Idols and Kings (1 Kings 17:1-16)

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Into a moment of political division, a moment of national dysfunction, steps Elijah.  

This is his home, and his people. This has been his whole life, growing up with Israel’s back and forth and inheritance and assassination and war and division and reunification. He is familiar with the vein of people who are rejecting YHWH God. Elijah understands about idols and kings.  

Elijah was a force. He was a prophet of YHWH God. He was a strong human being: bold when he needed to be bold, brave when he needed to be brave, and obeying God every time God spoke to him. His name actually means ‘YHWH is my God.’  

Elijah was a little bit of a celebrity, if that's the right word. People recognized him when he walked in the room, or even when he was described.  

Elijah understood kings; he understood people who hold power, who take power for themselves, people who take power away from others.  

Elijah knew about idols: the little gods to which we give power. The little gods in which we invest our hope and our resources. The little gods who we reflect into the world.  

Elijah understood gods and kings, and he knew who his King was. He knew who his God was.  

When Elijah made that statement, “As YHWH lives before whom I stand,” he was stating who he was. Whose he was. Who was his King. Who was his God.  

When Elijah's King told him (First Kings 17:1) to stand tall and speak loud to Ahab and Jezebel, Elijah stood. Elijah walked boldly among the enemies of YHWH God, telling them things they did not want to hear. He told Ahab and Jezebel, “There's a drought coming, and it’s your fault.” He told them the God of Israel “...before whom I stand...” had had enough of looking at the back of their heads. That God was saying, “The power is mine, the people are mine. You are not getting rid of me that easy and you may not harm the people I love with impunity. There will be consequences.” When Elijah's King told him to stand and speak, Elijah stood.  

When Elijah's King told him (verse 2) to step away, to go somewhere safe and to take care of himself, to let things play out the way God was going to play them out... Elijah went. He went to a place called the Brook of Cherith, a stream flowing down the hills to feed the Jordan river. Elijah walked up into the rocky rift carved out over time by that small stream. He waited there. He watched the blue sky. He was fed. He was watered. He was taught by God. He gathered his strength. When Elijah’s King said rest, Elijah rested. 

When Elijah's King told him (verses 8-9) to go and get help from someone else because he couldn't do this alone, Elijah accepted help. It was not convenient. Elijah had stuff to do. Not to mention the fact that it was a long dry journey from west of the Jordan, way up north and east to a town that wasn't even in Israel, but in Jezebels's home country. God told him, “Go there, find somebody that you've never met, and ask her for food.” When Elijah’s King told him to go find help, Elijah went. 

When Elijah’s King told him to challenge other people to step up, Elijah spoke. This struck me this week, something I’d not really absorbed before—when Elijah meets the widow at the gate, she's there gathering firewood so that she can cook the last of her food. She’s going to prepare one last meal for her and for her son. Times were hard, and in those days widows were extremely vulnerable. They did not get jobs to pay the rent. They were not necessarily wanted by another man if they already had children. She was in trouble. Plus there was a drought, and there wasn't enough food coming down the pipeline. She was in serious, serious trouble. So she's out there by the gate gathering wood, and (I had never noticed before) when Elijah asks her, “Go and cook me some food,” her reply is, “I'm collecting a couple of sticks to cook what I have left.” The text literally says, “I am collecting 2 sticks.” She knew how much firewood she needed to cook the little she had. There was no point in gathering extra. There was no point in having a pile of wood in her house because there was not going to be anybody there to use it. Her hope was gone. Two sticks to cook her food. And that's it. That's how bad things were for this woman. That's how lost she was.  

What does Elijah do? He doesn't say, “OK. I'm going to go and get you some food.” No, he issues the challenge, “Feed me first.” Because God had told him to challenge her. God had told him that He had prepared this woman to do what she needed to do: not only for Elijah, but for herself and her son. The way we see God provide in response to that act of obedience, that act of sacrifice—is mind blowing. All because when Elijah’s King told him to issue a challenge, Elijah obeyed.  

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God knows about gods and kings. 

He knows about kings: people who hold power, who take power for themselves, who take power away from other people.  

He knows about idols: the things that we set up as little gods for ourselves, that we allow to dictate our values, our priorities, our conduct. God knows about the things we worship.  

• Personal independence and security.  
• Respectability and tidiness.  
• Affluence and “what's mine is mine.” 
• Culture and how it shapes us.  
• History. 
• Popularity and fame.  
• Political power.  

He knows about the idols that we set up for ourselves. He knows about the things that we allow to dictate how we live, how we respond to other people, what we post online, what we read online, the things that make us angry enough to do or say something harmful. God knows about the things that we set up in our hearts as more important than Him. This event in the life of Elijah—his meeting the widow of Zarephath, their conversation, the relationship they build, the way they support each other, and feed each other—and pretty much everything else in Elijah’s life centers on that statement, “As YHWH lives, before whom I stand...”  

“YHWH lives..” He has not forgotten about arrogance and corruption in high places. He has not lost sight of the ways in which those with power abuse it and use it to abuse others.  

“...before whom I stand...” I stand before my God, and my God has not forgotten the little human picture. He has not forgotten the frightened and despairing heart of a mother. He has not forgotten about the body that needs water to survive. He has not forgotten about the widow who needs protection. He has not forgotten about the man on his own who needs shelter and food.  

YHWH God understands how we bend under the weight of our kings and our gods. And He feels that weight with us.  

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When I read Old Testament stories, the question I always ask myself is, “Where is God in this story?” It's easy to see the people, and the things they do, and their personalities. But I always look for God.  

In the story of Elijah, God is in the nation of Israel. God is working in His people. He is working in these thousands and thousands of people to keep His promises, and to walk us towards Jesus. But more than that, God in this story is in Elijah. He is in one human being who knew what his job was. He is in that one human being who went where he was sent, who spoke the truth that he had received, did what he was told to do.  

I also ask myself, “Where is God in our story? Where is God in our nation?” He is here. He is working. He's working in the halls of power. He's working in the closed sessions of caucus and of counsel. But more than that, He is in each one of us. We are always God's first answer to someone else's prayer, and God is always working in and through those who call themselves by the name of Jesus, who say, “He is my King and my God.”  

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There are days when my prayer is simply, “God, I hope you know what you're doing.” 

I hope that my answer to God’s command—whether it's Wednesday morning or Sunday morning or Monday morning—when He commands me to stand, when He commands me to wait, when He tells me to ask for help, when He tells me to go and tell... My answer, I hope, will always be, “Yes.”  

Put not your trust in princes, 

in mortal man, who cannot save. 

When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; 

on that very day their plans perish. 

Blessed is the oen whose help is the God of Jacob, 

whose hope is in the LORD his God, 

the Maker of heaven and earth, 

the sea, and everything in them. 

He remains faithful forever. 

Psalm 146:3-6

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