked. When they appeared before Ahab, they told him, “We’ve come from your servant, Ben-hadad. He is begging you to spare his life.” King Ahab responded, “What’s this? Is he still alive? He’s like a brother to me.” These connivers immediately saw the opening they were hoping would come, and picked up on Ahab’s words. “Yes,” they said, “Your brother, Ben-hadad, is begging you for mercy.” Ahab commanded them to go fetch him, which they did, and when the humbled Syrian king came to Ahab, they treated each other like old friends and swore a covenant together. Then Ahab released Ben-hadad to return to Syria.
This could be considered a pleasant end of the story, except for the epilogue that follows. A certain man, who will remain anonymous though he was a member of the school of the prophets, approached a fellow soldier and, at the word of Yehovah, asked him, “Please, draw your sword and wound me.” But the soldier, for whatever reason, refused to do as he asked. So the man said to him, “You have disobeyed the word of Yehovah, and for that, look what will happen to you; when you walk away a lion will attack and wound you.” And that is exactly what happened. Then the man from the school of the prophets turned to another soldier and said, “Please, wound me.” And he did.
Next, the wounded man pulled a similar ruse on Ahab like the servants of Ben-hadad. He disguised himself by wrapping the upper part of his face with a large cloth bandage. When King Ahab passed that way, the man cried out to him, “Have mercy, O King!” He then explained that during the battle another soldier of superior rank brought him an enemy prisoner and told him, “Guard this man with your life. If you let him escape, it will be your life for his life. Otherwise you will be charged a sum of money greater than you can afford to pay.”
The man continued, “But, your majesty, I had other responsibilities and obligations, so while I was distracted, running around here and there, the prisoner escaped.”
The king answered him sternly, “You have pronounced your own sentence. You made your decision and now you will suffer the consequences.”
Quickly, the man unwrapped the bandage from around his face and Ahab recognized him as one of the prophets. The man then prophesied, “Listen to the word Yehovah has for you! Now it is you who has pronounced your own sentence, for Yehovah put a man into your hand whom Yehovah intended to punish. By releasing Ben-hadad, you have forfeited your life and jeopardized the lives of the people.”
Ahab did not return home in the triumphant mood that would normally follow a great victory. Instead, he entered his house miserable and sullen. This unhappiness is what links today’s episode with what we will encounter next week.
Ben-hadad’s advisers realized they would have an advantage over Israel if they drew their forces down into a valley where their own horses and chariots far outnumbered those of King Ahab. We identified their military strategy, however, the way they presented it to their king was as a spiritual strategy, pitting the gods of the mountains against their gods of the valleys. We need to give consideration to the spiritual aspect and advantages of warfare whether we face them on the mountains or in the valleys.
In the Scriptures, lots of wonderful experiences occurred on mountains. Moses, and much later Elijah, encountered God on Mount Horeb. God revealed to David that he was to build the temple on Mount Zion. Jesus’ most famous message is his Sermon On the Mount. He also resorted to mountains to pray in solitude. Jesus met with Moses and Elijah on a high mountain, and there he was transfigured in the presence of three of his disciples. Jesus spent his last free hours on the Mount of Olives, and was crucified on Mount Calvary.
Have you ever considered how many Christian camps and retreat sites are located on mountains? Even recently, a young man I had not seen in years, described to me the impact that retreats on Mount Palomar had on his life in Jesus. I could go on. God has done many wonderful things for people on mountains. He is definitely God of the mountains.
But in this story, it is not the mountains that grab our attention. The emphasis here is that Yahweh declares that he is the God of the valleys as well. I am sure that most Christians believe this is true “technically.” We have met God in the mountain forests, where our souls have been refreshed in his presence. But are we rejoicing in him as much when we travel through the lower levels of our life’s circumstances? Do we expect to find that the One we trust remains the one and only also God in our valleys–our poverty, our diagnoses, our visits to a graveside? Everyone’s life journey takes them through dark valleys. Have we learned that our Lord is God of those places?
If, when our circumstances turn against us, we immediately start complaining; if we ask, “Where were You, O God?” Or say, “Prayer doesn’t work,” then we’re believing the lie, that he is only God of the good times.
Like many others, I lived with depression from the time I was a teenager into my sixties. During the most intense seasons of despair, I was convinced that death was the only way that I would ever be free from negative, repetitive and self-deprecating thoughts that constantly raced through my brain. But there have also been moments–and not just a few–when Jesus met me in my deepest depression. I cannot say that God’s superiority of God over all circumstances was always clear to me. But now, after many years, I am fully confident that the Lord is God of the valleys.
After his moment of the glory of his transfiguration, when Jesus descended the mountain, he was met by a few of his disciples who had suffered defeat by an evil spirit, whom they could not drive away. Jesus, however, could not be defeated, but with a word he drove out the demon. He proved himself to be Lord of the valleys.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me . . . (Ps. 23:4)
Twice in today’s episode, King Ahab was told that through God’s intervention he would “know that I am the LORD” (1 Ki. 20:13 & 28). I’m certain God wants us to trust this word today.
If there were any truth I wish God would brand into our brains, it would be this: Our divine Lord is God of the valleys!
Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun
Come Lord and join us here today
Our lives are funny things.
Fragile, flawed and finite we make our way
There are turns of fortune, both welcomed and unwelcomed, unannounced
Then our plans shift or evaporate
as we try to adjust to the new situation
and then, so often, need to adjust again
For many of us our lives aren’t how we imagined they might be.
Disappointments linger
Betrayals fester
Regrets cloud our minds
But our lives aren’t all sadness
There are joys unexpected
Successes to remember
Friends to cherish
Still, beyond the tally sheet of wins and loses there is you Lord
With us at every step
Making meaning and sense of our lives.
Through every turn you hold us close
You take every event, large or small, happy or sad,
Or completely mundane and ordinary
And give us just what we need
You bring us along a little further
You redeem us
You make us whole
You make us more able to love and be loved
Lord grant us the ability to see you in our everyday moments
To await your touch
To abide in your presence
To cooperate in your will
To be whole, loving, kind and gentle
To love what is good
To be full of mercy for others and ourselves,
To be full of joy,
To be full of gratitude for all you have done are doing now and will do in the days to come
Amen
Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.
So [Elijah] departed from there
and found Elisha
the son of Shaphat,
who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him,
and he was with the twelfth 1 Kings 19:19
The Elijah with whom we spent time in the previous chapter is hardly recognizable in this episode. He is no longer the prophet who lost heart and had been wallowing in defeat, sulking in a cave. He was transformed. Once again he is on the move, and you would have had to jog to keep pace with his long, rapid strides. Every time his foot hit the ground, it raised a small, meaningful dust cloud. He was on assignment for Yehovah–nothing could stand in his way. The wild and fearless prophet was back.
God had given him three tasks to perform involving three men: Hazael, who would become king of Syria; Jehu, would become king of Israel; and Elisha, who would become his replacement. Elijah began with the third task; and as the Lord would have it, Elisha, his protégé would complete the other two assignments after he was gone. So at least he could cross the Elisha task off his “to do” list.
Elijah received specific instructions for where he would find Elisha. First, Elisha was the son of Shaphat. Second, they lived in the village of Abel-mehola. Elijah was familiar with this area, because it wasn’t far from wadi-Cherith, where God first sent him to hide from King Ahab. Elijah may have even known of Shaphat, because he was apparently a wealthy landowner.
Making his way through the low hills west of the Jordan River, Elijah came to a valley of rich farmland. He first caught sight of Elisha behind a plough pulled by two oxen, etching lines in a wide field. Behind Elisha there were eleven other ploughmen also working the field. Twelve in all. That must have seemed fitting to Elijah. Twelve teams of oxen, twelve tribes of Israel. There was, in fact, at that time a large, decorative bowl-shaped pool of water in the temple that rested on the backs of twelve oxen statues.
Marching across the field, Elijah began removing his wide cloak, then coming up behind Elisha, he threw it over his shoulders without saying a word. The prophet did not stop. He passed by Elisha just as Yehovah had passed before himself outside the cave a few days back. It was Elisha’s moment, and Elijah was not going to spoil it with some long-winded recruitment pitch.
Elisha’s surprise lasted no longer than a deep breath. Shockwaves of sheer excitement tremored through his body. He had been waiting for this! He knew someday the call would come. How could he have known it would be today? Right now? Out here in his father’s field, behind the plough.
Elisha sprinted over the furrows of broken earth until he caught up to Elijah. Between breaths he said, “Let me – go home, please, – and kiss my parents – before I go. I want them to know I’m leaving. Then I’ll come back and follow you to–wherever the Spirit takes you.” He was not asking if he could run home and give each of his parents a smooch on the cheek, but to give them a proper good-by. It is quite possible they, too, knew a day would come when their boy would leave home for another life.
Turning to look him in the eye, Elijah told him, “Go back home. What do you think I’ve done to you? What do you think just happened? I’m not placing you under any obligation. You’re free to choose what you do next. You’re free to return to your parents and celebrate this rite-of-passage with them. All I did was throw my cloak on you. I haven’t strapped a yoke on your shoulders.”
Returning to the field, Elisha removed the yoke from the oxen, slaughtered them, stacked the wooden plough and yoke, and set them on fire. He cooked the meat of the oxen over the fire, and hosted a feast to celebrate his departure with his family; who most likely included aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends and neighbors from their town.
Before sunset, Elisha was on the road that brought him to Elijah. Together they headed into the next adventure. During the coming months, Elisha would follow the prophet, attending to his personal needs, and receiving an education in how to listen to the Spirit of Yehovah, and pray miracles into the lives of others.
This is our brief introduction to Elisha–only three verses in the Bible. And after this he disappears until 2 Kings chapter 2–and there he is already a mature prophet, no longer in need of Elijah’s tutelage and ready to go out on his own. Naturally, we would like a few more details of Elisha’s calling and his private education. But there is none of that here.
Maybe we should be thankful that at least we do have this little bit of information. Or, maybe, in instances like this, where the Bible leaves empty spaces, we are allowed to fill in the blank lines with our imagination. Of course, our imaginations cannot bring us to the truth of these circumstances, but still they can lead us to a truth we may not have considered. So, with your permission–or without it, because I’m going to do this anyway–I’ll take us on a brief excursion to a place you’ve never been before.
