In the Word

Guest (Male): Hello and welcome to In the Word with Michele Telfer. Thanks for joining us for this in-depth study of God's word, the Bible. For more of Michele's free resources, visit her website at intheword.com. And now, Michele.

Michele Telfer: Father God, I ask that I would become less and you would become more, that you would speak to our hearts in Jesus' name. Amen.

Elijah was a prophet who spoke for God in the Old Testament at a particularly dark time in Israel's history, when the country was gripped by great evil. Under the rule of wicked King Ahab and his wife Jezebel, the people had been led away from the one true God to worship at the altar of the pagan god Baal. Elijah was willing to put obedience to the Lord's command above his own safety.

His courageous proclamation of God's judgment upon Israel, in the form of a drought, came at great cost to him, as he had to hide for some time from the enraged king and queen in the Kerith Ravine. In this place of isolation, God not only miraculously provided for Elijah's needs, but he also taught his prophet about his faithfulness in the midst of difficult trials.

When the brook dried up, Elijah did not react to his changing circumstances alone. No, he waited for the word of the Lord to direct him. As God would have it, the next leg of his journey led Elijah to a place and a person that would have made no sense from a worldly perspective. And yet, Elijah followed the Lord's command, going to Zarephath of Sidon, which was the very epicenter of Baal worship at that time.

There, God had his prophet stay in the home of a destitute pagan widow. This poor woman and her son must have seemed a really strange choice to take care of the man of God because they were at the end of everything they had when he met them. And yet, even in these dire circumstances, God proved faithful.

Because of the Lord's miraculous provision of both flour and oil, Elijah was able to stay with the woman and her son for quite some time. God surprises us with the people he chooses to use, doesn't he? Elijah was a man who rose from total obscurity to become one of the most influential servants of God in the whole of scripture.

Similarly, a pagan widow at the end of everything she had surely seemed a very unlikely choice as well. And yet, God used both of them for his purposes. What a great encouragement that is for us because if God can use them, he can most certainly use us too, if we're willing to learn from their lives.

When she met Elijah, this woman was very likely a Baal worshiper, and the scripture makes it plain that she did not share Elijah's belief in the God of Israel. When he asked her for aid, she immediately declared in 1 Kings 17:12: "As surely as the Lord your God lives," she replied, "I don't have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I'm gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die."

We aren't told how she knew that Elijah served the Lord most high. But notice that although she refers to God as the living God, she lets it be known that he is Elijah's God, not hers, when she says, "as surely as the Lord your God lives." We aren't told what kind of life this woman had lived, but I'm quite sure we can guess it had not been an easy one.

Not only was she living in an area renowned for its pagan worship, her husband had died, leaving her to try to take care of her young son alone. Life would not have been easy for a woman in those circumstances. To make matters even worse, she had to try and make ends meet in the midst of a terrible drought and famine.

It is believed that Elijah stayed with this woman for about two years. And yet, we only know what she said to him on three different occasions. Much of what she did say was a complaint. When Elijah stepped into her life at the beginning, her first words to him were, "I'm gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die."

She seems hopeless, doesn't she? Even bitter. But if you or I were in her position, I think we'd likely be responding in just the same way. Yet when Elijah promised her that God would provide and that he would not let her and her boy starve, she was willing to do as he said. God was proved faithful. The flour and oil didn't cease until the drought ended.

In those days, people used the roofs of their homes as a spare living space where they would sleep in the hot weather and where visitors could stay. The scripture reveals that Elijah had been living there for some time when this woman's life took a dramatic turn for the worse. This was the occasion of her second complaint in 1 Kings 17:17.

Some time later, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?" The widow's son became ill, and we're told that day after day he steadily grew worse until, despite all her efforts to care for the boy, he finally stopped breathing.

Her immediate response to this terrible tragedy was to lash out at Elijah as if he had been the cause of her misfortune. I don't think any of us would blame her, though. It's a natural response for us to want to blame somebody when tragedy strikes. I think it's often human nature to lash out at those who are closest to us, even those who've been the greatest help in the past.

This woman was angry with both Elijah and his God. She wondered what she could have possibly done to offend Elijah. Over the months he'd stayed with her, it had obviously become plain to her that he really was a man of God. It seems that the testimony of his godly life had somehow made her conscious of her own sin because she asks, "Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?"

We don't know what this woman had done in her past, but in asking if Elijah's purpose had been to remind her of her sin, she reveals that she's been feeling guilty about something. Actually, that's not a bad thing. Feeling the weight of our own sin is always the first step in being made right with God.

Her problem was that she seemed to expect Elijah's God to be just like Baal, who, you will remember, demanded children as a payment for blessing. She thought that the loss of her son was punishment from Elijah's God for what she had done in the past. Little did she realize what God was about to do. Look at verse 19.

