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(Acts 14:15). While Elijah holds a special place in redemptive history, James wants us
to know that every believer, dressed in the righteousness of Jesus, pursuing likeness to
Jesus, can have an effective prayer life like Elijah.
So Elijah is like us, and we should seek to be like him. How? In the next three
chapters of Kings, Elijah teaches us about great faith and effective prayer. We find him
standing up boldly in the face of opposition, and we find him praying for God to act on
his word (1 Kings 17:1), for God to raise the dead (17:21), and for God’s glory to be
known and for people to repent (18:36-38). In this particular chapter, I want to suggest
three lessons on prayer and faith that Elijah teaches us. (I made them all rhyme, in case
you want to make a hip hop song out of it!).
Lesson #1: Elijah Teaches Us to Believe What God Has Said (17:1)
As we consider the opening verse of chapter 17, it is important to note a bit of
background, which highlights the rareness of Elijah’s belief in God’s Word. A physical
famine was coming, but when we read of Elijah there was first a spiritual famine, for the
Word of God was absent.
His Context: National Apostasy. We will read a lot about not only Elijah but
also Ahab (1 Kings 16:29-34), whose story continues into 2 Kings 10. Why so much
about Ahab? Among other reasons, this section highlights righteousness of God and the
glory of God. Concerning righteousness, we will have no doubt about whether or not the
exile was a righteous judgment after reading of such evil. Concerning God’s glory,
Ahab’s story shows us that God alone deserves exclusive worship, and God is
passionate about his glory.
With Ahab’s reign, Baal worship was now state sponsored. Baal was known as
the “rider on the clouds,” the god of rain and fertility, and because of this, the god of
riches. As mentioned, Ahab married Jezebel who “evangelized” for Baal. Baal’s
followers believed that he restored life after the death of summer. In contrast to Baal,
the Elijah narratives highlight that God alone gives life and death and controls fertility
and infertility. The Psalmist portrays Yahweh as the “rider on the clouds” who alone
gives rain and provides for creation (Ps 104:3-4).
If there was no rain, Baal followers believed that Baal was submitting to the god
of death, “Mot,” until a later date when Baal would be revived. So Baal was not the only
god worshiped. In this polytheistic culture, people wanted a little bit of everything – a
little goddess worship, a little Baal worship, a little Yahweh worship, and more.
Exclusive worship of God was absent in most places. Indeed, Elijah thought he was the
only real worshiper left (1 Kings 19:10).