A week after Elisha left the farm, his mother stood in the doorway of their home, looking out at the fields where servants and day-workers were carrying jars of water from the cistern and pouring them into the furrows where the seed had been planted. Her husband came toward her, all-business like and was about to say something. But noticing that her eyes were blurred with tears that had not yet spilled over onto her cheeks, he said nothing. Instead, he came close and stood next to her. After a quiet moment, being as gentle as was possible for him, he said, “You know he’ll come back. Once he’s been out in the real world for awhile, he’ll get this nonsense out of his system, realize how good he has it here, and he’ll return home where he belongs.”
She turned her head slightly, left-right-left-right. “No,” she whispered, “he won’t be back. You know, he’s always been a dreamer; always seen things we could not see; heard a voice we could not hear. No, God has him now.
“We lost our son,
because he found himself.”
If we can imagine a conversation like that, then it could help us get a better understanding of Elisha’s actions before he left. So when we return to what the Bible does say, we get what’s going on here.
That Elisha would throw himself a going-away party fits the occasion, even though it was spontaneous, sudden, and the guests were not given advanced notice. However, what is less clear is why he would make provisions for the instant feast by slaughtering his oxen and burning his farm equipment. Certainly his family must have had other ways to feed their guests. And it is not likely that firewood was in short supply.
Elisha was making a statement.
He did not only set fire to his farming tools, he was burning bridges. He was eliminating the devices that had him grounded in the soil of his father’s fields. Elisha made it so that he could not return–he could not go back to doing what he had done before. He could not resume the life he had lived or again become the person he had been. He was primed for the moment that Elijah’s mantle fell on his shoulders. In that instant his life became something else.
Elisha had visions of other fields besides his father’s. In his minds eye he saw men, women, and children; kings and commanders; perhaps even one day a school of prophets that needed a leader and mentor.
Someone as serious about their calling as Elisha was, does not make “slight adjustments” to their lifestyle or tweak their daily routine. Hundreds of years later, the Lord Jesus would explain, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is well-placed for work in the kingdom of God” [Lk. 9:62] That makes sense. How can a person plow a straight furrow while looking backwards? Somewhere it is written that people of faith “make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one” [Heb. 11:14-16]
If there are people whose entire lives flow as smooth as oil, we have yet to meet them. For the majority of humankind, passing through a single day entails interruptions and a series of starts and stops. Still, it rarely happens that we see a person’s life turn on a dime, and generally if it does, it results from a crisis or unexpected hardship. So for us, to see the sudden and radical change of Elisha’s life, we realize that something unique has happened. What could motivate Elisha to completely abandon his stable life for an uncertain future with a impulsive prophet? The answer has to do with a phenomenon known as “hearing the call.”
Although the timing of Elijah’s arrival may have caught Elisha off guard, he was not surprised that it happened. He had been waiting for this moment. Elisha knew that he was meant to dedicate himself to a specific adventure; that God had singled him out for more than an average life. He was not supposed to settle for a life of success, but commit to a life of significance. When the call came, he was ready. He had his bags packed and set to go.
Did he know how the call would come to him? Did he know exactly what he would be doing? Did it ever occur to him that he would only know the day and the hour when a cloak was thrown over him? Probably not, and it’s possible that none of those things mattered. He eagerly anticipated the day that he would be pulled into a life worth living. He did not need a written document to arrive, a special messenger to bring the big announcement. He was pleased if the only indication of his call was when skilled journeyman walked by and handed him a tool belt.
In theaters that host live action plays, a few of the actors on stage have important roles. Other actors have less important roles, and some are merely “extras” to create the illusion of a busy street or a crowded restaurant.
God does not create or use “extras.” God does not give life to any human person just for them to take up space, to accomplish nothing, to be nothing. Everyone’s existence is meant to have as much significance as Elisha’s. Everyone has a calling.
And we need a calling. We have to know that passing through this life we are doing something significant, something helpful for others, something good for the world. We need to know our calling, and to know that it is so big that it causes everything in our lives to make sense.
Some of us know our calling–we know it so well we can try to avoid it, refuse it, run from it. Others of us are not certain of our calling. We think it might be this or that. And some of us doubt that our lives mean anything, either to ourselves or anyone else.
To know our calling, we need to understand that along the way, even though something is accomplished, we are not called to accomplishments. We are not called to an artistic creation, or to build a business, or lead a community. We are not called to a duty or a task. To get to the heart of it, we have to ask, “Who is doing the calling?” Whose voice invites us to come and follow them?
When Jesus called the fishermen from their boats and their nets and the lake, he told them he would make them fishers of men and women. That was what they would eventually be doing, but their calling was to follow him. He could have made them become something else. Since then he has needed carpenters and cooks, teachers and tailors, janitors and generals. He has made many people to become many things, but he began with all of them by calling them to himself. If when your calling becomes clear, your immediate reaction is, “But I’m not qualified for that! I haven’t the education, or creativity, or whatever, to do that!” know this, Jesus will “make you” for whatever he wants you to be.
There is a moment when a voice comes to everyone, saying,
“Your destiny is upon you!”
“Your name has come up, you’ve been chosen and called.”
It’s never too late to wake up to your calling.
Never too late to answer the call.
Never too late to follow Jesus.
I wish we all were as aware of God’s desire for us as Elisha was.
I wish we all were as excited about what the Lord has planned for us.
How wonderful if we were as convinced,
as certain,
as eager about receiving and having this call as Elisha.
I leave that to you and to your temperament.
Just know that you have not been overlooked.
Look at what has given to you.
Listen to the effect you have on others.
Pay attention to life around you and the life within.
Notice all these things and see if like an arrow
they point in the direction of your calling.
And when you receive the call–or when you realize you have already received it–
jump up, leave everything, and follow Jesus.
Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun
Come Lord
We are waiting for you.
Our neighbors are full of strife.
They are overwhelmed in concern
Drowning in fear
They grouse and complain
Fret and blame, yell and scream,
Call out names and make up stories
Lost in their lives
And in truth we are tired of our own thoughts, Lord
Of our worry and fear and anxieties
Of rehearsing everything that can go wrong
We are worn down by our resentments
Our inclinations to keep score
Our needs to be ever vigilant of all the wrongs perpetrated, real or imagined.
In truth, we too have little peace.
Grant us peace Deep and abiding
Knowing in fresh ways who you are, your great love and your tender care
Help us turn to you for that,
Over and over and over,
Just like breathing
And in this let us become peace
Not just more talk about peace
Not another theory or proclamation
but the very embodiment.
Help us be the actual thing
So we might be a part of your great love and tender care for our neighbor
Amen
Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.
And Ahab told Jezebel
all that Elijah had done,
and all about how he had killed
all the prophets with a sword 1 Kings 19:1
Elijah was excited–an energetic excited–an excited he had not allowed himself to indulge until now. The tide was turning. The entire crowd witnessed God’s answer from heaven. They had been won over. They had chanted, “Yehovah, he is God! Yehovah, he is God!” The king was there too. He saw it for himself. Now he also knew who was the real God.
Running off to Jezreel was a bold move for Elijah. King Ahab had a palace there, and the royal family used it to retreat from the demanding affairs of state in the capital city. But the contest had been huge, the miracle breathtaking, and the response of the crowd overwhelming. This was the beginning. God was brining Israel out of their idolatry and back to himself. Elijah was confident of it–maybe overconfident. He may have missed one detail.
What happened on Mount Carmel was a substantial breakthrough, and one could imagine that a spiritual revival was underway. However, Elijah may have overlooked one potential fly in the ointment: Queen Jezebel.
Did Elijah assume Ahab’s report to his wife would have a life-changing effect on her? That, like the others who had seen fire fall from the sky, she would instantly abandon her gods and embrace Yehovah? If so, he had underestimated her devotion to Baal. He failed to anticipate her intense and vengeful reaction or consider the power she exercised, or her capacity for brutal retaliation.
When King Ahab returned to Jezreel, he did not leave out a single detail of the day’s event. He told Jezebel of all that Elijah did, and all about how he killed all her prophets. He left nothing out of his report. And the more he went on, the greater the rage grew within her. When Ahab finished, Jezebel asked, “Is that all of it?” “Yes,” Ahab answered, “That’s everything.” She said nothing else, but turned and stormed off to the palace guard. There she chose an elite soldier to carry a message to Elijah, immediately. “Tell that horrid prophet, Queen Jezebel says, ‘May the gods do the same to me as you did to my prophets, and even worse, if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life like one of theirs!’”
This was the common form a person would use to swear an oath. “May the gods do even worse to me if . . . .” They would call upon God–or gods–to be witness to their vow, and unleash a supernatural backlash on them if they failed to fulfill it. No one swore an oath like this unless they meant with every bone in their body to follow through on it.
This was the development Elijah had not foreseen. If he had an inkling Jezebel would come after him, he would have never entered her current lair in Jezreel. When he received her threat, he panicked. To stay in Jezreel would be suicide. To stay anywhere within Jezebel’s reach would be suicide. He fled the city and raced south, running for his life. He crossed the border into Judah, but he did not stop there. He kept rushing through the southern kingdom to the edge of the Negev. Leaving his servant in Beersheba, he continued into the vast desert that stretched for many miles in every direction.
At the end of his first day hiking through the rough and arid terrain, Elijah found refuge in the shade of a broom tree. With their leafy branches that spread out like an umbrella, broom trees were a welcome relief. Elijah collapsed underneath it, and after all this way, he once again called on Yehovah.
His prayer was not a petition for safety. He didn’t pray, “O, Yehovah, don’t let Jezebel’s assassins come after me or find me!” He didn’t ask God for travel mercies. His request was that God would let him die. He knew that life and death were God’s to give and take. Perhaps Elijah figured it would be better to die by God’s hand than by Jezebel’s. Still, at the same time, his fear of the queen was not what troubled him most.
Elijah was no longer running from Jezebel–he was running from himself.
His prayer went like this, “Enough! O, Yehovah, I’ve had enough. Take my life from me, now. I failed my mission. I’m no better than my father nor my father’s father, nor my fathers before them. I’m nothing. It’s over. I give up.” He prayed out of his despair–or was this maybe a full-blown depression? If prophets, priests, and other servants of God never see a positive outcome from their efforts, it is easy for them to feel that their lives are worthless and meaningless. Giving up has always been a temptation for people who gave their lives to God’s work, hoping he would use them to influence their world and the lives of others for his sake. When that sort of success eludes them, hopelessness can crush the soul. The classic example of this emotional state was the prophet Jeremiah, who complained that he had ever been born and threatened to quit more than once. After decades of loyal service to God in Judah, nothing changed.
