Elijah: The God You Can Know • 1 Kings 17-18

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Are you in an impossible situation? Do you have confidence in your knowledge of God so that you can trust Him with that impossible situation? This is post #8 in the Old Testament Men blog series. In the last article, we looked at how God’s grace to David helped him to pick up the pieces and move forward when he made a horrendous mistake. In this post, we will learn that our God is a God you can really know and can really trust. Elijah is our example.

Listen to this post as a similar podcast from our Profiles of Perseverance Bible Study covering the lives of Joseph, David, Elijah, and Nehemiah.

Elijah: A Regular Guy

I am drawn to Elijah. He wasn’t a patriarch or a king. He was just a regular guy whom God used in amazing ways. He wasn’t a writing prophet with a book in the Bible named for him, although 2 Chronicles chapter 21 records a letter written by him.

Elijah—this everyday kind of guy—received instruction from God and obeyed it without question. Some of that instruction sounded crazy! But he just did it because he knew his God.

Like other prophets in the Bible, Elijah knew who God was and understood His character. Prophets didn’t just predict future events. That’s what we usually associate with prophets and prophecy. But they more often taught people in the present about the God they served or claimed to serve. Prophets taught theology.

What Is Theology?

Theology is simply what you believe about God. Ready for this? All women are theologians. If you are a woman, you are a theologian. Whether we want to call ourselves that or not, we are the theologians in our spheres of influence. And it matters if we are good ones or not. It matters what we know about God. It matters what we think about God and what we relate about Him by words or actions to those around us.

I read this recently.

Your life is your billboard. And every day, you can choose the message to display. (Jayme Durant, Acts & Facts, 48 (11), p. 4)

You have influence. So understanding the truth about God and being able to communicate that truth in casual conversation and serious discussion is one of your greatest assets for any relationship. You can use it for the good of your friends, spouse, children, workmates, and church groups. You use your theology to give them strength or drag them down. It is sobering to realize that someone else is helped or hurt depending on the state of my theology!

Theology Learned by Instruction and Experience

Learn by experience

Where do we learn our theology? We learn theology like we learn most anything else in life: Prepare by instruction, learn by experience.

• Prepare by instruction means studying the truths about God in the Bible.
• Learn by experience means to trust in what you believe about God as you live out your life. In fact, apart from experience, theology is dull and detached.

It is as we study the truth about God in the Bible then trust Him as we live our lives that we learn true theology.

Joseph

Take Joseph. Sometime in his early life, someone taught him truth about God. He learned the truth that God was faithful, sovereign, merciful, and personal. What did Joseph learn by experience? God was faithfully with him through all those trials he experienced. God was wise and gifted him with wisdom both to interpret dreams and to prepare a nation for famine. God was merciful to him so he could be merciful to his brothers.

Read three blogs about Joseph: “God Is with you in the Pit,” “God Is with You in the Waiting,” and “God Works It for Good.”

David

What about David? Before he ever had to run from Saul, he wrote in the 23^rd Psalm. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…He restores my soul…For you are with me, your rod and your staff comfort me.” Someone taught him about God. He paid attention. When trouble hit, he learned that all those wonderful things about God were true. Experience verified the instruction.

Read these blogs about David: “1 Chronicles 10-21 • The Rewards of Living Life God’s Way,” “1 Chronicles 22-29 • Trustworthy People Put God First,” “Loyalty to God and the Strong Support of Friends,” and “Covered by God’s Grace as You Persevere.”

Elijah

We don’t know about Elijah’s background. But someone had prepared him by instruction. Perhaps he attended one of those “schools of prophets” that Samuel started (1 Samuel 19, 2 Kings 2 and 4).

God moved Elijah to a brook-side dwelling where he experienced God’s protection and provision.

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.” (1 Kings 17:2-4)

This is where Elijah learned what it meant to trust God while following God’s commands.

Experience sharpened his theology and continued to do so as Elijah lived with the widow and her son for 2 years.

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” … She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah. (1 Kings 17:8-9; 15-16)

Elijah, the widow, and her son learned that God is greater than any impossible situation. They learned to trust Him. They learned to follow directions even when it made no sense.

Read about Elijah and the widow, “Two Widows • 4 Lessons to Learn about God’s Provision.”

Following directions when they make no sense is so hard for me. Is it hard for you? You and I can face any impossible situation if we are prepared by instruction about God and teachable to learn through experience with God. But, the first step is knowing the truth about God. He is a God you can know.

The God You Can Know

Elijah obeyed God to go back to Israel and set up a colossal confrontation on Mt. Carmel. The whole issue was whether the people of Israel would know their God and choose to serve Him instead of God-substitutes.

Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing. … At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!” (1 Kings 18:21, 36-39)

Truths about God

God demonstrated things about Himself to Elijah and through Elijah that teach us truths about Him today.

