A lesson from Elijah

 1 Kings 17:1-3

King James Version

17 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

2 And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,

3 Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.

If you read 1 Kings 16, there is a succession of kings. Omri's dad was bad, but he was worse than all the bad kings before him. Then comes Ahab, who marries Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal. And it says that Ahab did worse than all that were before him. 

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

They pushed the worship of Baal and Asherah, a false god and goddess. Asherah promoted the temple prostitutes that, for a price, would have relations with men and somehow guarantee them that they would have children and their crops would do well. The groves that are so prominently mentioned in scripture were an outgrowth of this practice. The prostitutes would go to these areas and practice their "arts" to bless the locals out in the country with the opportunity to worship Asherah the same way as the city folks did. 

Part of Baal worship was child sacrifice! Another form of this false god was Molech. And God was very angry at his people for sacrificing their children "in the fires to Molech."

So the false goddess promised prosperity and children, while the false god required the same children to be killed in the fire for him. 

Yet, Israel and Judah, both turned away from the one true God and turned to worship these false ones.

Why? 

Jehovah God requires morals, honesty, morality, and faithfulness.  The false gods said, do this for me and I'll bless you and let you do what you want, how you want, and when you want. 

Along with this religious mess, the "school of prophets" that existed (not at God's behest, mind you), did little more than try and spit in the wind. Very few of these prophets prophesied truth. And the few that did flamed out very quickly. Note: ever notice in our history that whenever man tries to organize an education system in order to train workers for God that it never goes well and usually winds up badly? Study it out for yourself.

The school of prophets? No effect really.

The early church set up colleges to educate young preachers? The church wound up getting completely off track for hundreds of years.

One of the greatest evangelists of the 1800's started a college in order to help educate young preachers. It's now one of the most liberal and ungodly colleges in the world. In fact, nearly all of our major colleges and universities were started as Christian colleges to help young preachers. And the vast majority of them do not retain even a vestage of their original Christian heritage. 

It was in the backdrop of Baal worship and spiritual hypocrasy that Elijah seems to burst on the scene out of nowhere. He was not a member of the priesthood. He was not a member of the school of prophets. Yet, suddenly, boom! There he is facing down the king! 

And not only that, he makes an absolutely startling pronouncement. 

"And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." 1 Kings 17:1

If you fixated on the part about the no rain or dew except by his word, you missed it. 

Yes, that was incredible. This previously unknown prophet has the audacity to burst into the kings audience room in the palace (God only knows how he got there in the first place) and makes his drought declaration. 

But, if you really pay attention, the most amazing part of his statement wasn't the drought. It was this phrase: "As the Lord liveth, BEFORE WHOM I STAND..."

Now think about this from a kingdom perspective for a minute. 

In a kingdom, when you go into the presence of the king, it is 1) at the kings request only (you don't just burst into his audience chamber. They'll kill you.) and at his chosen time, 2) and you must bow before him until he gives you leave to get up- IF he does. Only a precious few close friends and confidants were allowed to stand in the kings presence. It was a chosen place indeed.

Now Jesus is the KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS. Soon, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW before him. Even in the tabernacle or the temple, you didn't just enter into his presence any old way. There were strict guidelines and procedures, a select few to begin with, and sacrifices had to be made. 

Yet, in walks Elijah and says in his self introduction, "Before whom I STAND..."

This strongly implies a very close walk with God almighty. How did he accomplish this?

Think about it. 

We tend to look at things from our modern experience. We live in a country where the word of God is readily available and easy to access. We have Christian book stores, Christian radio, Churches both on every corner and in the middle of nowhere. Most people here, to some degree, claim some form of belief in God. So, when a preacher says we can hear the voice of God through his word or from the preacher/teacher, we don't bat an eye. 

But, in ancient Israel and Judah, the word of God was pretty well just Genesis through Deuteronomy and was only found in the hands of the priesthood and read in masse to the congregation of Israel only on certain feast days. Otherwise, only they had the word of God. And since most of the roaming "prophets of God" were false prophets out to make a living for themselves, hearing the voice of God from the "man of God" was a shaky proposition at best. The school of prophets was mostly a farce. 

So, how did Elijah even hear from God, much less become the great prophet that he was?

It's simple, yet profound really.

At some point, Elijah, who obviously had a heart for God, decided that he wanted to talk to God himself. Forget the false prophets, the idol worship, the priests who were just going through the motions, and the country's leaders who didn't care about the people or the one true God. He was going to bypass the whole system and go straight to the source. 

He'd heard the stories of Israel's deliverence and establishment in the promised land and he believed them. He looked at where things stood and asked, "Lord Jehovah, where are you?" 

But, rather than get despondant and depressed, or angry and crazy, he apparently began to seek God for himself. He began to pray to find God and establish a relationship himself. He bypassed the whole religious system of his day and went straight to the source. 

We don't know how long it took for the relationship to form and grow. We don't know how many ups and downs Elijah experienced in his journey. But we do know that at some point, Elijah made a strong connection with the God of the universe. So strong in fact that when God had had enough of his people's antics, that God bypassed their religious system and tapped Elijah on the shoulder and said, "I got a job for you to do, son." 

No high priest was contacted. No prophet from the school was called. God reached out to Elijah and sent him from the backwoods of small town Israel to the kings audience chamber. There, he used this unknown, backwoods prophet to rebuke the king of Israel in front of his entire entourage! 

Elijah would do amazing things for God. He never was a part of the religious establishment. He was tacitly recognized by the school of Prophets, but nowhere does it even imply that the priests and levites even acknowledged him. He would bring Israel to repentance, call fire from heaven on several occasions, temporarily set back Baal worship in Israel, and set up the next great prophet in his stead. 

He probably prolonged Israels stay in the promised land.

But, it all started with a desperate prayer on some backwoods hilltop. "God, where are you?"

Imagine, even as backwards as our current society is becoming. Even as crazy as things are going to get, if we (you and I) were to take Elijah's attitude and reach out to God to find him and have a relationship with him. 

Elijah didn't start out trying to be a prophet. He didn't start out longing to bring revival in Israel. He sure didn't see himself facing down the kingdom. He just wanted to find God and get to know him. That's all.

And that's what Jesus came to do. He came to open the door wide for us to be able to do as Elijah did- become more than worshippers of him, more than religious followers, but become his friends! Just as the Apostles and early church. 

This is what Jesus offers us:

John 15

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

With this relationship, Elijah shook Israel to it's core. With this relationship, the early church changed their world. 

Scripture says "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts." (Haggai 2:9)

It's going to happen. Some people are going to reach past their limitations and find God and do amazing things because of that relationship. 

"...the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits." Daniel 11:32

"20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen." Mark 16:20

Since it's going to happen, why don't we decide to reach out to God and become whatever part of his endtime revival he wants us to play? Why don't we seek him and follow him- just to grow that relationship with him. How he uses us is up to him.

But, just as Elijah and the Apostles formed their relationship with God not knowing how they were going to be used, lets just fall in love with God and let him lead us. We may be amazed at what he decides to do with all of us nobodies. 

How about it?

Why don't we give it a shot?