A philosopher once put forward the idea that sleep is “a slice of death.” Elijah fell asleep beneath the broom tree and maybe for a moment found a restful escape from his unhappiness. Perhaps he hoped God would end his life while he slept.
But look at what happened to him. Someone touched him. He stirred and squinted into the face of a stranger–a very strange, stranger. An angel. “Get up and eat,” the angel said. Looking around, Elijah saw near his head a cake baked on hot stones the way Bedouins have baked their flat bread for hundreds of years. There was also a jar of water nearby. He ate and drank and laid down and fell asleep again.
Later, the angel returned with more food. Again, he touched–or shook, or poked Elijah with a stick–and woke him up. Again he was told to get up and eat and drink, only this time the angel added a reason for him to take nourishment, “The journey ahead is too much for you.” That may sound like a cryptic statement to us, but apparently Elijah understood what he was supposed to do. When he finished his meal, he got on his feet and began hiking deeper into the desert. He walked forty days, until he arrived at Horeb, the mount of God. The same mountain that Moses had climbed and where he had stayed for forty days. The same mountain where Moses encountered the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
God allowed Elijah to expend all the effort and discomfort necessary to travel this far way so that he could ask his prophet a question. Elijah had taken up shelter in a cave on the mountainside, and look what happened: the word of Yehovah came to him, “What are you doing here Elijah?” This is one of those fascinating instances when you can change the emphasis of the question depending on what word you stress.
“what?” This question has to do with activity. There was purpose in everything Elijah had done–up until now. In fact, prior to this he had been following God’s instructions.
“are?” This is a question of timing, his past and his future. A few days ago he was demanding that Israel choose between Baal and Yehovah. What does he want going forward? Does he want to be still hiding here in the cave ten years from now? It could be that if he did nothing else now. “It’s up to you.”
“you?” This question is personal. God addresses him by name. Eventually, everyone finds themselves before God in an I-Thou encounter. God made Elijah and called him to serve a purpose. This is between the two of them.
“doing?” This is a question of productivity and effectiveness. “What are you accomplishing here in this cave?”
“here?” The question has to do with place. Is this where you’re supposed to be? Is this where your best gifts are being used? Is this the best place for you right now?
Any answer Elijah gave would be acceptable, because God sincerely asked a genuine question. God was not looking for a right answer, but for an honest answer. God did not ask the question for his own benefit, but for Elijah’s. You see, God was not interrogating Elijah or forcing him to defend himself.
When confronting the people of Israel with a choice, Baal or Yehovah, Elijah was not responsible for the outcome, he was only responsible to do his part that day. Whatever happened after that was up to God and the people. So now that they are alone in this cave, God is probing Elijah in order to get him to look inside himself. What is he doing here, now? What is the meaning of his life? Is he doing what he was made to do? Is he fulfilling an important purpose? Sometimes dealing with the questions brings us to big things and other times they take us to small things. Either way, they contribute to our spiritual and mental health and development.
Elijah’s first answer is superficial, one he assumes will justify his running away. All of us are prone to respond to God in this way. We either deflect the question or we give an answer we hope God will accept from us. What Elijah said was, “I have been very passionate for Yehovah, the God of heaven’s armies. For Your people have abandoned their covenant with You, they’ve destroyed your altars, put Your prophets to the sword, and I, by myself, am the only prophet who has survived, and now they’re after me to end my life.”
God replied to him, “Go outside the cave and stand there, prepared to encounter God’s presence.” So Elijah went and stood at the entrance of the cave, looking out over the barren landscape. Then, in the same way God caused his presence to pass before Moses, and on the same mountain where Moses stood hundreds of years before, Yehovah passed before Elijah.
It happened like this: a blustering wind swept around the mountain, so powerful that it moved rocks, but not in the wind was Yehovah. After the wind, the mountain was shaken by an earthquake, but not in the earthquake was Yehovah. After the earthquake, the mountainside was suddenly on fire, but not in the fire was Yehovah. And after the fire, there was only a sound, like a quiet whisper. It was that silent voice that drew Elijah all the way out of the cave. As he made his exit, he wrapped his mantel around his face. He had not been afraid to look when the wind was howling, or the mountain was trembling, or the fire was raging. But Elijah did not dare look up when he heard the whisper of Yehovah’s approach.
Then, a voice, and again the question, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah gave the same anser as before, word for word, “I have been very passionate for Yehovah, the God of heaven’s armies. For Your people have abandoned their covenant with . . . . Wait! I told you this already! All of Your prophets are dead! I’m the last one and they want to kill me. Why do You have to hear it again?”
There is an obvious reason why God would ask the same question a second time. It was because God wanted something else from Elijah–or more to the point, he wanted something more for Elijah. So, rather that respond to Elijah’s answer, God simply gave him a command.
“Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus.” Now if Elijah traveled to Damascus, that would not be a “return trip” to a place where he had been before. So when God said, “on your way” he did not mean “on the road,” but back to your way of life, your way of service, your way of walking with Me in My ways.
God’s answer to Elijah’s despair and request to die, his answer to Elijah’s story of being the last of his prophets, his answer to Elijah was, “It’s time for you to get back to work. You’re not finished yet.” First Elijah would anoint a Hazael, a Syrian general, to become king of Syria. Then he was to anoint Jehu, an Israelite general, to become king of Israel. Then he was to anoint Elisha to be his protégé and take over Elijah’s role when his work was done. King Hazael would attack Israel and begin its decimation. In the meantime, Jehu would wipe out the family and dynasty of Ahab and Jezebel. Any other Israelite survivors would have to face Elisha. There were many great events yet to come, and God would use Elijah to get all of them rolling.
This exciting episode does not end here. God has one parting word for Elijah. “After all of this has been said and done, I will leave seven thousand people in Israel alive. All of these are mine, for none of them have bowed their knees to Baal, nor kissed him with their lips.” So this is how true believers demonstrate their loyalty to God; it is with their knees and with their lips. Whichever deity receives their humble allegiance and their kisses is the one to whom they belong.
God did not give up on Elijah
God never gave up on Israel,
even when they were not receptive to him,
when they killed the prophets he sent to them,
God never stopped trying
That is God’s faithfulness in action
He is always true to himself
God does not give up on us
He gives us time to heal, when we need it
He comes close,
he asks questions – questions he wants us to ask ourselves
If we don’t know the answers, he supplies those too
So that we can find ourselves when lost and confused
God doesn’t always come with fireworks
He trains us to be sensitive to the quiet whisper
Eventually he gives us the energy to go back to work
God never gives up on us
Why would we ever give up on him?
Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun
Come Lord, come
Pull us out of our overworked minds
Set us free from our expectations
Walk us into the life you have promised us
Grant us the presence of your love
and the grace to receive it
To hold it close.
Let us not fight it
Argue it down
Preempt it
Defend ourselves against it
Let us not return to our substitutes
Or our counterfeits
Or our workarounds
Compel us with your love
Your gentleness
Your kindness
Your patience
Remind us of your everlasting care
Your regard for our well-being
You desire for our restoration
Today we ask that you break through
our despair and distraction
And even to shake us a little if you must
So we can be with you
Aware of your presence
And enveloped in your great good love
Amen
Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.
And Elijah said to Ahab,
“Go up, eat and drink,
for there is a sound of the rushing of rain” 1 Kings 18:41
Elijah found King Ahab sitting off by himself still as a statue, staring into nothing, and his face coated in confusion. Ahab wondered, “What just happened? How could it have happened?” His feud with Elijah had ended suddenly in a phenomenon of fire and blood. His army of prophets failed to rouse their Bah-al god, while from the sky Yehovah answered Elijah with a spectacle never before seen. The king was defeated, but it was a strange loss that left him groping for his next move. Elijah had proved himself to be the real deal, and Yehovah proved himself to be the true God. Would Ahab now have to switch gods? Reform his rule over Israel? Defy his wife Jezebel?
Elijah’s voice broke his trance. “Ahab,” he called to him, “Go up higher, get something to eat and drink. There’s a sound of thundershowers coming our way.”
Ahab couldn’t hear anything that sounded like the rumble of thunder or spatter of rain. No one else heard sounds of an advancing storm. What did Elijah see that no one else could see? What could Elijah hear that no one else could hear.
“This is where it all began,” the King said to himself. Elijah had shown up out of nowhere, prophesying, “No rain will fall on Israel until at my word.” Then came the drought, and for those three years Elijah had disappeared. A few days ago he reappeared, which meant the land would finally receive the water it needed to come alive again. Ahab looked up; there was not a cloud in the sky. But still he stood up and did as Elijah told him. He hiked up the next slope, and ordered his attendants to bring him a meal. He thought to himself, “Well, this is one thing I can do–I can eat.”
Elijah told King Ahab to go up, and Ahab went up. Then Elijah, headed up the mountain too. The direction they moved was “up,” toward the sky–perhaps because the fire of God had fallen from the sky, and now if there rain was on the way, it too would come from up in the sky. So Elijah hiked upward, all the way to the top of Mount Carmel, and once he reached the summit he went down. He bent his body over until his head was between his knees and his face on the ground. From that humble desperate posture, he spoke to his servant.
Wait! When did Elijah acquire a servant? Was this someone in the crowd who had witnessed the miracle and then volunteered to become his assistant? Here is one of the missing pieces in the story. Another missing piece is the sound of “rushing rain” that apparently only Elijah was able to hear. Then another oddity, that when bowing on the ground, we expect Elijah to start praying to God, but instead, he spoke to his servant. It’s obvious that we do not have the whole story, but what we have instead is a story with holes in it. Maybe there’s a rational way to fill in the holes. Or maybe we’re to use our imagination to traverse the gaps. Or maybe we’re supposed to live with the mystery.
Elijah told his servant, “Go over to the bluff that looks out over the ocean, then come back and tell me what you see.” From the top of Mount Carmel a panorama of the Mediterranean Sea is visible all the way to the horizon on a clear day. When the servant returned, he gave Elijah a brief report, “There’s nothing.” Elijah told him, go back and look again.
The story at this point becomes a little fuzzy. All we read is that Elijah told his servant, “‘Go again,’ seven times.” That can mean one of two things: either each time the servant went to look out at the sea, he came back with the same answer, and each time Elijah told him to go again. Otherwise, Elijah’s instruction was to go and come back seven times without Elijah repeating his order each time. If this were the case, seven would be the magic number serving as a catalyst for the miracle. How could this make sense? It’s a credible possibility, because Elijah’s successor, Elisha would later on tell a Syrian commander that if he wanted to be healed of his leprosy, he would have to go immerse himself in the Jordan River seven times. If so, we would have to figure out the importance of the number seven on our own. The stories of the two prophets give us no clue.
