November 7th, 2021
Devotional
“God Speaks to Elijah”
1 Kings 19: 1-18
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Monday: “Prayed” - 1 Kings 19: 1-5
Have you ever found yourself in a conversation that completely helped you change how you look at things? I often say that these are God-moment conversations, where God is blessing you with a moment to examine what you are thinking in a profound way.
I found myself in one of these conversations a few months ago, by accident, as it often happens. I was attending a class about prayer. The teacher was talking about a very particular type of prayer, called centering prayer, and was explaining that in this type of prayer you simply pass by or put aside any thoughts you may be having so that God can speak to you.
And friends, it just wasn’t working for me.
As I was thinking about why I was struggling so much, it occurred to me that I was expecting God to show up in one way in this form of prayer, but often God would show up in my prayer life by bringing thoughts of people and things to mind, so I can pray about them. If I was putting those things to the side during prayer I felt like I was missing a holy opportunity.
Here’s the truth - we are all different. As we look around this place, we all communicate in different ways. So why would we expect that God would communicate with each of, who God created to be so different, in the same way?
Yet that’s exactly how we pray, right?
We hear about someone else who had a profound experience with God in a particular place, so we go there as well. Or someone talks about how they listen to God in prayer, so we quickly go to try that as well.
When really God meets us where we are at.
What ways do you find natural to talk to God in prayer?
Prayer: Lord, we thank you that you keep defying our expectations. You show up time and time again in ways we do not expect, but which change our lives. Speak, O Lord, anew. Amen.
Tuesday: “Eat” - 1 Kings 19: 5-8
Elijah has just been through the ringer. He is living a prophet in a land where the King and Queen think that they have the final word - not God. He has predicted hardship to come upon the land, in the form of a drought. Then in the third year of that drought, God sends Elijah the prophet to that hostile King, Ahab, promising rain. However, there were some hard words that were exchanged first - that Ahab has troubled Israel because he has forsaken the Lord in order to follow Baal.
Which led to a showdown of sorts between the prophets of Baal and Elijah around fire and rain and sacrafices, which ultimately led to the killing of the prophets of Baal, and Elijah fleeing from the wrath of Queen Jezebel.
So Elijah is on the run and finds himself in the wilderness by a tree that doesn’t produce anything to eat, and an angel shows up to feed him with bread that has been provided by God alone.
Tell of a time that God provided for you in a mighty way.
Prayer: Lord, you do not force us to listen to you or to be in relationship with you. Instead, you offer us an invitation, over and over again. Help us to choose to follow you with all we have and with all we are. Amen.
Wednesday: “Stand” - 1 Kings 19: 9-13
Elijah was told to go and stand on the mountain before the Lord because God is about to pass by. And all sorts of awesome things started to happen - a great wind that could split the mountain. An earthquake. A fire.
These are all places where one would expect God to be, right? The prophet was told that God was going to show up and yet God wasn’t in any of these great acts of might. God wasn’t in the things that even God could do. God wasn’t where Elijah expected him to be.
And then God showed up in the sheer silence.
When Elijah heard the silence - that is when he recognized that God was drawing near so he went out to be in the presence of God.
How do you know that you are in the presence of God?
Prayer: Lord, all too often we think we know how you are going to show up, but our expectations get in the way of being truly present. Forgive us, O Lord, and speak to us anew, opening our hearts to hear. Amen.
Thursday “What are you doing here?” - 1 Kings 19: 13-14
Elijah spent his time as a prophet leading people to make choices. Just a chapter earlier, Elijah gave the people a choice about who they were going to follow: Follow God, the Lord of Elijah. Or follow Baal who their rulers worshiped. And the people said nothing.
Isn’t this true of us also? Can’t you see your own story in the people of Israel? When we are faced with having to make a choice that we rather not make, we stay silent. Thinking that by staying silent we will save the skin of our teeth. Or by staying silent we avoid having to make a decision, when really not making a decision is a decision.
Now Elijah found himself having to make a choice of his own - to go and answer God’s question or to ignore God. He chose to answer. What started out as a list of grievances became a holy moment where God sent him out again, renewed for the task ahead.
How do you make choices?
Prayer: Lord, you do not force us to listen to you or to be in relationship with you. Instead, you offer us an invitation, over and over again. Help us to choose to follow you with all we have and with all we are. Amen.
Friday: “Go” - 1 Kings 19: 15-18
We all have moments like Elijah where we become discouraged. Moments that we feel disconnected from God. The question is what we do with those moments. For Elijah, he fled, but then he listened for God and responded. For others, the moment of discouragement can become a moment of disconnection from our Holy God.
The truth is, we desire to be connected to God. It is what we are made for. We want experiences with God. But when God does not live up to our unexamined expectations we don’t know what to do.
I was listening to a radio program this week that proposed this - when we feel like we don’t have the words, like we don’t know what to do, we still show up. We still show up for worship. We still show up for prayer time. We show up like Elijah showed up. Because sometimes in the showing up we experience the presence of God in a new way.
What do you do when you are discouraged? How do you stay connected to God?
Prayer: Lord, all too often we turn away from you, but Lord we trust and believe that you do not turn away from us. Thank you, O Lord, for not giving up on us. Feed our spirits when we do not know what to say or do, Precious Lord. Amen.
Preparing for the Worship:
In order to prepare our hearts for worship next Sunday you are invited to read Amos 1:1-2; 5:14-15, 21-24.
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