A Bible Study: Elijah the Stranger Danger

Can I be transparent for a moment?

I feel overwhelmed. After a summer of freedom and laziness, starting school again, being on a schedule again, becoming responsible again is the biggest struggle right now.

And with my car giving me trouble, feeling disconnected in a place I know that I'm called to and missing family and friends, I cry out to God on a daily basis.

And yesterday was no different.

I just finished listening to an A-MA-ZING! word from John Gray of Lakewood Church (Sept.24). I was pumped. I was encouraged. I was excited. Then I got on the phone with my sister and I was sobbing.

Things got uncomfortably awkward real quick and I had to get off the phone. And it wasn't anything that my sister said or did, it was me! I was crashing from that high! I couldn't sustain myself on that elevation. I needed more than a good word. I needed action!

With snot and tears everywhere, I shouted to Him that I had nobody! Everyone I knew couldn't help me the way I needed! I kept looking to people for something that only He could give me, so here I was, on my bed, screaming, "I NEED YOU NOW! You're the only one I got!"

Then in the midst of my misery, Elijah pops into my head. And after a few more minutes in my wallow of self-pity (cause that's just how I do), I pick up the bible and read his story.

Before 1 Kings 17:1, Ahab, at the time, has disobeyed God and followed after his predecessors' footsteps, raising up the idol Baal and causing the Israelites to sin.

And then this happened: Elijah the Tishbite, from among the settlers of Gilead, confronted Ahab: “As surely as God lives, the God of Israel before whom I stand in obedient service, the next years are going to see a total drought—not a drop of dew or rain unless I say otherwise.”

Elijah comes out of nowhere. At first, I thought I missed his introduction so I flipped back but I couldn't find him. He just appears in chapter 17 and he shared God's message with the king of Israel, Ahab.

I was so confused. Usually, when we meet people, we get their whole background. We learn about their mamas and their daddies and their issues but not for Elijah, so I dug a bit deeper into what was said about him.

Elijah the Tishbite, from among the settlers of Gilead

Gilead is mountainous region divided between Gad and half of Manasseh, the two of three tribes that did not cross the Jordan River into the promise land.

Tishbite means stranger.

Therefore, Elijah, the stranger from the land outside the promise land, got an audience with the king and told him what's about to go down: a drought for the next few years...

A stranger, an outsider, an outcast, a nobody was placed in front of a king.

A stranger, an outsider, an outcast, a nobody was being used by the King!

Isn't God AH-MA-ZING?!

Even now, in this time and age, you cannot get an audience with someone of importance without the right connections and the right resume filled with the right list of prestigious titles and accolades. You have to prove your worth before you can get into the presence of someone of worth.

But I am so glad that we serve a God who is above and higher than the world's way.

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

1 Corinthians 1:27 

If you're anything like me, you may think that you have nothing to offer, you may think that you don't meet man's requirement for approval and recognition, you may not see a way to achieve your dreams, but if you do what Elijah did, if you align yourself with God and follow Him, you'll find yourself being used by God Almighty in mighty ways, you'll find yourself before kings and queens, before people who will fund those dreams.

God is so amazing and He is so faithful. He sees you and He knows you.

Where you are may make you feel like a stranger, an outsider, an outcast, a nobody but in His eyes you are His Beloved and soon enough He will usher you into the promise land to do His will.

Don't you know that what's inside you is a danger to the plans the devil has? The enemy wants you to feel isolated and unimportant so that you can't activate the gifts God placed inside of you. If he gets you to feel small and insignificant then that will cripple your walk with Christ and you won't be effective in God's will.

So you can't believe those lies. You have to keep that fire of faith alive. 

You have to believe that God loves you, that He has not forgotten about you and that He will use you at the right time.

Don't quit. The world needs you!