The seventh time that the servant returned to Elijah, he had a different report. “Well, finally I saw something. It was the wisp of a cloud about the size of a human hand rising from the sea.” Immediately Elijah was on his feet. “Go up,” Elijah ordered his servant, “and tell Ahab to get to his chariot and ride down into the valley all the way to Jezreel before the rain makes travel impossible.”
Within a few minutes, dark clouds driven by a fierce winds filled the sky and shadowed the earth. A sudden cloudburst unleashed a torrent of rain that would soon fill the Kishon River, and every stream and cistern to overflowing.
Ahab whipped the reins of his chariot and sped off into the darkness and downpour. Elijah quickly gathered his robe, securing it around his waist with his sash, and began running. He sprinted down the mountain and into the valley with an agility and speed that had to be supernatural. Indeed, the hand of Yehovah was on Elijah, so that he reached the gates of Jezreel ahead of Ahab.
That’s enough excitement for today.
I have often wondered why the Scriptures do not say that Elijah bowed with his face to the ground and prayed. It feels like his action is incomplete or unfinished. A prayer would be the perfect touch. Here he was, on the ground, reaching for the sky. Prayer would make the connection between heaven and earth.
But, then again, we are not told Elijah did not pray. In fact, there were so many times when people kneeled to pray, that maybe we’re supposed to assume that is what he was doing. I have come to believe that Elijah was praying with his body. There is such a thing as wordless prayer. And now that I think about it, prayers in the Scriptures were frequently offered with body parts.
“Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting of my hands as the evening sacrifice” (Ps. 141:2)
“O LORD, open my lips
and my mouth will declare your praise” (Ps. 51:15)
“Then I turned my face toward the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy” (Dan. 9:3)
I remember also the woman who poured perfume on Jesus’ feet, and the other woman whose prayer consisted mostly of tears and kissing Jesus’ feet.
In his book, Reclaiming the Body in Christian Spirituality, Thomas Ryan wrote, “When we pray, we should do so as a whole person and with those gestures and postures that seem most natural to us and are most meaningful for us.”
If we’re going to put our whole self into prayer, then we must pray with our bodies. What we do physically gives expression of what is going on in us spiritually. Sometimes, the position or actions of our bodies can make us more awake in prayer and more aware of our intention, our purpose, and the words we use in conversations with God.
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters,” Paul wrote, “by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Ro. 12:1)
If prayer is more than making requests, or confession, or expressing our anxieties, or praise–if it is also a conversation, then it includes listening to God. There are many things that go on within us that our bodies try to tell us. Much of it we choose to ignore. If it is not painful enough, or the itch is not annoying enough, or our movements aren’t restricted enough, we go on doing what we want without paying attention to our bodies. Too frequently, it seems there are other things going on that are more important than these bodies.
But what if one of the ways God speaks to us is through our bodies? What if he gives us warnings through what we sometimes call “gut feelings”? What if he wants to alert us to a gift that is nearby, and we need to look around in order to see it? Our bodies give us clues to situations that don’t register in our conscious minds, and it might be beneficial to develop a greater sensitivity to the subtle way that God may use our bodies to get through to us when our minds are too busy to pay attention to his voice.
A few years ago, someone I considered a friend destroyed our relationship by an intentional breach of trust. God worked patiently with me for a long time before I could honestly feel, that with a pure heart, I was able to forgive this person. Eventually, I got to a place that I could pray for him and even ask God to bless his life. However, one day I ran into him in person, and my instant response was revulsion. My insides felt like they were being shredded and I had to strain to speak a coherent sentence. I wanted to turn and bolt in the opposite direction.
Afterward, I was miserable, like all that time and effort I spent in prayer to reach forgiveness was lost. That either my forgiveness wasn’t real or else I relapsed and had to start all over again. But later on, after learning more about myself and gaining insight from much study, I came to a realization. My forgiveness for that person was real. In all honestly, I no longer harbored ill will toward him. What happened to me when I saw him was not related to any conscious thought or emotion, but was an automatic visceral response set off by my nervous system–and more specifically, my autonomic nervous system. My body remembered the painful ordeal of the past and immediately sensed danger.
That reaction, in itself, was not God speaking to me. However, as I worked through the entire ordeal, God did speak to me, bringing me to a better understanding, a greater sense of wholeness, and peace.
It’s not that my body can’t get it wrong sometimes, or never overreact, or is always a reliable indicator of safety or danger, but that regardless of what it tells me, I need to take time to listen. Being aware of what my body is saying to me, gives me the opportunity to evaluate it rationally and discern whether or not God is speaking to me. Then I have the option of taking it seriously or discarding it. Either way, I’m no longer unconscious of it nor ignoring it.
When Elijah bowed down on Mount Carmel, he prayed with his body. We bring our whole person to God. Paul talked about praying with his mind and with his spirit. So I’m okay with the Scriptures not specifically saying Elijah prayed using words. However, I cannot say that I’m clear on every detail in this story.
Is it possible that being confused at how God works is oftentimes a normal human response? That doesn’t change what is expected of us. We can still follow as God leads, and do what he wills. We can keep on going seven times to look at the sky and see if there’s a rain cloud in sight. And we can learn to be at peace with not knowing. Good grief! I don’t even know how my cell phone works, how its technology allows it to communicate with satellites, How am I going to understand God’s ways? When he doesn’t explain things to me, I will trust him.
You see, three years was a long time to go without rain, to watch the food supply dwindle, to swelter under a relentless sun. But, the drought finally broke! At first the sign did not look like much–a cloud no bigger than a human hand. That would be like earning the first two dollars to pay off a ten-thousand dollar debt. Nevertheless, once the sign appeared, the entire storm came rapidly, and relief came to the parched earth.
Can we remind ourselves this week, “The Lord has not forgotten me”? Our drought, however that comes into your life and my life, will break at last. Then life–wonderful, free, joyful, abundant life.
Morning Talk: chuck smith jr.
And Elijah came near to all the people and said,
“How long will you go limping
between two different opinions?
If the LORD is God, follow him;
but if Baal is God, follow him.”
And the people
did not answer him a word 1 Kings 18:21
There must have been court officials who wished they could restrain King Ahab’s poor decisions and thoughtless actions. But those with enough skill in diplomacy to hold a position in the royal court also had enough sense to value their lives. Ahab was too full of himself to take advise from anyone else, let alone, take orders.
However, there was that one exception.
From the time Elijah first set foot in Israel, the king willingly listened to him and did as he was told. Perhaps Ahab believed there was more that a slight possibility Elijah’s words came straight from the God of Israel. Perhaps he respected Elijah for this reason. Or, maybe Ahab was afraid of Elijah. Anyway, when the prophet told him to assemble all the people of Israel, and summon the 450 prophets of Baal, the king obeyed him.
What was Elijah planning and preparing to do? There was a critical controversy to be settled for the sake of the nation. According to Elijah, King Ahab had abandoned the ways of Yehovah to devote himself and the nation to the religion of Baal. So Yehovah’s prophet proposed a contest between himself and the Baal prophets. Now, right off, those don’t look like good odds–450 to one! However, if someone were to point that out to Elijah, he would have either sneered or smiled, depending on his mood.“I’m not just one,” he’d say. “I’m not alone.” That changes the odds. Now it’s two against hundreds. But Elijah saw the odds through a different lens; One against zero. Yehovah was the one true God, while Baal was a product of pagan imagination.
Gradually the vast crowd gathered at the foot of Mount Carmel or on one of its slopes. It was either Elijah’s brilliance or the hand of God leading him, to choose Mount Carmel as the staging area for the contest. Gently rising from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, the coastal range reaches a height of approximately 1700 feet, and continues southwest for fifteen miles. Other than the steep cliffs on its northeast face, Mount Carmel has always been luxuriant with vegetation. The Kishon River flowed at its base, and up above was a well-known spring. In fact, centuries later King Herod would construct a Roman Aqueduct to carry water from Mount Carmel to the port he created ten miles south in Caesarea.
One other feature of Carmel that deserves attention, is that it had always been considered a sacred site, even long before Israel arrived in the land. At some unknown time, an altar to Yehovah had been constructed there.
Elijah climbed one of the higher slopes to a flat area, where the large crowd could easily see him from below. Once the 450 prophets of Baal were in place opposite Elijah, he faced the people and projecting his voice so all could hear, he asked them, “How long will you go hopping back and forth between two notions? Two different beliefs? If Yehovah is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” There it was; he laid the challenge out before them. For a moment, Elijah’s question lingered in the air. Then silence. There was no response from the people.
There may have been some folks among the crowd who had been asking the same question. But if that were so, they lived in a time when speaking out about religious controversies was dangerous. Queen Jezebel’s determination to violently eradicate the religion of Yehovah and replace it with her own gods, was common knowledge. Another possible reason for their silence, is they may not have realized they had been jumping from one god to the other. Or maybe it had not occurred to them that they could not have more than one god–every other nation around them had several gods. Then there was the philosophical problem, that they had no criteria for evaluating the authenticity of the gods. Perhaps to them it made sense to choose a deity whose reward for their service was to give them what they wanted.
At any rate, their silence was not empty. Many thoughts and images came to mind. Foremost was their curiosity. What was Elijah’s message? What would he propose?
Raising his voice again, Elijah announced, “I am the last of Yehovah’s prophets, but Baal’s prophets number in the hundreds. So here is what we’ll do. Provide us with two bulls, and I will give them first choice. They will take their bull, cut it in pieces and place it on their altar, but–they cannot set fire to the wood. I’ll take the other bull and do the same, and not set fire to it. Then all of you and your prophets can call on your god, and I will call on the name of Yehovah, and the God that answers by fire–well then, that is the true God.”
This time, the people broke their silence. It was unanimous. They all shouted, “That’s a good plan!”
Elijah gave the other team two advantages: they had first choice of the bull they would use (perhaps one looked more flammable than the other), and, because there were so many of them, they could go first. “Set up your sacrifice,” he told them, “and call on the name of your god, but don’t put your offering on fire!”
It was still morning when the 450 prophets began crying out to Baal, begging him to answer. But by noon, there was not so much as a whisper in response to their prayers.
Previously, when Elijah asked why the people were “hopping” from one belief to another, he used the word metaphorically. But it was not a metaphor, when by noon the Baal prophets were getting desperate and they began hopping–not back and forth, but round and round, and up and down on their altar.
