Good Morning Everyone
Today is Tuesday July 5th, 2011
First off, I pray that everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend with God, family and friends. Today I just want to encourage you to continue in your faith even when what you see is not what others see.
The Word of the Day comes from 1 Kings 18:41-45 NKJV
The Drought Ends
41 Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.” 42 So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, 43 and said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.”
So he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” And seven times he said, “Go again.”
44 Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” So he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’”
45 Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel.
My Interpretation
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit…James 5:17-18 NKJV. The Life Application in my Bible reads: The Christians most powerful resource is communion with God through prayer. The results are often greater than we thought were possible. Some people see prayer as a last resort to be tried when all else fails. This approach is backward. Prayer should come first. Because God’s power is infinitely greater than ours, it only makes sense to rely on it-especially because God encourages us to do so.
I keep thinking about this line: So he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” And seven times he said, “Go again.” Did Elijah need Ahab to look to reassure himself about what would take place or help Ahab to see what Elijah already saw through God’s illumination to him? I believe it was the latter. Now there is something very significant in that. There are things that God has placed in us that will allow us to be reassured of God’s promise while those closest to us, unfortunately, the first time you tell them to see what you see, won’t see it. What I grasped from that realization is that unlike how we get when those we think should see our vision, share our faith, etc don’t see what we see, we waver and worry if God really ever spoke to us in the first place. Elijah, however, was confident in what he knew to be true and just simply waited for the natural eye of Ahab to catch up the spiritual eye he was seeing rain from.
It makes me think of this example: how I put music together. I hear a song in its entirety in my head. I know just how good a record can become but a lot of times I have trouble getting others to see it as well for various reasons in the beginning: I can’t make the beat for the music I hear and if there are singers, I can’t sing (carry a tune) long enough for them to grasp it. By God’s grace, I am able to convey enough and they are willing to keep trying until we get from “I hear nothing” to “there is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” What I have learned from that and other instances similar is that it is not on others to make what God has told me a reality. It’s on me. If people get it right away great but sometimes people need a visual/a sighting/something they can grasp “a cloud the size of a small man’s hand” to really run with the vision. That is ok. Elijah didn’t get mad at Ahab for not “getting it” the first time. We can’t get mad at others for not “getting it” the first time. Keep praying, keep studying, keep fasting, keep seeking God and allow Him to show others what you see.
Remain encouraged in what God has told you and promised you. Whether people see it now or see later, stay focused on God. If you notice, in all the times that Ahab kept coming down off the mountain, this is what Elijah did:
And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees. He wasn’t worried about what Ahab saw because Elijah’s focus was on God. When our focus is on God and we are in CONSTANT communication with Him, what others see from what others don’t see will make no difference to us because we know that we have the promise of what God sees and that is good enough to us.
Have a wonderful, blessed, productive, stress free day!
