Monday, January 30, 2017

You Are Never Alone

"And he [Elijah] said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away

And the LORD said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him." I Kings 19:14-18

Elijah had a complaint towards God.  He had stood for God in the face of great opposition.  Now he was the only one left and the people desired to take his life as well.  His unsaid accusation against God was, "Where are you God? Don't you see what is happening? Why are you letting this happen to me, especially when I have stood for you?  Don't you care?  Why have you forsaken me?"

Sometimes you go through situations in life when you feel as if you are all alone.  It seems there is no one there to help and no one who sees or cares about your distress.  But God sees.  Not only does He see, but He cares and has already provided the answer.  The key is to not lose faith in Him during these times.

Elijah was mistaken.  Although he could not see them, God had 7,000 people who had not turned from Him in serving Baal. Now here is the thing.  It is not like there was Elijah on one hand and then 7,000 on the other. For all we know, those 7,000 could also have individually felt like they were alone.  Scripture does not say that there was fellowship amongst them or that they even knew of each other.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Mad Cause God Won't Change

A lot of professing Christians are actually mad at God because He won't change (Malachi 3:6).  I know it sounds silly, but they actually want God to be like a no good man who lies to you; and they get angry when confronted with the fact that He is not.

The Lord lays out for us clearly in His word who He is, what He will accept and what He will not. Yet, people keep on their own way, doing what they want to do, expecting that somehow in the end it is going to be different than what God says. They don't want to be told what to do by God and falsely believe that He will accept their strange offerings in place of their obedience.  For some reason - their life experiences, feelings of self-entitlement, head knowledge, hardships, religious works, etc. - they believe that He will make an exception for them.  He won't.

God will honor all of His promises, whether seemingly good or bad.  We cannot malign His righteousness because of His faithfulness in keeping His word.  Yet that is exactly what people are doing when they look upon Him to change His word.  He is not some joker who is stringing you along, but His word is true. Otherwise, we would not be able to trust in Him in any matter.