Posts that reference the book of 1 Kings

1 Kings

The Temple

We tend to think of the Old Testament tabernacle and temple as places where the people came to worship God. While it’s true that worship occurred there, and rightly so, the tabernacle and temple were the places God chose to be present.

After painstakingly following God’s instructions concerning the construction and equipping of the tabernacle in the wilderness, Exodus 40:34-35 describes God’s presence in the form of a cloud moving in and inhabiting the place.

Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Later, under King Solomon, a great temple was built. In 1 Kings 8:10-11, once again, God’s presence in the form of a cloud, moves in and inhabits the place.

And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

In the New Testament, Jesus asserts that He is the temple, not the building where worship occurred, but the physical presence of God.

Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. John 2:19-21

After Jesus ascended to heaven, what happened to the presence of God?

An amazing thing happened. God chose to dwell in individual believers. We became the temple of God.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Often we read these verses as an encouragement to eat our veggies and exercise, or an admonition not to smoke or drink. Gotta take care of the temple, after all. And yes, we should be good stewards of the body, health, and life God has entrusted to us, but being a temple is so much more.

Remember, the temple is where God dwells. God has chosen to live IN us. Not in a faraway place. Not a place we only visit a few times a year. IN us.

As wondrous as the Incarnation is, the Indwelling is even more marvelous.

The glory that filled the tabernacle, the glory that filled the temple … lives in us. Moses couldn’t go inside, the priests couldn’t minister because the glory was too much. That glory was displayed on the cross and revealed in resurrection three days later.

That glory lives in us.

Intercession: For the Sick

By Paula Wiseman

Intercession is intervening. More specifically it is going to God on someone’s behalf. It a holy privilege and duty, not to be taken lightly. It is strenuous and it can be messy. We have learned from Nehemiah and his BURDEN for others, and from Daniel and his IDENTIFICATION with those for whom he was interceding.

Now let’s switch gears a little and think more specifically about what we pray for. If you are in a group and someone asks for prayer requests, what do mot of the requests deal with? Illness. We live in a fallen world and one of the evidences of that is sickness. It touches young and old. It seems to strike without rhyme or reason. Along with the physical suffering, it causes emotional anguish and financial devastation. If we have any faith at all, we need to pray for those who are sick. James 5:14-15 instructs us to call the elders to pray for us when we are sick.

Does Scripture give us any guidance on how to pray for the sick?

In 1 Kings 17, the prophet Elijah is staying in the Canaanite town of Zarephath. A widow there is providing food and a room for him as God miraculously provides for her during the three and a half year drought. The woman’s only son becomes sick and the sickness is fatal. After the boy’s death, she confronts the prophet. While there are deeper theological implications here — like the local god Baal could not raise the dead while Yahweh could — and there is the fact the Elijah was a powerful prophet of God, he teaches us some important things about praying for the sick.

Elijah got personally involved.

But Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him from her arms, brought him up to the upstairs room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. (1 Kings 17:19)

He took the woman’s son, figuratively taking her burden and her sorrow. There would be no rest, no business as usual for Elijah as he prayer for this boy.

This is connected to identifying with those we pray for and to the burden we have for them. If it doesn’t touch us personally, if we don’t become involved personally, we will mumble, “Be with the sick,” and call it good.

Elijah didn’t have the answers.

Then he cried out to the Lord and said, “Lord my God, have you also brought tragedy on the widow I am staying with by killing her son?” (1 Kings 17:20)

Elijah was confused. Would God do a miracle to keep them alive only to let the boy die? What would that do to the budding faith of the woman? What about God’s reputation here in Zarephath? What about Elijah’s own reputation? Was he somehow responsible for this like the woman said?

God’s ways are not ours and it is arrogant to presume we know why things happen the way they do. Elijah was humble enough to pour out his confusion to God. We can do the same when we pray for the sick.

Elijah did not give up.

Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times. He cried out to the Lord and said, “Lord my God, please let this boy’s life come into him again!” (1 Kings 17:21)

I don’t know why it took three times. God certainly could have raised the boy after the first prayer. Maybe there were bonus lessons for the widow or for Elijah in this. I don’t know what laying down over the boy meant. The stretching out over the boy perhaps demonstrated to his mother that the prophet was identifying himself with her son. Perhaps Elijah was acting out what he was praying for by laying down and getting back up.

In any case, Elijah was actively, physically, intensely involved in praying. It is that intensity and that unwillingness to give up that we can learn from.

Now, we also know that despite our intensity and sincerity in praying for the sick, sometimes healing does not come in this life. You may recall in 2 Samuel 12 David’s fervent prayers for the recovery of his young son. Despite David’s fasting and mourning, the child died. David clung to his assurance that he would see his son again.

In my own experience, I have seen God miraculously heal and I have seen Him refrain from intervening. The same God. How God chooses to work out His will does not absolves us from the charge to pray for each other, especially to pray for the sick.

God’s Provision

By Paula

And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 1 Kings 17:7-9

If you’ve read the Old Testament or remember your Sunday school lessons as a kid, you’re probably familiar with the story of how God took care of Elijah. Tucked in that account are several lessons about God’s provision.

