1st Kings 18:36~ O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel…

In a nation of idols and following everything under the sun and with a leader who does evil in the sight of the Lord; we see a prayer over a soaked sacrifice of man who sought after the glory of the Lord. Elijah alone on the Mt. Carmel with 400 prophets of the idol Baal wanted a national reformation.

I know it would be silly to try and compare similarities with Israel and America and the state the nations were and are in, but it is something that I think should not be overlooked. Israel received the promise land from God, they were in and established as a great nation. They wanted a king and God gave them their requests but just like God warned them this was not the best wish they soon would find out. It started strong but went downhill fast. The nation had forgotten the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. The past leaders over the broken nation have led the people far far away from the words of the Lord and there had to be someone to get their attention.

When all hope is lost there arises a hero named Elijah. He is a hero because he rebelled against the norm of society. He is a hero because he did not care to defy the king to his face. He is a hero because he stood up against the national religion. The only reason why he is a hero of the Old Testament is because he was obedient to God and did not lose that zeal.

In America the title of “Change” was proclaimed through the presidential debates. We see that the economy is like an unstable deck of cards falling. We see in November alone there were over 500,000 jobs lost. What about the spiritual state of the West. More and more churches even are forgetting that God’s Word is TRUTH. That it is not infallible and inherrant. We see that the desire for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel fading into the God of our making. My question is what about a spiritual change or at least an awakening.

May we take some notes on Elijah that we need to make a stand. This stand starts with just praying for God to show himself to a nation that has abandoned God.

Do you pray for America? Do you pray for the Presiden and the Presiden-Elect? Do you pray for the nation to seek God? Do you pray for those to not forsake God’s Word?I know I am convicted of this area? Do I pray and trust the sovereignty of God?

1st Kings 17

I love comic books. I love reading these characters that battle evil, they have integrity, people do not understand them. I always wanted to be a superhero. Now I know that I can not fly, run as fast as light, stop bullets with my tough skin. These types of heroes are good and fictional but there are Heroes of the Faith. People that went against the odds of the nation and stood up for God and what he has called them to live. These heroes of the faith were rejected by the people by not rejected by God. They had left behind an example to follow. 

In this chapter we are introduced to one of the greatest Old Testament heroes of the faith, Elijah. I hope you guys enjoy reading about this man who loved the Lord.

Elijah on Scene

We have no formal introduction to Elijah other than he was a Tishbite from Tishbe. We do not know about his childhood nor his calling from God. We start with a scene of Elijah confronting king Ahab about his idolatrous ways. He said, “There will be no dew or rain until I speak.” He pronounced judgment before the king. Think about how intense this would be, a guy who could easily have you killed by motioning a hand, was told that there would be no rain. Elijah was the man, he was not afraid of Elijah for he feared only God and did what God told him to do.

God then spoke to Elijah to go and hide out by a brook called Cherith. There he would spend some alone time with God and God was providing for him. He would be feed by birds coming and dropping off food and he would drink water by the brook. Even though he was being obedient the brook of water was drying up.

God’s Way

As Elijah may have been wondering about his calling and the necessities were running low God told him to go to Zeraphath to find a widow. So Elijah goes and there was a widow and he asked her to bring him some water and food. Remember there was a drought and with a drought means no food because crops would need water and animals would need water and the crops to survive. Food was scarce and he asked this poor widow for some food. She tells him I do have a little flour left and I was waiting to make my son and I our last meal as we eat it and wait to die. How sad, she literally was saying this was their last meal. Elijah told her not to worry because the God he serves is bigger than some flour, water, or drought.

She had faith and made the food and guess what? The jar of flour and the jug of oil never went out. God showed himself again. HE is Jehovah Jirah, the provider. He said, what do you not think I am capable of making flour and oil never run out. 

Death in the Joy of Victory

Life probably was seeming good. Elijah was staying in the widow’s home, food was not an issue, life was good. He may have told them all that God had showed them and how awesome God is. Then something terrible happened, her son became ill and died. Oh man, she blamed Elijah by wondering why this happened? Why did he bring this upon her? Elijah could have said, “Woman, are you kidding, God is sovereign and in control.” Instead he prayed to God and was the mediator between the boy and God. He cried out for God to listen to his request and healed the boy. 

