So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. “Man of God,” he begged, “please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants! See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!”

2 Kings 1

So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. “Man of God,” he begged, “please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants! See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!” v13-14

Now that Ahab had died (just as prophesied), his son Ahaziah becomes King.  Ahaziah did evil, led Israel into evil, and worshiped Baal, just as his father did (1 Kings 22:52-53).   Ahaziah injures himself and desires to seek Baal's input (via messengers) whether he will recover from this injury. But the angel of the Lord directs Elijah to meet these messenger to deliver a stern warning to Ahaziah:


"Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’ Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!’” v3-4


Ahaziah seeks to capture (and likely kill) Elijah so he sends his men after Elijah.  However, God protects Elijah and each time men are sent after him "the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed" Ahaziah's men (v10, 12).

The third time this happens Ahaziah's men show display fear and beg to Elijah that they not be consumed as well.

We don't know what happened to these men but we can learn from them. 

We ought to demonstrate reverent fear of God.  We don't get what we deserve (Romans 6:23), yet we get what we don't deserve (Jesus came to rescue us while still sinners - Romans 5:8).

Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.  1 Peter 1:17

 

My Prayer: Heavenly Father - Jesus, You are an awesome God who has created all things, is in all things, and is in control.  You know everything about my sin, yet You came to rescue me anyway, willingly laying down Your life for me.  Thank You Jesus.  I am not worth such love.  I worry.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one prophet through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”

1 Kings 22

The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one prophet through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” v8

God is slow to anger and abounding in love (see yesterday's post), giving Ahab an extended lease on life.  Yet Ahab, amazingly so, fails to see God's grace, he does not turn towards God, and within 3 years (relatively quickly) he dies just as prophesied in 1 Kings 21.  It's possible he could have lived even longer - who knows.

God's patience is not unlimited - see post here and the Parable of the Gold Coins where the "worthless servant [who failed to use and invest coins given to him by his master] [is thrown]
outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth".

We are to persistently deliver the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Yet for those who deny Jesus, God does not have unlimited patience.

Lord Jesus - help me persistently delivery the Good News of Jesus Christ to those I know who are lost.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who has rescued me and You love me and are enormously patient with me.  Thank You Jesus.  I am not worth such love patience.  I worry and I often fail to persistently deliver the Good News to the lost.  Please forgive me and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to accept You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.”

1 Kings 21

Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.” v28-29

Over chapters 18-21, we see God exercising amazing patience with Ahab and Israel.  In chapter 18, the Lord, through Elijah, demonstrates his power to those who worship Baal by burning up the altar and by bringing rain to drought savaged Israel. 

In chapter 19, we God encouraging Elijah by providing for him, by appearing to him in person and by providing a successor Elisha.  

In chapter 20, God delivers the armies of Ben-Hadad to Ahab.  Contrary to God's instructions (v42), Ahab spares Ben Hadad's life.  One of the Lord's prophets (unnamed), condemns Ahab.

In chapter 21, Ahab and his wife Jezebel conspire to kill and steal Naboth's vineyard.  Elijah confronts Ahab and once again Ahab is condemned (v20-24). Despite very strong words describing the sin of Ahab and Jezebel (v25-26), Ahab is spared.

God is indeed slow to anger and abounding in love. We should not claim that our sin is any less than that of Ahab - our sin may just be different.

[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God[.] Romans 3:23

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8

Thank You Jesus for Your amazing patience!

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, what an amazing God You are that You are so patient, slow to anger and abounding in love.  I am not worth such love, I worry.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.   Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

1 Kings 17

Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.” v24

The Lord is in control (Colossians 1:16-17) and everything He allows or does is for a reason - that He be glorified and His children are rescued.  Israel is deep in sin (King Ahab has been worse than those before him (1 Kings 16:30) and God causes a drought (v1).  Out of this drought, the Lord brings Elijah to a widow and her son for food.  She has little but gives what she has and learns how God provides.  This is reinforced as God uses Elijah to heal the widow's son (v19-23).