"Give me your son," Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the Lord, "Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I'm staying with by causing her son to die?" Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, "Lord my God, let this boy's life return to him!"

I love the way Elijah shows no anger towards her. He doesn't try to justify God or himself. He merely asks her for her son. He knew this woman was grieving, and so he treated her with compassion and kindness. He carried the boy upstairs to his room on the roof of the house. Elijah had probably spent much time in prayer on that rooftop, and it seems he just wanted to get alone with the boy and with God.

In essence, Elijah prayed two different prayers once he'd placed the boy on his bed. The first is in verse 20, and it is actually a question. Elijah cries out, "Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I'm staying with by causing her son to die?" We so often think that we should never question God, and yet Elijah does so here.

Simply put, he asks the Lord why he'd allowed this tragedy when this woman had already endured so much. In so doing, Elijah teaches us that it's really okay to ask God questions. The Lord already knows what's in your heart, but he wants you to acknowledge it and honestly express it.

And whereas it may not always be a good idea to pour out your complaint to the Lord in a public meeting, it's perfectly alright to confess your struggles to him in private. He may not give us a specific answer to our questions, but he does want us to be truthful about our emotions and come to him with our struggles. In fact, he longs for that kind of relationship with us.

Elijah didn't actually get a response to his question, but that didn't stop him from praying a second time in verse 21, where he cried out for the Lord to bring the boy back to life. What a man of faith he was. He was asking for something that had never happened before in all of scripture. No one had ever been raised from the dead before this.

But surely his days at the brook and in Zarephath had taught Elijah that nothing was impossible for God. However, the prophet didn't ask once and then give up. No, we're told that he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, "Lord my God, let this boy's life return to him!"

No one knows why he stretched himself out on the boy in this way, apart from the fact that most likely he was following the prompting of the Holy Spirit. But something rather extraordinary is going on here that we just shouldn't miss. Elijah was a Jew, so he would have known the law that God had given to his people through Moses.

That law prohibited anyone from coming into contact with a dead body. According to Leviticus 21, such an act would have made Elijah unclean in the eyes of God. Even more so because this boy was not from Israel. He was a Gentile. And yet, in this desperate act of intercession for the child, I think Elijah shows us that he cared more for the souls of the widow and her boy than for himself.

Verse 22 reveals: "The Lord heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, 'Look, your son is alive!' Then the woman said to Elijah, 'Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.'"

What joy that mother must have felt as she received her son back from death, and what relief from the bitterness and negativity that had filled her heart before. She declares to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth." We realize that she no longer just saw Elijah; she saw his God.

She knew that every word of God that had come from the prophet's mouth was indeed the truth. It seems that from this moment forward, the woman became a follower of the living God. I love how this story teaches us that as God guides us on our journey with him, it really isn't only about us. He's working in the lives of others. They are just as important to him as we are.

We would be wise to learn from Elijah's life. He honored God in all that he did, and his faithfulness brought conviction of sin to those around him. When he faced life's hardships, he was authentic in his relationship with the Lord. Elijah was honest and without pretense before God. Seeing God's faithfulness over the years had taught him that nothing is impossible for God.

So Elijah, guided by the Holy Spirit, had the faith to ask for the impossible. In the third year of the drought, 1 Kings chapter 18 reveals that the word of the Lord came to Elijah, instructing him to present himself to Ahab once more. It had been a long time since God had spoken, but he was ready to move. He was about to end the drought and send rain upon the sun-scorched land.

He sent his prophet back into Israel, back into the land of Ahab and Jezebel. We're told that the famine was particularly severe in Ahab's capital city of Samaria. Ahab had a servant named Obadiah, who actually was a man of faith, a man who believed in the God of Israel. Over the years, as he watched Jezebel killing off the Lord's prophets, Obadiah had secretly hidden a hundred of them in two different caves and supplied them with food and water.

One day as Obadiah was searching for new pastures for Ahab's starving horses and donkeys, Elijah suddenly appeared upon the road before him. Immediately recognizing the man of God, Obadiah bowed down before him out of respect and probably a bit of fear also. Here before him was the most wanted man in all of Israel, the man Ahab had sworn to kill.

Imagine his surprise when he realized that Elijah was not interested in safe shelter with the other prophets but he was actually interested in open confrontation with the king. Elijah wanted Obadiah to ask Ahab to come and meet him. Poor Obadiah didn't know what to think. He actually feared that Elijah might play a trick on the king and go back into hiding before the king ever got to the meeting place.

Then the king would take out his anger on Obadiah and surely kill him. So to reassure the trembling servant, Elijah made him an unshakable promise, saying, "As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today." 1 Kings 18:16 reveals that 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?"

