WEDNESDAY
December 12
Elijah: The Problem of Rushing
The showdown on top of Mount Carmel had ended (1 Kings 18). Fire had come out of heaven, all the people had acknowledged the true God, and the false prophets had been put to death. God had been vindicated. You would have thought that Elijah would have been growing in spiritual strength as the day went on, but suddenly he heard something that terrified him so much that he wanted to die. Read the rest of the story in 1 Kings 19:1-9. The last words in the text are worrisome: "And the word of the Lord came to him: 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' " (vs. 9, NIV). Evidently, Elijah's fear caused him to run and find himself in the wrong place.
After such a powerful intervention by the Lord, Elijah should have been full of faith and trust; instead, he runs in fear for his life. What lesson can we learn from this bad example?
This story illustrates something important: When we rush, we can very easily find ourselves in the wrong place. In Elijah's case, it was his fear that caused him to be overwhelmed and rush into the desert, wishing that he had never been born. But there are other things that cause us to rush outside of God's plan for us.
Read the following texts. What things caused the characters depicted here to rush outside of God's will? Gen. 16:1-3; Num. 20:10-12; Judg. 14:1-3; Matt. 20:20, 21; Luke 9:52-56; Acts 9:1.
How easy to let such things as ambition, anger, passion, lack of faith, and a supposed "zeal" for the Lord cause us to rush ahead to where we shouldn't be. No one is immune to this danger. The key is to cultivate a trusting faith in the goodness and mercy of God, who we know loves us and wants what's best for us. This doesn't happen automatically. Faith might be a gift, but it's a gift that needs to be cultivated, nurtured, and jealously guarded.
1 comment:
At our moments of triumph we need to be on guard, because those times are when Satan sneaks an attack at our least expectation. Sarah, Moses, Samson rushed outside of God's will for reasons of impatience, lack of trust, not wanting to wait until God worked things out. This is a lesson that is very important to learn. God's ways are always the best.
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