Tuesday
Read 1 Kings 19:1-15a
King Ahab told his wife Jezebel
everything that Elijah had done and how he had put all the prophets of Baal to
death. 2She sent a message to Elijah: “May the gods strike me dead
if by this time tomorrow I don’t do the same thing to you that you did to the
prophets.” 3Elijah was afraid, and fled for his life; he took his
servant and went to Beersheba in Judah.
Leaving the servant there, 4Elijah
walked a whole day into the wilderness. He stopped and sat down in the shade of
a tree and wished he would die. “It’s too much, Lord,”
he prayed. “Take away my life; I might as well be dead!”
[
5 He lay down under the tree and
fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said, “Wake up and eat.” 6He
looked round, and saw a loaf of bread and a jar of water near his head. He ate
and drank, and lay down again. 7The Lord’s
angel returned and woke him up a second time, saying, “Get up and eat, or the journey
will be too much for you.”
]
8Elijah got up, ate and drank, and the food gave him enough
strength to walk 40 days to Sinai, the holy mountain. 9There he went
into a cave to spend the night.
Suddenly the Lord spoke to him, “Elijah, what are you doing here?”
10 He answered, “Lord God Almighty, I have always served
you—you alone. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you,
torn down your altars, and killed all your prophets. I am the only one left—and
they are trying to kill me!”
11 “Go out and stand before me on
top of the mountain,” the Lord
said to him. Then the Lord passed
by and sent a furious wind that split the hills and shattered the rocks—but the
Lord was not in the wind. The wind
stopped blowing, and then there was an earthquake—but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12After
the earthquake, there was a fire—but the Lord
was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the soft whisper of a voice.
13 When Elijah heard it, he covered
his face with his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. A
voice said to him, “Elijah, what are you doing here?”
14 He answered, “Lord God Almighty, I have always served
you—you alone. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you,
torn down your altars, and killed all your prophets. I am the only one left—and
they are trying to kill me.”
15 The Lord said, “Return to the wilderness near Damascus, then
enter the city and anoint Hazael as king of Syria;
Think
God reveals himself to the Israelites through the fire that consumes the
sacrifices on mount Carmel. But they
refuse to change their ways. Elijah gets
depressed - he goes out into the desert to give up. But God sends an angel to energise him with
fresh bread. God sends Elijah on a
pilgrimage where he meets him in the "Soft whisper of a voice."
Pray
Lord let your still small voice speak directly to my heart today.
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