No Rain for an Evil Reign
We have had a lot of rain lately - seems more than usual!
When you look up, you can see dark clouds in the evening and you just know it’s going to rain again tonight or tomorrow!
Of course I just put a watering system in my yard and then it rains a whole bunch! LOL! Also, right after I wash my car. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I have the power to make it rain! LOL!
When you look at the world, you probably think, yeah, it’s not so bad. I mean for the last few months the stock market has been going up! Prices like eggs and gas have been going down. All is great right and getting better?
From God’s point of view, tho, you have to wonder how He thinks things are going? There’s so many lost people! Saved people are compromising their faith and not staying true to His Word. Riots in the streets, where has our love gone?
Matthew 16:1-4 unable to discern the signs of the times
16 The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and putting Jesus to the test, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 3 And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but are you unable to discern the signs of the times? 4 An evil and adulterous generation wants a sign; and so a sign will not be given to it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.
Today we are going to be in the book of Kings and talk about one of the Kings of Israel! Yay!
Now how many good kings were there in Israel in the books of Kings? Eek! Zero!
King Omri had a dynasty that lasted four kings, him, Ahab, and his Ahab’s sons! That’s a pretty long destiny for a king in Israel since most were assassinated for being so bad. That means he must have been a good king, right? Of course not.
Well, from the world’s perspective maybe so.
He was king of Samaria which was the capital of the Northern Kingdom later after Israel collapsed then it became the nation of Samaria and it was a happening place. If you lived there, you probably praised the king for all of the prosperity! Cough at the expense of righteousness and moral decline.
He was a Baal worshipper and not a worshipper of Yahweh, the true God of Israel.
1 Kings 16:25 Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all who were before him.
So he was the winner! .. of being the worst trophy! Well until his son came along!
Imagine that King Omri was so bad and so were his descendants that God raised two prominent amazing prophets Elijah and Elisha during that dynasty to oppose them!
Ahab (874–853 BC) — Omri’s son
Ahaziah (853–852 BC) — Ahab’s son
Jehoram (Joram) (852–841 BC) — Ahab’s other son
Jehu (841–814 BC) — Anointed king by Elisha’s messenger. Overthrew Ahab’s dynasty and eradicated Baal worship—violently
Remember Rule 1: God is in control and all is not lost! Rule 2: When you think that all is lost, go back to rule 1! (When you think that, don’t think that!)
1 Kings 16:29-33
29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel; and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. 30 Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.
So now, Ahab gets the trophy for being the worst, even worse than his father Omri! Wow! God is not going to Bless Evil so you know this will get interesting.
31 And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him.
Tyre and Sidon were island nations and were hard to beat and because of their ports, they became very rich. From a worldly perspective, it was probably smart to marry the daughter of the Sidonian king. You can imagine Ahab did this to have an alliance with the Sidonians so that if anyone attacked he could just call on pappy in law in Sidon!
32 Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
Now provoking God and following other gods doesn’t seem like a smart thing to do since our God is an awesome God and a jealous God. Neither does marrying Jezebel who was big into Baal worship. He led the whole people of Israel into baal worship.
1 Kings 17
17 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”
Imagine, Ahab just started his kingdom, and out of nowhere, some stranger from Tish of Gilead shows up and tells you, um, by the way, God said it won’t rain until I tell you, then leaves, and then, sure enough, it doesn’t rain! So after king Ahab realizes the rain really has stopped, I’m sure he goes crazy and starts having people search for Elijah to try to fix the situation!
2 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 3 “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. 7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
God took care of Elijah by being fed by ravens - yeah, weird but cool at the same time!
So, there was no rain for about 3.5 years!
During that time, God told Elijah to go to Zarephath in Sidon (the pappy in law’s land).
King Ahab is probably searching everywhere except Sidon since that’s his baal stronghold ally and surely Elijah wouldn’t go there? LOL! Do you think Elijah was a little apprehensive to go there too? Probably, but he did as the Lord said!
There in Sidon God told Elijah to meet a widow who would provide for him. The widow and her son only had enough oil and flour for their last meal and then die. But, because of God’s miracle the food lasted the whole 3.5 years feeding all three!
Imagine the absurdity of going to a Widow’s house for resources? At that time widows had to get help from family or beg and were often considered the poorest people on earth! Who would look for Elijah at a widow’s house?
She had no one to help her and had nothing. She was going to eat her last meal and then die. However, God stepped in on her situation.
During that time, her son became sick and died, and Elijah prayed to God and the child came back to life! Resurrected! This is the first resurrection recorded in the Bible.
She said:
24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.”
Sort of weird after the miracle of the oil and flour she didn’t realize it before that Elijah was God’s man, but whatever!
It just takes some people some time to come around, right? Do you realize that some people have to go to church for YEARS before they come to the understanding of God and how to be Saved and accept Jesus? Understanding and wisdom takes time! I know many of you get IT, but there are so many who will never get IT! Pray for them!
18 And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.”
(summarize story of Obadiah - sorry)
Obadiah saw Elijah and made excuses not to go back to Ahab to tell him he saw Elijah because he was scared of Jezebel. She had performed like an order 66 on all of God’s prophets and Obdiah was secretly hiding a hundred and feeding them. But Elijah assured Obadiah he would be there and so Obadiah went back and told Ahab.
17 Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”
18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals. 19 Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
(skip the story of Mount Carmel battle of the God and baal).
Baal’s failed, God’s won, all the prophets of baal were slain.
You would think it would totally end baal worship but it didn’t.
41 Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.” 42 So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, 43 and said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.”
So he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” And seven times he said, “Go again.”
44 Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” So he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’ ”
45 Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. 46 Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
It was supernatural that Elijah could outrun Ahab on a chariot! Wow!
19 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword.
2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” 3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”
So, Jezebel threatens Elijah’s life and he runs scared. Later God even asks him why he’s there. Why do we let the evil world scare us when God is so almighty?
Why aren’t we bold and courageous?
After so many cool things happened in Elijah’s life, he was still like woe is me, I’m the last one left, even tho that was not true. It’s hard not to let the stresses of life get to us.
You have to wonder, after Elijah had seen so much, the miracles with the widow and the miracle of resurrection, and the miracle at Mount Carmel, and yet still he was like woe is me.
Do you get that way sometimes? We all do sometimes.
(so much more happened and eventually King Ahab and Queen Jezebel lost their lives)
We have to put our faith and trust in God and never doubt. There’s no reason to doubt, but somehow we make up reasons and believe those made up reasons. Obadiah was that way too.
Matthew 7:24-27 house upon the rock
24 “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts on them, will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and its collapse was great.”
James 1:22-25 doers of the word
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
Do you see the signs of the times? Do you see as God sees?
When you see evil in the world, what do you do?
Do you take matters into your own hands?
Do you get stressed out? Do you trust in God? Do you stand firm in your trust?
God will take care of the evil ones in His time.
Let go and let God have His wonderful way!
I hope the perfect Word of God, that tiny little seed of faith, will come alive in your hearts! That you won’t just be a hearer only. That that seed of truth will become alive and active in your life to saving faith, and make you into that new godly creature you were meant to be. And that you’ll become that loving caring child of God with a place at the table and a citizen of heavenly snatched from the fires that were meant for the devil and his demons. Trust in Jesus today, turn from wicked ways, and find a new life in the loving Father that He meant for everyone since the beginning.