There is so much we can learn from this one chapter, we see God who controls the weather and elements. We see God who is the provider for his children. We see God even in control of life itself. The one thing that I would like for us to look at is Elijah just following after God. We do not need to know about his past, we just need to know that he was obedient to God. Are you obedient to God? Are you following after his will? Are you been a faithful Christian? God’s glory was shown to the widow and her son and those in that town as Elijah was obedient. Matthew 5:13-16 tells us to be light and salt to this world so that people may see our good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven. That is why we do these things and be obedient, so that others can see who God is. Elijah was a hero a faith because he loved God and did not compromise; may you and I learn from him.

There is a saying that history repeats itself and I do not know exactly about that but I do know is that we do not learn from the mistakes of those who lived before us. I know I should watch from the mistakes that maybe my father and grandfather made so that I would not make the same mistakes but that is not always the case because I know I have made similar mistakes too.

In this chapter we see the history of the different kings of Israel. We read which kings were good and which ones were evil.

Baasha king over Israel

Baasha was the next king over Israel after Nadab. We read that Baasha conspired against Nadab and  killed him and now he is king. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and the prophet Jehu told him that his end was coming and the same fate that was over Jeroboam would happen to him. 

Elah the son of Baasha reigns

Baasha son became king after his dad but his servant Zimri wanted to become kind too. He then killed Elah and took over the kingdom. He was killed which was the prophecy of Jehu coming true through his kindgom. He only reigned over Israel for two years. It is interesting that Baasha’s son, Elah died by the way his father took over the kingdom. He was assassinated and the fate and sin of his father fell on him. 

Zimri king of Israel

Zimri took over after he killed Elah and he only reigned in Israel for seven days. He killed himself as the nation was splitting before him. The nation was following after the commander of the army, Omri.  Zimri was evil and did nothing to change the sins of those who led before him.

Omri king of Israel

He led the revolt of people and soon became king over Israel. He reigned for 12 years. In those 12 years he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and he did more evil than those that were before him. He provoked God to anger.

Ahab king of Israel.

We actually get to slow down and focus on king Ahab for the next few chapters becase we will be introduced to Elijah the man who loved God in a nation that did not. Ahab was an evil king who did evil in the sight of the Lord. He made Baal the false god to be god over Israel. He did more evil than all the kings before them. How sad that none of these men have realized that the fate of their fathers and the other kings before them was not good because they abandoned the Lord. They not only abandoned God but they caused the nation to turn away too. They made the nation worship false gods, these man made images and worship it.  

Remember the Lord sees everything, nothing is hidden from Him (Hebrews 4:13). God holds everything in his hands and I know that he has allowed us to learn from the mistakes of those who before us. We can learn at the failures of the leaders in the Bible. These men who fell away from the Lord from the time of Solomon and how they did not learn. There is no hope for those who abandon God. Their fate has already been decided as they gave up on the hope that is in God. There are many people that do this today. Their parents abandoned God and so the children follow after. It does not have to be that way. God is gracious and full of forgiveness (2nd Peter 3:9). He is willing if we are ready.

Sometimes I always wondered why certain people got away with certain things. Why did the bad guys seem to be getting away with the bad things? Why did those who stole still become rich and stay rich? I would wonder and ask as these are legit questions, but I always need to remember we serve a sovereign and just God who is in control of everything.

In this chapter, Jeroboam receives justice for his acts against God. Remember Jeroboam was the king over the split kingdom of Israel. He led the 10 tribes of Israel away from the Lord and worshiped the false gods of the surrounding nations.

Ahijah Spoke Truth

Jeroboam’s son was sick and he then decided to go see what a prophet of the Lord could do to help. It is interesting that Jeroboam felt the need to go ask a righteous man about his sick son but did not go to God. It was only when he needed something serious that he did go to a man of God but he still did not humble himself as he sent his wife to go and ask. 

The prophet of God was not fooled for he knew it was Jeroboam’s wife and he spoke the truth of God to hear. He told her, “The Lord will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam and anyone belonging to the house of Jeroboam will die and the dogs will eat them (speaking of Jezebel, 2nd Kings 9:30-37). Not only was this judgment given but also the child that was sick would die. All of this information was given because of the leadership that Jeroboam gave. It was bad, as he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 

The Lord is not slow

God remembers the unjust as well as the just. He is the one who repays those with the wrong that they have done. As David wrote in Psalm 7:15-16, “The evil man, makes a pit, digging in out, and falls into the hole that he has made. His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends.” God sees all and knows what we do. What the pure in heart do and the mischievous do to get ahead. He will not be mocked.  May this serve as a reminder that God does see our good as well as the evil in the world and he will judge accordingly. May we cling to Christ who sets us as righteous vessels before God.

