June 14 - 2 Kings 1:1-18 | 2 Kings 3:1-27 | 1 Kings 22:41-49 | 2 Chronicles 20:31-37 | 1 Kings 22:50 | 2 Chronicles 21:1-4 | 2 Kings 8:16-22 | 2 Chronicles 21:5-7

Good morning everyone, 

Lots of back and forth in the two books today. Right? First we get to see a little more of Elijah the Tishbite. I really like this guy. He is so mysterious and yet matter-of-fact. His name means “the Lord’s strength” and he was born in a place called Tishba (hence the Tishbite) of Gilead into the Levite tribe. He dedicated himself to Yahweh at a very young age and spent his whole life in strict fasting, meditation and prayer. Elijah was sent out to confront, not comfort, which is sometimes hard for people to hear. 

In our text today we find Elijah being sent by the angel of the Lord to go meet the messengers the king of Israel, Ahaziah, has set out to consult Baal-Zebub about an injury he received after falling through an upper deck. Elijah intercepts them and tells them to go back and tell the king that he will not leave the bed he is in and he most certainly will die.  So the messengers go back to Ahaziah, deliver the message. Can you in your mind’s eye see this king? Imagine, first his confusion. “Why are you back here?” Then after hearing the message, and he probably knows who he is dealing with as he was there to see the confrontations his dad, Ahab, had had with Elijah,  but still he asks, “What did this guy look like?” And they tell him, ““He had a garment of hair[a] and had a leather belt around his waist.” Oh the many emotions this badly injured, bedridden man must have been experiencing, not the least of them anger. Ughhh, he groans.“That was Elijah the Tishbite.” Then Ahaziah sent a captain with his company of fifty men to bring Elijah down to him but Elijah wasn’t going for it and called down fire from heaven on them. A second troop was sent and sadly for them ended in the same way as the first. A third team was sent and this captain approached a whole lot more humbly and the angel of the Lord told Elijah to go with him. ~ If Ahaziah had hoped Elijah would reverse the curse he was sadly mistaken as Elijah’s yes was yes, his no was no and Ahaziah did indeed die.

In the new testament, the sons of thunder, James and John once asked Jesus if they could call down fire from heaven on the people of Samaria because they didn’t receive the Lord, but Jesus rebuked them. You see Jesus wants us to call down fire, but not to consume others instead to ignite our hearts and souls for God. We sometimes get into a sort of complacency in our walk with God, we loose our spark. May I suggest that you, that we, once again get on fire for God. Let the fire of God consume us because you know what, if we touch something that is not on fire for long enough, soon that thing will start on fire too. Fire spreads.

Once a couple of years ago, it was (please notice the tense “was”) our tradition to have a bon fire out in the back pasture on the fourth of July. Our family from California who are always blessing us with visits, were up for the holiday. We’d set chairs around this nine or ten foot high mound of debris and were all settling in to just chilax round the fire. There was a little discussion about where the  mound was located, it was pretty close to some overhanging branches of a nearby alder wood tree but after being assured that green trees don’t burn, the fire was lit. Yep, you guessed it, it didn’t take long for the flames to begin deliciously licking at the tender leaves of the over hanging branch, first withering them then turning them black. Matt quickly assessed the problem and expedited a plan to relocate the burn pile with his tractor to a safer location, making it abundantly clear that anything (even green trees) close to fire will ignite. 

It begs the question, how hot are you? Are you a burning fire, a shining lamp? Can others see the heat of God’s Holy Spirit coming off of your life? If not, it’s time to press in close to God-after all, Hebrews 12:29 tells us, “our God is an all consuming fire.” I would encourage you, us, to let ourselves be consumed by Him, and then … then go out and ignite the world for our Abba Father. Amen?

Have a great day and to God be the glory.

God bless you all …