Do you present Christ only for it to fall on deaf ears? Then this story of Elijah is for you! Please take time to read the whole story.
1Kings 17 – 19 How often have you wondered when God was going to work and when He did, you can’t fathom how it all happened? Such is the case of Elijah the Tishbite in Gilead. Why did God call him to a nation of whom he was not related? God’s ways are not our ways, thankfully. God’s patience had run out for King Ahab and Queen Jezebel and He would take an ordinary man to prove that Baal was false and God was real. And so the contest began over the sacrifices.
Baal earned a zero in answering and God earned a resounding 100%.
You would think after seeing God’s power unleashed the king and queen would relent and believe but just as today, they did not. Instead, Jezebel decided to end Elijah’s life once and for all. God revealed His power and Baal’s lack of power. God now will have the last word for these workers of iniquity.
The contest is over and where do we find Elijah but in the desert whining in his depression. How like us! Truly Prov 29:25 is truer than we want to admit. We fear men more than we fear God. We have a mountaintop experience, fail to see others turn to Jesus and we fall into the valley of despond. Many love Easter for its resurrection story but on Easter Monday they fall back into their unbelieving ways. And like Elijah, we retreat to the cave where we can hide. I told the Easter story but it fell on deaf ears! Oh woe is me, I am a failure! Can you relate? It has happened more than once to me and probably it has happened to you as well. That is why Elijah’s story is so very relevant to our lives and why we need to read it again and again. We need to see the compassionate heart of God when we are facing the deadly d’s of discouragement, depression, dismay and more. God calls out to Elijah to remind him he is not alone in this work!
So, friend, when you feel you are swimming upstream against unbelief, read this story again and again. You may not be an Elijah but you are called to present Jesus! Get up and get back to work. If we don’t present Christ they will enter a Christ-less eternity and you will hear that their blood is on your hands just like God told Ezekiel—but that’s another story for another time.
There are still people who need to hear about the power of the Resurrection.
Get up and tell the gospel story to all whether they believe or not!