THE LONG DROUGHT                   1 KINGS 17

Elijah announced famine.

Elijah was a prophet from God to the people. A prophet today would be more about conveying messages of encouragement to people, because everything that can be written has been through the Bible.

If a person was to prophesy today, it would have to line up with scripture already written.

Back to Elijah   1Kings 17 verse 1

Now Elijah the Tisbite, from the Gilead settlers, said to Ahab {the king}. As the Lord god of Israel lives, I stand before Him, and there will be no dew or rain during these years except by my command.

This was to show the king that The Lord God  (Our Lord and our Friend) is the true God. In such a hot country, rain was very precious. When none fell the young grain and green vegetables began to wither and shrivel away. Food soon became scarce.

What did God tell Elijah to do through all this? Lets read 1 Kings 17 verse 2 to 4.

Verse 2 Then a revelation from the Lord came to him (Elijah)

verse 3 Leave here, turn eastward, and hide yourself at the Wadi Cherith where it enters the Jordan.

Verse 4 You are to drink from the Wadi, I (God) have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.

When tough times happen God always takes care of the people who put there trust in Him. Here we see God was going to send the ravens (birds) to provide food for Elijah. food would have been hard to find but the ravens are scavengers.

Ahab was the king, Jezebel was the queen and very evil one. Jezebel’s god was Baal (false god) who was suppose to be the god of rain, but however much they prayed to him no rain came.

Three years passed without rain or dew, the king became desperate.

1 Kings 18 verse 1 and 2

verse 1 After a long time, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year: “Go and present yourself to Aha, I will send rain on the surface of the land”.

verse 2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.

When Ahab set eyes on Elijah, he spoke rudely (1 kings 18 v 17) Is that you, you destroyer of Israel.

Elijah responds (1 Kings 18 v18) Paraphrased: “I am not the one who is to blame, You have turned away from God and followed Baal.”

Elijah’s challenge 1 Kings 18 v19 paraphrased: Now call the people of Israel to come to the top of Mount Carmel. Bring all the prophets of Baal {false prophets profit nothing} too.

I am the only prophet of God that Jezebel has left alive, but I will stand up for God against all the prophets of Baal.

Elijah was going to stand for God and challenge the false prophets to show all the people who really was God.

This was a brave stand, because all the kings prophets were there the wicked queen was there, the kings army was there and all the people where there to watch. Elijah trusted God.

Read about this story in 1  Kings 17 and 18 We mention Elijah in our FOCUS article.

Elijah lost focus for a time but regained his focus to challenge the false prophets and the wicked queen.

We will write another story to explain what happens next, it is an example for all those prepared to stand up for their faith in a wonderful God.

God Bless

O F J