I have had enough, Lord.

I Kings 19:4 Then he went on alone into the desert, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”

Have you been there? Have you struggled to the point where you have had enough? Has life dealt you such a blow that you just literally want to give up? If so, you are not alone. Elijah was one of the greatest prophets of all time. He had been used of God to do some mighty miraculous things. He had just come down from Mt. Carmel where God had used him mightily to witness to the nation of Israel that he is God. It was a day unlike any other day in Israel’s history. You would think that Elijah would be floating on cloud nine. But just the opposite was true. Elijah had irked the wrath of Jezebel, the reigning queen. He had the prophets of Baal, whom she served, killed. She wanted revenge and threatened Elijah’s life. He was totally exhausted and there was no fight in him. Instead of standing strong before her, he ran. He ran as far as his weary body would take him. He was spent, and all he wanted to do was to die.

We all get weary at times and want to just give up. We all want the Lord to just take us home. It’s easy to get that way when we don’t keep our gas tanks full. When we run on adrenaline, or our reserve tanks, we sooner or later run out of fuel. It is imperative that we never let our fuel tank run low. We need to constantly stay in the Word and in our prayer closets. We need to constantly seek the Lord while He may be found. We need to make sure that we don’t ever try to go on our strength.

We need to be wise enough to know when to pull back and recharge our batteries. We are most vulnerable when we are weak, even if it is weakness from doing good. We need to understand that we can’t fight Satan when we are weak. We need to take care of our bodies and minds. We need to take care of our souls.

We need to be honest with ourselves about our limitations. We are not God. We need to take the time to rest. We need to say no when we are doing too much. We will not do ourselves, others, or the Lord, any good if we get so down that we want to just give up.

May the Lord give you the wisdom to know that everything does not depend on you and that you need to take care of yourself so that you can give of your best to the Master.

Walk up to the altar and pray.

I Kings 18:36,37 At the customary time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O LORD, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.”

Elijah walked up to the altar and prayed. I get the feeling that this was a walk of confidence and boldness. Elijah was not impressed by the number of those who opposed him. He was concerned about the skeptics who were hanging around to see what would happen. Elijah was bothered by the fact that the prophets of Baal had been praying to their god all day long to no avail. They had put on quite a show, but Elijah wasn’t impressed or worried that maybe God would not hear and answer his prayer.

Notice that Elijah never questioned his own faith in God.  He knew that God was who He is and that He was his.  He was bent on trying to convince those gathered on Mt. Carmel that God is and that He wanted to be their god.  Elijah was persuaded that God was there, that God was able to silence the voices of those opposed to him, and that God was going to convince the skeptics that he was indeed the Lord God of Israel.

In fact, Elijah had taken measures to make it seemingly difficult for God. He prayed and then prepared the sacrifice in such a way that it would take nothing less than the hand of God to consume it. Elijah knew that God would not leave him hanging. He knew that God would hear and answer his prayer. He knew, because he had walked with God throughout his life and God had never failed him. Time and time again God had made himself known to Elijah, and Elijah knew that this time would be no different.

I wonder about whether or not we have the same kind of confidence Elijah had when we pray. Do we trust in God’s favor upon us? Do we believe in a God who hears and answers the prayers of those who trust in Him and pray according to His will for them? Do you approach God with boldness and confidence when you pray? Do you believe the Lord when he said that if we ask anything in His name according to His will that He will give it to us? If you are living right with God, you know Him well enough to know that He will hear and answer your prayers. You will be able to approach Him with boldness and confidence.

Walk up to the Lord’s altar today and pray.

What validates your life?

I Kings 18:25-26  Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “You go first, for there are many of you.  Choose one of the bulls and prepare it and call on the name of your god.  But do not set fire to the wood.”  So they prepared one of the bulls and placed it on the altar.  Then they called on the name of Baal all morning, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!”  But there was no reply of any kind.  Then they danced wildly around the altar they had made.

When I read these verses, I am struck by the futile foolishness of these prophets of Baal.  Scripture tells us that there were 450 of these men devoted to the worship of Baal.  These men were living utterly foolish lives.  They were committed to the worship of Baal.   They devoted their lives to a god who was no god at all.  Think about it.  In spite of the fact that Baal was nothing but wishful thinking, they persisted in chasing after the hope that maybe they were wrong, that maybe Baal was real after all.  Even though none of what they hoped that Baal could do for them ever had happened, they refused to let go of their hope that somehow he was a god.  They refused to humble themselves and admit that they were wrong, that Baal was no god at all.

