Arise and Abide

Reading 1Kings 19:9-18. The Lords question, “What are you doing here?”, reminds Sally of Jesus asking the people who came to Him what they wanted Him to do for them. God gives people opportunities to share their hearts with Him.  God displays His power to Elijah but speaks to Elijah through a gentle whisper, gives him encouragement and renews his mission. The Lord’s question, “What are you doing here?”, reminds Curits of when God asked Adam and Eve, “Where are you?”. Elijah was in a place of discouragement because he was living in fear having taken his eyes off God. Elijah was afraid of people, and God reminded Elijah who really has the power. Elijah’s reply was all about himself. People tend to forget that God is at work. He is working is ways we know nothing about and in ways we can’t see. Elijah believed a lie we are all susceptible to: You are all alone and it is all up to you. That is a lie. God is enough. Go and make disciples, go and train your replacement, go and duplicate what you have been given. We are all replaceable, in the best possible way. We grow and we move onward. God is not just telling Elijah to go and pour into anther person, God is giving him a partner, and a helper to continue the mission with. When we're in a place of discouragement. It's hard to see the Lord because all we can see are the things that are discouraging to us. God listens, the way God hears us, understands the heart we're coming from, and encourages us in the way that we need to bring our eyes back to the truth that God is at work. God is doing things that we aren't paying attention to. He's at work in ways that we don't see, even when our eyes are on God. 

Reading Psalms 89. The Psalmist recognizes the faithfulness of God through hard discipline. Speaking about the anointed king, it says “you have renounced your covenant with him and thrown his crown in the dust.” So there's definitely this shift at the end of the Psalm where the psalmist is really feeling that separation from God and the lack of God's favor in the current circumstance. Deuteronomy 8:5-6 reads, “Think about it, just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good. So, obey the commands of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and fearing Him.” Job 5:17-18, read. “But consider the joy of those corrected by God, do not despise the discipline of the Almighty when you sin for when He wounds, He also bandages, He strikes, but His hands also heal.” God sent Jesus because we desperately needed a savior because we mess up all the time. When we are experiencing God's discipline, how do we respond? The books of Kings and the story centers around this truth that the one who deserves to sit on the throne is God. Think about discipline as this opportunity for refinement and self-awareness. Take that opportunity to listen and be self-aware of what God may be trying to say and teach. We need a savior. God gave us a savior. We need discipline. God gave us His Holy Spirit to correct us and convict us every moment of the day. 2 Samuel 7:14 “I will be his father and he will be my son. If he sins, I will correct and discipline him with the rod like any father would do.”

Reading 1 Kings 18:41-19:9. In 1 Kings 18:16-40, we read about a dramatic showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. This portion of scripture (verse 41) starts with Elijah telling Ahab to go get something to eat and drink for I hear a mighty rainstorm is coming and Ahab immediately goes. It’s almost as though Ahab is displaying some faith, but it’s disappointing because Ahab sides with Jezebel. Elijah knew how and when to offer a sacrifice pleasing to God because Elijah spent time with the Lord and in the Torah. All the Prophets of Baal are killed just like the prophets of the Lord were executed. Now the story is full circle as Elijah is once again running and hiding because Jezebel wants him dead.

The rain is coming, but it doesn’t happen right away. There’s this time of prayer, consistency of prayer. Seven times he prayed and sent his assistant to look for the clouds. It's frustrating when you give everything you have and then you look and even when God shows up, it looks like it hasn't made a difference because people's hearts are so hard. Despite how great of a prophet and how much confidence Elijah had in God and how fervently he prayed, he still found himself discouraged in his circumstances. And what I love about this story is he's not rebuked because of it. He's comforted. God shows up and feeds him, gives him strength. Why does God call us into all these things that are beyond us? So that we will draw close to Him. So that we will learn to rely on God. So that we will learn that God is good, that we will learn, we can trust God to carry us through all these things. We have to remind ourselves that God is the common denominator in every victory of our life. God is the one who strengthens us to go through it. But we must pick up our feet and go. God gives us strength because He has a journey ahead of us.

Reading Psalms 88. The last line in the Psalm, “darkness is my closest friend”, reminds me of that old song, Sound of Silence. The psalmist is experiencing the sound of silence. He's not hearing from the Lord. Quite a few psalms in this book express times like this when they feel desperate. It still starts with remembering who God is and where its salvation comes from. When we're in this heart place, cry out to God and share that with God. The Psalmist’s questions show the need for Jesus as Jesus raises us from the darkness. I see Jesus coming as an answer to this call to be saved. The Psalmist recognized that without God's presence, he was as good as dead. how this Psalmist felt lines up a lot with what Jesus went through and felt for us. He went through the same pain this time of isolation from God and literal death so that we could live. God's light is so freeing and life giving. We have to surrender the things that we might be holding on to that are keeping us in darkness or those things we don't want to be exposed to the light. Jesus is challenging people to step into His life that gives life and freedom.

Reading 1 Kings 18:16-40. We have this picture of the people of Israel who are wavering, hobbling back and forth between: Is it the Lord that is God, or is it Baal? We also have this picture of a God who hears and a God who answers, versus these idols who obviously can't do anything because they're manmade. We see that the heart of God in this contest is to bring the people back to Himself.  They're wobbling, they're back and forth and He is calling them back into that relationship because that's the heart of God. If you only look at the miracle you miss the heart of God behind the miracle, God is a God of love who is wooing His people back to Himself. God responds with such quickness because of his great love for these people who have been faltering. There are two opinions, and we know that Jezebel has led a lot of this other opinion. Jezebel saying, “is the Lord really God, my God is Baal.” I think people make idols. An easier way for us to think about it sometimes is thinking about how we put ourselves or somebody else on the throne that belongs to God, that we follow somebody else or follow our own selfish plan for our life. God is a God who answers. and God is a God who hears us. He sees us, He's moving, He's working. God is answering his people when He has their attention and they're listening. I think we know that God always sees and hears. God is always moving and working, and He has a plan and He's answering. But sometimes it requires us to listen and give him our attention.

Reading Psalms 87. The imagery of foreign and oppressive nations being counted as citizens of God’s Holy city is prophetic. Reminiscent of the account in Acts 10 Peter’s vision and God telling him not to call unclean what God has made clean. Being told to kill and eat was to prepare his mind to go to the gentiles and participate in what God was doing. the place where God's name would be known where everybody would come to worship. It was the place that the Lord picked for them to come and worship Him. He loves Jerusalem. It's this place dear to His heart that he establishes the place where his name would be known. It shows God's heart how He wanted everyone to know Him. Acts 11:15-18. “Who am I to get in God's way?” To receive something, I need to have my hands available to receive it. God’s Holy Spirit is not a physical object that we're receiving. However, to receive the Holy Spirit, we must let go of our way, whatever selfish temperament we might be in. Being citizens of Jerusalem, it's our life source, our source of joy. We're left with this promise. And this image of the joy that comes from God that He gives to all his citizens of Jerusalem.

Reading 1 Kings 18:1-15. The drought had been going on for three years and times had gotten desperate. King Ahab and Obadiah searching the land for the kings’ animals to have water.  This is the turning point. These two servants of the Lord who are in this hard situation and responding very differently. Obadiah who did something amazing for the Lord. He risked his own life, his own position in charge of the palace. He risks it all to save 100 prophets. In that act of service, he positions himself to live in fear, fear of someone finding out, fear that he's going to lose his own life. Elijah had every good reason to be afraid for his life, going and appearing before King Ahab. It’s a good picture of finding yourself living in fear because you have this feeling that you're kind of just hanging on and something's going to snap and then it'll all fall down. When we feel attacked by the enemy who wants us to live in fear, we forget, that’s why God is always reminding us and why we need established rhythms for redirecting ourselves back to God. Let God’s character define your circumstance and not the other way around. The price is that you're going to go through it, but there's options here, there's two paths you can take as you go through it. God is our resource. He is the bread of life. He's all that we need. God moves at the right time.  

Reading Psalms 86, a psalm of David. In verse 11, “Teach me your ways. Oh Lord, that I may live according to your truth, grant me purity of heart so that I may honor you.” David is looking to God for discipleship. In verse 15, he's speaking to God's character. “Oh Lord, you are a God of compassion and mercy, slowly get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.” Exodus 34:5-7. David wanted the closeness with God Moses had. This psalm is just such a great reminder of that character of God love just wanting to be there to help us just like those of us who are parents, we want to be there to help our Children. We're always ready to forgive them. And the Psalm is such a beautiful picture of God's character. Put in the time and the effort and seek the Lord with all your heart it's part of the discipline of learning to trust the Lord. It goes back to the beginning of the psalm where David is saying, help me because I need your help, protect me because I'm devoted to you. I serve you and I trust you. I'm calling on you constantly. And that's the position that we need to be in whatever circumstance we find ourselves in. He will answer this prayer of your heart. If you to ask God to teach you His ways that you can live according to His truth, that He will grant you purity of heart so that you will honor Him. God will do this in your life. It is a promise straight from God that describes himself and his character as slow to anger filled with unfailing love and faithfulness and he wants to lavish his love on 1000 generations.

Reading 1 Kings 17 in the New Living Translation. Elijah declares that as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel lives the God. I serve, there will be no do or reign during the next few years until I give the word. Ahab had married Jezebel and they had started serving Baal who was a god who was supposed to bring the rain. God is faithful, God grows our faith and uses that growth in our life to increase the faith of others. Elijah, through his experiences, is telling her that God is a God that can be trusted and that she doesn't need to be afraid. She felt her sin was leaving her unworthy of the sustaining of life that God was giving her. God's presence does convict, and it does call for a change in our heart and we see this change in the woman's faith and her belief through the struggles and the trials that she's going through. Elijah understood his identity and his purpose. He was available to God and had his ear turned towards God. It's ok that we ask God and admit to God that our circumstances don't make sense to us and that we need his help. James 5:13. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah’s example, the length of time and trials that he continued to pray through and the wonderful results that he saw. It's relying on God through difficult times that helps us persevere through the trials, and it's through the trials that God grows our faith. God is with you as you go through the hard times.

Reading Psalms 85 in the New Living Translation. Start your day as the psalmist begins this psalm, with praise and worship. Being intentional with our thoughts and placing them before Jesus. To follow Jesus, we must stop talking, and listen. Verse 13, Righteousness goes as a Herald before him preparing the way for his steps. When we are in right relationship with God, He can more effectively use us for His plan. God is both loving, but He always is speaking truth. Through Jesus we have this opportunity to be in right relationship with God because we do have this need for a savior to be restored. The cost of being a disciple is to submit our lives to the life and teaching of Jesus to walk life out in his footsteps. John 14:25 lines up well with Psalms 85:8. God is good. He sent the advocate to guide us, to lead us in what he would have us to do to love him and love others. To not just listen, but also follow. You can trust God that God is with you. You can trust God, that God is for you. You can trust God to His word as it says in verse 12 of Psalm 85. “Yes, the Lord pours down his blessings. Our land will yield its beautiful harvest. Righteousness goes as a herald before him preparing the way for His steps.”