In the midst of all this disobedience God is still at work, and now we will read of His servant Elijah. No matter how rebellious a nation becomes God does not leave Himself without a witness.
Elijah goes to Ahab and tells him there will be no rain for several years until he says so. Why does God do this? It is to demonstrate to Ahab that God is Lord, not any of these baals who he is worshipping. Moreover, baal was a supposed god of fertility. The futility of this would be clearly demonstrated.
Meantime, Elijah would also be absent from the land, so there would be no natural nor heavenly rain (ie the word of the Lord) in the land. Elijah would be taken care of, would be provided for by rain from a brook, and ravens would provide food.
Eventually the brook dried up. So we see that God's provision for Elijah was partly natural (the brook) and partly supernatural (the ravens). When it dried up the Lord told Elijah to go to Zarephath where He had directed a widow to provide for him. God speaks to all sorts of people and uses all sorts of people to fulfil His purposes.
When Elijah reaches the widow it seems that things have not be taken care of, for she has no food to give him. In fact she thinks she and her son are about to die. So we see more of God's provision here. God is going to save the woman as well, and do it supernaturally. We want to have everything worked out well beforehand, but that is not always God's way. Elijah pronounced the word that the resources would not run out, and this word was true.
Then the woman's son died and she was distressed and angry with Elijah. Elijah then brought her son back to life.
Elijah goes to Ahab and tells him there will be no rain for several years until he says so. Why does God do this? It is to demonstrate to Ahab that God is Lord, not any of these baals who he is worshipping. Moreover, baal was a supposed god of fertility. The futility of this would be clearly demonstrated.
Meantime, Elijah would also be absent from the land, so there would be no natural nor heavenly rain (ie the word of the Lord) in the land. Elijah would be taken care of, would be provided for by rain from a brook, and ravens would provide food.
Eventually the brook dried up. So we see that God's provision for Elijah was partly natural (the brook) and partly supernatural (the ravens). When it dried up the Lord told Elijah to go to Zarephath where He had directed a widow to provide for him. God speaks to all sorts of people and uses all sorts of people to fulfil His purposes.
When Elijah reaches the widow it seems that things have not be taken care of, for she has no food to give him. In fact she thinks she and her son are about to die. So we see more of God's provision here. God is going to save the woman as well, and do it supernaturally. We want to have everything worked out well beforehand, but that is not always God's way. Elijah pronounced the word that the resources would not run out, and this word was true.
Then the woman's son died and she was distressed and angry with Elijah. Elijah then brought her son back to life.
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