Welcome
to our Biblestudy blog! For the
rest of the summer, we are challenging you guys to read one chapter out of 1st Kings, a book that tells the story of Elijah, per week; we as a staff will be sharing our thoughts and questions
on the verses you all are reading.
Cant wait to hear your thoughts on Elijah!
I
Kings: Elijah
Setting-
Elijah is one hardcore prophet in the ancient country of Israel, and he’s
against this equally hardcore yet totally evil king named Ahab. This ranks right up there with the
strongest nemesis of all time; Think Harry Potter/Voldermort, Batman/the Joker,
Texas/Oklahoma- they are both huge, and larger than life, and sold out to
destroying each other. The size of their opponent just drives them to even
greater heights.
The
books of 1 & 2 Kings are both historical and didactic – that means they not
only tell us what has happened in the past, but also teach us something about
the present and the future; by teaching us about what has happened, they tell
us what will happen and what we can expect from God as well.
Eijah
is a prophet- means that he has the tremendous power and responsibility to
speak for God. This gets him into trouble when he lives in a country run
by a very evil king- a king who wants to do just about everything except follow
God. Ahab is doing everything he can to draw the people of Israel away
from god, and Eijah is doing all he can to draw them to god- its an epic
tug-of-war match for the heart and soul of the entire nation.
In
the process, Elijah ends up in a few truly epic moments- at one point he has a
showdown with 450 false prophets - and he defeats (read: kills in an epic
divine grudge match) all of them.
In
spite of all his highlights, Eijah is also a real person- he does absolutely
huge things, but he has very real emotions. He trusts God, but sometimes
he gets scared. He believes in God, but sometimes doubts arise. He
follows God, but sometimes he gets tired and wants to quit (and even asks for God
to kill him). He definitely lives it out, but he definitely expresses
genuine, raw emotion at times, and that gives me a little hope that ordinary
humans can live extraordinary lives through god.
-Bill