This process of how people know who God is and how He works is a lifelong process. I don't know what happened to the widow and her son but I suspect that they sought God and God continued to reveal Himself to them as they grew in maturity in their love of God.

This interaction with Elijah reminds me of Jesus' interaction with the woman the well where a Samaritan woman encounters the promised Messiah.

We must all move beyond knowing that God is real to truly seeking Him and growing in Christ.

Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God[.] Hebrews 6:1

 

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who continues to reveal Himself...daily!  Thank You Jesus for always being there and providing for me, guiding me, healing me, protecting me, etc.  I am not worth such love.  I am often harsh with my words and actions. Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior. Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

For David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not failed to keep any of the Lord’s commands all the days of his life—except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.

1 Kings 15

For David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not failed to keep any of the Lord’s commands all the days of his life—except in the case of Uriah the Hittite. v5

God loved David so much that He made a promise to him (the Davidic Covenant) that "I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever."  

Even though the descendants of David (now inhabiting the kingdom of Judah) turned away from Him, God was faithful and raising up to the throne in Judah descendants of David.  In reference to
Abijah, it is written:

He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been. Nevertheless, for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong. v3-4

Abijah's son is Asa, and Asa did right in the eyes of the Lord: 

Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father (in his line) David had done. v11

God is so faithful - He will always keep His promises.  We know that Jesus is the one referred to in the Davidic Covenant as the one whose throne will last forever.   

See also posts here.

For no word from God will ever fail. Luke 1:37 

My Prayer:  Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God who has created the heavens and the earth, who is able to do all things, is in control of all things, yet You willingly submitted Your life so that I may be rescued from sin and death.  Thank You Jesus - amazing.  The greatest gift of all time.  I am not worth such love.  I worry.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind.  Help me love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior. Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than those who were before them had done.

1 Kings 14

By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than those who were before them had done. v22

We see here that God is a jealous God, as He is angry with how those in the kingdom of Judah who worshiped other gods besides the One True God.  Israel worshiped other gods as well - see 1 Kings 12:30.

God is referred to as a jealous God throughout scripture - primarily the Old Testament.

Yet this is not a human jealousy as God's thoughts and ways are not like ours (Isaiah 55:8).

Paul refers to Godly jealousy in his letter to the church in Corinth:

I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me!   I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.  2 Corinthians 11:1-3

Charles Spurgeon describes Godly jealousy here with an excerpt below.


"Not that God is jealous so as to bring him down to the likeness of men, but that this is the nearest idea we can form of what the Divine Being feels—if it be right to use even that word toward him—when he beholds his throne occupied by false gods, his dignity insulted, and his glory usurped by others."

Lord Jesus, please help me avoid worshiping other gods and love You alone.

My Prayers: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God, full of love and compassion for me - I know from time to time I have worshiped other Gods. Yet You have been slow to anger and abounding in love - thank You Jesus! Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome such sin and turn towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth.

1 Kings 13

This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth. v34

Although there was an accord between Israel and Judah (see 1 Kings 12:24), Jeroboam fortified his cities and built idols for Israel to worship.  Jeroboam failed to trust in God alone - hence he worried about his ability to maintain his rule:

Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.” 1 Kings 12: 26-27 

The events that followed in 1 Kings 13:1-10, including Jeroboam's actions, extend this theme of worry.  When we worry, we are saying that we fail to trust in the Lord, and then our actions fall out of this worry - we devise our own plan - which by its very nature is fraught with sin.

We may believe that worry is a harmless sin but it is not.  We must be careful not to worry because it is a slippery slope into sin that may be difficult to halt.

Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:15

 My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God, full of love and compassion for me.  Thank You Jesus - I am not worth such love.  I worry, and I am harsh with my words and actions.  Please forgive me for my sin and help me turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength. Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.