Year One, November 20

And He Said, “Go Again,” Seven Times1

1 Kings 18:41-46

41And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain.” (Only the prophet’s ears heard that sound. Faith is quick to hear. There was not a cloud in the burning sky and no wind from the direction where the rains usually came from, but Elijah had no doubts and did not hesitate to declare to Ahab that rain was coming where drought had been. Faith never goes beyond God’s promise, but is confident to declare that the Lord will fulfill his word.) 42So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. (Different men go to different appointments. Ahab to eat and drink; Elijah to wrestle and prevail with his God.2)

And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees. 43And he said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” (Faith expects results. She bows to the earth in humility, but she assumes God will work and looks toward the sea.) And he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go again,” seven times. (True faith can wait. Her persistence gains strength from her Lord’s delays. She stays on the watchtower anticipating his arrival. It is a brave thing to be able to say, “Go again,” seven times.) 44And at the seventh time he said, “Behold, a little cloud like a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.’”

Prayer was heard, the little cloud was enough of a sign. Faith was now fully assured and made her boast even more courageously.

45And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. 46And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah, and he gathered up his garment and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. (To show his loyalty, he acted as a running footman. Elijah was unyielding in his obedience to Jehovah, but he was still willing to serve the king if the king would serve the Lord.)

  

1 Kings 19:1-8

1Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. (Ahab was easily influenced. His conceited wife was always compelling him toward evil. Woe to the man who marries a Jezebel.) 2Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

4But he himself 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.” (His intense excitement was followed by listlessness. The thrill of a great victory was followed by depression. We are only dust.3 He prayed to die, and yet the Lord did not intend that he would ever die. Truly we often do not know what we ask.) 5And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” 6And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. (The Lord had pity on his weary and disappointed servant. Before he had fed him by ravens, then by a poor widow, and now he honors him by supplying his need by angels. We often receive our best encouragements in our worst times. And then how sweet they are!)

7And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” (The holy refreshment came twice. When our sorrows are multiplied, the Lord doubles our comforts.)  8And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

A glorious journey, a heavenly fast, a divine assistance. The struggles on Mount Carmel and the disappointments in Samaria were about to be rewarded by holy fellowship at Horeb. “Blessed are all those who wait for [the Lord.]”4 He will make them a people “who are near to him.”5

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¹ 1 Kings 18:43

² A reference to Genesis 32:24-33 where Jacob wrestled and saw “God face to face.”

³ Psalm 103:14, God “knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.”

⁴ Isaiah 30:18

⁵ Psalm 148:14