1. The true God is ALIVE. Four times Elijah refers to God as the one who lives (1 Kings 17:1,12; 18:10,15). He is the living, active, ever-present Lord. The Baal worshippers believed that Baal actually died during the summer months each year. Elijah knew that God lives. He received word from Him directly. And he saw God perform miracles before his very eyes. The true God is alive.
2. The true God is FAITHFUL. Our God is a promise-keeping God. God promised to feed Elijah and the widow and to send rain. God kept those promises. Enough said.
3. The true God is EVERYWHERE at once. While God was present in Jerusalem in the Temple at this time, He was also present with Elijah and the widow in Phoenicia. The Baal worshipers believed that Baal sometimes went on journeys with the sailors, so he wasn’t always present with them. On Mt. Carmel, all Elijah had to do was pray, and God immediately answered. They didn’t need to wait for Him to travel from Jerusalem. He is everywhere at once. And He never sleeps. He’s always “online.”
4. The true God is LOVING. God showed Himself to those people of Israel even though they were not worshipping Him. They were rebelling against Him. That’s His love. Elijah told the people to make their choice. True love involves a choice. There has to be the possibility of rejection in order for there to be real love. God created humans with the ability to choose. He gave us freedom to choose Him and His ways or our own self-sufficiency and independence. Allowing us that freedom is part of His loving us.
5. The true God is HOLY and JUST. God is holy. That means He is set apart from all sin. So, God removes sin from His presence. That is similar to the way you diligently clean your house to get rid of the flu virus. The people of Israel repented and declared the Lord to be God. The prophets of Baal did not repent so they were judged and removed (1 Kings 18:40). Here is an example of God, through Elijah, stopping evil for a time. The true God is holy and just.
6. The true God is POWERFUL and VICTORIOUS. Wow! Was that ever shown to be true on Mt. Carmel! No question about it. Wouldn’t you love to see the YouTube video of that?! When God takes charge to prove to humans that He is who He says He is, there is no interference. This is a perfect example to show that Satan is not God’s equal. Satan is a created being, and here he was shut down from operating. Baal’s prophets and all idols are backed by Satan and his cohorts. Can you think of another time when God demonstrated His power without interference in such a tremendous way? The resurrection, for sure! You got it!
7. The true God is MERCIFUL and GRACIOUS. He promised rain before the people had even repented. He sent rain although Ahab never repented and allowed Ahab to live (1 Kings 18:44-45). God demonstrated Himself to Ahab in an unmistakable fashion, yet Ahab still rejected Him. That is unmistakable mercy and grace!

God’s Unmistakable “Z”

As a kid, I always liked the television show called Zorro. Zorro was a masked warrior who fought evil and defended good. He would use his sword to leave engraved Z’s on walls and objects to declare his presence and strength.

Well, God places Z’s in our paths that say, “Here I am. Look at me. Come to me.” That demonstration on Mt Carmel was an unmistakable Z to the Israelites. How could you ever forget such a demonstration of God? But the Israelites did. And people still do today.

What was the single most important event in human history? The resurrection of Jesus Christ. A gigantic Z. God demonstrated His power over our greatest enemy, sin and its consequence—death. God demonstrated His love in that He did this while we were still His enemies. God demonstrated His justice in a sinless Jesus who became sin for us and took that penalty for sin that we deserved—death. God demonstrated His grace in that He offered this payment for our sin so that we might be declared righteous, perfectly acceptable to Him, by faith. Our responsibility is to accept His plan. There is only one way to the true God—by faith in His Son Jesus Christ. That is His plan.

Knowing the Truth about God Leads to Choices

Choose to commit yourself to Him.

That is the same choice Elijah gave to the “No Comment Fence-Sitter” Israelites. We choose either being for God or not for Him. There is no in-between. It is not a sliding scale but a line. You are on one side or the other. Being on the fence is on the other side. Trusting in Jesus Christ is committing yourself to God.

Elijah was a plain man. A nobody. All through history God has chosen to use nobodies because their dependence on Him makes possible the unique display of God’s power and grace. God uses nobodies all the time to do some of His most impressive work.

Choose to serve Him no matter what.

Serving God “no matter what” means taking your stand before God and acting by faith in His name.

• To take one’s stand means to present oneself, to hold one’s ground, and to station oneself. I love that definition. Picture Elijah issuing the drought declaration to Ahab (1 Kings 17:1). Elijah was physically in the presence of King Ahab. But in his mind and heart, he was standing in front of God. We can do that, too. Take your stand.
• To act by faith means to obey. When the Lord told Elijah to go and confront Ahab and the Israelites, Elijah chose to go. He was given a task to confront his culture, and he did it. He acted in obedience to God’s commands and not on his own initiative. He set up the scene so that God would get the glory. We can do that, too.
• To act by faith also means to pray and trust God to work. Elijah called upon the Lord Almighty. The God of unlimited power. The One who is able to intervene on our behalf. Our God is exalted above the heavens. We can pray to Him, having total confidence in His ability to answer prayer. We can have the confidence that He loves us, He knows what is going on, and He can do something about it. Leaving it in His hands is our choice. What He does is His. To quote an old song of the 90’s: “sometimes He calms the storm; other times, He calms His child.” The world is not always good, but God is. That’s why you can trust Him.

Choose good theology

Women need good theology so we don’t get caught sitting on the fence like the Israelites did. We need good theology so we don’t do harm when family and friends depend on us for counsel. We need good theology to train our children rightly about God, giving them the best information to make their own decision about the God we know and serve. Good theology strengthens us to persevere through the trials of life.

The God who answered by fire in Elijah’s day never tires of hearing us individually stand before Him and say, “The LORD, He is MY God.” He is the God you can know and trust.

Are You Ready for Perseverance in Your Life?

As the Bible promises,

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4 NASB)

We can have hope because we have God with us. So, remember our lane markers for the race.

1. Choose to persevere through every challenge.
2. Count on God’s promise to give you hope.
3. Let that hope sustain you through the rough-and-tumble of life.
4. Celebrate the joyful reward.

In the next post, we will see God’s tender love for Elijah that helped him move past weakness and disappointment.

Let Jesus satisfy your heart with hope as you persevere through everyday life.

All of the above information is covered in the Profiles of Perseverance Bible Study covering the lives of Joseph, David, Elijah, and Nehemiah.

Related Resources:

• Old Testament Men blog series
• Two Widows • 4 Lessons to Learn about God’s Provision
• Joseph: God Is with You in the Pit • Genesis 37 & 39
• David: Loyalty to God and the Strong Support of Friends

Ai was not used to generate this post.