I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 18-19.

I love the story of Elijah confronting the prophets of Baal. I never really paid much attention to the beginning of the story. It was just setting the stage for the main event. God sent Elijah to talk to King Ahab and set up the confrontation, after which God would send the rain once more. The first thing in the introduction we should note is that the man in charge of King Ahab’s palace was a devout follower of the Lord who had protected 100 prophets of God from Jezebel, Ahab’s queen. So, things were bad in Israel for those who were faithful to God, yet here was a man in charge of the palace itself who was a believer. Let us always remember that no matter how bad things get there are more faithful believers out there than we realize.

But there is more to the introduction worth noting. When Elijah tells Obadiah to inform King Ahab where Elijah is, Obadiah expresses his fear that Elijah will no longer be there when he gets back with the king. Reading between the lines of Obadiah’s response we can see that King Ahab had received many reports about where Elijah was during these three years, yet every time he sent men, or went himself, to capture Elijah, Elijah was no longer there when they got to where he had been. This is the companion lesson to the one I mentioned in the previous paragraph. If God chooses to hide us from those seeking our death, no power on earth will be enable them to find us.

Because I have previously written about the confrontation described here all I am going to write today is that Elijah was a great showman. As you read the passage think about how carefully Elijah stages things to maximize their impact on the people watching. What I want to focus on is what happened after Elijah’s great victory. He fled in fear for his life and fell into grave depression, wishing to die. Despite his encounter with Obadiah, Elijah felt like he was the only faithful follower of God left. Sometimes we forget that this is what God is replying to when He does what comes next. There was a mighty windstorm, but God was not in it. Then there was a powerful earthquake, but again, God was not in it. After the earthquake there was a raging fire and again God was no in it. Finally, there was a gentle whisper, and that was God speaking. In that whisper God told Elijah that he was not alone. God had preserved 7,000 who refused to bow down to Baal. Just because they were not loud and boisterous did not mean that God was not with them. It may seem like God is not acting in today’s world, but just because He is quiet does not mean that what He is doing will not make big changes.