The book of Joshua speaks of a high-point in the history of God’s
people, Israel. By faith, they took possession of the land which the
Lord had provided for them. The book of Judges tells of the downward
slope - “ ... The people of Israel did what the Lord considered evil
... “ (Judges 2:10-15). Although this was a bad time in the history of
Israel, there was also some encouragement - “Then the Lord would send
judges to rescue them from those who robbed them” (Judges 2:16). Sadly,
the people wouldn’t listen to the judges (Judges 2:17-19). There were
difficult times ahead for the people of Israel. The Lord allowed the
nations to remain in the land. This was His way of testing His people
(Judges 2:20-23).
We read about Elijah in his high-points of strength - the triumph over the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:36-39) - and his low-points of weakness - he is ready to give up: “I’ve had enough now, Lord” (1 Kings 19:4). How did Elijah get into such a mess? He forgot this: “The Lord’s power was on Elijah” (1 Kings 18:46). In all life’s ups and downs, we must hold on to this: The Lord has sent His Spirit of power to live in us (2 Timothy 1:7). How are we to live in the power of the Spirit? We need to feed on the Word of God and drink in the Word of God (1 Kings 17:4). We need to pray that the Lord will send His showers of blessing (1 Kings 17:14). We are to live our life “according to the Word of the Lord” (1 Kings 17:16). For our life of faith to be strong in the Lord, we need to listen attentively to the preaching of God’s Word (1 Kings 17:24).
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