SAY WHAT?!

Dianne Olsen, SW Washington

 

     Has God ever told you to do something?  And maybe you just didn’t think you could do it; or maybe you didn’t feel worthy of the “call”; or perhaps you didn’t feel able, that someone else would be better “suited”. Did you ever watch that old show “Different Strokes”, and hear Arnold’s famous one liner, “What you talkin’ bout Willis?” Have you ever said that to God?

     I was reading 1 Kings 17-19 a while back, and began to see a strange thing. Every time God commanded Elijah to “go”, he went, no questions asked! Now, that wouldn’t be so hard to fathom, except that some of the commands were a little “out there”.

      Like when God told Elijah to go “Hide yourself by the brook Cherith....I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” Ravens? Now I would have been very skeptical-we’re talking about birds here!! But of course, the ravens provided him meat and bread, REALLY-just read the book; I’m not making this up!

      OK, so that’s definitely crazy-but it doesn’t stop there. The brook dries up, so God tells Elijah to go to Zarepath, where He has commanded a widow to provide for him. Now, I got some great comedy material out of this one! Think about it, back in “the day”, if a woman became widowed, she was basically counting the days until her own death, because women could not provide for themselves. So, again, if this were me-I would really be questioning Gods sanity. When Elijah got there, the widow was gathering sticks to make her last meal for herself and her son, but God provided for Elijah and the woman-her “oil never ran dry nor her flour ever exhausted!”

     Pretty cool, huh? And there were many more commands from the Lord that would have been a bit scary if I were the one getting them. This article is not about how God provided for Elijah (although it could be). But I found myself inspired by Elijah’s willingness to just GO!

     Throughout the Bible, God commands people to do some things that were outlandish. As I read these passages, I noticed that one right after the other, Elijah simply obeyed all of them. It reminded me to first of all, have faith; second, to simply obey, no matter what! It gave me a new perspective on an old slogan, “just do it!”

     So, I prayed a simple prayer; “Lord, please help me hear your voice and obey. Give me the faith to obey WHATEVER You command!” So, what has God been telling you? And don’t worry; sometimes it’s good to hear voices!

 

"Wisdom is the principal things; get wisdom! in all your getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you; she will bring you honor, when you embrace her."  "For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her."    Proverbs 4:7-8 + 8:11