Battles & Outcomes....

Sun Oct 5^th 2025

Read 1 Kings 18 and 19 if you will.

Moving on from last week in the story of Elijah -  the drought has run for some 3 years, and the big question has become which God controls nature? The King’s wife Jezebel is a Ba’al worshiper and has persecuted the prophets of the Lord. And Ba’al has been credited with being able to bring rain when needed. Except that it has not happened, and what Elijah said about there being no rain has continued. King Ahab has looked for Elijah, but the prophet moves around quickly, and has thus far stayed out of the Kiong’s reach.  

The history of academic biblical interpretation has treated the Elijah stories as unique, awesome, once-off events of their time. Irrational, unexplainable, and not necessarily worth trying to understand or come to terms with. Expository preaching has looked at Elijah as a mighty and inspirational prophet, one who indeed did wondrous things, but only because God was so much on his side. In other words, both views see Elijah and the miracles God worked through him as amazing and inspirational, and there it ends. We can read, marvel, be amazed at how God works and so forth. But that is not why the tradition kept these stories. They were the stories of the community based on firsthand experience -  remembered and passed down from generation to generation, first by word of mouth and then in written form. And ultimately into the biblical canon. They represent the continuing present reality of the God who walks amongst us. They are not meant to be treated as myth and legend. Think of the path that moves from Psalm 23 to Psalm 8 that David was attempting to walk. That one carries with it unlimited potential for growth. We have begun to talk about that a little. But after David, the Kings of Israel fall into a downward spiral. Most of them go off the path that God had laid out, and take the people with them!  Riches, wealth, power was always the order of the day. Some had it, most did not.

But Elijah is the next step after David! Faith, belief, encounter, relationship, godly will received and executed, in a working together experience with God, of this will. All doable, and a matter of choice, the biggest challenge before us being that of real spiritual growth. Perhaps we should think of this as soul growth instead, because ‘spiritual growth’ has been treated for the longest time as just one aspect of human growth. There is the spiritual side of things, it would seem. But what if that is what life is really about, and is all that we start and end with? Not an aspect, but the foundation given by God to all? Swayed by earthly and physical preoccupations, we need to learn to go beyond them to find real meaning and real God given ability.

Then we find this interesting conversation between Elijah and Obadiah. Obadiah is sort of the household manager for King Ahab. He is a true believer and has tried to keep the prophets of the Lord safe from Jezebel. Elijah tells him to say to King Ahab that he no longer needs to seek the prophet, for the prophet shall indeed meet with the King. Obadiah is incredulous. ‘You want me to tell the King that you will meet him? By the time I tell him you will have disappeared God only knows where! Elijah’s fast and far-reaching speed of travel speaks of something akin to Star Trek’s transporters! Now you’re here, now you’re there. Elijah’s ability is God given for God’s purposes. Lots of folk talk about the Christian ‘faith’ but not many seek to live it. So much talk about Jesus, so little power of Jesus evidenced. And at the end of the experiment we all age, then we fall ill at some point, and then die. Is there any other way to leave this life? Good to start thinking about that one!

But on the need for rain, and the belief of who will send the rain, Elijah speaks to the King and issues a challenge to the prophets of Ba’al. 1 prophet of the Lord vs 450 Ba’al prophets. Altars are built and the challenge begins. The prophets of Ba’al hop around all morning, but nothing happens. Elijah mocks them – where is this God of yours? Gone off to use the ‘bathroom?’  At 3pm Elijah calls upon the Lord and fire falls on the altar he has built. The prophets of Ba’al are defeated and put to death. Jezebel had half the country worshiping the idea of Ba’al. And such ideas still exist in our time, just in different forms. Beware of that which threatens well-being. It is not always seen for what it is.

But after this, Elijah says to Ahab, the rain is coming, go back to Jezreel. I will meet you there. The King rides a chariot but Elijah gets there before him! And the clue – the hand of the Lord was upon Elijah. The rain comes, and Ahab shares all of this with Jezebel. Her response is to seek Elijah’s life, and Elijah flees to Beersheba, a distance of some 130 miles away. There he ends up at Horeb, the mountain of God, where Moses and the 10 Commandments happened, and takes refuge in the cave of Mach Pelah. You might remember that for the longest time Horeb was called the mountain of God.

And Elijah is tired. As he says to God, the people have forgotten your Covenant, brought down your altars, and have even killed your prophets. I’m the only one left. And I’ve tried hard. Elijah is ready to give it all up and die at this point. God has asked much of him, and he has given his all. What happens next? God says to go stand at the mouth of the cave. A strong wind comes, but God is not in it. Then an earthquake happens, and everything shakes; but God is not in it. Then Elijah hears a still small voice, and in this voice there is a great comfort and assurance; it is the voice of God.  God has heard him and will take him home. He just needs to do some transition work – Hazael to Syria, Jehu to Israel, and Elisha -  to take his place.  

Elijah has had one purpose given by God, and only one. To speak against the powers of this world and show that they do not call the shots. Why? Because they mislead the people. And draw them away from God.

And where does this leave us? For starters, find the one thing God wants from you and go for it. It will be enough. It will involve being a witness in some way, shape or form, and by word or deed. It will carry its own inherent risks. It will not have much to do with money or age. God does not need money to make a difference, and God is timeless. Abraham, Moses, Elijah et al…..were not exactly of a young age. And remember Gideon, the little guy back in Judges who said ‘who, me?’ Why is this angel addressing me as a mighty man of valor? We have limits, but God is unlimited, and God’s will, knit with ours, moves beyond the limits of this life. Our need is to walk with Jesus in vine & branch relationship, so that energy and power flows from one to the other, and to not be fooled by what the world says the Kingdom of God is. Be at peace and use the days well. Always, G.

All posts are at dreliatjacobsladder.blogspot.com; this is just a straightforward bible sharing post. No agenda, no mission, no donations. Just a fellowship of the Spirit.