1 Kings 17 opens with Elijah announcing to King Ahab that a drought was coming as a judgment for the idolatry in Israel. After he delivered the message, God hid the prophet and provided for him by commanding ravens to bring food to Elijah each morning and evening. Ravens won’t even take care of their own young, but at God’s command, they brought food– real food and not the rot they usually eat– to nourish the man of God.

God’s provision sometimes comes from unlikely places.

After a while, the brook that had been Elijah’s source of water dried up. Elijah had to have known this was coming. He must have watched the trickle shrink each day all while waiting for God to intervene, to make the brook flow or to make it rain. It didn’t happen.

God’s provision doesn’t always come according to our plans or on our schedule.

Instead, God told him to go to Zarephath. Eighty-five miles away. Think of that. Israel is desert-ish. Elijah is going to hike 85 miles. In a drought.

God’s provision isn’t an always an easy handout.

The Bible doesn’t record how God took care of Elijah on that trip, only that the prophet arrived safely. In Zarephath, God commanded a widow to provide for the Elijah, only it seems God hadn’t told her that plan. In fact she’s more shocked than Elijah. She explained she had enough food for one final meal and then she and her son would starve like everyone else. Elijah asked her to feed him first, and she did. God honored her faith and took care of all of them for the duration of the drought.

God’s provision for us blesses others.

How has God’s provision for you proved these lessons?

Into the Wilderness: Transition

By Paula

But [Elijah] went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” 1 Kings 19:4

The dictionary defines a wilderness as uncultivated, uninhabited or undisturbed by human activity. A wilderness is also pathless. Metaphorically it is a bewildering situation. No doubt many of us have had our own wilderness experiences- or have that to look forward to. As it turns out, Scripture has a lot to say about the wilderness and what happens there. Last week we looked at God’s care for Israel while they wandered. Today, let’s look at Elijah’s time in the wilderness.

In 1 Kings chapter 18, Elijah experiences one of the greatest spiritual victories in Scripture when God sends down fire from heaven in response to Elijah’s prayer. Eight hundred fifty false prophets are eliminated and it seems the people finally recognize that Yahweh alone is God. Here in the very next chapter, he is under a death sentence and running for his life.

It is easy to look at Elijah and wonder how in the world he could be so discouraged after such an amazing experience. But that’s just it. Elijah was completely confused. He stood strong. He obeyed God. He faced down the opposition. And everything fell apart. That wasn’t how it was supposed to work.

Exhausted physically and emotionally. Alone. “I don’t know what’s going on anymore. Lord, I can’t keep doing this.” Maybe you can identify.

What Elijah didn’t know, couldn’t know until God told him was that the LORD was working behind the scenes, getting pieces in place for the next steps He would take. Elijah’s time in the wilderness was a season of preparation for the transitions that were coming. God was ready to clean house in Israel and Syria and He had a right-hand man chosen for Elijah. He spoke to Elijah in the still, small voice and gave him three tasks.

First transition task – And the LORD said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. 1 Kings 19:15

Hazael of Syria was having his own wilderness experience. However the sovereign LORD of Israel and Judah is also Lord over Syria. God showed Elijah that He was still in control of everything.

One of the key things to remember during a wilderness experience is that no matter what we feel – and our feelings may be 100 percent reasonable and justified – no matter what we feel, the reality is, God is in control. Things may be out of our control. Things are never out of God’s control.

Second transition task – And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel (1 Kings 19:16a).

God had not forgotten about the Baal worship in Israel and the corrupt leadership that perpetuated the ungodliness. Judgment was coming for Jezebel and the house of Ahab. It was a few years ahead, but God was getting the pieces positioned.

God does not ignore sin, ungodliness, and injustice, nor has He let it slide. Judgment is coming. It is coming at a time and in a way that glorifies God.

Third transition task – [A]nd Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place (1 Kings 19:16b).

God showed His compassion and grace for His prophet and answers his prayer. God allows Elijah to retire, but not before designating a successor. This gives Elijah the chance to pass on what he knew, what he had experienced to a younger man. Mentoring Elisha validated Elijah’s work. It renewed his commitment and his energy to keep going. It proved to Elijah that he was not alone in the service of God. When Elijah was called to heaven, it was a moment of triumph.

God sees and hears our frustrations and He knows how best to alleviate them. We have the freedom to be honest and open with God.

Elijah shows us the wilderness can be a place of transition. Maybe you are there now. Do you need a reminder that God is in control? Or perhaps a reassurance that Gods sees and knows and is at work? Do you need to know God hears you in the middle of your confusion? Is there someone God is ready to bring alongside you?

Times of transition get us on the same page with God. Learn to see them as a gift, a time of God revealing Himself.

The wilderness can also be an opportunity for restoration. Join me next week to see how.

Listen for the Quiet

By Paula

Consider these verses where God told Elijah to listen.

Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. 1 Kings 19:11-12

Not long ago, at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, fans broke the record for volume registering 142.2 decibels at one point in the second quarter. That’s louder than a military jet and 12 decibels past the threshold of pain for most people.

You don’t have to watch very much television to realize the volume of the commercials is noticeably louder than the regular programming.

