Elijah is officially my favorite Bible character. He obviously isn't as amazing as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, he isn't my Lord or Savior and he isn't included in my Bible Action Figure collection, but that doesn't matter in picking my favorite. The stories about him are so cool, supernatural and extreme. Yet they are also so human and that is what makes them so cool. Elijah give us great examples of an amazing spiritual man, serving God as a prophet in the midst of a people who have turned their hearts from God. He is, at one moment, so confident in God and his promises and so intimate with God in hearing his voice and so obedient in following him radically and in the next moment doubtful, scared and timid.
I was reading through some of these stories today and these things stood out. In one moment, Elijah is mocking the prophets of Baal, laughing at them and taunting them as the hours go by and their god has not appeared to take their sacrifice. He moves in boldness as he calls them over to him to see how great his God is. He not only sets up the sacrifice, but them douses it in so much water that is flows down the sides and into the trench he had dug around it. Then he prays boldly to the LORD God Almighty that God would make Himself known as God to these Israelites. The fire of God comes down and burns up everything, even the stones and soil. Elijah moved in faith,obedience and boldness and had great victory.
From there, he waits for the rain to come (because he had decreed that rain would not fall until he said so at God's command). He sends his servant to the side of a mountain to look out for the rain and there is not a cloud in sight. Finally, after Elijah sends him back seven times, a cloud "the size of a man's hand" appeared. I can imagine the mixture of boldness and faith with fear and doubt at that moment in Elijah's heart. After a great victory, he nervously asks his servant to look for a cloud. By the third time of a report of no clouds, the faith had to be dwindling a bit. Yet, when the tiny, tiny cloud appears, he sends Ahab ahead of him and then as the strong storm comes upon the land, he is filled with the power of the LORD and he runs, ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel - Ahab riding a chariot and Elijah running the whole way.
However, when Elijah hears that Jezebel is about to kill him, the fear of man enters into his heart again and this bold prophet flees and falls down under a tree, prays to God that he might die and then goes to sleep. After two visits from an angel of the LORD, he gets a little bit of food and sleep and this sustains him for forty days and nights while he makes the journey to Horeb, the mountain of the LORD.
Boldness, faith and the power of God in one moment and fear, timidity and the weakness of man in the next. Elijah is my favorite Bible character. I love to read and re-read the stories about him (mainly 1 Kings 17-19).
I was reading through some of these stories today and these things stood out. In one moment, Elijah is mocking the prophets of Baal, laughing at them and taunting them as the hours go by and their god has not appeared to take their sacrifice. He moves in boldness as he calls them over to him to see how great his God is. He not only sets up the sacrifice, but them douses it in so much water that is flows down the sides and into the trench he had dug around it. Then he prays boldly to the LORD God Almighty that God would make Himself known as God to these Israelites. The fire of God comes down and burns up everything, even the stones and soil. Elijah moved in faith,obedience and boldness and had great victory.
From there, he waits for the rain to come (because he had decreed that rain would not fall until he said so at God's command). He sends his servant to the side of a mountain to look out for the rain and there is not a cloud in sight. Finally, after Elijah sends him back seven times, a cloud "the size of a man's hand" appeared. I can imagine the mixture of boldness and faith with fear and doubt at that moment in Elijah's heart. After a great victory, he nervously asks his servant to look for a cloud. By the third time of a report of no clouds, the faith had to be dwindling a bit. Yet, when the tiny, tiny cloud appears, he sends Ahab ahead of him and then as the strong storm comes upon the land, he is filled with the power of the LORD and he runs, ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel - Ahab riding a chariot and Elijah running the whole way.
However, when Elijah hears that Jezebel is about to kill him, the fear of man enters into his heart again and this bold prophet flees and falls down under a tree, prays to God that he might die and then goes to sleep. After two visits from an angel of the LORD, he gets a little bit of food and sleep and this sustains him for forty days and nights while he makes the journey to Horeb, the mountain of the LORD.
Boldness, faith and the power of God in one moment and fear, timidity and the weakness of man in the next. Elijah is my favorite Bible character. I love to read and re-read the stories about him (mainly 1 Kings 17-19).
2 comments:
I love the fact that Bible characters are so human. Although Elijah is cool, I like Jonah. He is such a whiner, but God still uses him.
I think the pre-exilic prophets are the most under-rated people in the Bible. My Bible's commentary only points out how Eli was a poor father because of the unwise decisions of his sons and his inability to stop them. It doesn't mention the little things that are highly substantial. For instance when he would say or pray something, it happened. THAT is spiritual authority. David's great, but how many average Christians know the name of more than five people between the end of Judges (possibly even the beginning) until Matthew, without including David or the titular name of a book.
Post a Comment