1 Kings 12-13; 17-22

Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi guys, welcome back to Receivers Podcast. This week we're talking about some more stories in First Kings. We're talking mostly now about um the world after the split um between Israel and Judah. So remember during King Solomon's rule and during King David's rule, the two kingdoms were united. All of the twelve tribes were united. And then, as we will read this week, there became a split between Judah, which had the land of Jerusalem, and then some of the tribe of Benjamin was also near there. And then the rest of the other tribes um split off. So the northern part of the kingdom um split off. And this was just because of basically um political um intrigue and manipulation as per the norm, as per usually, unfortunately. And so we learn this also because, and this is what happens we come up in 1 Kings 11, is we learn what's happening with Solomon, we learn what's happening with Jeroboam, and we learn about this split. So that's what we learned about last week. So Jeroboam um he um decides to basically um to rebel, but he fled away um into Egypt. He wanted to go against Solomon, particularly because Solomon um had invited foreign women, he had married um foreign women to increase his political um to increase his allyships with the the kingdoms around him, and that meant that he also started worshiping their gods. He had brought that in and Jeroboam didn't like it, and so uh then um prophet comes in and says, Yes, Jeroboam, you're actually going to get ten of the tribes, and yeah, so he he prophesies that and so this is what happens. The northern kingdoms in chapter 12 actually secede, they they go away, um, particularly because uh so what happens is Jeroboam has gone away to Egypt um because Solomon was bad to him and was gonna try to kill him. So then Jerob uh Solomon dies and Jeroboam comes back. And Rehoboom is Solomon's son, and he's there, and Jeroboam comes to him and says, Hey, will you be less corrupt than your father? Um he put not only did he bring in these foreign um queens um and foreign gods, but he also put a lot of the work on us. You know, he he made taxes, he made us light work, would you not do that? And so Rabbaum goes and he counsels with the elders, right? Um, people, the wiser men of the society. We've seen this happen in times past, right? You go and you counsel, and so he's counseling with them. And the older people say, um, the elders say in verse 7, if you will be a servant to this people today and will serve them and will speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever. And this highlights, and the come follow me, um, highlights this as well, which is Christ-like leaders serve the people that they lead. Uh, being a leader means that you're looking to serve people. It doesn't mean that you're trying to look for your own gain or benefit, but you are trying to serve them. And that's what the elder that they're saying, hey, listen, if you are, if you help out these people, then they will be loyal to you. They're giving them good practical advice as well as spiritual advice, which is that a good leader should serve people, right? It's both practical and spiritual, both can be true. And Rehaboum doesn't like that. So then he goes to the younger people, you know, the people who don't have power, um, but can still be his advisors, you know, and they're maybe a little bit more corrupt, and they're like, hey, don't listen to those guys. You should actually put on more taxes, and you should be meaner to the people, um, probably so that they could also get power. And Rahaboum likes this a lot more, and so he chooses to do that. He says, uh, my father made your yoke easy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions. Um, he also, yeah, so he he says all of these things um in order to show that he is better than his father. He's also gonna be meaner, he's he's more of a man in some ways, right? Like he's gonna be a harsher ruler. And the ten tribes do not like this. He shouldn't have said this. This is not good advice to follow practically either, because he also had Jeroboam who had almost started revolts. So now the people are gonna go to Jeroboam, and that's what happens. They then secede. And the tribes, uh, the tribes are now split into two kingdoms: the kingdoms, the kingdom of Judah, which is in the south, near Jerusalem, like I said, and then we have the kingdom of Israel, which is more in the north. And um, so Israel is gone. So now we, yeah, like I said, and Jeroboam is now the ruler. Now Jeroboam realizes something when he's ruling, and that is that uh the poly the the religious cult is still in Jerusalem. That's where the only temple is. And so he decides that that would not be good to have his people having to go into the place of their enemies in order to have to worship. So he decides to set up his own cult in Dan and Bethel, which is the most north city of um his land and the most south city of his land. And he sets up two golden calves. Um, and so he says, You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. This he says go down, go up to Jerusalem. Why is he saying that? Because it's down, geography, like geographically speaking, it's to the south. Um, but Jerusalem is is on a hill, and so that's why I say you're going up to Jerusalem. Um, and so he he sets up these two calves. Now, why would he set up these calves? It is long thought, and and I brought