At this point, it is tempting to think Elijah was enjoying himself, watching the others getting more desperate by the hour. He may have had a mean sense of humor too. But then again, these prophets were enemies of God and brought great harm to God’s people. At any rate, Elijah began to taunt them.
“You need to cry louder,” he teased. “Baal is a god and you must get his attention. Maybe he’s deep in thought, or occupied with something else, or on an epic journey, or maybe he’s just taking a nap. You need to wake him up!”
The Hebrew Scriptures are filled with anthropomorphisms–that is, they frequently refer to God with images that suggest a human form. For instance, they speak of God’s hands, his eyes, or him being seated on a throne. These are ways in which we try to understand something about God using terms that make sense to us. It is understood that God transcends all of these descriptions, but we are only human and human language is the best we have to say anything meaningful about God.
However, Elijah’s jesting at Baal’s prophets goes beyond any human conception that Israel would ever use of their God; suggestions that could be construed as blasphemy. In other words, he could make fun of Baal in ways he would never refer to Yehovah. This is not mere disrespect of their religion, he was making a point. Baal was the invention of religious minds, Yehovah was known by his self-revelation to Israel.
Elijah’s joking triggered them into a frenzy. They cried louder, and resorted to more serious rituals, cutting themselves with weapons until they were covered in blood. They continued into the afternoon, but for all their ranting and raving . . . nothing. No voice from the sky, no response, no one paid any attention.
Their religious frenzy appears bizarre to us, but it was common practice among the pagan religions of that time. Priests and prophets would engage in all sorts of odd rituals to evoke a special state of consciousness. Thousands of years later, a Hebrew scholar would explain, “There are two fundamental types of ecstasy: the wild and fervid type, which is a state of frenzy arising from overstimulation and emotional tension; and the sober or contemplative type, which is a rapture of the soul in a state of complete calmness, enabling a person to rise beyond the confines of consciousness. The motivation for ecstasy lies in the desire for communion with higher being which transcends the grasp of man in his normal condition. It seems that the type of ecstasy one strives for is determined by one’s conception of the character of such a being. If the god is thought of as a sensuous being, fervid ecstasy would be a way of communion.” [Abraham Heschel]
Evening was approaching, and Baal’s prophets had their chance. Now it was Elijah’s turn. He called to the people, “Come closer to me,” and while they were moving toward him, he began repairing the altar of Yehovah that had been vandalized. He rebuilt it with twelve stones–one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. This was emblematic of returning to Israel’s roots, which were deep in Yehovah their God. It recalled a time when the word of Yehovah came to Jacob and changed his name to “Israel.” So as he repaired the altar, he did it thoughtfully in the name of Yehovah.
The altar was complete, but Elijah wasn’t finished. He dug a small trench around it, then sacrificed the bull, arranging its parts on the wood of the altar. Then he told several bystanders, “Fill four jars with water and bring it here. Now I want you to pour it over the offering, making sure it covers the wood as well.” After they did this, he told them, “Do it again.” He had them pour water over the sacrifice three times in all, so that it ran down the altar and filled the trench. Remember, water was in short supply throughout Israel. Elijah was making a point.
There have been many reports of God working miracles in answer to prayer, which is, of course, wonderful. However, in some of those stories it sounds like those praying for a miracle made it rather easy for God. For instance, the miracle took place at night, so no one was certain about what they saw. Or a group of twenty Christians ordered a box of chicken that usually comes with only ten pieces, but fed the entire group. Only a few years ago, an Israeli tour guide made Elijah’s miracle incredibly easy. He pointed out that much of Mount Carmel consists of limestone. So, clever as Elijah was, when he poured water on the altar, it raised a cloud of limestone dust, which the people mistook for smoke. I suppose the miracle was finding a lot of people dumb enough they couldn’t distinguish smoke from dust.
God doesn’t need us covering for him. When Paul gave testimony at his trial, he outlined the message he had delivered in many different cities. When he came to Jesus’ resurrection, one of the judges interrupted him, and told him that he was out of his mind, that all of his study and research had driven him mad. Paul answered him, “I am not out of my mind, what I’m saying is true and rational. King Agrippa can confirm this, for I’m certain that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner”. What a wonderful line! No honest Christian service for God has to be hidden in some corner where it cannot be observed and proven true or false.
Elijah didn’t make this miracle “easy”–although, for God nothing is difficult. But there was no need for Elijah to make the miracle more complicated either. He felt it necessary to demonstrate Yahweh’s superiority over all counterfeits.
Standing in the sacred space around the altar, approaching a sacred time of day, when the evening offering was to be made, Elijah prayed.
“O Yehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove now that you are the God of Israel and that I am your servant and have done all this at your command. Answer me, Yehovah, answer me, so that this people will know that you, Yehovah, are God and that you are bringing them back to yourself.”
And then, fire fell from the sky. The heat was so intense it consumed the offering, the wood, the stones–even the dust–, and vaporized the water in the trench. Immediately the people went to their knees chanting, “Yehovah, he is God! Yehovah, he is God!” Elijah then commanded the people, “Don’t let these false prophets escape!” So the crowd chased them down, and by the Kishon brook they were executed.
What do we hear, when Elijah asks,
“How long will you put off making your most important decision regarding God?”
– Do we realize we are given a responsibility,
• and at the same time, a powerful gift?
• the gift of choice
– We’ve made many choices in our lives,
• but not always with the awareness that we were making a choice,
• or the awareness that we’re now living with the results of the choices we’ve made
– We only experience the power of choosing–rather than acting out of habit–
• when we’re conscious of making a choice
• and that the choice we make will affect what happens next or later on
We always have a choice
– that doesn’t mean we choose everything that happens to us
• but when unexpected and unwanted things come our way,
◦ we can choose our response to them
• I’m learning, I can choose what kind of attitude I’ll have whenever,
◦ I must do chores I don’t want to do, or fix things I don’t feel like fixing
There will always be a variety of gods competing for our service
– like Israel, we can get stuck jumping from one god to another
• so the call comes repeatedly:
◦ Moses, “I’ve set before you life and death, blessing . . . . Therefore choose life . . . (De. 30:19-20)
◦ Joshua, “. . . choose today whom you will serve . . .” (Jos. 24:14-16)
• wanting to spare us from wrong choices,
◦ Jesus warned us,
“No one can serve two master, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Mt. 6:24)
– near the end of our lives, as we approach death
• is the wrong time, to realize that we have made the wrong choice
I put off a lot of things, thinking, “Well, there’s always tomorrow”
– but some decisions are too big to put off
• and a day comes when there isn’t a tomorrow
◦ and then it’s too late to choose
◦ then I can only regret the choices I didn’t make when I had the chance
This story reports the miracle that made Elijah famous
The heart of it is not that Yahweh proved himself to be Israel’s true God,
that’s the plot
The heart of the story, is the people of Israel had to make a choice
And where they went from there, and where they would finally wind up,
depended on the choices they made
That’s the central message – and it is our lesson for today
Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun
The Lord be with you.
Come Lord.
We need you just now.
Refresh our knowing you
Renew our delight in you
Reinfuse our trust in you
Rebuild our confidence in you.
Oh and Lord, tame our anxieties.
Our worries. Our fears.
Transform our resentments.
Our inclination to judge
Our desire to control others
Tamp down our anger.
And our outrage.
And our pride
We are just people caught up in the conflicts of the day
Pushed and pulled
Seldom consulted
Minimized
Powerless
Still, the Kingdom of heaven is at hand
We are your servants
We are your children
We are your friends
Open to us again your ways
Let us abide with you in all you are doing
For our friends
For our families
For our little communities.
And for those others we don’t understand so well
Strangers
The difficult
Our enemies
The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand
Fill us with all that means
Help us organize our days to receive it
Prepare our hearts
To gather in all the hope, joy, and healing you bring
And make us ready to celebrate fully
Amen
Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.
After many days
the word of the LORD came to Elijah,
in the third year, saying,
“Go show yourself to Ahab,
and I will bring rain upon the earth.”
So Elijah went
to show himself to Ahab 1 Kings 18:1-2
The village where Elijah had been living was on the Mediterranean coast, so I find it easy to imagine him walking the shoreline, allowing the onshore breeze to be refreshed. He listens to the rhythm of the waves and the squawking seagulls, and opens his heart to receive the moment. Then, hearing something else, he pauses, and shading his eyes from the glare of the sun’s bright reflection glancing off the ripples that stretch to the distant horizon, he looks and he listens. And now, after many days, the word of Yehovah comes to him–again.
Before we have finished reading the story of Elijah, we will have learned more about the mysterious Word of Yehovah, how it came to Israel’s prophets, how it empowered them to obey it, and then how we can condition ourselves to become sensitive enough to the voice of God when he speaks his word to us.
After three years of widespread famine, God is instructing Elijah to make his way back to Israel, and there to present himself to King Ahab. He is to give him the announcement that the drought is over, and rain is on the way. This would be welcome news in Samaria, where the famine had been severe, situated as it was in a hot, arid climate about seventy miles from the coast.
So Elijah tucks what few possessions he owns into his bedroll, slings the strap it over his shoulder, says goodby to the widow and her son, then makes his way to the Via Maris, on which he begins his journey south-east back to Israel and its capital city.
In Samaria, King Ahab’s attention has turned from his regular royal responsibilities to desperate efforts to guarantee his and his nation’s survival. At his side is his official aid, Obadiah, who managed the king’s personal affairs. Ahab summoned him to assist him on a quest to find whatever small source of water that had not yet dried up.
Since Obadiah is a new addition to the story, let’s get to know him.
The first thing we discover is that Obadiah was a devoted follower of Yehovah, and in spite of the fact he lived in the northern kingdom which had separated itself from Judah and the temple of God. The name, “Obadiah” means servant of Yah (Yah being a short form for Yehovah–like its meaning in the word hallelujah). And it turns out that Obadiah had an unusually deep reverence for God. At times, he was even willing to take certain risks for God.
Do you remember that when Queen Jezebel came to Israel. she brought her Baalim (gods) with her? Determined to replace Yehovah with the deities of her own country, Jezebel engaged a campaign to either kill the prophets of Yehovah or drive them out of Israel. When she began to cut off God’s prophets, Obadiah used his own resources to shelter and provide food and water for one hundred of them, dividing them into two groups of fifty and hiding them in two different caves.
Time out.
I can imagine someone asking, “Why do we need to know about Obadiah? Why can’t we skip over him and go straight to Elijah’s confrontation with Ahab? That’s the main event. Why go off-trail at this point?” My standard and annoying answer is, “That’s a good question.”
