Post by lesbrewer on Jul 27, 2022 20:22:19 GMT
Obeying God By: Amy Boucher Pye
Click here for the Audio Message
So he did what the Lord had told him.
1 Kings 17:5
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 Kings 17:1–16
I don’t always like doing what I’m told. I have a choice either to dig in my heels or to ask God to help me acquiesce or obey. Perhaps this stubbornness—and my prayer that God would soften me—helps me notice Elijah’s pliability and obedience. When God tells him to do something, he does it. And God uses him in His redemption story.
Throughout today’s narrative, we see Elijah hearing and obeying God. After the prophet announced to King Ahab the coming drought (1 Kings 17:1), the “brook dried up” (v. 7). Elijah followed God’s commands by moving to the stream where the ravens cared for him (vv. 5–6). He then obeyed God in seeking food from a widow in Zarephath (v. 10). She too obeyed, although she thought she would die. But Elijah promised her, on behalf of God, that her oil and flour will not run dry. And indeed, “the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry” (v. 16).
We aren’t God’s prophets, but we can echo Elijah’s character by building up our ‘obedience muscle’. Perhaps we can commit to acting on a nudge we sense when reading Scripture, or we can ask God to show us an area of life we keep from Him. As we obey, we can pray God will use us in His great redemption plan.
Reflect & Pray
Do you find obedience easy or difficult, or somewhere in between? How have you seen God follow through on His promises when you have obeyed Him?
Loving God, You are good and You are holy. I want to obey You, for I know You want the best for me. Mould me into Your image.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
An interesting part of this story is the difference between what God tells Elijah and the widow’s initial response. God said he’d “directed” a widow to supply him with food (1 Kings 17:9). But when he asked the widow for bread, she replies that she doesn’t have enough to spare. She even swears by “the Lord your God” (v. 12 )—a direct reference to the One who gave her the instructions. It was common to swear by a deity to prove someone was telling the truth—in this case the woman did so to declare that she didn’t have the means to feed Elijah. Despite the reminder (from her own lips) of the instructions she received, she obeys only after Elijah reassured her that God would provide for them until the famine was over.
J.R. Hudberg
1 Kings 17:1-16
King James Version
17 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
2 And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
3 Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
4 And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
5 So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
6 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
7 And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
8 And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
9 Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
11 And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.
12 And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
14 For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.
15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.
16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.
Click here for the Audio Message
So he did what the Lord had told him.
1 Kings 17:5
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 Kings 17:1–16
I don’t always like doing what I’m told. I have a choice either to dig in my heels or to ask God to help me acquiesce or obey. Perhaps this stubbornness—and my prayer that God would soften me—helps me notice Elijah’s pliability and obedience. When God tells him to do something, he does it. And God uses him in His redemption story.
Throughout today’s narrative, we see Elijah hearing and obeying God. After the prophet announced to King Ahab the coming drought (1 Kings 17:1), the “brook dried up” (v. 7). Elijah followed God’s commands by moving to the stream where the ravens cared for him (vv. 5–6). He then obeyed God in seeking food from a widow in Zarephath (v. 10). She too obeyed, although she thought she would die. But Elijah promised her, on behalf of God, that her oil and flour will not run dry. And indeed, “the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry” (v. 16).
We aren’t God’s prophets, but we can echo Elijah’s character by building up our ‘obedience muscle’. Perhaps we can commit to acting on a nudge we sense when reading Scripture, or we can ask God to show us an area of life we keep from Him. As we obey, we can pray God will use us in His great redemption plan.
Reflect & Pray
Do you find obedience easy or difficult, or somewhere in between? How have you seen God follow through on His promises when you have obeyed Him?
Loving God, You are good and You are holy. I want to obey You, for I know You want the best for me. Mould me into Your image.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
An interesting part of this story is the difference between what God tells Elijah and the widow’s initial response. God said he’d “directed” a widow to supply him with food (1 Kings 17:9). But when he asked the widow for bread, she replies that she doesn’t have enough to spare. She even swears by “the Lord your God” (v. 12 )—a direct reference to the One who gave her the instructions. It was common to swear by a deity to prove someone was telling the truth—in this case the woman did so to declare that she didn’t have the means to feed Elijah. Despite the reminder (from her own lips) of the instructions she received, she obeys only after Elijah reassured her that God would provide for them until the famine was over.
J.R. Hudberg
1 Kings 17:1-16
King James Version
17 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
2 And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
3 Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
4 And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
5 So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
6 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
7 And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
8 And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
9 Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
11 And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.
12 And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
14 For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.
15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.
16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.
