Graduate 92: Advent, Day 15
Elijah
1 Kings 17:1-16; 18:17-46
Elijah is the second of three miracle-working prophets in the Old Testament. (The other two are Moses and Elisha.) Part of what I especially like about Elijah is the radical freedom that he evinces. Notice what he says at the beginning of the reading: “As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” Did you catch it? Not by God’s word or by an angel’s word, but by my word. What arrogance! What audacity!—to claim such authority and power over nature! Or is that, perhaps, just a tiny glimpse of what God’s desire is for us and what it means to really live in the power and kingdom of God?
It’s important to keep in mind that God will not be controlled and will not be bound by human will or presumption; and yet, some people take this so far as to make God completely inexplicable, inscrutable, and incomprehensible. Yet, over and over, in Scripture, we meet men and women who are enabled to do extraordinary things because they know God. Elijah’s knowledge of God’s will and his ability to orient his own life around that will is what gives him his radical freedom and confidence. That’s why he’s able to say to the Widow of Zarephath, “Go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son.” If you were in that widow’s place, would you have trusted Elijah’s word. This was to be their last meal and Elijah, to all appearances, was asking them to sacrifice that for his sake. But what is the truth behind the appearance?—that it is no sacrifice at all to offer what God has given us in the knowledge that He will take care of us. And God does take care of that widow and her son as we see.
Contrast their belief with the attitude of the nation of Israel in general. They haven’t been trusting, radically, in God. They’ve been hedging their bets; they’ve been trying to play it safe; and they’ve been dishonoring God as a result. So Elijah brings them this challenge: “If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Ball, follow him.” It’s simple, straightforward, yet somehow we manage to make it so much more confusing. We try to draw from multiple sources to build a solution to our problems; but God will not accept that. When we think seriously about what was involved in sending His Son to earth to die on a cross, the idea becomes even more absurd. If there were other legitimate ways to gain happiness and fulfillment and righteousness, then why would God send His only begotten Son to suffer and die a brutal death? It would be totally unnecessary. The truth is that there is only one answer to the problems that we face in life—to the problem of sin. Israel and Judah kept turning away from that solution, trying to manage their own destinies and prosperity, and it fell to pieces around them. People, today, try to manage their own lives in their own ways, and face similar problems. Elijah reminds us, yet again, that there is only one answer, one hope, one source of true grace, hope, love, and salvation—and it is God’s way.
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
1 Kings 17:1-16; 18:17-46
Elijah is the second of three miracle-working prophets in the Old Testament. (The other two are Moses and Elisha.) Part of what I especially like about Elijah is the radical freedom that he evinces. Notice what he says at the beginning of the reading: “As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” Did you catch it? Not by God’s word or by an angel’s word, but by my word. What arrogance! What audacity!—to claim such authority and power over nature! Or is that, perhaps, just a tiny glimpse of what God’s desire is for us and what it means to really live in the power and kingdom of God?
It’s important to keep in mind that God will not be controlled and will not be bound by human will or presumption; and yet, some people take this so far as to make God completely inexplicable, inscrutable, and incomprehensible. Yet, over and over, in Scripture, we meet men and women who are enabled to do extraordinary things because they know God. Elijah’s knowledge of God’s will and his ability to orient his own life around that will is what gives him his radical freedom and confidence. That’s why he’s able to say to the Widow of Zarephath, “Go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son.” If you were in that widow’s place, would you have trusted Elijah’s word. This was to be their last meal and Elijah, to all appearances, was asking them to sacrifice that for his sake. But what is the truth behind the appearance?—that it is no sacrifice at all to offer what God has given us in the knowledge that He will take care of us. And God does take care of that widow and her son as we see.
Contrast their belief with the attitude of the nation of Israel in general. They haven’t been trusting, radically, in God. They’ve been hedging their bets; they’ve been trying to play it safe; and they’ve been dishonoring God as a result. So Elijah brings them this challenge: “If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Ball, follow him.” It’s simple, straightforward, yet somehow we manage to make it so much more confusing. We try to draw from multiple sources to build a solution to our problems; but God will not accept that. When we think seriously about what was involved in sending His Son to earth to die on a cross, the idea becomes even more absurd. If there were other legitimate ways to gain happiness and fulfillment and righteousness, then why would God send His only begotten Son to suffer and die a brutal death? It would be totally unnecessary. The truth is that there is only one answer to the problems that we face in life—to the problem of sin. Israel and Judah kept turning away from that solution, trying to manage their own destinies and prosperity, and it fell to pieces around them. People, today, try to manage their own lives in their own ways, and face similar problems. Elijah reminds us, yet again, that there is only one answer, one hope, one source of true grace, hope, love, and salvation—and it is God’s way.
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
posted by Metaphysician_delta | 2:00 AM
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