Most of us would love to have a clear, personal experience of God. Wouldn’t it be great to see a vision, or be visited by an angel, or to have some miracle happen in front of us? We’d all like the spectacular things we see sometimes in the Bible to happen to us. There are …
We read about the call of Elisha the prophet in 1 Kings 19. Elisha is a man who is busy doing what most people of his culture did: farming. Specifically, he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen when Elijah came along and appointed him as an apprentice. That’s a lot of oxen in a …
Many of the songs we sing in church are happy songs. We sing of Jesus being Joy to the World, of the wonder of Amazing Grace, and of how great our God is. And yes, of course, these are great things to sing about! But if that is all that we sing, we might be …
The confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal atop Mt Carmel ended with drama: the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the wet sacrifice. It was clear who the true God was. Elijah was a true prophet, and the prophets of Baal were false prophets. So what should be done with the false …
James holds the prophet Elijah to be an example of the power of prayer in James 5:17-18. Of course, this is true: Elijah prayed, and the rain stopped. He prayed again, and the rain restarted. The message to take from that, according to James, is not that Elijah is a special person whom God listens …
The top of Mt Carmel in the Kingdom of Israel was a tense place to be in 1 Kings 18. A challenge had been set up between the 450 prophets of Baal on one hand and Elijah the prophet of the LORD on the other. The citizens of Israel gathered around to watch. We are …
Obadiah is a little-known figure from the Old Testament, but he gives us a useful template for serving God in ungodly times. We meet Obadiah in 1 Kings 18, when the prophet Elijah returned from three years away from the kingdom of Israel. We are told that Obadiah was “over the household” of Ahab (v3), …
When we think of prayer, sometimes what think about are the carefully crafted prayers we hear in church and see in prayer books. You know the type of thing I mean. These are prayers with carefully thought-out structures, references and echoes from all kinds of different Bible passages, with confession and thanksgiving and prayer all …
There was a widow in a middle-Eastern country named Sidon around 2800 years ago. We don’t know her name, but her story remains with us in 1 Kings 17. There had been a drought for several years and everyone was finding it tough. Some more than others. This woman had reached the end of her …
By the time King Ahab came to the throne in 1 Kings 16, the northern kingdom of Israel had been rebelling against God for many years. Ever since King Jeroboam set up golden calves and a new system of worship, king after king after king continued in their evil ways. King Omri was the worst …