[RSK Lesson 60; 1 Kings 19-20, 2 Kings 1-2]
Would you please bring me a little water in a cup?
said Elijah to the widow of Zarephath.
The great prophet of God was on the run from wicked monarchs. Tired. Hungry. Thirsty.
It pierces my heart to hear the spokesman for the God who created the heavens and the earth beseeching a widow…
…the poorest of the poor……the weakest of the weak……herself on the verge of starvation…
for a sip of water.
Elijah was the first in a long line of prophets who were mostly ‘without honor in their own country.’ The people who should have welcomed and honored and listened to and sought after God’s voice to them would instead, over the years, ridicule, ignore, persecute, scorn, stone, imprison, and finally kill His messengers.
No wonder the prophets sometimes wearied.
They were certain of God’s character. They knew they spoke His message.
But they sometimes doubted their own impact.
In 1 Kings 19 we see Elijah running for his life again. Exhausted. Faint. Alone. Sitting under a solitary broom tree [picture it!], praying for death.
I’ve had enough, LORD. Take my life.
I’m just a weak, tired old man, Elijah told the Lord; no better or stronger than those who’ve gone before me. Nothing I do or say is going to change these stubborn idol-worshipers. No one’s listening to me. Why should I go on living, speaking into the air? Just—take me home Lord. I’m done down here.
Oh, God took him home alright. ☺
With a divine flourish accorded no other person who’s lived on the planet.
But not until Elijah had finished the work God had planned for him.
Though he was a prophet, there was much Elijah didn’t know.
I doubt he knew very long in advance that he would be whirlwinded to heaven in a fiery chariot drawn by horses of fire!
He had no idea that his influence on Israel would span centuries, or that he would be mentioned in the New Testament 30 times [more than any prophet other than Moses].
I’m quite sure that he had no idea, that day under the solitary broom tree on Mt. Sinai, that 700 years later he would stand on that mount in glory next to Moses and God’s one and only Beloved Son.
What he did know was what God revealed to him. He continued to listen to that.
He loved the things God loved. He hated the things God hated.
That pleases God very much. That’s what He rewards.
