19:3 - After all Elijah has seen God do, he is still afraid? Are you and I so different?
19:9/13 - God asks, "What are you doing here?" Again, I'm feeling a little introspective...how many times has God asked me the same thing? He has gifted me with the life I have and made me unique from anyone who has ever lived (Just like you), to do a specific ministry within His will that only I can do, and yet I often find myself totally off track getting distracted by meaningless endeavors. I wonder how many times God has looked at the rabbit trails I've followed and asked, "What are you doing here?"
19:10ff/14ff - Excuses and whining from a follower of God! I've never heard of such behavior! Oh wait, that's right, I see it all the time from myself and basically every other Christian I come in contact with. I love the realism and humanity that the men and women of the bible are painted with...they were messed up, quirky people just like you and me that didn't always know how to do the "following God" thing very well. If that applies to you, you've got some good company in the bible.
19:12 - I love that God is not in the huge, elemental shows of power, but in the quiet whisper or as the ESV offers as a secondary translation, "the thin silence." That term reminds me about a Celtic Christian idea called "the thin place" - sacred places they believed that the veil between the spiritual and physical worlds were the thinest and they could more easily connect with God. The thin silence is there...God is calling to us...speaking His love into our hearts, but do we allow the "noise" of this world and our lives to drown out His quiet whispers? More often than not...I think so.
20:13 - God gives Ahab a chance to change. He clearly states that He is bringing Ahab victory so that he will know that God is the Lord. Unfortunately, we see that it doesn't change Ahab's heart. Yet, Ahab's failure to change does nothing to take away the mercy of God.
20:36 - Probably a good idea to listen tot he prophets of God, huh?
20:42 - Ahab refused to finish the task that God set him to. Remember, God was bringing about the destruction of the Syrians to show the world that He was the only God. In ancient times, a king was the god's right hand man...when Ahab allowed Ben-Hadad to walk, he allowed the Syrian "god" a minor victory. Ahab's choice brought dishonor to God - not good.
21:13 - Jezebel's sick plan only works in a corrupt community where people will listen to the voices of two worthless men.
21:29 - Is this fair? Ahab is off the hook and his children will have to pay for his crimes? It seems clear from everything we have read in the bible so far that God is always willing to forgive. Look a Ahab himself...God cals destruction down on his head, yet shows mercy when Ahab repents. If Ahab's children die is disaster, it will be because of their own rejection of God.
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