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17, was a promise fulfilled. According to God’s law, draught was the punishment for pagan idolatry: Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land the LORD is giving you. Deut 11:16-17; cf., Deut 28:23-24 This makes sense. God’s people were to trust God alone for rain; if they turned to another god, then God would withhold rain. This specific judgment is very fitting since Baal was supposed to give rain. Notice also that not only will it not rain, but also there will be no dew either! No one could claim “bad luck” or a “bad break.” No rain and no dew demonstrated God’s judgment. Elijah stands up and proclaims what God has already said boldly. God is still looking for courageous prophets who will herald his truth. Because Elijah believes what God has said, he prays it. Remember what James said? He said that Elijah prayed fervently that it would not rain for three and a half years. Although the text in 1 Kings 17 never says Elijah prayed for a draught, we do find Elijah pictured in prayer in 1 Kings 18:42 for the draught to end. Other examples of his insane prayer life exist in the Kings narrative, but James focuses on the famine. Even though we do not read of him praying for the famine, Moo is surely right in saying, “It is a legitimate inference to think that he prayed for its onset as well” (Pillar, 248, my emphasis). I think the prayers of Elijah preceded his proclamation to Ahab. Elijah had been before God in the prayer closet, prior to being before Ahab in the palace (Ryken, 439). What do we learn from Elijah’s prayer for this draught? Surely, there are many lessons about faithfulness, persistency, and passion, but I would to underline one very important lesson. Elijah teaches us here to pray according to God’s Word. Elijah is simply claiming the promise of God’s Word. Why a draught? It was because this came directly from Scripture. Elijah knew his Bible. He knew that the punishment for idolatry was famine. Elijah’s prayers were not rooted in his own imagination. He wasn’t asking God to perform neat tricks. He was boldly asking God to act on his own Word. Some think since God has promised something, we should not ask him. No, the promise is inspiring us to pray. Andrew Murray said, "It is on prayer that the promises
wait for their fulfillment, the kingdom for its coming, the glory of God for its full revelation." Murray says it is as if the promise awaits a prayer. An example of praying thr promises is found in Daniel 9. The prophet Daniel was reading Jeremiah concerning the end of the exile after 70 years, and realized it was near. He did not go dancing into the streets, but instead we read "Then I turned my face to the Lord God..." (Dan 9:1-19). Here is one of the first ways Elijah schools us in prayer: praying Scripture. How do you pray for 45 minutes (and more!). Read, pray. Read, pray. Fill your prayers with the Word of God. James says earlier in his epistle, “You have not, because you ask not” (4:2). Jesus said, "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you" (John 15:7). As you abide in the Word, ask and keep on asking your Father to act on his Word. Ask him for provision, the Spirit's power, for wisdom, boldness, and illumination - for these things and more, are in line with his Word. Because Elijah believed what God has said, he obeys it. We read that the Word of the Lord came to Elijah and he submitted to it: “So he went and did according to the word of the Lord” (1 Kings 17:5), “So he arose and went to Zarephath” (17:10), “”So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab” (18:1). His life was consumed with obedience to God’s Word, even though it called for some radical actions, like “drink from a brook and let the ravens feed you.” It sounds simple, but his sensitivity to God’s Word sets him apart from his culture. He lived by God’s Word in a culture that rejected it. Elijah is like us; let us be like him. God is the Living God, and we must be a people who speak, pray, and obey his living Word. Lesson #2: Elijah Teaches Us to Trust God for Daily Bread (17:2-16) God provides through an unclean raven in the Cherith Ravine (2-6). Like Moses, Elijah flees to the East after an initial confrontation, since he needs protection from Ahab. He goes to this inhospitable area east of the Jordan (3-5). While he may be spared from Ahab, it looks like he cannot be spared from death, for there is no food. However, Elijah drinks from the brook, and gets fed by a raven (6-7). Notice a few interesting features about this story. First, God controls not only the rain, but also the whole natural order (Provan, 133). He even controls the ravens, these ceremonially unclean creatures that are now used for God’s purposes of sustaining the prophet’s life. We know that God provides for the birds of the air, and here he uses the birds of the air to provide for his prophet. Elijah is looking ultimately to the God who reigns over nature for daily food and water, not to the raven or the brook. Second, notice that the bread and meat are brought in every morning and evening, thus Elijah
Page 1 and 2: Elijah: A Man Like Us 1 Kings 17:1-
Page 3 and 4: of bread, meat, and water (Ex 16; 1
Page 5: We live in a similar time, in which
Page 9 and 10: Widows were very poor and vulnerabl
Page 11 and 12: In response the widow blames Elijah
Page 13: used only his word (cf. Mark 5:41;

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