this up when when Aaron made the golden calf, um, that this is an homage to that, and also um current biblical scholars, um, including um one group that I've had the opportunity of of working with in um around the area where Israelite, where Israelites would have been, meaning the kingdom of Israel, have seen um statues of bulls very, very commonly throughout the ancient Near East, were used to display power of gods and their fierceness. Um, but it's also a belief in biblical studies that Jehovah or Yahweh was actually first portrayed as a bull. And whether he was standing on the bull, like uh that he was actually like more like a um a person and that he was standing on a bull is probably more likely, but it also could be that he was symbolized by a bull, but probably more that he was standing on the bull. Um, but that these were supposed to be the the thrones of God um and that this was a this was a practice. So it's not like he was just trying to um set up an evil cult of something completely different. He was trying to set up a place that they could actually worship, but he was doing it without um the counsel of God, and he was doing it for his own purposes, and that's where the corruption comes in the most, is what's happening there. And he's also setting up his own priests outside of the Levitical priesthood, right? He's for political reasons, he's changing the ways of God. Not the first time that we will see this in religious history, and not the first time nor the last time that this happens, but it's important to remember also that good leaders follow God. Good leaders are Christ-like and they're humble enough to receive counsel from their elders, right? Uh to serve the people, or or people maybe who have more experience, and they're not just looking out for their own benefits. And so that's these type of lessons that we're getting here. Um, even though our leaders might not be perfect in so many ways, and the Lord will be merciful to them, too. That we'll see, you know, it's all part of his plan. Eventually, the Lord is still sending prophets to both Israel and Judah throughout this time because he's worried about them. He loves them, he wants them to come back to him, um, even though leaders are corrupt. And so we can also see that pattern that the Lord does not forsake his covenant people, even when they forsake him. Um, he still has this hesed, right? This loving kindness. And he also, throughout these chapters, we will see goes to other people who are outside of the covenant, and he still tries to help them and show them that he is God through Israel. And um, and I think that's an important thing too, which is it's like, okay, why does God have covenant people? Is that because we're his favorite? No, it's because he can use the covenant people to show everybody else who he is. He wants, and that the and the covenant people can help him do that. Um, and so that he can also have a special relationship with everybody. He wants everybody to be a part of the covenant um to this day. And that's why the restoration of the gospel occurred. That's why all these things happen, um, is so that you know it can be a blessing to all the world. Uh it right that that Abraham, like he received the promise at the early uh the beginning of the Bible, so that the children of Abraham can bless all the nations of the earth. And we can see that here. Um, and ultimately, too, this is a sign, you know, of them rejecting um this the son of Jesse, right? Um, which in a way is is uh a preclude to um Jesus Christ Himself being rejected, right? The son of Jesse. And so we can see it being a little bit of a sign of um of Christ. So then we get chapter 13. And what's happening here is that um a man of Judah, right? I'm sorry, a man of God came out of Judah and goes up north. So we're getting a lot of stories that there's a lot of different prophets. Um they're given different names. Um, children or sons of the prophets, or basically, uh, yeah, children are sons of the prophets, we get a man of God speaking for the Lord, we get a prophet, literally Elijah and um Elisha later. And so exactly how this priesthood um would be set up is not probably the way that we would think of it being set up now, or that the way that Christ even had it set up in his um time. And so we have to be okay with the fact that maybe it was set up a little bit different. We don't know what this distribution of priesthood power exactly looked like, but we do know that there were still prophets on the earth. And particularly Elijah will be shown as a type of Christ. But these prophets and these men of God were here to speak on behalf of the Lord to the to the people, but mostly to the people in power. They're supposed to, it's interesting here how we will see later in these chapters that Elijah both serves and shows the power of the God to the priests, to the king, but also um serves the one in this widow. And that is a beautiful story that we will get to. That's just so poignant. But um what we get in chapter 13 is that uh the man of God condemns Jeroboam for worshiping in the wrong way, and um basically it just shows it just shows that um the Lord is condemning Jeroboam's practices, and so yeah, and that and that these these men are coming up from Judah in order to do that. Um, some of them are coming from Israel as well, so it's not like Joe, Judah is his only chosen people. Again, Israel is still a part of this covenant, even