Into the Shadows

Any recruit who has been through boot camp can tell you that every hour of the day someone is ordering you where to go, when to be there, what to do, and how to survive. That’s a vital part of basic training. And God did the same for His prophet.

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From Hurt to Usefulness

As we read those words and try to imagine the original setting, we begin to see the surprising nature of God’s plan. The most logical arrangement, seemingly, would be to keep Elijah in the king’s face—to use the prophet as a persistent goad, pressing the godless monarch into submission, forcing him to surrender his will to the One who had created him.

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Cut Down to Size

“I am going to cut you down to size!” If I heard that once during the ten weeks I spent in a U.S. Marine Corps boot camp more than forty-five years ago, I must have heard it a dozen times. As I recall, those words formed the theme of the opening speech, delivered with passion, by a man I quickly learned to obey.

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His Word Is Final

God keeps His promises. It’s a major part of His immutable nature. He doesn’t hold out hope with nice-sounding words, then renege on what He said He would do. God is neither fickle nor moody. And He never lies. As my own father used to say of people with integrity, “His word is His bond.”

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A Unique Spokesperson

God’s methods are often surprising. God did not raise up an army to destroy Ahab and Jezebel. Neither did He send some scintillating prince to argue His case or try to impress their royal majesties. Instead, God did the unimaginable—He chose somebody like . . . well, like Elijah.

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Special People for Special Times

God looks for special people at difficult times. God needed a special man to shine the light in the blackness of those days. But God didn’t find him in the palace or the court. He didn’t find him walking around with his head down in the school of the prophets. He didn’t even find him in the homes of the ordinary people.

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Alone in the Gap

We’re first introduced to him as “Elijah the Tishbite” (1 Kings 17:1). Talk about stepping out of nowhere! Elijah came out of this insignificant place—out of nowhere—to make such a significant contribution to God’s plan for His people that he became one of Israel’s most famous heroes. He became what we often call today a legend.

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Staying Alert

Your mind is a muscle. It needs to be stretched to stay sharp. It needs to be prodded and pushed to perform. Let it get idle and lazy on you, and that muscle will become a pitiful mass of flab in an incredibly brief period of time. How can you stretch your mind? What are some good mental exercises that will keep the cobwebs away? I offer three suggestions . . .

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Insight

Are you ready for a surprise? You blink twenty-five times every minute. Each blink takes you about one-fifth of a second. Therefore, if you take a ten-hour automobile trip, averaging forty miles per hour, you will drive twenty miles with your eyes closed.

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Destination Unknown

Do you know where you are going? The place? Dublin, Ireland. The time? Toward the end of the nineteenth century. The event? A series of blistering attacks on Christianity, especially the “alleged resurrection” of Jesus of Nazareth. The person? Thomas Henry Huxley.

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