Thoughts for another day

April 20, 2010

Today's verse: 1 Kgs. 17:1 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. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

I admire some men and women of God. Even today I must say there’re many who live such wonderful lives that they become role models for me; for I know that they live the very lives Jesus wants us to live. The Bible also provides many such examples of men and women who lived for the Lord, so to say. Among them a man called Elijah from Tishbe in Gilead, stands out prominently.

Elijah is a great example of a man’s intimate relationship with God. Though the Bible doesn’t talk much about this relationship, reading from the text available, once can decipher that Elijah was a chosen emissary of God. I believe Elijah could do all those things mentioned about him because of his closeness to God, Take for instance, the widow of Zarephath whose jar of flour and the jug of oil didn’t exhaust though the material was being used every day. Besides, Elijah’s raising up the dead son of this widow is a huge miracle which tells of the unction God had given him.

Today’s Scripture emphasizes Elijah’s confidence and relationship with God; due to which, He knew of the ‘Presence of God’ that’s why he could say, ‘As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand’. He knew God and he also knew his own standing before Him hence he had the gumption to do the incredible: By his mere word, (of course with God’s intervention), he told Ahab, Israel’s king that there’d be no rain for a few years, by his word. Imagine the courage of a man to appropriate God’s power before a king who hated him. In this I’m confident that Elijah did only what he knew he could, after seeking God’s Word. The Bible says it happened as Elijah had said and truly it speaks volumes for a man’s relationship with God. I pray you and I can at least be somewhere in our relationship with God so He will act toward us with His favor.