Start Time:	06:17AM
End Time:	08:00AM
Date:	June 20, 2014

 

TITLE: Elijah and Obadiah

Scripture: 1 Kings 18:1 – 45

God’s Message / God’s Commands / God’s Promises:

→ After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.” So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria, and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. While Jezebel was killing off the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.)  Ahab had said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals.”  So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another.  As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?” “Yes,” he replied. “Go tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’” “What have I done wrong,” asked Obadiah, “that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death?  As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. But now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’  I don’t know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the Lord since my youth.  Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. And now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ He will kill me!” Elijah said, “As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today.”

NOTES:

Ø  Not even fear can block or remove God’s love and provision to His people!  During the time of Ahab, fear ruled the nation because Jezebel, Ahab’s queen, was killing the prophets of the Lord but despite of fear, the people of God are united and Obadiah was working as somewhat a spy by working for Ahab but hiding all the prophets of God.  This only shows that even in times of hardship, fear and whatever worse situations we can think of, God’s love and provision for us will always prevail.  It will reach us even when we feel the fear for our lives.  God’s love will break beyond what is possible in the mind of man.  Despite of what’s happening, God managed to keep His prophets safe and had placed Obadiah at the side of the King without Jezebel, who seems to be the mastermind of all at the time, noticing it.  So God’s hands are working right under Jezebel and Ahab’s noses.  Hallelujah!  God is wise and He can be cunning too J      

Ø  God will not orchestrate a situation that you will be abandoned!  When God set up a plan, He ensures all His people are taken care of and not abandoned or neglected.  In short, in God’s team, there’s no leaving anyone behind!  Amen!  Obadiah was concerned that when he says what Elijah asked him to do, his life will be the ultimate sacrifice but when God asks us to do something dangerous, be assured that His hand will be sure to protect us in the danger that He has set us to go to.  So Elijah assured Obadiah that what he is about to do for him (technically for the Lord) will not cause him his life.

→ So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”  “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”  So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing.  Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.  Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it.  Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.” Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”

NOTES:

Ø  God confronts evil especially when it has blinded His people with the truth, the best part is, when God confronts our enemy, we are sure to see a spectacular victory!  God usually works from the inside out but when the devil cloaked His people with fear that faith cannot grow or spring out, God will break that fear that will lead the people to see hope, His love and grow faith in Him.  God’s love for us is greater than any fear or any circumstances or worries we carry and when the devil has us on leash, God will break that chains out that it will break our spirits free to trust and see His grace and love.  Hallelujah!

→ Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.  At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs^[a] of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”  “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. ³⁵ The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.  At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.  Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.  When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”  Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.  And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”  The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”  Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. The power of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

NOTES:

Ø  God will eliminate all doubts we have and will never give up on us even when we don’t deserve it!  The people of Israel were ruled by fear and though this is not a reason to justify what they have done or their doubts on God, God’s love for them remain strong and greater than what their actions were.  So when it was time for God to win them back, He will eliminate all doubts we have.  The waters poured out on the altar 3 times were an act of removing all trickery that they may reason out when God performs the miracle.  God doesn’t give up on us, even when we already did on Him.  He finds a way and will break us out of the wrong perceptions or mindset and free us from wrong mentality.  And in the end, we will all know that He is God and will glorify Him.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, the God of love, whose love cannot be overshadowed by fear.  Thank You because Your love is greater than our fears and Your grace is abundant in our weaknesses.  Thank You Lord because You eliminate all our doubts and will never give up on us especially when we have fully become skeptic or numb to the truth.  Thank You because Your love works in ways that we cannot comprehend and Your love is always greater.  Thank You because fear has no authority or power to stop You from showing Your love and provision, in the contrary, Your love is all the more evident and obvious when we are surrounded by evil, fear and chaos.  Thank You for opening my eyes Lord and for letting me know that all I need is to seek for Your love in times when all things are falling apart.  Thank You because You will never abandon us and when You called us to go or do something dangerous, Your protection covers us in the midst of our enemies.  Thank You because You break us free from all the lies and wrong perceptions and mentality we have, and the more we seek You, the more knowledge we gain of the truth that all we truly need is You.  Allow me to build my focus on You Jesus and let me fill my life with You each day.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen!