Even when we aren’t, He is <3

Sharing a little word from my devotional time. 

I am studying the book of Elijah through the new Priscilla Shirer study, as mentioned yesterday. 

Our church is offering the study through the women’s ministry, but Lifeway is also offering the book and rental of the videos for several months at a pretty affordable price if you are interested. Here is the link https://www.lifeway.com/en/product-family/elijah-bible-study

Today she was talking about the time frame Elijah’s story is set in history and it was about 80 years since the dedication of the Temple by King Solomon. 

When you read of that day, it was glorious. Solomon prayed an amazing prayer, God showed up and blessed it all and the people responded with worship and adoration. 

Sadly if you read the accounts of Solomon that follow, you see him compromising and letting the very things he prayed against take over his life. 

From there his son managed to split the Kingdom into Israel and Judah and from there it is a downward spiral that makes the head spin. 

As I am participating in this study, I see the notes I took last year on my annual read through of 1 Kings and how I tried to keep track of all the rulers of both Judah and Israel. It’s a mess. 

In what was easily the lifetime of a person, who as a child had witnessed God’s consuming fire of the offering of Solomon on the day of dedication to the time when Ahab changed the religion of Israel to Baal worship is staggering. 

Even though I have read these passages many times for both read through and to prepare for a teaching or taking a class, I never connected it was the span of a human life that all went out of kilter.

And then I lift my head from the pages of Scripture and I cast an eye backward to the span of my own lifetime and I see how easily we can fall asleep at the wheel and drive an entire culture off the road and down the side of a cliff. 

I blame no one group of people for doing this. 

Somewhere along the way, every group of people and every individual, having full on experienced the fullness of God and know Him, will at some point let one little foot step at a time lead them off track. 

When we do, God either yanks us back or lets us continue to wander until we are so lost, we realize what a foolish mistake we made. 

He is good and patient and kind. He is, indeed, a good good Father. 

Whether He is out looking for the one lost sheep or pacing the hillside scanning the horizon for our return, He is always faithful. 

My desk calendar today reads:

“Worship is my response to what I value most. What I value most is God. I was made by Him and for Him. He is awesome beyond comprehension. I exist for the purpose of reflecting back to God His matchless glory. I will exalt Him with my mouth and with my life for He is my hope, my joy, my strength, and my salvation.

February 23, Dayspring desk calendar, author unknown