These prophets were from the people of Israel.  They should have known better.  They were exposed continuously with the reality of God’s presence.  They had constant opportunities to hear about God and witness His workings amongst them.  However, they refused God’s witness and chose to follow Baal instead.  They devoted themselves to chasing after empty promises and lived lives that were hopeless with no one who could help them.  They were so deep into their foolish thinking that they could no longer see the truth.

How futile their lives were!  They were desperately hanging on to the hope that their lives had meaning, hoping that their god was a god after all.  They did everything they could to validate their beliefs.  They gave it their all.  They ranted and raved in front of their god, trying to get a response.  They not only were trying to give purpose and meaning to their lives, they were trying to convince those watching them that they were not mere fools.  Can you imagine the noise and confusion as they desperately tried to make their god real?

What are you chasing after in order to validate your life?  What gives your life purpose?  What gives you the assurance that life is worth the living?  If you are trying to find what you are looking for apart from a relationship with Christ, you will never find it.  It is utter foolishness and life lived chasing after that which can never satisfy is futile living.  Jesus alone can give life purpose and meaning.  He alone is real.  He alone can help you.  He alone is worthy of your life devotion.  He alone can help you.

I am all alone.

 

I Kings 18:22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only prophet of the LORD who is left, but Baal has 450 prophets.”

Maybe you can relate to how Elijah felt. Here was a man of God who simply felt like he was the only one standing up for God. He was seemingly always on the spot. He was known as a man of God, but few seemingly cared for God. He was being singled out and confronted because of his faith. Elijah would not back down; he remained strong in faith wherever he went. His witness was strong, even in the midst of being intimidated to the point of death. Elijah was weary of it all and made it known that he was the only one around who was faithful to the Lord. He was surrounded by a multitude of people who were opposed to him because of his faith.

Sometimes we get tired and weary because we too think we are the only witness the Lord has around us. Even though we know better, we sometimes feel like there is no other believer around whom we can have fellowship with. Satan wants us to feel sorry for ourselves. He wants us to feel isolated. He wants us to think more about ourselves than those around us.

He knows that as long as he has us thinking about ourselves, we won’t be concerned about the soul needs around us. We won’t be reaching out in ministry to others. We won’t be praying for those who would persecute us or those who are in need amongst us.

There are two things to do to get out of from under this kind of a mood: first, ask the Lord to show you other believers who are around you; and secondly, ask the Lord to change your heart from being self-centered to other-centered. The Lord has other witnesses for Him in your world and He will make that known to you if you ask Him to.

The Lord wants to love others through you. He wants you to reach out to the hurting around you and bring them the hope we have in Christ. He wants you to stand in the gap and be His witness to the lost in your world. Satan is a liar; you are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.

Don’t let Satan silence your witness for Christ in your world. Stand strong in faith and take Christ to the needy souls all around you. People you know are waiting for you to step up to the plate and give them hope. Will you do it?

How long will you waver?

I Kings 18:21  Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How long are you going to waver between two opinions?  If the LORD is God, follow him!  But if Baal is God, then follow him!  But the people were completely silent.

Elijah had called out the prophets of Baal and the Israelites to come and watch the spectacle.  There was a real drought in Israel at that time, both physically and spiritually.  The Israelites had wandered far from God.  They became entangled with the lives of those around them.  They embraced the false gods of their neighbors instead of remaining loyal to God.  God had tried over and over again to get them to repent and change their ways, but they would not listen.  In order to get their attention, God dried up their land.  They had had no rain for 3 1/2 years.  They were in desperate times.

Elijah challenged the people to decide once and for all whom they were going to believe in, the Lord or Baal.  Baal obviously had a much greater hold on them than God did.  They knew about God, but they didn’t know God.  You would think they would have had enough of the empty promises of the Baal worshipers.  You would think that they would have realized that they were trusting in false gods.  You would think that they would have declared their allegiance to God whom they had forsaken.

But the people were silent.  They did not say anything at all.  Why?  I believe one of the reasons why was because they had drifted so far from God that their souls were deadened.  They were not able to declare their allegiance because they had lost their grip on God and they had lost their belief in a personal God who wanted to be in a relationship with Him.  They were living in darkness and those in the dark don’t come to the light out of fear their deeds would be exposed.

