Ordinary Acts Several years ago my son played little-league baseball. I loved watching the games with the other moms, especially those who were members of the church where I was a pastor. In the midst of that idyllic time, an event occurred which broke the hearts of everyone in our small town: A star high-school baseball player from one year before was killed in a car accident while at a tournament with his college baseball team. He was 19 years old. His older sister, Melinda, was a member of our church. The next summer as Melinda and I were outside watching baseball again, I asked her as I had often that year, “How are you getting through this?” She answered, “By God’s grace. I know people are praying for me. When people send me notes or cards, when they telephone to see how I’m doing, I know their love and concern for me are answers to my prayers and pleas for support.” We all know someone who is going through a difficult time — the loss of a job, sickness, or the death of a loved one. In those situations, do we sometimes look too hard for God’s presence? Do we expect answers to prayer always to be dramatic? God works through acts as simple as a phone call from a friend. You and I can be the answer to someone’s prayer for help and comfort. 1 Kings 19:1-12 19:1 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 19:2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow. 19:3 Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. 19:4 But he himself went a days journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors. 19:5 Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, Get up and eat. 19:6 He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 19:7 The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and said, Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you. 19:8 He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. 19:9 At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, What are you doing here, Elijah? 19:10 He answered, I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away. 19:11 He said, Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by. Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; 19:12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 16:00:21 +0000
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