I remember thinking my parents did not know what they were talking about. I would think, man what do you know, you are old. As I am getting older, I am seeing the same thing happen but now younger people are saying that about me. It is funny we listen to the advice of friends more than those who are wiser and older than us. 

In this chapter we see the kingdom being split and how that happened.

Rehoboam

Solomon’s son, Rehoboam took over the throne. The people gathered to usher in his kingdom but they wanted their load lightened. They said, “Your father was a task master, will you lighten the load?” He asked for 3 days to think about it. Rehoboam asked for thoughts and suggestions from the elders who were with his father and they told them if he served the people by giving in to their request then they will serve you forever. Then Rehoboam asked his younger friends for their thoughts and they said, “Give them more work and tighten the yoke.” The sad thing is Rehoboam took the suggestion from his friends and when he told Israel about this they revolted. 

The Kingdom is split

The people revolted and all of the tribes except one abandoned Rehoboam as what was told to Solomon in chapter 11. Rehoboam was only king over Judah the rest of Israel followed after Jeroboam. The warning was given to Solomon and we see that he did not listen to God about the warning. Instead he rebelled even more and now the consequence was a split kingdom. 

The kingdom will remain split until the Babylonians come in and destroy Jerusalem. We will read about the continual downfall of the two kingdoms and the prophets who came to warn Israel and Judah of what will happen.

Israel, Not so Great a Start

In verse 28 we see that Jeroboam did not want the people of Israel to follow after the Lord so he decided to make two golden calves and have them worship that instead. Then he decided to tell all of Israel that these gold calves that he just made were the gods that led their fathers out of the land of Egypt. Now he was not just leading them down a wrong road he was lying about truth. He builds places of worship and people start

I remember being really into Legos. I would want some kind of Lego something when it came time for Christmas. I would receive some really big sets that were a big project to me. I would work on it for a few hours and not be done, the next day a few more and then finally by the end of the week I was done. 

I see the construction of the church going on and how big of a project that is. It requires many different men with different skills to build a building. The more detailed a project the more detailed work crew you will need.

In this chapter we see that Solomon is beginning the work of the Temple of the Lord. 

Other Nations Send Help

In the very beginning of chapter 5 we see that King Hiram of Tyre will send wood from Lebanon. He wanted to help the king in this way and mostly because it means that the powerful Israel will have a treaty with Tyre. King HIram was looking out for his well being but also knew that David was a good man and wants to invest in his son, Solomon. For the wood that would be sent by the Mediterranean Sea from Tyre to Joppa Solomon just gave food to Hiram. 

Forced Labor

In verse 13 we read that Solomon drafted forced labor. This was not forced labor of the Israelites but from those who were their servants such as the Canaanites. But when we read these numbers this was a big task. We see that 30,000 we be sent to Lebanon to help with the trees to use for the wood and they would spend one month there and two months home or used to build Solomon’s home and go then go out again. Then we see that 70,000 were burden bearers who would bear weight or carry things on their backs. They would literally carry the burden or weight for the temple. Remember during this time there were no trackers or forklifts. They did manual labor. The amount of stone required a big amount of stone cutters, 80,000 to be precise. Since there were so many workers there needed to be 3,300 overseers or foremen over the building projects. This was a huge task.

We can only see the wisdom that Solomon had as he administered the making of one of the great marvels of the world, the Temple. He truly had God’s wisdom. In James 1:5 the Bible tells us that if any of you are lacking in wisdom let them ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. We need to know what Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-11 that if we ask and seek and knock we will receive, find, and the door to be opened. We need to look at this as not here you go and ask whatever wish your would like. This is a “ask of God’s will” then you see what  His will is. Whenever we start asking for things of our wills we need to stop and just say, “God I need you and what you would have me to do.” Give me the wisdom I need to handle each and every situation. Give me the strength to get through another day. Give me the strength to see who you are.

Now this may sound superficial but I will be honest, when growing up I would circle all the things that I wanted the Toys R Us ad that would come in the mail right before Christmas. It was my way of showing my parents my Christmas list. The funny thing is that everything seemed appealing to me in that magazine ad. When Christmas day would role around, I would not get everything I would circle in fact I would get only a few things in there because my parents would ask, “Now Jon, what exactly do you really want?” I realized that I could not have everything so I would give them the top 5 things I would want. It was cool because I would at least get one of those things if not more. 

