Copyright © S P Townsend
James tells us that “Elijah was a man just like us” (Jas 5:17). So let me ask you a question.
Do those words stir you up with faith?
Do they encourage us to greater exploits of boldness and faith, or do we read them with mental approval but no heart conviction – agreeing that they are part of Scripture, so must be right, but not allowing them to stir up a response in us? You see, if Elijah was a man just like us, then there can only be one reason for all of the exploits he accomplished – that he was serving a mighty God. A God who chooses to use men and women as instruments to accomplish His purposes, in spite of their frailty and weakness.
God shaped Elijah into a channel He could use for His glory. So Elijah became a man of God, not because of any great personal qualities that he possessed, but because God shaped him for His purpose. The difference between Elijah and King Ahab was that Elijah bent when God pushed him; Ahab resisted. If your heart is soft then God can work on it and mould it to His purpose. If your heart is hard He will not. That is not to say that he cannot do anything with a hard heart. He can, of course, break it to pieces, even as eventually he broke Ahab, Jezebel and the prophets of Baal.
So my second question is,
are you willing to be a man or woman of God?
Are you ready and willing to be shaped by God for his great purposes? Do not fall into the commonly held misconception that God only calls a few to be like Elijah, and then only every few hundred years. God wants all of His people to be men and women of faith like Elijah. He doesn’t want there to be just a few called individuals in each generation. Listen, Peter says, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.” (1 Peter 2:9,10).
1. Confident in God
“the Lord, the God of Israel, lives” (1 Kings 17:1)
Knowing that God is in control, and that He has a purpose He is outworking, and that no one can succeed in opposing Him. Not confident that we are strong in faith, but confident that the God of Israel is strong, and will come to the aid of those who are weak in faith. Was Abraham strong in faith when he fled to Egypt when tested by famine? Was Elijah strong in faith when he fled to the desert in fear for his life when Jezebel was after him? No, these things revealed their weakness. But what distinguishes the man and women of faith is that they allow God to work on their weaknesses in order to perfect His strength in them.
2. A Servant Heart
“whom I serve” (1 Kings 17:1)
Not proud and haughty, not full of your own importance, not thinking of yourself more highly than you ought, not aspiring to greatness, but knowing you are a servant and living the life of a servant. Paul tells us that Jesus “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant” (Phil 2:7). As Jesus chose this role, so to we have to choose, daily, to serve. Do not think that servanthood is some kind of elite spiritual state that we strive for, and that once we have attained it we can be effective for God, like training to be a Jedi Knight. Servanthood involves a daily renewal of commitment, even as Jesus said we should take up our cross daily and follow him. It is summed up in the following words regarding Elijah: “So he did what the Lord had told him” (1 Kings 17:5).
3. A Willing Channel
“the word of the Lord came to Elijah” (1 Kings 17:2)
God is quite capable of speaking for Himself. He spoke from a burning bush to Moses, He spoke from a cloud to the three apostles, He wrote on a wall in Belshazzar’s palace. But in fulfilling His purposes on earth He has chosen to speak and act through people who are willing to be channels. He saved people from destruction, but He used Noah’s hands to build the ark; He warned people of their sin, but he used the voices of prophets to reveal His heart; He mourned over the destruction of Jerusalem, but he used the eyes of Nehemiah to shed tears; He anointed the body of Jesus for burial, but He used Mary’s hands to apply the ointment. Men and women of God. Men and women willing to be His hands, His feet, His eyes, His voice, His heart. Men and women who respond willingly and gladly as the Holy Spirit inspires them.
4. Content to Wait
“Leave here, turn eastward, and hide” (1 Kings 17:3)
For three years Elijah waited. He waited as the water level in the stream dropped lower and lower. He waited as the stream dried up completely. He waited as he walked north to Lebanon. He waited as he lodged in the widow’s house at Zarephath. He waited as the famine laid its grip more and more severely on the land. He waited until God said it was time to act.
If you are not prepared to wait then you will be of little use for God. Whether you are prepared to wait will often be the essential test of whether you are a servant following God’s agenda, or whether you are doing your own work in your own name.
Abraham waited 25 years between receiving God’s promise of a son and Isaac being born. Moses waited for years in the desert before being used by God to rescue his people. Joseph waited for years in slavery and in prison before God used him to deliver his people from famine.
Now in some profound way that I do not understand God uses the waiting of his people to bring about the breakthrough of His kingdom. The waiting is not time wasted but time needed. As we wait for God we wait upon God. Those who wait upon the Lord renew their strength. He works on us as we wait on Him. But he works on others, too, and works on situations. Armies are defeated and mountains are moved as we wait upon Him.
Even in heaven, right now, people of God are waiting (Rev 6:9-11) and Jesus himself is waiting, until all his enemies are made a footstool under his feet (Heb 1:13).
I am going to ask a final question, which comes from looking at the verse from James in a different way.
Are you willing to trust God to fulfil the verse “Elijah was a man just like us” in your life?
You see the verse doesn’t say that we are or can be like Elijah. It actually says that he was just like us. He trusted God – just like we do. His submitted to God’s will – just like we do. He overcame the evil one – just like we do.
Will you commit yourself to God’s grace, to shape you into the man and woman of God He intends you to be, and for us all to be the people of God He wants us to be, so that the angels in conversation with one another will say, “that Elijah, now, he reminds me of those folk in Westhill. His faith was just like their’s. He waited on God just like they do. His prayers were answered just like their’s are. He turned the hearts of the people back to God just like they have.”
May it be so for God’s glory.
Steve Townsend
19th February 2006
Copyright © S P Townsend