The Man From Nowhere

1 Kings 17.1-7

1 Kings 17:1–7 ESV

Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” And the word of the Lord came to him: “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

Elijah the man from the middle of nowhere. Growing up this was my pastors favorite Bible character. I suppose it was his favorite because of where we lived, we lived in the middle of nowhere (it was actually a few miles away from a place called nowhere). Elijah was a man from a place like us and he was doing miraculous things for the Lord.

Elijah was faced with many that believed in baal and not many that believed in Yahweh. The followers of baal believed that it was their god that brought about the rain but here Elijah is going to prove that is not true and he is going to make them feel it. Elijah was the man for the job, even his name declared his mission as it means “Yahweh is my God”.

Regardless of the harsh physical circumstances that Elijah would be faced with through this situation God would provide his every need and Elijah would remain faithful. Elijah followed God so closely that he did not die but rather God came and took him to heaven.

In your life do you have the boldness to speak out against the evil around you. This is an area that I have struggled with in the past but I now know that this is an area that we must all progress in now. There is so much wrong in the world and if we do not call it what it is people will begin to think that it is right. In many cases they already do. We need the boldness of Elijah to proclaim in the name of the Lord. We probably won’t be stopping the rain but in whatever we proclaim we must do it with all boldness and with all the assurance that if it be God’s will he will provide whatever we need in it.

Proclaim the message of the Bible with all boldness without hindrance and trust in the provision of the Lord through it just like the prophet Elijah.