Meditation

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01/13/2020

“Elijah answered the captain, ‘If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!’ Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men. ‘If I am a man of God,’ Elijah replied, ‘may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!’ Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.” (2^nd Kings 1:10–12)

God had authenticated Elijah’s ministry under Ahab by fire. For Ahaziah, following in Ahab’s steps, God did the same. In he encounter on Mt. Carmel, God responded to the curses His prophets and leaders placed on other people when they fulfilled His purposes.

The curse was not a weapon to be used indiscriminately against one’s enemies, beloved. God’s responses revealed God’s power, not the prophet’s. Understand?

PRAYER FOR THE DAY:

Precious Abba, it might be easy to misunderstand that the curses by the prophet’s was through their power, but in truth, all power comes from You, through other people towards those it is directed to, or directly from you to them. Help us to always understand that we have no power, that You were in and through us, to accomplish Your will being done. All this we pray in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

“Never, ever forget, Jesus Christ—-He paid the price!”

KNOWING GOD:

“Because the Lord revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing. I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realize that they had plotted against me, saying, ‘Let us destroy the tree and its fruit; let us cut him off from he land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.’ But, O Lord Almighty, you who judge righteously and test the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have committed my curse. ‘Therefore this is what the Lord says about the men of Anathoth who are seeking your life and saying, ‘Do not prophesy in the name of he Lord or you will die by our hands’—therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine. Not even a remnant will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the men of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.’” (Jeremiah 11:18-23)

Jeremiah courageously took his case against his enemies to God in five monumental confessions. In life’s hopeless situations prayer is he only avenue of hope. Here God agreed to Jeremiah’s request, though this is not a the case. God is righteous, beloved, in all that He does. When other people treat us unjustly, we can turn to God for righteous intervention. What is right in the case is His decision, not ours. People expect us to be able trust neighbors. When that trust is betrayed, we are overwhelmed. Such betrayal invites divine action. God refused to leave even a remnant of such people.

I AM:

“Prayer, Curse”: (Job3:3–19)

Job prayed that God would reverse creation itself—-an impossible prayer, since it would contradict the nature of God. Later (6:8-9) he prayed to die. A cure on self may deal with anger before God, but its fulfillment should not be expected.

Second Thought of the Day:

“The rest of the people—-priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, temple servants and all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples for the sake of he Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand—-all these now join their brothers the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the Lord our Lord.” (Nehemiah 10:28–29)

The people renewed the covenant give Moses (Exodus 24:1-11). The acknowledgment of the curse along with the oaths by the people is unusual and indicates the strength of their commitment.

The curse was the covenant curses for those who broke the covenant. Therefore, they were recommitting themselves to the covenant between them and God and also to the Law of God given to them through Moses.