In this political season, you’ll notice that as soon as the candidates start losing on substantive issues, they increase their volume.

It seems everything around us clamors for attention with volume, with bells and whistles and bright colors. With a marked desperation culture yells, “Look at me. Choose me. Love me.”

Noise, and more noise.

God doesn’t need noise. In fact, sometimes His most dramatic, His most personal, His most needed messages come in a whisper. We need to make sure we are ready to listen.

In 1 Kings 19, the prophet Elijah is exhausted and discouraged. He has looked at the nation around him and determined they had completely abandoned God and His precepts. They were enamored with the glamorous queen and the institutionalized idol worship she brought from her homeland.

Elijah felt isolated, alone and powerless. How could he compete with the noise?

Then God told him to stand on the mountain. Elijah witnessed wind powerful enough to tear the rocks in two. It was followed by a terrifying earthquake and then a firestorm. Elijah probably thought THIS was what the people needed. If God manifested Himself with this kind power, they would turn from those silly idols …

But God didn’t speak through the powerful displays. He spoke in a “still, small voice.”

Quiet. Gentle.

The lesson God had for Elijah – I don’t need noise. I don’t need to compete. And for the record, the opposition is not winning.

We go through similar seasons when we feel alone, powerless and isolated. Or when we feel like a thousand different things are demanding our attention and we have trouble even choosing which one to focus on.

Turn down the noise. Stand on the mountain … and listen.

A Study in Contrasts: Namaan

By Paula

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. 2 Kings 5:1

We are continuing our look at contrasts in Scripture marked by the conjunction “but.” Today we have a straightforward one with the Syrian commander Namaan.

When I was a kid, this was a pretty popular story in the Sunday school rotation. Who knows, maybe it was a roundabout way to impress on all of us the importance of taking a bath. (Kind of like how Daniel 1 is used to encourage kids to eat vegetables.) But in the last fifteen or so years that I taught Sunday school, we never covered Namaan. So if you’ve missed out on his story, let me give you some background.

Namaan was the commander of the army of Syria. Syria had just soundly defeated the Israelite armies under King Ahab, who was joined by Judah’s King Jehoshaphat. You can read about the battle of Ramoth-Gilead in 1 Kings 22. The Jewish historian Josephus believes Namaan was the archer who fired the shot that eventually killed King Ahab. (1 Kings 22:34).

A quick check of his resume in 2 Kings 5:1 lists him as a great man, highly favored, victorious in battle (even God-given victories), a mighty man of valor. BUT he was a leper. Leprosy, as described in the Old Testament, could be anything from a regular rash that healed quickly to the incurable disease that often resulted in a loss of digits and eventually death. Leprosy made the sufferer an outcast. Sometimes people were stricken with leprosy as a judgment from God like with Moses’s sister, Miriam, and King Uzziah.

In Scripture, leprosy is a “type” of sin or kind of a symbol. Our sin cuts us off from God’s presence just like leprosy prevents the sufferer from joining with the community. The only cure for leprosy was divine intervention. The only way our sin can be dealt with is by Christ’s death on our behalf.

If you finish reading 2 Kings 5, you find that Namaan receives his cure. His wife’s maid, an Israelite captive, tells them of the mighty prophet Elisha who prescribes a cure for the commander. However, the cure involves humbly submitting to doing things the way the prophet said.

With all that in mind, let’s consider some takeaways from Namaan’s story.

The successful and powerful need Jesus.
A quick glance of any news broadcast– whether politics, sports, or entertainment– will reveal scores of people who have reached the heights of power and influence, but who are cut off from a relationship with the God of heaven. Pray that the “maid” who has access to them can tell the good news that there is a cure. Consider who you might be the “maid” or the “prophet” to.

Humility is hard but life-changing.
Not just for the powerful and influential, either. In 2 Kings 5:11, Namaan became furious because the healing was not going to come the way he envisioned. However, as soon as he gave up his protests and his pride and followed instructions, healing came. Consider the sources of anger or frustration in your life. Would those situations be helped or resolved by the humility?

The glory is God’s alone.
Namaan was overwhelmed by the miracle in his life and, in his enthusiasm, he wanted to give a generous gift to Elisha. The prophet refused. This not only sent a message that messengers of the One True God were different from the pagan priests and prophets in Syria (and Israel too), but that glory for the healing belonged to God. Elisha wouldn’t risk any misunderstanding of that. Consider where God deserves glory in your life and make sure He receives it.

Read more from the Study in Contrasts series

The Temple

In the New Testament, Jesus asserts that He is the temple, not the building where worship occurred, but the physical presence of God.

An amazing thing happened. God chose to dwell in individual believers. We became the temple of God.

As wondrous as the Incarnation is, the Indwelling is even more marvelous.

Intercession: For the Sick

Does Scripture give us any guidance on how to pray for the sick?

Elijah got personally involved.

Elijah didn’t have the answers.

Elijah did not give up.

God’s Provision

Into the Wilderness: Transition

Listen for the Quiet

A Study in Contrasts: Namaan

With all that in mind, let’s consider some takeaways from Namaan’s story.

Encounters Series

Covenant of Trust Series

Foundations Series