as they've rejected him. Um and so then we go, can we can then go? Uh Jeroboam dies, and a new king's come. And a lot is happening between 13 and 17. But basically what's happening is Jeroboam is you know, said that he will die. He does die. Um, but his his son goes up in his place, and so we still have these continuing two kingdoms, and they're fighting. Um, but the northern kingdom will be known as the children of Um of Omri, who is king of Israel, and then Judah. So that those will or David will be the kind of the ways that those are known colloquially. And um, but but the leaders of of Judah are sometimes good, and the Bible presents the leaders of Israel as none of them being good, meaning none of them follow God. Um, and the leaders of Judah will sometimes do it. Uh, first and second kings, particularly the chapters that we will go through today, are most mostly focusing on the children, um the kings and the people in the kingdom of Israel. And so we will see that there are corrupt political and religious leaders, and the Lord is trying to call them to repentance again and again. He also keeps doing it, and I think that shows what President Nelson said is so true, which is that the Lord is in relentless pursuit of us, meaning he will give us so many chances, which is why he sent his son, so that we can repent and be forgiven again and again and again. Um and also there the element, like I said, is that he sends, he's he's over everybody. He will go to the political leaders, right? And he's there and he understands the greater thing, but he will also go to the widow. And so that's what we get through 17 through 22. In 17 through 22, we're introduced to Elisha, the Tishbite of Tishbi, which we don't know where that is, but it's in Gilead. So that's northern Jordan, um, today, maybe a little bit of southern Syria and northern Israel. So that's up in that area, and he's up there and he's he says, Hey, you guys are not following God. And he's particularly mad about Ahab. Now, Ahab is the king of Israel this time. He is married to Jezebel. Jezebel is a Phoenician princess. Okay, who are the Phoenicians? So glad you asked. I just went on the study bread, study abroad. So grateful and so lucky to go there to Malta and to Sardinia, where we learned all about the Phoenicians. So I wouldn't consider myself an expert, but maybe a little bit more than I was two weeks ago. But so the Phoenicians were the were a group of people living in Lebanon, um, from three cities: Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos. And they were merchants and they traveled and they worshipped a god called Baal. And they spread this god. We can see it as far as Sardania or Malta or Italy, um, northern Africa. They spread this god were a lot of places, all of their various gods. They worshipped both Baal and um Asherah, who is sometimes married to him, sometimes his mother, and she was this goddess of fertility. Those were the two main gods for um the Phoenicians. And we can see that they've had a long-standing tradition with the Israelites, if you remember, when Solomon was building the temple, the Phoenicians brought in and were part of the main part of the building process. Um, Hiram of Belus, I think, is what is that, or is from Tyre. He's from Tyre. He built this great place. And so the Phoenicians and uh the Israelites have always had this connection, but now Jezebel has infiltrated, basically, um, right, because Ahab married her, and they now worship Baal rather than Jehovah. And this is a problem because Baal and Jehovah can be easily conflated. Baal is a storm god, and he's thought to control uh the weather, lightning. Um, he's thought to even have certain powers over life and death, parti and also is Asherah, right, with fertility and those types of things. Um, and that's indirect because Jehovah also throughout the scriptures is in connection to you know um life and death and the weather and all of these things. And so they're in direct, they're in direct comparison. And this can be a problem because it's easy to conflate a lot of those things, but all sometimes was also shown to be um could have been shown as a bull. So it's easy to put them to and to get them confused. I think just like in today's world, we can get confused as to who God really is, right? Um, I think a lot of times we look around and we see certain leaders or influencers or people who do good or people who don't do good, or our leaders, and we think, okay, that is who God is. But we conflate the two when really we know that yes, God was, you know, can do all those things is over life and death and all those things. But the most important thing is he's over everything and that he's our father and he loves us and he will send good things for us, right? He's not just a storm god who leaves, and I'll get into that later, but he is constantly there, he's ever present, he never sleeps, and he's there for us all the time. Whereas Baal, there's this practice that because he's the storm god, right? Then there's a period where there's no storms, right? The dry season. And the thought process was well, that was when Baal um was overtaken by another god called Mott, who is known as death. Um, and so Baal either dies or is sleeping during this time, and then he's resurrected or comes back to life or wakes up. And that's when the rainy season starts again. And so um there is a time when Baal is sleeping. But Elijah here is going to show that it's that Baal is actually not real, that it is Jehovah that does everything, and that Jehovah never sleeps, but Jehovah is always there and can always save us. And that is true for us today, right? We have a perfect God who loves us perfectly. We may look to our own earthly parents or our own other people that we know and be like, okay, that's what God is. And they are in certain ways, right? I have I've learned much about who God is by looking at my own parents and how wonderful and great they are. But the reality is they're not perfect, but my heavenly father is. And um he is a perfect God. And sometimes we put mortal limits or mortal understandings on a non-mortal God, on an immortal God who's just trying to teach us who he is. So let's learn who he is as we read these chapters. What we learn first is that he goes and he takes care of the one. So Elijah predicts this drought. He says, Okay, you guys are worshipping Baal. Well, I'm gonna show you that Jehovah's actually over everything. So there's gonna be a three-year drought, right? It's not just gonna be for the dry season where you guys think Baal is gone and sleeping, but it's gonna be for three years. Okay, that's that does devastating things to a people who rely on rain for agriculture, particularly for the most vulnerable in the community, and that is going to be the widows and the orphans, because they do not have access to land as much. Um, if the king and the government do not take care of them and make sure that they're taken care of, then it's very easy for them to fall through the cracks and get poverty, particularly at this time. And so, what does the Lord do? The Lord says, Go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon. This is not in the kingdom of Israel. This is not in the kingdom of Judah. This is outside of his covenant people. But the Lord says, Go to this woman, go to the widow. I've commanded a woman there to feed you. Elijah's hungry too, right? And Elijah literally means my God is Jehovah. That is what Elijah means. And so um, as he's going there, he goes and he sees a widow picking up sticks and he goes, Hey, um, will you give me a little bit of water so that I can drink, right? Calling upon these ideas of hospitality and and just trying to see, you know, probably a little bit of a test to see if she's a good, you know, the person that God asked him about. And she says, I would, but I only have a little bit of oil and a little bit of flour left. Just basically enough for me to make a small meal for me and my little boy. I'm gathering sticks so that I can cook it, and then we're gonna die. We're we don't have any more food. And Elijah asks her to have faith. And it requires such a large sacrifice, Re says, I understand. Will you make me some food first? And then make you and your son food. And I know that as you do this, you will not run away food. You will not run out of food, right? He says, Do not be afraid. Which I think is would have been maybe so comforting for a woman who was obviously terrified. I mean, this is her last meal that she's making for her and her son. She's been through it. She's lost her husband. He says, Do not be afraid. Go and do you what do you've said? Make me first a little cake of it and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. He's not asking you to use all of the flour for him, but he's just saying, hey, make enough for me and then for you and your son. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel. So thus says Jehovah, who is the God of Israel. Right? So he's he's saying, Jehovah is telling me this. He's asking her to have faith in Jehovah, who may have been a foreign God to her. Right? But she believed, I like to think that she felt something, right? That she that she felt the spirit in that moment. And she went. And then he says, You know what? You will be taken care of until Jehovah sends rain, right? So he's saying it's it's Jehovah that's over all of this, right? And neither the joy of mail was not emptied, nor did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spake by Elijah. So she listens to the prophet. She puts the prophet and the Lord's words first above her own fears. And she has to sacrifice. She has to sacrifice a lot of fear, of trusting. She has to sacrifice a lot of things to do that. But she does. She puts the Lord first, and ultimately her and her son are saved. And that's what the Kung Foamy says. An invitation to sacrifice is an opportunity to exercise my faith in Jesus Christ. How many times are we called to sacrifice? I don't know if we will, I ever in my lifetime I've ever been called to do something as amazing as what this widow did, or if any of us will be, particularly in such a desperate situation that she is, but can we sacrifice the things? And maybe it's just even sacrificing the order that we do things or the priorities that we have. Can we sacrifice our preconceived notions about God? Can we sacrifice our preconceived notions of ourselves or our pride or all of those things? And let God prevail, as uh President Nelson said. And what I love about this story, and what as I was reading it, it made me think of was just how much the Lord cares about the individual person. He knew a woman who was not a part of the covenant at the time, who was, you know, in another land, who maybe didn't know who he was, but he cared enough about her, and he sent a prophet to her, and she was able to help the prophet, and he was able to help her. He cared about her enough. And I know that he Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ care about each and every one of us. No matter what's happening in our lives right now, or frankly, not happening, he will put people in the places that they need to be in our lives. And I've seen that in my life time and time again. I was not planning in in my life, was never planning on going to BYU. Um but it just so happened to be that I was actually mostly planning on either going down to SUU or I was gonna go down to uh or I was gonna go to Notre Dame. Those were and then I applied to BYU kind of just on a limb um because of another long story um that I just was put in the right place and time at. But I applied uh for BYU. Those were the three schools that I applied to. And I my application never went through to Notre Dame. And when I went down to SU, it just did not feel right. So I ended up going to BYU, even though I didn't, and the people that I met there and the opportunity I've had to study the Bible has changed my life completely. And it was crazy, um, even as I went on this trip these past two weeks, to just be like, I can't believe that the Lord has put me in this place. And he's put these people and he's curated them to be in the place that I need them to be. And I and I needed to learn from every single one of them. And they're all so wonderful. And I just was I was taken aback because I was just like, as we follow the Lord, even if he leads us to unexpected places or places that we didn't necessarily want to be, he will bless us so much and he cares about us individually. And that's good for me, as I'm planning on moving to Notre Dame now that I actually my application did go through. And I'm interested because I'm nervous and I'm scared. Um, like we will see Elijah will be, and I'm as I'm sure the the widow was, right? Nervous and scared about new experiences, as we should, I'm sure we all are, whether we have questions or whether we have unknown things coming our way, or whether we have scary things coming our way, whether that's good or bad, or probably a little bit of both. The Lord will send people our way, just like he sent Elijah to the woman. He sent his son to be there with us, even if nobody else is, and they can we can help each other. He will ask us to maybe sacrifice a little bit, to put our faith in him, and then miracles will happen. But we have to, and it might take a while, but it's also the little daily miracles that happen, right? The big miracle was obviously them being saved, but they also had to rely on the daily miracle of there being food. And that we can, I hope that we can each realize that the Lord is with us every single day as we put our trust in him. And then even something scarier happens, right? You're like, okay, whoo, good. So the widow and her son are saved, and then the widow gets sick. Sorry, the widow's son gets sick. And she says, What have you had against me, oh man of God? Like, why did you even come here, right? You have come to bring to me my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son. Why did you even come? You know, why did you even come? You now my son's my son was already, you know, you're basically teasing me at this point, right? And he says, Give me your son. So he goes up and he lies on him and he cries out to the Lord, right? And even I like this too, because Elijah himself is is questioning God. And I like to see that maybe even prophets and men of God don't always know what the Lord is going to do, but they have enough faith, and we can have that faith, even if we don't know what God's going to do, and even if we have questions, let's ask him those questions so that he can show us these miracles, which is about to happen. So he stretched himself upon the child. A lot of photos of this have him doing it like um kind of in a cross position with his arms and he laying on the body in kind of a ritualistic thing. He does it three times, which is indicative of ritual, and he does it, and the child is healed. And now the woman says, Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth. What I see here is this. The woman had enough faith to feed Elijah. She had enough faith to question Elijah. But it wasn't until after the miracle that her faith in him was confirmed, and that she had a sure witness of her faith that she had been doing. And that can be true for all of us, which is maybe we don't have enough faith to be like, you know what, I fully know that yes, you're a man of God, but we have enough faith to give a little bit of food every day, right? We can we can read our scriptures maybe a little bit every day, we can ask questions, we can try again tomorrow. And I know that one day the larger miracle will happen and we will get that confirmation of the spirit. I know that for myself as I'm as I'm thinking about this and realizing it, and I know it for you. Um, and I'm so grateful for the Lord who who gives us that. So then Elijah's just had this miracle, right? This individual perfect miracle. And now he's gonna go do greater miracles, right? So now the pre it it still hasn't been raining, and Elijah goes to Ahab, and he's like, Okay, gather all of your priests, 450 of them, to Baal. And we're gonna we're gonna have a basically a little bit of a competition. And Elijah's like, I want you guys to, you know, you guys believe that Baal can save you? Okay, let's let's worship and let's see whose God can do it. So they lay out a bunch of sticks and he says, Okay, pray to your God. Or is he just sleeping, right? It sounds a little bit of a mockery, but it's also just he's playing into the idea, which is really okay, I guess your god's been sleeping for three years, but you know. And the an interesting thought here is that he says, Don't spend your time limping between two gods. Now, what does this exactly mean? Um, in the King James version it says something a little bit different. Um, let me find it really fast. My phone is being weird. But anyway, in the non-King James version, it says, How long will you go limping between two gods, right? So why are you hopping back and forth from one god to another? Or later the same word is used, so it's it to indicate dancing when they try to do the ritual dancing to invoke gods, so maybe they're dancing between the two, right? They don't know which one to choose. Should they choose Baal or should they choose Jehovah? And he's like, hey, you need to pick a side, right? And the Lord is God, follow him. If Baal, then follow him, right? He's saying, we can't be doing this dance. You can't have one foot in and one foot out. How long halt ye between two opinions, right? But it's how long are you gonna be on one side and on the other side? You can't be doing both. Either Jesus Christ is is Jehovah's Jehovah, or he's not, but we can't be in the middle, and this is true so much in our own lives, and it's really hard because it's sometimes it's easier to live in the middle, and I've seen that in my own life. But sometimes we have to make the hard decision, and it is in that decision, I think, that the Lord can show us that he is truly God, as we choose to be like, okay, God, I choose you. Show yourself to me. And this is what Elijah does. So, again, the two balls, the two bowls, which could represent, right, both the all and Jehovah. But he's saying, No, we gotta choose one. And so there was no answer, right? And then he says, uh, 27, surely he's a god. Either he's meditated or he has wandered away, or he's on a journey, perhaps he's asleep and must be awakened, right? And so they're like, no, but he still never goes. And so then Elijah does something that's so cheeky. He's so cheeky in this, and he says, Okay, guys, go grab a bunch of water, and they pour water on it. Not once, not twice, but three times. So the water, sorry, sorry, the sticks are completely wet. No chance of them just busting out in flames, and yet they do. Lightning comes down, which again was Baal's symbol, but now it's Jehovah, right? After God plays, after he played, answer me, right? Oh Lord, oh Jehovah. But why? And and then this, and then the lightning gets struck and fire comes. But why does the Lord do this? Is this to show that he's just so great and that the the priests of Baal are so dumb or that Elijah's so great? No. Elijah says this in verse 37. Answer me so that the people may know that you, O Lord, or Jehovah, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back. And so then the people see and they say, Oh, the Lord is indeed God. It's Jehovah, he's the one. The Lord is indeed God. And so he doesn't do it just so that we're all like, so that he can show how great he is, but he does it so that we can have a testimony of him and he can what he can do for us in our lives. He did it for the widow, and he did it for these people, whether he works through small miracles that nobody else sees or great miracles. He can do both in our lives. He can give us small daily miracles, and he can give us life-changing miracles, whether in this life or in the next life. Sometimes we have to wait for them, but I know that they will come. And so the drought ends. And then in verse 19, Elijah's running away from Jezebel. Jezebel wants to kill him because he's a threat to her, right? Now they're not worshiping her God. Um, and so he she starts, and he's getting scared, and so he prays, and he's scared, and he cries, and he's like, kill me. He says, It uh, verse four, he asks that he might die. It is enough now, oh Lord, take away my life, for I'm no better than my ancestors. But then what does he do? He goes under a broom tree and falls asleep, and then an angel touches him and gives him some food. So Elijah's freaking out, he says, I want to die. Then he gets some sleep and some food, which I think is a universal principle. But also, then the Lord shows him who he is. Elijah's afraid and he's running for his life. But then the Lord gives him a miracle. So as Elijah was serving, he's able to serve the one, he was able to serve the many, and now he's being served by the Lord, right? The Lord helps us in all of these situations. And the Lord, and all this, right? The fire comes. Sorry, the great wind comes. Again, a ball symbol, but it's Jehovah that's doing it, right? And Elijah knows that it's that it's Jehovah, that is God, and he says, Oh, but the Lord was not in the wind, right? Um, and he was not in a fire, the fire, right? He was not in the earthquake or in the fire, but it was a still, small voice that pierced him, and that is the one, that is where the Lord is. He speaks to us in a still, small voice. He's not in craziness or he can speak to each of us personally, and what he what he's going to say is he calls us, he calls him by name. What are you doing here, Elijah? And I love that he calls him by name. And then he says, What are you doing? Elijah says, You know what? I'm all alone. I'm the only one that's fighting. He says, Go and do. I'm gonna give you something to do, and I'm gonna give you a friend. So he goes, and now Elijah has somebody to support him, Elisha. Basically the same name, but his would be uh salvation or Joshua is my god, right? Versus Jehovah is my god, which is the same name, basically, but a little bit different. And I love this because now Elijah needed somebody, and the Lord sent him somebody. He sent him his voice, he comforted him, he called him by name, but he also sends him his friend, Elisha. And Elisha, uh, the Lord sees Elijah sees him and he says, Elisha, please come. You know, the Lord's called you, and he says, Okay, I just need to go take care of my parents and give them a hug and a kiss really fast. Tell them where I'm going. Because he was in the field, he was taking care of his things. He's like, Yeah, let me just go tell my parents and I'll do some sacrifices to make sure that I'm ready, right? And then I'll go. And I love this because sometimes we get the story, right, of like a Peter, where they just leave, they immediately leave, right? And I think that's good. But what we get from Elisha is that he was Elisha is that he was ready to go spiritually, but he just needed to do a couple of things first, right? And I think that's okay in some ways. He just needed to get himself basically more ready materially, where he was like, you know what? Yeah, um, let me just go. I actually do need to just tell people first because I have responsibilities, and then let me just make sure I'm, you know, say a quick prayer and get prepared, and then I'm ready to go. And that's what he did. He he prepped and he then served the Lord for the rest of his life. And um, Ahab, right, this king of Israel, the next the next chapters are just unfortunately uh both the Lord helping him in some ways, um, but then the Lord also not helping him. And so the Arameans are fighting them, and uh he actually does get some help because he follows the voices of the prophet. So he follows the voice of the prophet, right? Prophet's job was to help a king in war, and so he's getting help. But then once again, we see something similar that we saw with Saul, where God says, Okay, you know what? Per the per the law, you need to get rid of these people. Why? Because if not, then they can right penetrate into our society. So you just need to to you know not be in allegiance with them, you just need to get rid of them, you need to destroy them. And instead, Ahab makes uh he doesn't want to kill them, it's easier. He he might not get killed, so he makes an allegiance with them. And then another um another uh prophet, micaiah. How do you say that? Makaia. Wow, that's a hard name. Meaning. Sorry, let me just look up what micaiah was. It probably is who is like God, basically. Um is like Jehovah. But we will look up exactly what it means. But here it is, and he says, You're not doing what you're supposed to do. Oh, it is. Okay, Micaiah, who is like God? I was right, who is like Jehovah? Um, and then he's like, You're doing something wrong. Um, and so you are not following the exact counsels, and so you're gonna you're gonna be destroyed. Um, and so he is personally, but Ahab followed just enough of the Lord's commands that, you know, per the reading of this, right? Probably are later things to justify why Ahab's family still continued in, even though he was doing wrong things, was like, okay, you've done just enough good that like we're not gonna destroy you. Your son is actually the one who's going to lose the kingdom. Um, you'll die, but you know, your your son will still reign. And so that's what happens, is then the the king reigns. Um and uh his son will ultimately we'll see this next week, will ultimately be taken over, and he will, they will, he uh Judah and Israel will actually work together as they fight against um the Aramaeans and as they fight against um common enemies, and so they still have some political togetherness, um, but they are two separate kingdoms, and they will continue to be more and more separate um as they choose to listen to prophets or not. And that is the ultimate lesson here, I think, is that the Lord sends us many people in our lives who can help us. He sends us prophets, he sends us angels, but he also is looking to bless us in so many ways. Why? So that he we can be reminded who he is. He doesn't do anything save it be for the benefit of man. And I think that's sometimes hard for us to grasp, but it is true. He does not perform miracles so that he can show how great he is. He does it for us, that we can believe in him, that we can show even greater strength in him, and know that uh faith in him as well, and knowing that one day everything will be made right through him. We can continue to have faith in him, because one day every hard thing will go away through Christ. That will might take some time. But he is there to help us in our daily lives as we live day by day in hard moments, so that we can know and we can say, like the widow and like the people who were shown in these miracle stories, oh, Jesus is God, Jesus is king, Jesus is real in my life, and my heavenly father loves me, and I'm a child of God. But that's what he wants us to know. That's his ultimate message, because he can help us in every place of our lives. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Talk to you next week. Bye.