Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Self-denial does not come naturally. It is a learned virtue (often hard-learned), encouraged by few and modeled by even fewer, especially among those who are what we've come to know as Type A personalities. Prophets are notorious for exhibiting this temperament.

Today, countless people seek to know the future. Newspapers and magazines carry horoscope columns. Television networks advertise psychic hotlines. Bus stop benches boast ads for palm readers.

We cannot help but admire Elijah's consistent heroism. The man is alone, standing before the king and, surely, surrounded by armed warriors, faithful to Ahaziah, who could have finished him off with one thrust of a spear. Yet God's man never gave the risk a second thought.

After recording these dire predictions, spoken by the Lord through Elijah, the writer of 1 Kings gives this commentary on the lives of Ahab and Jezebel: "Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife incited him" (1 Kings 21:25).

Thanks to God's kind and gentle dealing, Elijah crawled out of the cave. "He departed from there." God graciously nurtured him through rest and refreshment, gave him some wise counsel, and made him feel significant again. Talk about compassion!

God met his servant Elijah in his desperate moment of discouragement and despair. This is mercy at its best, beautifully portrayed by the Master Himself. First, God allowed Elijah a time of rest and refreshment. No sermon. No rebuke. No blame. No shame.

Why did Elijah fear Jezebel's intimidating threats? Why did he run away from his longstanding priority of serving God and hide in fear under the shadow of that solitary tree, deep in the wilderness? First, Elijah was not thinking realistically or clearly.

Elijah was a heroic prophet, without question. He was also a man of great humility, as we have seen. But let's keep in mind that he was just a man—a human being, subject to the human condition, as we all are. He suffered discouragement, despondency, and depression.

We read about Elijah and we say, "Wow, he's in the big leagues. He's a spiritual giant. I'm a pygmy in comparison to him. He's in another world entirely." Not true. Look again. James doesn't say, "Elijah was a mighty prophet of God."

Do you live expectantly? Do the little things excite you? Do you imagine the improbable and expect the impossible? Life is full and running over with opportunities to see God's hand in little things. Only the most sensitive of His servants see them, smile, and live on tiptoe.

God answered Elijah's prayer. This not only brought fire, but far more importantly, it turned the hearts of the people back to God. It also rid the land of the prophets of Baal.

Divided allegiance is as wrong as open idolatry. "How long will you hesitate between two opinions?" Elijah asks the people of Israel. The easiest thing to do when you are outnumbered or overwhelmed is to remain in that mediocre state of noncommitment.

In the first verse in 1 Kings 18, there is an eloquent phrase: "The word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year." Three years! That's an incredibly long time to go without rain. We can't imagine it, can we? But God was up to something.

All over this world, around us every day, are people who are looking for the truth to be lived out in the lives of those who claim it. Just as the widow watched Elijah, there are people watching you. They hear what you say you believe, but they are watching to see what you do.

When the woman saw that her son was alive, she didn't see Elijah. She saw the Lord. "Elijah, I've heard you talk about the God of heaven. I've heard you refer to Him in various ways. But now, when I look at this miracle, I know that you speak the truth."

No words can describe what happened in that little upstairs bedroom when the corpse began to stir and Elijah saw life returning to the boy's body. No words can describe being in the midst of such a trial and then watching God, in a miraculous moment or period of time, work it out.

That was some prayer. Elijah was not able to say, "Let this child's life return to him, as it happened to Enoch, as it happened to Isaac, as it happened to Moses," because there was no precedence for this particular miracle. So Elijah said, "Lord, I'm trusting You for a miracle."

Now wait a minute. What is going on here? Up to this point in Scripture, there has been no account of anyone ever being raised from the dead. The closest to that would be Enoch, but he was not resurrected or resuscitated, because he didn't die.

I'm deeply impressed by the man's gentleness. Though Elijah deserved none of the woman's blame, he stood silent under her blast. That's gentleness. Someone, somewhere, has called this fruit of the Spirit "the mint-mark of heaven."

She stands there, tears streaming down her face, holding the body of her son in her arms. And at that precise moment, Elijah holds out his arms and says, "Give him to me."