1 Kings 17.1
“Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”
Elijah appears at a time when Israel was at its darkest. As a result of many decades of ungodly kings, obedience to God had given way to apathy, and apathy to compromise, and compromise to idolatry and immorality. Israel is now under the rule of the evil king Ahab and his even more evil wife Jezebel. The worship of Baal is rampant, and the people have all but abandoned their covenant with the Lord.
Onto this stage steps Elijah, a prophet from nowhere. He follows no protocol, makes no introductions, and shows no deference to king Ahab or queen Jezebel. He is without sophistication, polish, training, or manners of the court.
He simply announces: “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.” (1 Kings 17.1)
Where you stand is everything. Elijah stood with God in opposition to the idolatry and rebellion of Ahab. He had no “credentials;” his stance with God was the source of his authority and strength.
The majority of people in Israel had abandoned the Lord and now worshiped the false idols of the pagan nations that surrounded them. The people of Israel rejected the Lord and accepted the ways of Baal.
Not Elijah; he stood with the Lord. The lesson for us is that we too must stand with God and not absorb the ways of the world around us. Where you stand is everything.
God is not with the powerful; He is with the obedient. King Ahab had position and power, Elijah had faith and obedience. There is much we can do in our time and place in history if we are faithful and obedient.
“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)
Coram Deo
