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1 Kings 19:17 When We Listen to Ourselves

By Mary Fairchild

Clovermap

1581 Bunting Clover Leaf Map; Israel in the center.

I KINGS 19: 1-7: WHEN WE LISTEN TO OURSELVES INSTEAD OF GOD

I KINGS 19: 1-3: Spiritual highs are often followed by our greatest temptations; IT IS NATURAL FOR DEPRESSION TO FOLLOW SPIRITUAL EXALTATION. Elijah wasn’t afraid of King Ahab, but the message of Queen Jezebel’s threat caused his faith to shrink and fear to enter his heart, and thus he ran for his life, out of the will of God. IF WE ARE IN GOD’S WILL, THEN NOTHING CAN HARM US UNLESS GOD WILLS IT THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE IS IN THE WILL OF GOD.

I KINGS 19:4-7: God’s gentle loving hand dealt with wayward Elijah during his martyr’s complex. “Or despisest though the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” (Rom. 2:4). The journey away from God’s will wears us out; it exhausts us. The Lord fed Elijah with angel’s meat which gave him sustenance and endurance for 40 days. Horeb, the mount of God, is in the Sinai Peninsula; it is where God had appeared to Moses and had given the Ten Commandments. Elijah had no business being there; he was out of God’s will. Just as God had asked Adam and Eve in the garden, after they had eaten the forbidden fruit, “Where are thou?”—God asked the question of Elijah to bring his attention to his problem. God dealt gently with Elijah during his severe martyr’s complex. He reminded Elijah of his great power. GOD WAS NOT IN THE WIND, NOR IN THE FIRE, BUT IN THE STILL, SMALL VOICE—again God asked the same question, “What doest thou here?”

WHEN WE LISTEN TO OURSELVES INSTEAD OF GOD:

1. WE THINK WRONG THOUGHTS. Elijah thought that Jezebel had the power to kill him and he forgot that God had the power to control her.
2. WE DO WRONG THINGS. Elijah acted in fear and not in faith when he ran from Jezebel rather than minister to new believers in Israel.
3. WE PRAY THE WRONG PRAYER. Elijah prayed to die.
4. WE SAY WRONG THINGS. Elijah’s response to God’s question exposed a heart of self-pity rather than confidence in God.
5. WE SEE THE WRONG THINGS. Elijah only saw despair rather than opportunities.
6. WE GET IN THE WRONG PLACE. Elijah was out of the will of God when he ran to Beer-sheba and then to Horeb.
7. WE HAVE THE WRONG SPIRIT. Elijah maintained a spirit of self-pity and discouragement.

When we get discouraged we need to GET ALONE WITH GOD. Pray and ask Him what He is trying to teach us. God has not changed. He is still all-powerful and is in control of all of our circumstances; reckon on his unfailing presence. Remember that you still have a responsibility to stick with whether you feel like it or not. Rely heavily on the promises of God and His Word and recount His blessings. Never assess a difficulty in the light of your own resources.

God not only asked Elijah to announce a change of personnel to three people, but He also included replacing Elijah. God had 7,000 faithful worshipers left in Israel who had not bowed the knee to worship Baal. Elijah’s casting his mantle on Elisha meant that Elisha was to identify himself with Elijah, to be under his leadership, authority, and protection. Eventually Elisha would replace Elijah.  Elisha began his service to God by serving a prophet. IF WE ARE FAITHFUL IN THE SMALL THINGS, GOD CAN TRUST US IN THE LARGER THINGS. Little things are very important in character training: at school—in homework; at home—in doing household chores.

Syria became a thorn in the flesh to Israel. King Ben-hadad attacked Israel and boasted of his power over Israel and because of this King Ahab succumbed and became very accommodating to the enemy. When the people finally challenged King Ahab they said, “Hearken not unto him, no consent.” Then Ahab listened to the people and stood up to Syria’s king. Because the people had been inspired by their experience at Mt. Carmel with Elijah, they had more courage and backbone than their king and God moved to give His people victory against Syria. The Syrians, however, attributed the victory of Israel to the place of the battle, the hills. Syria decided to go against Israel again, only this time it would be on the plain, not in the hills. Once again, God gave Israel and overpowering victory, but Ben-hadad escaped.

TO DISOBEY THE CLEAR COMMAND OF GOD IS TO FORSAKE THE PROTECTION OF GOD IN OUR LIVES, AND TO OPEN OURSELVES TO SATAN AND ALL HIS DESTRUCTIVE FORCES. God sent a prophet to graphically teach the important lesson of obedience to the Word of God. This is similar to 1 Kings 13—the disobedience of the prophet. The lion is a type of Satan who “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Because Ahab failed to kill Ben-hadad, Syria’s king, and instead made peace with him, God would have to judge him. King Saul had also spared King Agag of the Amalekites and was judged. These heathen kings were types of the powers of evil, and thus they must be utterly wiped out of the lives of God’s people.

The prophet used a parable to rebuke the king and Ahab’s spiritual defeat solidified his personal misery. At that time, a Jewish law claimed that family property must stay within the family unless there was deep financial need; only then could it be sold. At the year of jubilee (every 50 years) all property was to be returned to the original family ownership. This was God’s built-in control to curb the excesses of economic monopolies. When even the king requested Naboth’s property, Naboth was to obey God’s law by refusing the request. Jezebel plotted to kill Naboth.

COVETING IS OFTEN THE HIDDEN ROOT SIN OF OTHER OUTWARD SINS, SUCH AS STEALING, LYING, MURDER. Most people are not sensitive to the inner sin of coveting, but only to the outward sins which result from it. The incident of Naboth’s vineyard is one of two classic Biblical illustrations of the sin of coveting. (the other is in the book of Joshua: Achan who saw, coveted, and then took the forbidden treasures.) AHAB’S SIN WAS COVETING, WHICH IS WANTING SOMETHING SO BAD THAT IT DISTURBS ONE’S INNER PEACE. The tenth commandment states, “Thou shalt not covet.” Satan tempts us to think we must have certain things in our lives in order to be happy or to have what is necessary for life.

When Christ was tempted by Satan after 40 days of fasting, although he had the power to turn the stones into bread, if He chose, He chose not to provide for His own needs through Satan’s suggestion, but to wait for the Father’s perfect timing. THE BIBLE EQUATES COVETING WITH IDOLATRY: “nor covetous man who is an idolater” (Eph. 5:5). Bread could have become an idol to Christ, but Christ gave the Scriptural reply, “I do not have to have this bread (or whatever else we might be tempted with) to satisfy the greatest needs of My life; God alone can satisfy the great hunger and thirst of My soul through His Word. If God wants to give me bread, then and only then do I want it. I will not use My own power or energies to pursue things in My earthly life just to satisfy My desires: I will look to the Father alone.” As we resist the temptation to covet, we then feed upon eternal things in the innermost recesses of our soul, and God, in His time, can bring the things we need into our lives (if He chooses). If we lose our life (our own desires and wishes), we find it;
if we find our life, we end up losing the very thing we are after.

WORKS CITED

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