Anyway, as long as we’re asking questions, I have one that eats at me: Why are we told Obadiah’s name? We never learned the names of either the widow in Sidon or the name of her son the whole time Elijah lived with them. One could argue that he spent more time with them, and their role in his story is more important than Obadiah’s, and takes up more narrative space, so why do they have to be anonymous? Or, if we don’t know their names, why do we have to know Obadiah’s. After all, he has only this one small role in Elijah’s story.
Of course, a partial answer is that this is characteristic of male-dominated cultures. Men enjoy unique privileges of status, control, and opportunity, while women and children turn invisible as if they were mere shadows. But it is not always true that in the Scriptures men are named and women are unnamed. Some male characters have important roles, yet they’re not named, and some women with lesser roles are named. So there’s more to it than gender assignments–though that still is a factor.
I doubt that there is one single or simple reason for naming and not naming characters in the biblical stories. What that means for us, is that it might be well to pay attention to this detail in each specific story. We may need to look at what we learn about a person’s identity by what they do or say rather than by the meaning of their names. We might also pay attention to whether we can see ourselves in some of these unnamed characters. In many instances, does it matter at all if the person is anonymous? On the other hand, is not having a name sometimes an addition to the development or tension inherent in the plot?
Let’s get back to Obadiah . . . . He’s here, and I think it is okay for us to ask, “Why is he here?” One possibility for his inclusion, is that it highlights the potential cruelty of King Ahab. We learn from Obadiah’s participation in the story, that Ahab could be quick to execute someone for a petty offense. Israel’s kings tended to gravitate in one of two directions. The administration of some, like King David, demonstrated genuine care for the people, and they fulfilled the analogy of a shepherd with a flock of sheep. The other type of king was that of an autocrat, whose administration was cruel and self-serving. Those kings treated the people as if they were his slaves.
Another possible reason for including Obadiah’s brief appearance, is that he highlights Jezebel’s role as a threat to Israel’s true religion and an instigator of persecution of God’s appointed prophets. Her influence over Ahab is emphasized in his obituary, where we read, “There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of Yehovah like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited.”
One other contribution Obadiah makes to our understanding of scripture is an insight into the mysterious nature of the inspiration and extraordinary behavior of the prophets. Though these characteristics are discernable in their stories, Obadiah provides a clear expression of the way Elijah was subject to the unexplainable movements of God’s Spirit.
King Ahab called for Obadiah and told him, “You are going to scour the entire countryside to the north looking through all the valleys and known springs of water. I’ll go south and do the same thing. Hopefully we will find enough vegetation to save our horses and mules, so that we don’t lose all of our livestock.”
That was the plan.
While Obadiah was out searching for water, look what happens! Suddenly Elijah is right in front of him. Obadiah immediately dropped to his knees, then looking up he asked, “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?” I don’t think it’s my imagination that I hear a slight tremor in his voice. Elijah answered him, “It is I.” Then Elijah–as if he were Obadiah’s lord–gives him an order. He tells him, not without irony, “Go tell your lord,” meaning King Ahab, “Look, Elijah is back!”
That’s it. No greeting, no congratulations for rescuing God’s prophets, just the clipped command.
Immediately, Obadiah panics. “What is my sin, that you’re sending me on an errand to King Ahab that will end my life? I swear, as Yehovah your God lives, it’s the truth–that my lord Ahab has sent emissaries to every nation surrounding us to see if you were hiding out in any of them. If they answered no, that you were not there, he would make them take an oath to confirm they had looked, but not found you.
“And now, you’re telling me to go to my lord and say, ‘Look, Elijah has returned’? As soon as I leave on this fool’s mission, the Spirit of Yehovah is going to lift you up and carry you off to God-knows-where, and when Ahab comes here looking for you and can’t find you, he’ll execute me on the spot! Do I deserve this? I have been a reverent servant of God from the time I was a small child. Haven’t you heard how I rescued a hundred prophets of Yehovah when Jezebel was trying to kill of all of them? I supplied them with safe shelter and food and water. And now you’re telling me, ‘Go tell your lord, “Look, Elijah is here!”’ and when I do, Ahab will kill me!”
Elijah drew a deep breath, so that when he spoke his words were both reassuring and forceful. “As Yehovah of heaven’s armies lives, before whom I stand, I will for certain show myself to him today.” That was all. It was settled. Obadiah got up on his feet, went and found King Ahab, and told him Elijah was back. Then Ahab went to meet the prophet.
I’m going to stretch Elijah’s words a little for the sake of illustration. In God’s initial command to Elijah, he told him to go and show himself to Ahab, and now the prophet swears that he will show himself to the king. It is as if Elijah must put on a show.
It would not be like Elijah to simply walk into Ahab’s court and present himself to the king, or send him an invitation to meet for coffee, or use some other conventional form of working out a conference. There needed to be suspense, fanfare, some drama. He needed to make a show of it. Ahab had to know that an encounter with a prophet of God was not like any normal appointment, not even like meeting with a diplomat or king.
Prophets showed up in public at critical moments. They came when people absolutely needed to hear what God had to tell them. And oftentimes when the prophets showed up they came with a prop, a gimmick, or perhaps a performance of some bizarre act. One time a prophet wore a disguise and another time a prophet wore nothing at all. Usually, the strange actions of prophets were performed at God’s command, but I suspect that in some instances they planned their own choreography. But nothing they did was meant to draw attention to themselves. Everything pointed to the message they had been given–pointed to the powerful word of Yehovah.
Ahab’s initial greeting repeated the exact words of Obadiah, “Is it really you?” Only Ahab did not refer to Elijah as lord, but asked, “Is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel?” Elijah uses Ahab’s insult to go directly to the issue at hand, “Oh no, I am not the one who has brought this trouble on Israel, it is you and your father’s dynasty. You have abandoned Yehovah’s commandments and devoted yourself to the Baalim. So let’s run an experiment to prove which one of is the troublemaker. Go and round up all of 400 of Jezebel’s prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, and summon all the people of Israel to Mount Carmel. There we will see who is the true God!”
From the time I first heard this story from my grandmother, I’ve wanted to do something like Elijah did. I wanted his boldness. I wanted to receive and deliver a powerful word from God. I wanted to call down fire from heaven and prove to others that God is, and that he can be known and trusted and followed.
I’ve wanted to be Elijah, but I’m Obadiah. I’m comic relief. What Robert Alter said about Obadiah is that “he is a good man . . . but he is also an ordinary man, susceptible to fear.” I realize, I don’t need to be any more than that. I am a bit player, a link in a chain. I’m not the beautiful pendant hanging from the necklace or bracelet. I’m not the clasp that holds the chain together. I’m only a link like any other link–not celebrated, yet necessary.
I hope that we can accept the role God has given us in the drama played out on the stage of our lives. Even if we have just a few lines, I hope we memorize them well–that we ingest and internalize them until they become our truth, and we can deliver them smoothly and clearly.
What does it mean to be a bit player? All Obadiah had to do was deliver the message God gave to him through Elijah. We only have to play the role God gives to us, and though it may require courage, adaptation, and some hard work, it is doable. We’re like the servants at the wedding reception, where the hosts ran out of wine. Mary pointed to her son, Jesus, and told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” That’s the role of the bit player. Do whatever Jesus tells you.
Yesterday morning I was reading Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. It seemed to me that what he told them was wise and godly counsel for us in our politically divided and hostile culture. He wrote, “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone” (1 Thes. 5:15)
This is our role for the short time we spend on earth. We do good. But more than that, we are to be good, or become good. Jesus tells us, “Go. Go into the world, not as troublemakers but as healers, reconcilers, lovers of all regardless of who they are or what they have done. And remember, I am always with you to the end of time.”
Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun
Heavenly Father,
We hide behind our egos and our anger and our postures of power
and even our anxiety and fearfulness
In truth we are fragile and frail people
Broken, wounded, flawed
Grant us the gentleness to allow ourselves to be loved
Loved by you who loves us perfectly and knows us completely.
Loved and known by our friends and family imperfectly
since they too are fragile and frail people just like us.
Keep us on this path, to love and to be loved.
Help us to never wander away.
And when we wander away fill us with the grace to return,
gentled again to love and to be loved, and wiser,
having learned in particular ways what love is like.
Take care of our friend Nancy as she attends to the work of love
as it presents itself in her life just now.
Add to her store of affection and devotion
and fill her with wisdom as she learns how to love more fully.
We know that true peace, true healing, true salvation
is found in your love.
For that we are full of gratitude and wonder. Amen.
Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.
After this the son of the woman,
the mistress of the house, became ill.
And his illness was so severe
that there was no breath left in him. 1 Kings 17:17
Picking up from last week, directed by the word of Yehovah, Elijah came to the home of a widow in Sidon, north of Israel’s border. She had helped Elijah when he was hungry and homeless. She let him stay in her home, in the small room upstairs. She hid him from King Ahab’s spies. And, now, this! Her son was struck down with an illness. Was this the reward for her hospitality and kindness.
Who is she? What is her name? We were never told, and now it’s buried in a history archeology cannot retrieve. Her son is nameless too. Nameless, and yet we know them. We know about widows, we know the sons of single moms. There were a mass of them in biblical times and hundreds of thousands more today. We may not know the specifics of their personal identities, but we know enough to draw us into their dramas.
If we give careful study to the stories in the Hebrew Scriptures, we will find running through several of them a single thread. Whether or not we’re aware of why our response to the story is positive, because once the plot has played itself out we sense that a proper balance in the universe has been restored. My label for this outcome and how we respond to it is: “that’s the way it ought to be.”
Doesn’t it feel satisfying when good wins out over evil. If the people who did what was right come out on top, and those who did what was wrong get what they deserve, don’t you feel that’s the way it ought to be? For instance, Joseph’s older brothers tortured him and sold him as a slave, but in the end they were terrified of him and bowed at his feet in obeisance. That’s the way it ought to be! Then there was the heroic Esther who becomes the queen of Persia and the villain who opposed her comes to his end swinging from the gallows. Then, especially in the stories of Daniel and his three friends at times when their enemies hatched plots to get them executed. But when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked out of the fiery furnace unscorched, or Daniel thrown to the lions survived the night, while the next day those same lions tore his enemies to pieces–well, that’s the way it ought to be.
To the extent that the Psalms represent the prayers of Israel,
they were convinced that it was God’s will,
to vindicate the righteous and condemn the wicked.
