1/24/23 - 1 King 18:41-46

1 King 18:41-46

Observation:

41-46: Elijah tells Ahab to eat and drink and there will be heavy rain on the way. Elijah then goes up to the top of Mount Carmel and starts praying. Elijah would tell his servant to look at the sea and report back any findings. This process would take place seven times and on the seventh time, the servant reported back stating there's a small cloud rising from the sea. Once Elijah heard this, he told his servant to go and inform Ahab about how rain will come shortly. As his servant is on riding towards Ahab, heavy rainfall started pouring down and Ahab goes to Jezreel. Through the power of the Lord, Elijah got up and ran to Jezreel staying ahead of Ahab.

Interpretation:

It should be noted that there are numerous people gathered at Mount Carmel including King Ahab, Elijah, Elijah's servant Obadiah (whoever is reading this, I wanted to name Benjamin, Obadiah or Solomon but Jiyoon immediately said no), idol prophets and others. To bring further context here, Elijah pitted Baal's four hundred and fifty prophets and Asherah's four hundred and fifty prophets totalling nine hundred prophets against the Lord Almighty (Jehovah). Long-story short, the nine hundred prophets of the idol gods were tested to see if their idol gods would respond to them by offering up a sacrifice on altars and offering up their blood by cutting and slashing themselves. Ultimately, the prophets did not receive any response from their gods while the Lord was able to show everyone present His response by sending fire from the skies burning an altar that was drenched and overflowing with water. 

Afterward, Elijah would inform Ahab to eat before he travels back to Jezreel. Without knowing the exact distance between Mount Carmel and Jezreel, it would have to be quite the distance for travel whether it's on foot or by chariot so you would not want to be traveling back home on an empty or starving stomach. Elijah then goes to the top of Mount Carmel and bows to the Lord on his knees with his face on the ground. Here we can see Elijah is praying to the Lord. It's obvious that Elijah is praying to the Lord Almighty about what He told Elijah on how the Lord will bring back the rain. Even though Elijah already knows what God will do, here Elijah still prays for rain. Elijah continues to pray and during his prayer, he sent his servant (my guess is it's Obadiah but it could be someone else) to go and check to see if there's any progress made. This goes on seven times and on the seventh time, the servant notices a cloud forming from the sea. We can see that Elijah does not give up on his prayer. Elijah kept praying for God's will. We need to understand that the Lord our Father does not provide nor give instant satisfaction to our prayers. The Lord will not answer instantaneously even though we already know what God will end up doing. And regarldess we know what God's will is, it does not mean we can stop praying for it. Elijah is being patient but also he's yearning for God's presence and will to be done. And eventually, God answers Elijah's prayer by bringing rain and it's not just some little rain here and there, it was a major storm that Israel desperately needed. In this story, the rain would represent God's blessings. If we continue to pray and pray faithfully, and earnestly, and not on the fence about it then God will answer our prayers. And when God does answer our prayers, it's always full of blessings like the heavy rain and storm in this passage. 

Personal Reflection:

I would be lying if I prayed like Elijah. He and others in the Bible like Paul are great examples of who we should emulate when it comes to praying. I remember there are times when God indeed answers my prayers by giving me what I want and there were times when God did not. In this passage there are two lessons that I need to constantly remind myself. Even though Elijah was doing God's will, Elijah still had to pray earnestly. I can imagine Elijah praying desperately, calling out to God the Lord Almighty as if it's Elijah's final breaths or last moments. Seeking God, praying for the Lord's presence and the obvious fire being raged on an already soaked and drenched altar. There's only a few times when I prayed like that and looking back, it was mainly moments in my life when I truly felt like I needed God and without Him I would be severely lost. The one prayer that God answered immediately was when I asked Him about what to do about Jiyoon's pregnancy. And another prayer that God did not answer immediately and in fact, it took roughly 3.5 years was when Jiyoon and I prayed for direction for our family. Jiyoon and I prayed for a house and a way for us to get a home of our own instead of renting. God would eventually answer that prayer by having Jiyoon's father offer up his place to move in with him so that we can save up and eventually get a home. 

The other lesson I need to remind myself of is God's will. Is my prayer falling in line with God's will? there are too many things that I want and obviously, things that I want God to answer or provide immediately. I want that instant gratification so that I do not have to worry. I want to be financially and spiritually stable so that I do not have to worry about much in this world. Of course, that's not going to happen, which is why I need to remind myself that when I pray for things, do they even fall in line with God's will on the path that He's laid out for me? I need to constantly pray that the direction that I am going is the direction that God wants me to go. I need to pray for that guidance and I need to pray for patience as it's all in God's timing. Elijah must have prayed for patience or at least I would have if I was in Elijah's shoes up on that mountaintop. The one thing I hold dear to me that I use as a prime example of disobeying God's timing in my prayer is when I had premarital sex because I wanted to know what it felt like and I admit I conformed to the pressure of doing it. And it got me to the point where I needed to accept the consequences that came with it. I'm awfully confident that's not what God wanted me to do and He allowed it to happen but when I was praying desperately to God for his answer and direction, He blessed me by telling me what to do and I followed. And when I did follow, God has been graceful and merciful on giving me everything that I needed to support my family. Those blessings would be the storm in this passage.

Application:

I'm at a point in my life where both Jiyoon and I need to pray and pray earnestly, patiently and overall faithfully to God. We're at a dangerous time in the economy and even socially where the devil and Satan are all over. I want the kids to stay in a Christian private school but that requires quite a bit of money. I also know Jiyoon wants to live in a bigger home or at least live in a place that has 3 bedrooms (1 for me and Jiyoon, 1 for Lily and 1 for Ben) since we live in a 2 bedroom condo. Kids are growing up fast and they need their own space. At the same time, God has provided us a roof over our heads and I try to humble myself in my prayers that God has indeed provided what we need. God has also answered my prayers on career, on salary, on our children and their growth, etc. So it's not like he's not answering our prayers. When I first prayed to God about finidng a new and bigger home to live, all I got from my prayer was to not worry and that it's in His hands. That prayer was back in 2019 and since then I have not received any answer from Him about it. Funny thing is God has answered other prayers but not this one in particular. It's been almost 4 years now and I can honestly say I'm starting to really run out of patience (just kidding). Overall, I need to pray for guidance on the fact that whatever decision we make, do they fall along with God's will. I need to pray for constant, continuous and unwavering faith that whatever God has in store for us is what's best for us. And lastly, I need to pray for patience, knowing that it's all on God's timing and not ours.