Sin does that to the soul.  The more we engage in it and justify it, the less confidence we have in a God who loves us and desires a relationship with us.  It deadens the soul and left unchecked will darken the soul to the point where we forsake God.  Don’t underestimate the effect sin has on the soul!  Sin is an abomination to God and it should be to us.  It is our enemy, not our friend.  We should be diligently on guard over our souls and not allow it to take a hold of us.  When we sin we should be driven to our knees before the Lord and confess it.  We should be constantly feeding our souls with God’s Word and hiding it in our hearts so that we might not sin against Him. 

Take sin seriously; it can be lethal to the soul.

In order to hear the voice of God.....

I Kings 17:2, 9, 18:1  Then the LORD said to Elijah…..

In all three of these verses, the Lord is speaking to Elijah in different places, to different people, for different reasons. What strikes me is that the Lord spoke to Elijah. James tells us that Elijah was a man just like us. Has the Lord ever spoken to you so vividly that you simply could not deny it or mistake it? Does the Lord speak to you?

There are times in which God speaks to us when we are not expecting it or wanting to hear Him. The Apostle Paul comes to mind. But, most of the time, we have a lot to do with whether we are able to hear from God or not. And, I do believe the Lord still speaks to us. He speaks to us from His Word, through pastors and teachers, books, music, etc. There are some things we must know if we want to hear from Him.

In order to hear the voice of God, we must be in a position to hear it. We must be tuned in with the Lord so that we are able to recognize His voice and respond to it. The only way that can happen is to make Jesus not only our Savior, but our Lord. We must intentionally and passionately pursue Him and live for Him. We must be humbled before Him and long to serve Him.

In order to hear from God, we must be in a place to hear Him. We must be willing to shut out all the distractions that surround us and focus our thoughts on Him alone. We must be still before Him before we can know He is near. We must make it a priority in our lives to spend quiet time with Him where we focus our minds solely on Him.  Do you have a quiet place where you meet with God?  If not, I urge you to find one today and faithfully go there every day.  For some it may mean that adjustments will have to be made in schedules or activities.  There is nothing more important to do in life that to find a place where you meet with God.

In order to hear from God, we must be in a program to hear Him. By that I mean, we must be in a consistent discipline of being in His Word and prayer. We must consistently take the time to read and meditate on the Word. We must allow it to saturate our minds to the point where it is our guiding light in all we do.  We must intentionally have fellowship with the Lord, opening our hearts up to Him, sharing with Him all that is within. 

In order to hear from God, we must be under the control of his Spirit. We must allow Him to actively work in us to change us and mold us into godliness.  We must be a people of praise and thanksgiving. 

May the Lord open up our ears, minds, and hearts so that when He speaks, we will hear, listen, and obey.

Costly Disobedience

I Kings 16:34  It was during his reign that Hiel, a man from Bethel, rebuilt Jericho.  When he laid the foundations, his oldest son, Abiram, died.  And when he finally completed it by setting up the gates, his youngest son, Segub, died.  This all happened according to the message from the LORD concerning Jericho spoken by Joshua son of Nun.

God says what He means and means what He says.  Why is it that we so often have to learn it the hard way?  Or, is it that we simply don’t care?  God does not speak to just hear himself speak.  He speaks because He has something important to tell us, things that are for our own good.  He wants to spare us from our self-destructive ways and make it possible for Him to bless us.  But, we make it so hard on ourselves by not paying attention to what He says.

Do yourself a favor and pay attention to what the Lord has to say.  Keep your Bible open and read it often so you won’t miss it.  Meditate upon God’s words, pray over them, and then strive to live them.  Consistent time spent in His Word keeps us from forgetting His instructions or becoming confused by them.  We can’t do what pleases God unless we know what God expects of us.  We can’t avoid sin unless we read about it and recognize it when we see it.  We can’t discern truth from error unless we are students of the truth.

We are able to discern truth from false teaching as we stay in the Word.  We learn the value of obedience and the consequences of disobedience.  We learn a lot about God and about ourselves.  We learn everything we need to know about how to please God and be accepted by Him.

Wise is he who holds God’s Word close to his heart and obeys it.  God holds each of us accountable for what we know and how we live it.  He also holds us accountable for getting to know the Word given to us.  There is no excuse for ignoring what God says.  There is no excuse for not getting to know what God has to say to us and then living it.