Jesus attracted people like flies on a Bedouin camel.  I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised after all that I had seen and heard.  But there was no way I was ready for the daily barrage of humanity that found its way to the Master everywhere he went.  People alone, people with friends; poor people and rich people; hurting people, religious people, important people, scorned people; children, and the elderly – they kept coming and coming.  I don’t know how he did it.  I don’t know how he always seemed to be ready to do what needed to be done or to say what needed to be said – but he did.  I don’t know how he always found room to care.  Now don’t get me wrong those same people wore him out and even frustrated him at times.  I saw him angry on more than one occasion and there were days he led us in the opposite direction (away from the people) - but he always cared.  And the thing was, somehow, he knew each one of them.  They came from a hundred different places, each with their own story, their perspective, and their expectation of Jesus and he spoke to them as if he read their minds and knew their hearts – it was incredible to watch.

My name is Asa and my great-grandfather was sort of a big thing. His name was King Solomon, you might have heard of him. That puts me in the royal line in a succession of kings. But then my grandfather (Rehoboam) screwed things up by turning the people against him – well, that’s another story. But as a result, when it was my turn to be king it was not over all of Israel just what became known as the Southern Kingdom or the Kingdom of Judah. As it turned out, that was as much or more than I could handle anyway, so I was happy, in a way, for the divide.

I will do my best to set aside any pressure I feel to cater to the expectations (real or imagined) of others. My aim will be to acknowledge, once again, God's overwhelming love for me - of which, I don't deserve and from which, I can't be separated. I stand reminded that I belong to Him and that, despite my inadequacy and inconsistencies, he wants to use me for His purposes. In fact, He is and will be patiently waiting for me to seek him out today. 

I have made it a life-long mission to understand faith and to practice it.  It’s life-long not because it is difficult to achieve but because I am such a slow learner.  Peter isn’t the only one who has heard the question from Jesus, ‘Why do you have such little faith?’  Therefore, my antenna is always up as I read the Scriptures.  And what I see is Jesus constantly acknowledging, rewarding, and encouraging faith.  So, I think to understand what faith looks like; all we must do is take a close look at it in stories recorded in the Gospels.  In them, we read that Jesus found faith in the most unlikely people and the most unlikely settings.  But when he found it – he called it out.  He said, ‘See here, this is what I am talking about – this is what I desire'.   

God’s response to Elijah is one worth listening to. It could be understood that his message was threefold, “I am not done with my people, I am not done with you and you aren’t alone”. Those are messages as critical in today’s world as they were in Elijah’s. But on a much deeper level, His message likely said, “Your eyes need to be on me and not what you think I should be doing”. Success is not measured by expectations that are met but by faith in The One whom we serve.  Outcomes and timing are His responsibility and not ours.

The first time the question was posed by God to Elijah was upon his arrival at Mt. Sinai.  Forty days on the road was no small excursion, and it would be interesting to know all that went through Elijah’s head during that trip. Whatever else he thought, it’s fair to say that Elijah was ready for the question when it came. “What are you doing here, Elijah?”.

We don’t know how it went down exactly, but about this time, somewhere in heaven, God called an angel aside and gave this celestial being an assignment. “Go to my servant Elijah. You will find him a day’s walk from Beersheba, under a solitary broom tree, feeling sorry for himself” (or something like that). The Scriptures reveal that this angel did two things upon arrival and then, soon after, did the same two things again. First, he touched Elijah. Laid his hand on his shoulder, perhaps? There is no way this was an insignificant gesture because the angel repeated it again and because the author of this account made sure both touches were recorded. There is something personal about a touch. It can be for attention’s sake, but the very presence of the angel probably already accomplished that. A touch can also be reassuring and comforting and friendly and I suspect it might have been all three. It also stood in contrast to previous communications Elijah had from God which probably came to him in a dream or vision. This time a physical presence and a physical touch were necessary. 

It’s easy to look at Mt. Carmel as a triumph for Elijah. He delivered the message, summoned the people, set the parameters for the contest, and called down fire from heaven. Not a bad day. And, from what comes next, it might be safe to say that Elijah looked at it as a personal triumph.  

Elijah is now directed to gather the people of Israel for a head-to-head. A contest, yes, but even more so a confrontation, some might even call it an intervention. 

For more than two years now, King Ahab and the people of Israel had been suffering through the effects of the drought.  That was all about to change because Elijah had just received a new set of instructions and it included some good news. He was to get in front of King Ahab, once again, and let him know that it was going to rain soon.  You’d think a national sigh of relief would be in order, but the environment had certainly changed in Elijah’s absence.

The directions Elijah received next were likely clear and not so clear. “Go live in a village called Zarephath” which happens to be way up north near Sidon. Pretty straightforward, yes, but wrought with questions. Forget that it was a long walk from where he was and that it happened to be in another country which just happened to be home to Ahab’s queen, Jezebel. Why would God send him to a hotbed of Baal worship while he was making a rather drastic point that Baal was no fertility god at all (note: drought in the land)? And why would he send him to a widow, of all people, eking out an existence in the middle of the drought? These things and more were probably swirling around in Elijah’s head as he trekked north. “This is crazy.”