The people of Israel must have loved hearing these morality tales,
cheering the hero and booing the villain.
A central revelation of scripture is the clear picture of how circumstances should unfold in a perfect world. The letter of James assumes that we already know these things, when he says, “From the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?” (Jas. 3:10-11).
When we come to the end of the widow’s story, we’ll see the way it concludes is the way it ought to be.
One morning the widow’s son did not jump out of bed. When she came looking for him, his face was flushed and his whole body shivered. Placing her hand on his forehead, then cheek, then neck–not that she needed to check all three places–, her suspicion was confirmed. Her boy was seriously ill. An hour later, each time he inhaled his chest barely moved. By noon she couldn’t tell whether he was even breathing. She scooped up his limp body and went looking for Elijah.
Her eyes were desperate and rivulets ran down her cheeks. Her lips trembled as she spoke, but her voice was strong. “What is between you and me?!” she began. This was a familiar expression in that part of the world, and it could imply several meanings. “What links us together?” “What business do you have with me?” “What brings you into my life? Into my stuff?” In this instance, there is more than a hint of accusation.
“What have you against me, O man of God?” – she addresses him as a “man of God,” but her tone sounds more like insult than respect.
“I’ll tell you what you’re doing here,” she says, “you’ve come to remind me of my sin and for it, cause my son to die!”
In the ancient Mediterranean world, most everyone assumed every bad thing that happened to a person was punishment for a sin – a crime. So, she begins by blaming herself. Apparently she was guilty for having done who knows what? Whatever it was, it must have been very bad for God to kill her son with this illness. Perhaps she blames herself for letting Elijah into her home and bringing this retribution with him.
So she also blames Elijah. If this man of God had not approached her that first day, she may have been able to escape detection and continued to live in peace–even if on the verge of starvation. But then, if not Elijah, maybe God would have brought a reminder of her sin some other way–and she still would have lost her son.
So who is to blame? She blames God. He’s the one in control of all things. He’s the one who gives life and takes it away. He’s the supreme Judge, from whom no one can hide or get away with anything. He’s the One who makes impossible rules and exacts harsh consequences whenever they’re broken.
Fortunately, we have moved beyond those ancient ideas. Science and medicine have taught us the physics of cause and effect. The legal system informs us that there are laws to protect society; if you violate one of them and are caught, you will pay for it. But it is humans who make and enforce those laws, not gods.
We also know of good people who suffer and bad people who have great wealth and excellent health. We know that any number of random events can break in on a person’s life and ruin it. If something terrible happens to us or our family, it is not our fault.
But still, when tragedy strikes we instinctively find ourselves asking, “What did I do to deserve this?” or saying, “I should not have done this or that.” Our rational minds may be full of modern ideas about cause and effect, but there’s still a place in our heart that carries these primitive beliefs of justice, or someone’s fault, or karma.
For the woman, all it took was for this man of God to show up at her gate, and by doing so, bring her to God’s attention. Remembering that she did not have a clean record, God had brought judgment to her home. That is how she interpreted her son’s sickness and death.
When Elijah spoke, his words were gentle, but commanding, “Give me your son” – and he reached for the child was draped over her arms. Turning from the widow, leaving her behind, he headed up the stairs to his room. What was going through his mind? Was he thinking, “This kid is so small and light. He’s not moving at all. There’s no hint of life”? Although it may seem like Elijah knows what he’s doing, what will happen next, knows that this will soon be made right, he doesn’t know. Walking up the stairs, he is praying.
Elijah spreads the child out on his bed. He lights the lamp and cries out, “O Yehovah my God, have you brought tragedy to this widow who was kind enough to take me into her home, and now you kill her son?” Perhaps he paced the floor a bit, then went to the bed and stretched himself over the child’s body. Why do this? Did he think he might transfer warmth and the vital energy of life into the boy’s body? Who knows? Both Elijah and his protégé, Elisha, were masters in working odd cures and miracles. “O Yehovah,” Elijah cried again, “let this child’s soul return into him again.”
We may know more about the human body–its organs, their functions, the constituents of muscle, bone, and blood–all the way down to the molecules that float around in our brains, but life and death are still mysteries that we cannot fathom or control. The boy’s soul returned to his body, and he revived. He lived again, because Yehovah listened to the voice of Elijah.
Elijah walked the boy downstairs to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive.” That could be a beautiful and worthy end to the story, but there’s still one more resolve. The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know –that you are indeed a man of God.” This is not theoretical knowledge, it is experiential. She says, “I know that you’re a man of God, and that the word of Yehovah in your mouth is truth.” This time her tone vibrates with awe and respect when she calls Elijah a man of God.
Why don’t we hear people around our nation telling Evangelical Christians, “Now we know that you are men and women of God, and we can trust what you have to say about God”? It’s not because Evangelical Christians aren’t working miracles like Elijah’s, but because they’re not working any sort of Christ-like miracle. They’ve lost their vision of Jesus and so they’ve lost their way. The Christian witness to the world is fading–dying. “O Yehovah God, let the soul of dead Christianity return to it again.”
Do you see what I mean when I say, that’s the way it ought to be? Parents ought not to lose their children. The souls of children ought not to drift away from their mothers and fathers. The equilibrium of a perfect world ought not to be knocked out of balance permanently. But it happens. The world is not perfect, and we’re are not in heaven yet. Not every story has a happy ending in the real world of our everyday experience.
But we have a truth – let’s speak it.
We have a divine love – let’s share it.
We have prayer – let’s use it, work it, exploit it.
We have a God, who has us. Or who will have us, if were willing to surrender to him.
Yesterday my meditation was on Colossians 3:15, “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
I wrote, “Christ’s rule of peace is not something I must fight to attain, not a battle I must win. His rule of peace is something I must “let” happen. I must surrender to his rule.
“As long as I am gripping my weapons, standing my ground, preparing myself for the next skirmish, I will not be at peace. I might win a fight once-in-a-while, and fellow soldiers may reward me with lots of ‘likes,’ but I will be anxious and reactive. I will jump nervously at every sound and flinch at every movement.
“No, I will not win peace. I must surrender into it. In the world I will have tribulation, but in Jesus I can be cheerfully at peace, because he has overcome the world and offers me his peace.”
It doesn’t take that much to make a major turn in our lives. Of course, once we’ve made the turn it will take everything for the rest of our lives. But to begin the process, all we have to do is say, “I surrender”–and mean it.
Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.
In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah,
Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel,
and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.
And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the eyes of Yehovah,
more than all who were before him.
And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,
he took for his wife (are you ready for it?) Jezebel
the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians,
and went and served Baal and worshiped him 1 Kings 16:29-31
A crooked king, a wicked queen, and a foreign god. You know this is going to be a great story. That’s because in literature (and storytelling), evil is more entertaining than good. We can predict a good person’s actions–they will be honest, kind, generous, and always choose what is right. The villains, however, are full of surprises. And they typically create the conflict that the heroes must overcome and resolve.
There are times when the scoundrels are at their worst, the champions must be all the more outstanding. This is exactly what we find at the beginning of our story. If Ahab was the most wicked king in Israel’s history, Elijah will prove to be Israel’s most illustrious prophet.
Like other prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures, Elijah arrives on the scene without a formal introduction. He is just suddenly there. It’s not that he had no previous existence, but he has no backstory, no biography. The first information we have about him is that he had been living among the settlers in Gilead, east of the Jordan River. This, to me, is the first intriguing feature of Elijah’s story.
When Israel arrived in the land, two and a half tribes chose not to make their home with the others. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Mannaseh found that the pasture land on the east side of the Jordan River was perfect for grazing their herds of cattle and sheep. But after years of living there, it became a disadvantage, because it placed them further from spiritual center, than any other tribe. So what intrigues me is why God would choose an unknown from Gilead. God had prophets in Israel, and he also sent prophets to Israel from Judah, but it’s a surprise that a prophet–and such a great one at that, should come to Israel from Gilead.
Was there a small community among whom devotion to Yehovah had somehow survived? If so, why don’t we ever hear anything about them? Was Elijah an anomaly? Did God sovereignly choose Elijah to know him, be faithful to him, and become his most powerful spokesperson in this era?
What would it mean for us, if God will always speak to anyone who is willing to listen to him? Peter made a wonderful discovery standing in a Gentile home, “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:35-36).
Elijah Steps Up
Now we know the hero and the villain. Ahab was the king of Israel for twenty-two years. A lot of damage can be done in twenty-two years. But at this time, Ahab was just getting started. Suddenly Elijah is in Ahab’s face, swearing an oath, “As Yehovah, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”
Swearing an oath in the name of Yehovah will become Elijah’s trademark. Standing up for Yehovah, Israel’s one true God will be his destiny. Elijah’s identity is wrapped up in his destiny. Like everyone in scripture, Elijah is defined by his name. Eli (E-l-i) is “God,” and Yah (j-a-h) is a shortened form of Yehovah: “Elijah”–“Yehovah is God.”
The bold prophet delivers the announcement to the king. The land will suffer a severe drought, and it will continue until Elijah says it is over. It seems that Elijah’s voice is still ringing in the air when the awesome word of Yehovah came to him, Leave here, head east, back across the Jordan River. Make your way to Wadi Cherith and hide there. Drink from the wadi and I have commanded ravens to feed you there.”
Elijah did not plan his own travels, nor did he speak his own words. His actions were driven down the inexplicable path of God. So . . .
he went and did – according to the word of Yehovah.
He went and lived – by the Wadi Cherith – east of the Jordan River.
And the ravens
brought him bread and meat in the morning,
and bread and meat in the evening,
and he drank from the wadi – water while it was there.
We are allowed, once in awhile, to pause the story and ask questions. For instance, what did God mean when he said that he had commanded ravens to feed Elijah? Certainly, it was not that he spoke to them in Hebrew or even in Raven caws and cries. Nor did he spend endless hours training them to fetch food and drop it at Elijah’s feet. I doubt the ravens knew they were being commanded to provide food delivery to the prophet. Like everything else ravens do, they followed their instinct.
Elijah’s Next Move
The drought was ongoing, so naturally the wadi dried up.
Elijah receives a new itinerary. The word of Yehovah directs him to a city in a country to the north, Sidon. Jezebel came from Sidon. Her father was the king of Sidon. If Ahab was trying to hunt Elijah down, he would never think of looking there.
Sometimes God sends his servants to the strangest places. Those environments may feel natural to the locals, but so alien to us that we wonder whether we have actually heard from God or got our signals mixed up. The first question many missionaries ask when they arrive in a foreign land is, “What am I doing here, for heaven’s sake?”
