Stress Test Devotional May 11
May 11, 2024
1 KINGS 17:1-3, 8-9, 17-19 | 1Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” 2 The word of the Lord came to him, saying, 3 “Go from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”
17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18 She then said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!” 19 But he said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed.
Spurred on by his wife Jezebel, daughter of Sidonion King Ethbaal (notice his name!) Ahab set about killing the prophets of the Lord. Yet, Elijah was unflinchingly courageous in the face of these murderous royals. He announced the Lord’s judgement to Ahab in the form of a drought. He followed God’s instruction and lived in hiding, frustrating the king’s death warrant. Then he demanded a meeting and turned Ahab’s invective back, declaring Israel’s monarch and his family as illegitimate and idolatrous. Then in one of scripture’s most spectacular scenes he challenged all the prophets of Baal to a dramatic public showdown on Mount Carmel, where he demonstrated the futility of their god and their cult, and the reality and power of Yahweh. Elijah then slaughtered 450 of these false prophets. Without an army or a party, he directly challenged the religious and political powers of the nation (see Verses 1 Kings 17:37-40).
Do you have a theology of power?
What gives legitimacy to a leader?
