Mon Mar 9

Listen up, little ones

Especially for the littles in your household.

Listen for the words Elijah, I, and my.

Reading

1 Kings 19:1-4—In the Face of Discouragement

Keys for kids

Also for the littles. Young households might choose, after Keys for Kids, to go directly to praise and prayer.

Elijah was on God’s side.
But he was greatly opposed by Ahab and Jezebel.
So, Elijah was terribly discouraged.

Questions

(Some read the ?s before the notes/ ask them after.)

How might we have expected chapter 19 to begin?
How did Ahab and Jezebel respond to Elijah’s victory in 1 Ki 18:37-39?
How did Elijah respond to their opposition?

Notes

(See Saturday for authors. Today’s notes are from a commentary on 1 Kings by Tony Merida)

Chapter 19 doesn’t begin the way we expect at all. We expect to see Israel turning their hearts back to God (18:37). After all, in response to God’s burning up the soggy altar, they fell on their faces and confessed, “Yahweh, He is God! Yahweh, He is God!” (18:39). But do we see national revival? Nope. We hope to find wicked King Ahab returning to the palace to remove Jezebel for her idolatrous influence in the land. After all, we left him in chapter 18 obeying Eli-jah’s word (vv. 42, 45). But is that what Ahab does? No, he doesn’t. His repentance was false, and his spine was like a jellyfish. He runs back and tattles on Elijah to the Baal-promoting Phoenician queen. We wonder if Jezebel will surrender her false theology and repent. Instead, she seeks to put Elijah to death. …We find our brother Elijah depressed, throwing a pity party, running from Jezebel, and asking God to take his life.

Elijah’s faith and prayer life have challenged us, but now Elijah’s spiritual collapse serves as a warning and provides wise counsel.

Are you drained? Are you disappointed? Are you isolated? Are you believing half-truths that trigger feelings of self-righteousness, self-pity, and self-importance? What we need is this: heavy doses of grace and truth that are in Jesus.

Swedish Method questions

See the Sunday notes for meaning of the symbols.

Praise

Psalm 42c, 65d

Prayer

Remind your soul in prayer to hope in God, no matter what.
Pray for a specific application from yesterday's sermons.
Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.