Running On Empty

1 King 17:1-5

The phrase running on empty is an american Idiom that originally comes form the automotive world. It refers to a situation where a vehicle is operating with very little fuel left. However , in every day English is it used to describe a person who is continuing to operate despite being out of energy or resources. It’s often used to express physical or emotional exhaustion like working long hours without rest. It is in this passage that we are introduced to the prophet Elijah.

History: The story we are reviewing is set up during the age of Kings. We remember the story in to how the age began. Samuel, the last of the judges, had become old and his sons became corrupt. The current state of leadership was not reliable and they wanted a more stable and accountable form of government. They’’re biggest reason is that they wanted to be like other nations. They felt that having a visible king would give them some prestige just like their neighbor. They ignored Samuel’s warning about how the abuse power.

The role of an Old testament king was massive. They were expected to lead the people in a covenant of faithfulness to God. They went out to battle to defend Isreal from enemies. They were expected to reflect God’s justice in the land, and being that they were the representative of the nation before God. If the king went astray, the people followed, if he repented the people had hope. Unfortunately, that’s not how it was. A summary for the majority of 1 & 2 could be described as The people and kings wanted power without purity, crowns without covenant, and success without submission. Although there were a few good kings, the majority of them did Evil, and the king at this time was the Ahab & Jezebel. The bible tells us that he did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. (1 King 16:30) On top of all that he has married Jezebel. The marriage between the two is a political one. Ahab’s daddy , Omri ,got to common with the Phoenicians. The marriage was confirm a powerful alliance between the two nations. She is a woman of great wickedness who persuades her husband and others to oppose God and commit evil deeds. Jezebel influenced the worship of Baal and slaughtered the prophets of God 1 Kings 21:25 states that “Truly there was no one like Ahab, who had sold himself by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh, whose wife Jezebel urged him on. It is because of these two individuals that the nation of Isreal to fall into Apostasy. Baal worship was part of the religion of virtually every culture during ancient biblical times. I don’t know about you, but this puts in my mind the phrase of everybody's doing it. The worship of Baal has become the number one religion of Isreal. Baal was the Canaanite storm god and bringer of rain. We all know that the God we serve is a jealous god. He speaks in Exodus 20:2-3 “ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.” Ahab knows the law but refuses to follow. He continues to push the boundary and there appears to be no one to stop him. So it is here when we arrive to 1 Kings 17:1 that we are introduced to the prophet Elijah.

Elijah is one of the most enigmatic characters in the bible. His name means My God is the Lord” the name is appropriate because he was against the worship of Baal.

I want you to notice something. The bible gives us very little about him. We don’t know his family background. We don’t know how he grew up. All that we know about him is that he was a Tishbite who probably came from the land of Gilead on the east bank of the Jordan River. So, what we can really say is that he didn’t come from a godly line, He wasn’t born into a ministry, influence or opportunity. He shows up with no backstory, no special credentials, just purpose. There are some people +