Ahab, blind to his own sin, held Elijah responsible for everything that had happened. This was a very tense situation, but rather than back down, Elijah, guided by the Holy Spirit, offered a challenge. In verse 18 he said, "I have not made trouble for Israel, 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 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table." Elijah demanded that all of Israel and all Jezebel's prophets be summoned to the top of Mount Carmel. One has to wonder what Ahab was expecting at such a gathering.

Perhaps he expected some sort of ceremony at which Elijah would announce the end of the drought. He surely couldn't have envisioned what was going to happen next. 1 Kings chapter 18 verse 21 details how Elijah began with very strong words for the Israelites. He actually told them that they needed to make a decision about who they would worship.

They'd been wavering between two opinions for far too long as they went back and forth between trusting the God of their ancestors and the false god Jezebel had introduced them to. So Elijah gave them a choice, saying, "If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal is God, follow him." He wanted them to know that they could not serve two masters. God wants people who are fully devoted to him.

We don't know if the Israelites were afraid of Ahab and Jezebel and the prophets of Baal, or if their years of faithlessness had totally sapped their ability to take a stand. Whatever the case, the scripture reveals the people said nothing. Such a sad response to the faithfulness God had always shown them.

Undeterred, however, Elijah quickly laid down the rules for a contest that would prove just who the living God was. Ensuring that the odds were heavily stacked against him from the beginning, he allowed the prophets of Baal every advantage in their choice of the sacrificial bull, declaring that they could slaughter the better offering and arrange it just as they pleased.

He would take whatever was left. Then Elijah encouraged the false prophets to call on the name of their gods, saying that he would call on the name of the Lord, and "The god who answers by fire—he is God." Well, if you know the story, the false prophets eagerly agreed to his terms. And honestly, why wouldn't they? They believed that Baal was the god who controlled weather.

How easy it would have been for him to send a lightning bolt to begin the fire. However, no matter what they did and no matter how much they called, no fire fell from heaven. Eventually, the scripture reveals in verse 27, 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. See how Elijah mocked them.

He first suggested that perhaps Baal was too deep in thought to answer them. He next commented that perhaps their false god was busy, and that was rather humorous because it was really a polite way of saying that perhaps their god was relieving himself. "Perhaps he was traveling," he said, "or fast asleep."

The false prophets shouted even louder, slashing themselves so that their own blood flowed as they tried to produce some sort of response from their false god. But no one answered them and no one paid attention. When the usual time of the evening sacrifice to the living God arrived, Elijah finally stepped forward to make his offering.

After building up the altar of the Lord, which had previously been torn down, he dug a trench around it, arranging the wood and placed the sacrificed animal on top of the pyre. Then, surprisingly, he took twelve large jars of their precious water and poured them over everything, drenching the sacrifice, the wood, the rocks of his altar, and even the ground beneath.

You may wonder why he would do such a thing. Well, apparently the prophets of Baal were tricksters and charlatans who sometimes hid embers in their woodpiles so that flames could appear as if by magic when they fanned them. It seems Elijah wanted all those present to be certain that he had done no such thing.

Then Elijah began his simple prayer, saying, "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. God answered Elijah's brief prayer in a most powerful way. Fire fell from heaven consuming everything. Nothing was left. Even the water in the trench was gone.

In that moment, God proved it is not the loudness of the prayer or the length of the prayer that matters. It is all about who the prayer is addressed to. 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. As the people turned to the Lord in worship, Elijah immediately had the prophets of Baal executed. Lest you feel sorry for them, remember how they had led God's people away from him. Remember the many child sacrifices that they had encouraged.

That's where we'll have to leave our lesson for today. What a lot it's taught us. We learn the truth that evidently all religions are not the same and that enthusiasm and great activity are not always the signs of true spirituality. The prophets of Baal were no doubt sincere in what they believed, but it is possible to be sincerely wrong.

People can have faith, but what truly matters is the object of that faith. My prayer for all of us today is that we are like Elijah, believing in and following the one true and living God. Let's pray.

Father God, thank you so much for all you've said to our hearts today. Lord, thank you for Elijah's faith. Thank you that you are the God who answers with fire. Lord, I pray that we would follow you most closely. Lord, that we would never turn to the right or the left, but that we would walk in your paths only. It is in Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen. God bless you.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to In the Word with Michele Telfer. Join us next week as we continue our study from God's word, the Bible. Michele's teachings are available on all major podcast platforms, also on her website at intheword.com and through the In the Word by Michele Telfer app. Please consider supporting this ministry with a donation through the app or at intheword.com, helping us reach more people with the truth of Jesus Christ.