Weird: Day 3

God Gold of the Day

‘Then the word of the Lord came to him, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” ‘

1 Kings 17:8-9 

I know you’re probably looking at this Scripture and thinking, “what Gold could possibly be brought out of this?” Well, strap on your miner helmet and make sure you have batteries in your flashlight because we are taking a trip into the mine to find the Gold!

We’ve been talking about how WEIRD it is to follow God. Not the kind of weird that you may refer to usually but the kind of weird that stands out, is so different compared to the normal of this world. The normal is the path that the masses follow, but they are a few that take a path more narrow, standing out and being considered WEIRD for living a life submitted to God. We’re talking about the God kind of weird and we’ve seen the last few days that the way God goes about His business and works in our lives, it’s as weird as it gets.

What I noticed in this verse, this is the third time in 9 verses that God has given His Word to the prophet Elijah. The first time, God predicted there would be a drought in the land, He had Elijah speak on His behalf to the people and BOOM! We got a drought! The next time, God tells Elijah to go hide in the wilderness and He would send food by way of ravens. What’d ya know?!? God does it again and comes through on His Word to Elijah.

Here we are in verse 8 and we have God giving His Word to Elijah yet again!!! His Word once again sounds CRAZY! What God is saying here sounds ridiculous in the way we see things in our human vision. What sounds weird and impossible to us, is actually super normal when compared to who God is and when you look at His track record throughout the Bible and human history where His Word always remains faithful and true.

It just hit me this morning that WOW! Having the Word of the Lord come to us is such a great blessing! I’m sure at this point Elijah, after watching God’s Word play out as perfectly as God spoke it, saving his life, protecting and providing for Him in the wildest of ways. I’m sure as Elijah saw the river dry up from the drought that he was jumping for joy to have the Word of God come to him again!

This week has been different for me with these God Gold messages. I’ll be honest, even sending out these messages, it has been a STRUGGLE to remain consistent in reading God’s Word. Some days I’m in it and the majority of the time I overlook it. I got to a place with the God Gold recently where I felt empty, like I had nothing more to share with you, then God sent His Word into my life. As I began having to study these passages for a class I sat here in awe thinking, how could I have overlooked His Word for this long??

Five days in and from Elijah’s view too, it’s so obvious that when the Word of the Lord comes into our lives, that’s the biggest blessing we could ever receive!!! God’s Word has changed my days completely, instead of feeling empty, I feel fueled up with His promises, strengthened by knowing more about who He is and just how much He has everything in control. The normal thing to do is overlook God’s Word, maybe spend some time in it here and there but who needs it right?? How much could it really help? I got this!

That’s the normal view of it and I’m here to tell you that normal doesn’t work. Yeah, it’s been super WEIRD actually waking up a little earlier than I usually do to spend in God’s Word. It’s been weird spending time seeking God instead of seeking how to please myself. Staying consistent in God’s Word takes being really really WEIRD, I mean you can look around and see that the majority of people, the “normal” don’t worry about making that time a priority. It’s going to be weird and it may even feel weird but geez, I can’t even explain how awesome, rich and powerful His Word has been since things have gotten weird for me in that area!

Just as God’s Word has been to Elijah in this passage, God’s Word protects us, guides us, strengthens us and provides for us in ways that we could never do apart from it! There is NOTHING BETTER than having God’s Word come into your life!

So my challenge for you today, coming from someone who has taken His Word fore granted for so long, my challenge for you is to read God’s Word. Get out a pen, some paper, take some notes and really dig in! Even if it’s just one verse a day, any time in God’s Word is good time! I could have easily kept going in the normal routine and put God’s Word to the side but when I picked it up, now I can’t seem to stay away. I’ve found the more I’m in His Word, the more I see how much I desperately NEED His Word to live in this world. To live a weird life with a weird God and not be caught with the majority of the world being normal. To live an extraordinary and weird life for God, it’s going take doing the little weird things like putting self aside and getting into His Word. God has a Word for you today, actually a lot of Words for a lot of days!

Don’t push it to the side, don’t make excuses, open up His Word and at least find out what all this WEIRD talk is about! I PROMISE you won’t be disappointed that you did, if anything you’ll be changed from the inside out!!! And that’s what this world needs more of! People willing to stand out and make God known by first doing what seems weird by receiving the Word of God in their lives!