There’s a famine in the land, it hasn’t rained for three years. There are no crops to harvest; the animals are dying and the people have lost hope that anything other than a cruel death awaits them for lack of food. It’s not hard to make the correlation between what the people of Israel where facing at that time and what many of us are facing in our lives right now. It seems as if the rain has stopped falling in our lives, there are no paycheck’s to collect and what we do have is about to be lost. Not exactly a place where we want to be, but we have no idea of where we are to go or how we will get there. There is more to that story though, and it does provide us with hope and an example of what one man, Elijah, did in this situation. The story in whole is found in the 17th and 18th chapters of 1 Kings, but for the sake of brevity I will simply go to the example. The word of the Lord came to Elijah and told him to do something; with that word, there was also a promise and Elijah was obedient to that word. He then prepared a sacrifice to God and offered it up to Him. Now this sacrifice was of the very things that Israel was in need of, food and water. These were not offered out of abundance, but out of their lack, and that sacrifice was accepted by God. In my way of thinking, the skies should have opened up at this time and brought the rain. But the sky’s did not open up and provide the promise of rain, to me that is a major disappointment. How many of us have heard God’s voice telling us something to do, with a promise to supply our needs and we are obedient, yet we fail to see the promise fulfilled? I am sure most in this situation would have thoughts of doubt and failure, and I don’t know that those did not go through Elijah’s mind, but he made one more step of faith, he prayed to the One that had given him the word. He not only prayed once or twice, but seven times before he saw the start of the provisions of that promise and then had to run as hard as he could to prevent that provision from covering him up. I am not stating that this will be the results of our obedience to the word we hear from the Lord, nor am I saying it won’t. But I believe it is important for us not to let go when that provision does not come immediately. If the Lord has instructed you to do something and given you a promise, don’t give up seeing that promise fulfilled. If you don’t see it after one prayer, don’t give up, His word is good. If you don’t see it after ten prayers, His word is still good. Continue in those prayers, reminding Him of what He has told you, praise Him because He is worthy and give Him thanks for that provision. Remember this, if He did not intend for you to have the reward of that promise, He would not have given you the promise! The next time you hear that word from Him; don’t give in to those thoughts of doubt and failure, but pray until you see the beginning of those things promised and then get ready to run!
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 01:39:49 +0000
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