As God had arranged accommodations at Wadi Cherith, so he had gone ahead to provide shelter in Zarephath of Sidon. He tells Elijah, “Look, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”
Oh, this is odd! Not so much the part about a widow providing food and shelter for the prophet, seeing that widows typically struggled to survive. Yes, that is unusual. But that God tells Elijah that he has commanded a widow to feed him, even as he had commanded the ravens to feed him. Did the woman hear God’s command? No, she was as unaware of receiving the order as the ravens had been.
God’s word has a life of its own.
The movements acted out on the stage of human interactions were scripted and choreographed by unseen forces, under the direction of Yehovah.
Elijah’s Encounter with the Widow
As Elijah strolled through the city gate, “Look, a widow was gathering sticks in her arms.” Not bothering to ask God whether this was the person he was supposed to meet, Elijah called to her, “Bring me a cup of water.” In that misogynistic time and place, he did not have to ask. Even as a foreigner, he was male and she was female. So without a word of complaint, she turned to fetch him some water.
As she was walking off, Elijah gave her another chore, “Bring back a slice of bread in your hand.” At this she turned and resisted his request. Her first recorded words are almost exactly Elijah’s first recorded words. The slight difference is that her god was not Elijah’s God. She first swore an oath,
“As Yehovah your God lives, I do not have any baked bread. All I have is a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. What I’ve been doing is looking for a couple of sticks to make a fire so I can prepare a meager, last meal, for my son and I so we can eat it and then starve.”
Elijah encouraged her, “Don’t be afraid. Go on and do as you said. Make that meal, but feed me first. Then make some more for yourself and your son.” Then he delivered to her a personal prophecy, “For thus says Yehovah, the God of Israel,
‘The jar will not run out of flour,
the jug will not empty out,
not until the day that God sends rain
and the drought comes to an end.’”
Perhaps she was gullible. Perhaps she was moved by a surge of faith. The poor widow went and prepared something for Elijah, and then for herself and her son. For a long time her supplies were sufficient to keep the three of them fed.
So this episode ends on the happy note that
The jar of flour never ran out,
the jug of oil was never empty.
The word of Yehovah
that he spoke by Elijah
sustained them exactly as he said.
In my mind, I’ve lived a sheltered life
Both of my parents remembered standing in long lines
in order to get government rations of bread and butter
My grandmother would “darn socks”
(I doubt that my children or grandchildren know what that means)
She would mend socks because that was less expensive than buying new socks
I am also aware that what I consider a reasonable standard of living
is wealthy indulgence to the majority of the world’s population
And also to many people living in the US
Even to many people barely surviving in South Orange County
There’s a tremor rattling our nation
Symptoms that hard times may be coming
Indeed, hard times have already overwhelmed many families
And I wonder, if it gets worse, will we rely on the word of the LORD?
Will we listen to the prophets in scripture
and trust in what God has revealed to us through them?
Let’s say that this November our nation puts King Ahab in the White House
– King Ahab is whichever candidate it is that you think will destroy America –
Let’s say that king takes over,
and what happens next is the end of the world as we know it
Will our hearts be unshaken, because we know Jesus the Christ, the Son of God?
Another question is this: If darkness descends upon the world,
could we do even more than trust God and continue to worship him?
Could we possibly become prophetic and proclaim the word of the LORD,
giving others hope and direction?
Every once in awhile someone appears in the spirit and power of Elijah
If we are able to fix our hearts on God,
we could become the stability of our times
And wouldn’t that be something?
Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men;
preserve me from violent men,
who plan evil things in their heart
and stir up wars continually.
They make their tongue sharp as a serpent’s,
and under their lips is the venom of asps. Selah
Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
preserve me from violent men,
who have planned to trip up my feet.
The arrogant have hidden a trap for me,
and with cords they have spread a net;
beside the way they have set snares for me. Selah
I say to the Lord, You are my God;
give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy, O Lord!
O Lord, my Lord, the strength of my salvation,
you have covered my head in the day of battle.
Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked;
do not further their evil plot, or they will be exalted! Selah
Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.
Intro: This week a nearby church hosted a Vacation Bible School
My fourteen-year-old granddaughter, Adrianna, volunteered to help out
– on Friday, a friend sent me a video that she filmed the day before
• when I watched it, there was Adrianna on a stage in front of a crowd of kids
• she had a Bible in her hand, and from it she read a couple verses from the Psalms
◦ then she gave a brief talk, encouraging everyone to trust God’s love and faithfulness
– Adrianna was superb – as if she were a professional and had done this for years
• I was very impressed
Last week, I had also been reading in the Psalms
– reading Psalm 140, I noticed three Selah’s interspersed in these eight verses
• that caused me to take a closer look
• the poet was obviously agitated – he seemed oppressed by the actions of bad people
◦ there were evil and violent people planning crimes
◦ there were troublemakers stirring up wars
◦ others were using their clever words to deceive and ruin people
◦ the poet felt threatened by all the rampant wickedness in his world
– thinking this over, it seemed to me that the Selah’s may have been strategic
• I’ll get to that in a minute, but first . . .
What does the Hebrew word Selah mean, and why isn’t it translated into English?
Hebrew scholars tell us that no one alive today knows for sure what it means
– those who are the most knowledgeable have the least to say about Selah
– they say we can’t even be certain about how the word was formed from its verbal roots
However, there are other people who are happy to tell us what they think it means:
– Church Music Directors and Worship Leaders may suggest, “Selah is a musical notation”
• it means, “Take it up a notch”
• increase the volume – pick up the pace – play the melody in a higher key
– Bible teachers tell us, Selah means we’re supposed to closely study the psalm
• for them, Selah means, “Stop and think about what you just read”
– Spiritual Mentors may see another purpose for Selah – that it is a signal
• we need to pause and compose ourselves, have a moment of silence,
• and then continue on in the psalm
This third option is how I decided to use Selah when reading this psalm
The poet was already “in a mood” before he began praying
– as he listed all the societal problems he saw, his blood-pressure started to rise
• he needed a break, so “Selah” – he calmed himself down then returned to prayer
• but soon he was worked up again and needed another break – “Selah”
◦ then after a few more lines he had to take another time-out – “Selah”
◦ finally, he was able to finish his prayer
– is it possible this psalm was written for me? (Well, not “me” exclusively)
• many times in the last one-and-a-half years, my prayers have begun in desperation
◦ driven by angst, bewilderment, and frustration
• the closer we get to the presidential election, the more hot-heads show up
◦ a positive outlook: many people truly love our country and care about its future
◦ a negative outlook: no one engaged in the conversation can remain rational – they all go looney
I wrote these words yesterday afternoon,
before I learned of the attempted assassination of former President Trump
My meditation: “What odd creatures we are, that when we turn to God with a list of concerns, wanting his help, wanting to see his hand move in our world and put an end to crime, greed, and violence, our very prayer churns up all the anxiety we’re trying to release. We need to learn how to practice Selah, so we don’t spoil and undermine our prayers by increasing our anxiety rather than diminishing it.”
• we learn from St. Paul that self-control is one of the fruits of the Spirit
◦ self-control includes the self-regulation of our feelings and emotions
• those people who have the most unrest in their souls,
◦ are precisely the ones who rile up the souls of others
◦ I’m convinced Jesus wants us to have the opposite influence on others
In order to be God’s agents of peace in a troubled world,
– we need to be able to soothe our unregulated feelings and emotions
– can we learn to do this? Can we tame and train our souls? With the poet can we say,
“Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you”? (Ps. 116:7)
That brings me to another psalm I read this week
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore (Ps. 131)
The poet begins with a confession of being overwhelmed
– he’s given up trying to comprehend things that are over his head
• what did he do with challenges that required more than he could muster?
◦ he self-regulated the disturbance that boiled within
• How? By doing what he tells others to do in verse 3
O Israel, hope in the LORD
◦ that is, focus attention on Yahweh our God and find hope in him
– and what if a fresh round of upsetting circumstances bombarded him?
• he did the same thing – as many times as it took – over and over again,
“from this time forth and forevermore”
The poet imagined his soul to be like a small child
– the first few times I read this verse, it threw me
• I thought that a better metaphor would have been “a nursing baby”
• anyone whose seen a hungry infant, anxious to be fed,
◦ has also seen its repose at its mother’s breast
– after learning about need to form secure attachments in infancy and early childhood,
• I realized why the weaned toddler is the better metaphor
◦ it is in this period of life that we first learn to regulate our emotions
◦ and we learn it from our parents
• the weaned child is not with the mother because it needs to be fed,
◦ but because it needs to feel her touch, hear her voice, and be reassured and loved
◦ it’s not enough to receive that sort of warm affection and attention;
we must have hope that it is always there when we need it
What we have learned about self-regulating our emotions,
– is that we get a lot of help doing this from others
• and, of course, this implies that we can become a shelter of calm in the storm for them as well
• but that requires us to first find that calm garden within ourselves
– in our Reflexion community, we’ve learned the value of the breath of life
• that slowing our breath can quickly change what’s going on in our minds
◦ we receive each breath direct from God – and we return each breath to him
• slow, deep breathing is “nice,” but it’s not enough to bring us to a calm state
◦ there are two more things we need to do:
1.) Relax your body – most the time, we don’t know where our tension is hiding
◦ it’s sometimes necessary to do a body scan
2.) Focus attention – for many of us, a word or phrase can do the trick
◦ inhale “here” and exhale “now”
◦ inhale, “O God, come to my assistance” and exhale, “O LORD make haste to help me”
Once we recover the sense of our closeness to Jesus, and our hope in him, we are at peace
– and frequently that’s enough for us to become a calming influence to others nearby
Conclusion: Today and through this coming week,
News broadcasts will be flooded with stories of yesterday’s events in Pennsylvania
– the reaction of millions of people will range from moderate to wildly extreme
• earlier this morning, Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson advised Americans,
◦ that “everyone needs to turn the rhetoric down”
(he was referring to all the name-calling, insults, and threats we find on social media)
◦ we hope that he and all of Congress (where there have been recent brawls) and the Senate will be able to do that, and set an example for the rest of us
• but it’s not just the wild, outrageous, and inflammatory speech that must end,
The adjustment must be made at the source of the anger, hostility, and violence
and that is the intense feeling–the fear and the hate–in our hearts that must be turned down
And our God, through his word–and especially here in the Psalms–has shown us how we do this
Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift! (1 Cor. 9:15)
Daily Meditations From the Scriptures