In this chapter we are still following the newly anointed king, Solomon, David’s son. Because the people were sacrificing to God at the high places and because there was no house for God or the Ark, Solomon wanted to build one. We see God has a little talk with Solomon and it is a great question the Lord wants to ask.

Solomon Doing Good

In verse 3 it says, Solomon loved the Lord and walked in the statutes of David his father. While he was at Gibeon offering a sacrifice to the Lord, the Lord appeared to him in a dream. God asked a very specific question, “Ask what I shall give you?” God was throwing it out to Solomon, “Dude, I am infinite in what I can give, try me.” I wonder what went through Solomon’s mind, the universe and what God was offering was right in front of him, it was endless in what could have been given. Solomon’s answer was great. He asked God to give him wisdom so he could discern for the people. He just wanted to be able to be a good king. God said, “Because you asked for this and not for long life or riches or the life of your enemies,  I will give you wisdom and all these other things as well.”

God was in a way testing Solomon to see what he would ask for and he chose something that would benefit the people. 

Solomon Received Wisdom

In verses 16 through 28 we see that Solomon was put to the test to see how wise he really is. Two women come to him with the issue over whose baby is it. They both claimed the baby that was alive was both of theirs. Solomon then said, “Bring me a sword because I will cut the baby in half and you both can have the baby.” The woman whose child it was said, “Please do not kill the child but give it to the other lady.” Solomon realized whose child it was by the response of the two woman. Because of this act, his wisdom that God gave spread through the land and surrounding nations.

Ask, Seek, and Knock

Jesus spoke of these words in Matthew 7:7-11. He was speaking to the multitude and showing them how great God is. Some people take this portion of scripture and view God as a genie in a bottle. They can ask whatever they want and they will give it. We need to understand God is a wholly good God who will give things that bring about good. He will give things that are according to his will and not ours. In the later part of that section Jesus mentioned how parents would not give a rock for their children to eat when they asked for food because they were hungry. Well, we sometimes could be the children asking God for the rock to eat. He is no, I am not going to give you the rock, it is bad for you. We may not understand but God is watching out for us. Ask of God, seek God and knock after him, it is not about stuff but about Him. That is what it is all about.

David was on his death bed and knew that he needed to advise his son, soon to be king with the right instructions. These instructions were not special words of wisdom for his son when he becomes king; instead David asked his son to were ones that any young man, any child, any daughter, any young woman, anyone should listen to.

He said, “Keep the charge of the Lord, walk in his ways and keep his statutes.” This was something that any father would want his children to follow. I know this is my prayer with my daughter, that when she grows up that she would follow after the Lord and not fall away. I think any Christian parent would desire this of their child. 

There is some other unfinished business that Solomon would need to take care for his father David. 

Taking Care of Business

David asked that Joab would be taken care of. This was not a vengeful act but because Joab murdered two men of the kings service. Joab killed Abner and Amasa when David was trying to bring peace between Israel and Judah when they were fighting. 

David then asked for him to deal loyally to Barzilla because he showed kindness to him while he was on the run from Absalom. Then Shimei the man who decided to curse at David when he fled from his son, Solomon was commanded to not kill him but be watchful of him. The reason why David said this was because he did not want these men becoming his problem. He knew that they would and could hurt him and the kingdom more so than they did for him.

David died and was laid to rest with his fathers and Solomon took the throne. As soon as Solomon took the throne he did not waste anytime fulfilling his father’s wishes. Everything that David asked came to pass through Solomon. We will read more on what the future has for Solomon, it is a great read and learning experience through the life of this wise man.

As Christian we need to get rid of the business of sin in our life. We may have some unfinished closet sin that we need to confront and cry out for God to relieve us of. I know how it is to let the sin that we may not want to admit to or let Christ take complete control of. What happens is that it begins to fester in us and borough  and cling inside of us. Sin wants to fight to reign in our life just like a virus trying to live inside your body. The author of Hebrews said it best that we need to get rid of or throw sin and anything that slows us down. I am thankful that God has been patient as well as very gracious on me and forgiving me of the sin that I did not want to get rid of right away. Thank you God for the conviction of sin through the Holy Spirit. David was smart because he knew what could result if these trouble people would have stayed around. We need to be smart and realize that if we let sin reign in us what will happen. Jesus Christ is the only answer for the deleting of sin. He is the only one that can offer the right medicine to get the virus of sin out of us. He is the only one that paid that great high price to purchase us from the rule of sin and death in our life. I have been bought and paid for, our you?