Arise and Abide

Reading 1 Kings 19:19-21. Elijah throwing the cloak over Elisha’s shoulders and walking away as an act of surrender. The action spoke for itself and was a symbolic gesture of Elijah passing on his prophetic authority to Elisha. There wasn't much more for Elijah to say about it in that moment. Elisha responds with celebration. But we also see that Elisah is destroying the job th

Reading Psalms 90. You see this glimpse into Moses’ heart with this psalm and his understanding of reality, it's an awareness of how precious life is how brief life is. Now that Christ has come and died on the cross, all of God's wrath was poured out onto Christ on the cross and is no longer poured out onto us. God is our refuge. God sees all the pain that we go through the trial

Reading 1Kings 19:9-18. The Lords question, “What are you doing here?”, reminds Sally of Jesus asking the people who came to Him what they wanted Him to do for them. God gives people opportunities to share their hearts with Him. God displays His power to Elijah but speaks to Elijah through a gentle whisper, gives him encouragement and renews his mission. The Lord’s question

Reading Psalms 89. The Psalmist recognizes the faithfulness of God through hard discipline. Speaking about the anointed king, it says “you have renounced your covenant with him and thrown his crown in the dust.” So there's definitely this shift at the end of the Psalm where the psalmist is really feeling that separation from God and the lack of God's favor in the current circ

Reading 1 Kings 18:41-19:9. In 1 Kings 18:16-40, we read about a dramatic showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. This portion of scripture (verse 41) starts with Elijah telling Ahab to go get something to eat and drink for I hear a mighty rainstorm is coming and Ahab immediately goes. It’s almost as though Ahab is displaying some faith, but it’s disappointing becau

Reading Psalms 88. The last line in the Psalm, “darkness is my closest friend”, reminds me of that old song, Sound of Silence. The psalmist is experiencing the sound of silence. He's not hearing from the Lord. Quite a few psalms in this book express times like this when they feel desperate. It still starts with remembering who God is and where its salvation comes from. When

Reading 1 Kings 18:16-40. We have this picture of the people of Israel who are wavering, hobbling back and forth between: Is it the Lord that is God, or is it Baal? We also have this picture of a God who hears and a God who answers, versus these idols who obviously can't do anything because they're manmade. We see that the heart of God in this contest is to bring the people back

Reading Psalms 87. The imagery of foreign and oppressive nations being counted as citizens of God’s Holy city is prophetic. Reminiscent of the account in Acts 10 Peter’s vision and God telling him not to call unclean what God has made clean. Being told to kill and eat was to prepare his mind to go to the gentiles and participate in what God was doing. the place where God's na

Reading 1 Kings 18:1-15. The drought had been going on for three years and times had gotten desperate. King Ahab and Obadiah searching the land for the kings’ animals to have water. This is the turning point. These two servants of the Lord who are in this hard situation and responding very differently. Obadiah who did something amazing for the Lord. He risked his own life, his

Reading Psalms 86, a psalm of David. In verse 11, “Teach me your ways. Oh Lord, that I may live according to your truth, grant me purity of heart so that I may honor you.” David is looking to God for discipleship. In verse 15, he's speaking to God's character. “Oh Lord, you are a God of compassion and mercy, slowly get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.