Steemit devotion

Topic: Strength for the Task

1. Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

2. Then 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.”

3. Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

4. But 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.”

5. And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.”

6. And 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.

7. And 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.”

8. And 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.
   Bible Reading: 1 Kings 19: 1–8 (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®. Copyright © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.)

Word for Today:
And 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.”_– v. 7.*

Inspiring Commentary:

The contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal can be compared to Joshua’s experience with the elders of Israel as he was coming to the end of his leadership. The issue was not whether they believed in God but whether they would follow Him. This is the question which true ministers in the Church of God need to continually ask themselves and their members.

Though in the world today, belief in God is mooted, it is very much the question that demand answers even in the atheistic/agnostic western world. Through evangelists and ordinary Christian witness, God challenges people to come to the point of knowing and declaring that He is God. Our hope and prayer is that this will be the testimony of those who use this devotional this period.

Like Elijah, some of these servants of God get tired and wonder what else to do because of difficulties which they encounter. But God intervenes first to lift them up and assures them that He will take them through the situation. He not only tells them that the end is not yet, but leads them to take steps that would make them even more dependent on Him. God called them in the first place, and would raise up people like Elisha who will take the work further than them.

Prayer
Lord when the task appears too difficult, give me strength to believe that you will come through for me.