From Baasha to Ahab, what a crew of misfits and pagans. They might have been merely something to shake our heads over in disgust, but these were kings of Israel! Conspiracy, murder, evil pagan rituals practiced in the land of promise! What a terrible witness to the untaught, unfaithful, and unwitting people who allowed them. The infamous names of Ahab and Jezebel still conjure images of evil only Satan could bring to bear. In the midst of the distress God sends Elijah to warn and announce drought, meant to turn them from the evil, to get their attention. Rather, their evil hearts hardened. Their lives stand as horrible and frightening witness today to those who follow their own wills, desires for money, power, and self.
Elijah found the poor widow outside of Israel who gave to him what she had. Her gift, so small, was rewarded. Her oil and flour did not run out until the rains returned. Her son falls ill and dies, but her faithfulness, although one outside of the covenant, one living among the people of Jezebel, finds reward. Elijah raises her son. Jesus will use this as a witness for her and against the unbelieving of His time who will see Him and, as Ahab’s Israel of old, reject God’s plan for them.
Jesus confronts those who condemn Him for a miracle on the Sabbath. My Father works today. He bears witness of Me. My works bear witness of Me. Search the Scriptures. Do you hear Me? Do you see Me? Do you believe Me? Yet they only heard themselves, approved of each other, saw the very witness of the Scriptures only through the filter of their own goals and will. Do you hear Him?
Whew! That was pretty intense! Yet our lives say something, give witness statements about our values, our loyalties, where we are going in this life and the next. If we could review our lives as though watching a movie, what would we find? We enjoy, sometimes not, talking about family and the lives of grandparents, cousins, and others. What do they say about us? What do our spiritual lives reflect? What do our friends and co-workers see in us? Most importantly, what does our God hear and see in our everyday lives? We will leave our own book of witness. What will it say?
Prayer: Holy, Righteous Father, today help us live purposefully, seeking the grace and blessing You provide and the promises of life to come. May others, seeing us, turn to You, and say “How Great Thou Art.”