God Gold of the Day
‘Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the Lord , the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!” Then the Lord said to Elijah, “Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River.”
1 Kings 17:1-2
I’ve been studying about Elijah lately and am really excited to share with you this extreme amount of Gold that God has uncovered!!! You may have heard of this guy named, “Elijah” before. I mean the dude did some pretty amazing things and is one of those Bible heroes that we look up to. Honestly, I was actually wanting to share of all the cool stuff God did through Elijah because it’s so miraculous and crazy, it’s a story worth telling for sure. But it just didn’t feel right to share with you all that BIG stuff without sharing with you the little stuff, the things Elijah went through to get to those BIG moments in Bible history.
These verses is the first time in the Bible and the people of Israel ever heard the name, “Elijah.” As Elijah is coming on the scene, the nation of Israel is in a time in their history where they are having not just one, but years on years of bad days. One of the main reasons was the fact that they were being ruled by some very evil kings during this time that brought in idols and many other gods into their nation that ended up taking them away from their ONE TRUE God! So things are BAD, like so bad that God becomes so displeased with them He decides to send a drought onto the land that will cause famine for years to come.
ENTER ELIJAH: Elijah comes on the scene as a prophet of the Lord who operates as a spokesman for God to deliver His message to the people. Elijah doesn’t come in quietly though, fulfilling his duty as a prophet, Elijah comes in speaking God’s Word immediately at the start of chapter 17 announcing that there will be a drought until God says otherwise. So as we see that opening statement from Elijah, it’s easy to see that he wasn’t trying to win any “most popular” awards. This action of obedience from Elijah was not well received from the people and it’s king at this time, Ahab.
What a lesson that is for us, being obedient in the name of God and serving God by walking out His Word in our lives, their may not be a big reward for popularity that comes from it. Just as it is in the culture of this time, it stands the same for us today, being obedient to God and speaking His truth goes completely against the popular opinion of the world we live in. You can read the chapters before this and see the evil and hurt that has came upon the nation of Israel in recent years. Although, being obedient may not make you popular, like it sure didn’t for Elijah, it brings God to the world around us, the only cure for all the brokenness and pain that we have in our lives. Hold onto that thought as we move forward because as we travel down the road of obedience with Elijah as our driving example, we’ll see more and more that God is worth the obstacles, detours, and struggle that may come from it.
God doesn’t call us to be popular, He calls us to be obedient. What He can do with our obedience is the most lasting, fulfilling satisfaction and joy we could ever have in our lives! Being popular may bring temporary happiness, but nothing that this world brings amounts to the eternal LIFE that God has for us!
The MAIN LESSON of these next few messages are going to show us that living a life in obedience to God, such as Elijah is going to show us is soooo WEIRD!!! It’s completely different from what the world around us is doing and is extremely unpopular. But to be honest, being “normal” and living lives that are obedient to what everyone else is doing, it’s obviously not working. All the pain, evil, and brokenness in this world, that’s what being normal brings, it just fits in as another messy piece to the mess! We are going to go on a journey to see that being normal and fitting in isn’t working, it’s time to start being weird. And I don’t mean weird in the bad kind of way, actually weird in the God kind of way, standing out from normal. Following God instead of popular opinion, it’s a weird thing to do, it may even feel weird to do at times but let’s learn how to embrace this God kind of weird because normal doesn’t seem to be working!!!
STAY TUNED for tomorrow’s God Gold as we will continue digging into the life of Elijah and pulling out the many Gold nuggets that God has placed there for us!!!
godgoldoftheday.wordpress.com 
Good word Jordan. You know for all of the spectacular stories of Elijah’s life there is only one I continually remember and go back to. That is the story of Elijah in the cave in 1 Kings19:12 where God speaks to him in a still, small voice.
This isn’t a great miracle or power that makes men’s mouths drop but something even more incredible. It is the still, small voice of God. Not the booming thunderous wind nor the roar of the earthquake but the subtle, almost imperceptible, voice of Jesus.
Mankind thinks that the spectacular power of God changes men’s hearts but it doesn’t. It may awe us but it does not change us for it take nothing to be impressed by the sheer power God has. What is impressive is when a man can be so humble that He can hear a humble God with a voice so quiet that it takes tremendous effort to hear.
God only shouts when we are so deaf that this is the only way we will hear Him. This brings no satisfaction to Him or us. Imagine a parent yelling at a disobedient child. Neither is helped by this and frustration mounts. Imagine now that the child humbles himself and desires to please the parent. The parent lowers their voice to almost a whisper. Love for their child overwhelms them and they can barely speak above whisper. In that moment when the child has to draw right up to the mouth of the parent to hear the words there is life. With only atoms between the two the words of love are like a kiss from parent to child.
That kind of intimacy changes us Jordan. His still, small voice moves us like no other voice can. His love coming through the whisper penetrates deep into our hearts and draws us into ever deeper intimacy with our Beloved. This is what Elijah had that is so impressive. The gifts of power come and go but intimacy with Jesus is beyond compare.
And to think that this still small voice came to Elijah when he was disobedient and ran away from Jezebel. Let that sink in.
Blessings,
Homer Les
Uncompromising Faith
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow!!! I’m sorry that I’m just now reading this, life has been crazy lately but WOW!!! Thank you so much for sharing this truth with me!
I can’t put into words how much these words have touched me and taught me. So often, like you said, I chase after the BIG powerful miracles of God and stand amazed by them but you have laid a truth down that is of even greater importance.
I hate that it took so long to read this but I sit here amazed at how God works things together in His timing. Lately, I’ve been learning the hard way this life-changing, yet simple and quiet lesson on hearing Gods voice. It amazes me that I read this when I did because these words were so absolutely perfect for what I’ve been going through and learning lately.
Learning lately the humility needed to get self out of the way and hear that quiet whisper from God. It’s been convicting seeing how much I’ve been in the way of hearing Him throughout my days but I can’t explain the joy and fullness of life God has allowed me to experience as He has taught me to get out of the way.
What a great example that is! Seriously you could not have written or explained this truth any better and I am humbled and thankful to receive this message from you! Honestly, as much as this truth has touched me, if you ever want to share this on the God Gold of the day just let me know or I could repost from your page! I would love nothing more than to send these powerful yet quiet words of truth to so many who receive the God Gold messages daily! Thanks again so so much!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person