DAY 22: GOD CHOSE ELIJAH

 THE RHEMA WORD FOR TODAY

(A DAILY DEVOTIONAL WITH PREACHER SAM)

 

TOPIC: GOD CHOSE ELIJAH

DATE: 22 SEPTEMBER, 2020

BIBLE READING: 1 KINGS 19:1-18

MEDITATION/MEMORY VERSE: 1 KINGS 17:1 (NKJV)

And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”

 

The Bible started telling us about the life of Elijah from his ministry. We were only told that He was a prophet from Tisbite in Gilead. So what then can we say about how God chose him?

First, before we talk about the man called Elijah, let’s take an overview study about Israel’s state and the rise of Elijah’s ministry.

About a hundred years had passed in ancient Israel since the time of King David, who had set a high standard of faithfulness and integrity in serving the one true God. Now a wicked king name Ahab did more to provoke God to anger than all the kings of Israel who had come before him (1 Kings 16:33).

Prior to that time, evil began to sprout up in ancient Israel when Solomon disobeyed God’s instruction by marrying strange women that turned his heart from the one true God. Close to the end of his life, the Bible recorded that he worshipped strange gods and goddesses (1 Kings 11:1-10). And it was because of such decadence, God divided the ancient nation of Israel (1 Kings 11:11).

So the apostasy during Ahab’s reign was the result of many years of corrupt kings and increasing evil, until wickedness filled the land. The Bible says, ‘No one else so completely sold himself to what was evil in the Lord’s sight as Ahab did under the influence of his wife Jezebel. His worst outrage was worshipping idols just as the Amorites had done- the people whom the Lord had driven out from the land ahead of the Israelites.’ (1 Kings 21:25-26 NLT). It was at this peak of decadence, that Elijah came into the scene. ‘Now Elijah the Tishbite…’ (1 Kings 17:1).

King Ahab was a man that the Bible recorded as one who did more evil to provoke the anger of God (1 Kings 16:29-33), and also a man who sold himself completely to what was evil (1 Kings 21:25-26). It was this same man that Elijah went to confront with a warning (1 Kings 17:1). Remember, as we have cited out, Israel was in the state of decadency, and God needed a man of faith and courage to challenge the altars of darkness and to bring revival upon the land of Israel again; Elijah seemed to be the right choice.

Don’t forget that God does not call the qualified, he only qualified the called. Elijah was a man just like us (Jam. 5:17); from our Bible reading, we see the fear of Elijah and his state of depression. He was the right choice because of his total obedience to God- this earned him the liberty to exercise the spirit of faith and boldness (2 Cor. 4:13; 2 Tim. 1:7).

In his state of depression, he boasted that he had been the only one zealously serving god, but god responded that he had 7,000 others in Israel who never bowed to Baal. So Elijah was one of those who refused to renounce his faith on God. In the previous chapter of our Bible reading, we discover how Obadiah, a devoted follower of God- just like Elijah, hid a hundred of God’s prophets (1 Kings 18:3-4). This was Elijah’s weakness, and God would have chosen any of them, but chose Elijah in His Sovereignty for this unique assignment. When God chooses you, He does this because of your unique assignment, not because He has no one qualified for the task- no one is even qualified in the first instance. Your unique assignment made him to qualify you.

In these last days, God had promised to release the spirit of Elijah (Mal. 4:5, 6). The world is in total decadence because of the daughters of Jezebel are rampaging in our neighbourhood, men are heeding to false gods and Babylon has set up her economy and government. Men like Elijah need to arise and challenge these altars of darkness and bring an end to their reign. An ordinary man like Elijah lived an extraordinary life- God is looking for men that will carry this spirit of Elijah and work extraordinary things in these last days, turning the hearts of God’s children back to him. Revival is about to break out, and the question is CAN GOD CHOOSE YOU?

 

DECLARATION: O LORD! LET THE SPIRIT OF ELIJAH FALL ON ME! MAKE ME EXTRAORDINARY!

 

FURTHER STUDY: 1 KINGS 18