Active Faith

October 13, 2019 Background Scripture: 1 Kings 17:1 – 24 Lesson Passage: 1 Kings 17:8 – 16 The prophet, Elijah, is brought on the biblical scene with no fanfare whatsoever. His introduction states his name, hometown, and homeland. There is no past history and family lineage given to prepare us for what is about to ensue. What we soon discover is that Elijah was one of the boldest servants to ever speak for God. God’s actions clearly demonstrated that what Elijah spoke was indeed the word of God. Elijah was synonymous with God’s own mouth. God brought Elijah to the king of Israel with a stern rebuke. King Ahab was said to have been more wicked than all the other kings of Israel before him. King Ahab worshiped idols, he had places of worship built to house idols, and he married a foreigner rather than a fellow Jew as stipulated in the Law. His rule of Israel spanned over two decades. God raised up Elijah to confront King Ahab. What Elijah did after the first confrontation with King Ahab is more telling of his faith than anything else. God told Elijah where to go, what to eat, and when to move on to another location God identified. When God had Elijah to pronounce a drought in the land, Elijah was in the land as well. In other words, Elijah was affected by the same prophecy that was going to affect the others. At the beginning of the drought, God sent Elijah to a brook to drink from while he was being supplied with bread and meat in the mornings and evenings by a raven. It is not known what he might have experienced in Tishbe of Gilead during the drought, however, by obeying the voice of God, Elijah’s physical wellbeing was totally in the hands of God. Besides that, ravens are considered scavengers. Some people even consider ravens to be bad omens. Under normal conditions, a person would not venture to eat anything that had been touched by a raven. Elijah depended on the raven to bring him food to sustain him. Then the brook dried up. The fact that Elijah stayed at the brook until it dried up shows a remarkable faith in God. From the dried-up brook, God sent Elijah to a widow in Sidon to be sustained. When Elijah arrived, he found the widow preparing to fix the last piece of bread from the oil and meal she had remaining. She had planned for this to be the last meal. After she and her son had eaten the bread, then they were planning to die of starvation. This is where God brought Elijah after he was instructed to leave a dried-up brook. Elijah’s faith did not appear to be intimidated by the bleakness of the situation. Elijah boldly asked the widow to fix him some bread first. He prophesied that her meal and oil would not run out during the drought if she would obey his instructions. After this initial encounter, the widow’s son died later. Elijah prayed over the boy three times and asked God to return the boy’s soul (life) into the body. God granted Elijah’s prayer and he presented the boy to his mother alive. The word of the Lord came to Elijah and he prophesied a drought in Israel. Elijah was affected by the drought as were the other inhabitants. However, Elijah was sustained because he demonstrated an active faith in God to supply his needs. Robert C. Hudson September 18, 2019