Old Testament # 28
“After the Fire a Still Small Voice”
1 Kings 17–19
Introduction
The lesson this week contains one of the most poignant stories about Elijah and one of the most visceral. And, in a very visual way, it teaches us about how God communicates with us and the role of faith in our lives. Through the power of His priesthood Elijah performed miracles. I was going to say small and large, but a miracle is not quantified. Creating a constant supply of oil and meal, seemingly from nothing, is no smaller a feat than consuming thousands of gallons of water with fire from heaven, or even sealing the heavens or raising a young child from the dead. They are all evidences of God’s power over the natural world. A power than man alone cannot emulate. But with God, nothingis impossible.
Since we are talking about faith today, in 1972, Spencer W. Kimball published a book called Faith Precedes the Miracle. Previously, in 1969, he had published The Miracle of Forgiveness.These two books contain marvelous teachings—they are available at our libraries, both in text and digital format and I heartily recommend them.
Here is a linking paragraph from the manual that takes us from last week’s lesson to this:
After Jeroboam led the kingdom of Israel into idolatry, he and his descendants were destroyed. They were followed by another succession of idolatrous kings. Of those rulers, Ahab was the king who “did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him” (1 Kings 16:33). He married Jezebel, adopted her practice of Baal worship, and encouraged his people to join him in the worship of this false god. The prophet Elijah delivered words of warning to Ahab and his kingdom.
1. Elijah seals up the heavens, is miraculously sustained, and raises a widow’s son from the dead.1 Kings 17.
Apart from a few brief showers, we in Provo have not had any significant rain since early April, so it might be said that we live in a drought situation. However, we can still turn the faucet on and get water; we still can keep our lawns fairly green; our vegetable patches are growing; there are flowers and trees everywhere. When Elijah sealed the heavens at the Lord’s command and with His priesthood, there was no renewal of vegetation. Elijah had to flee the wrath of the king and was directed to a brook where he could drink and be miraculously fed by ravens.
But we don’t have an example of just Elijah’s great faith. What faith did it take for the widow to give her remaining food to Elijah rather than her only son? Here are Elder Lynn Robbins and Elder Holland:
The story of the widow of Zarephath is an example of extreme poverty used to teach the doctrine that mercy cannot rob sacrifice any more than it can rob justice. In fact, the truer measure of sacrifice isn’t so much what one gives to sacrifice as what one sacrifices to give (see Mark 12:43). Faith isn’t tested so much when the cupboard is full as when it is bare. In these defining moments, the crisis doesn’t create one’s character—it reveals it. The crisis is the test. . . . Elijah understood the doctrine that blessings come afterthe trial of our faith (see Ether 12:6; D&C 132:5). He wasn’t being selfish. As the Lord’s servant, Elijah was there to give, not to take.[1]
Elder Holland said that the widow’s response when Elijah asked her for food was an “expression of faith—as great, under these circumstances, as any I know in the scriptures. … Perhaps uncertain what the cost of her faith would be … , she first took her small loaf to Elijah, obviously trusting that if there were not enough bread left over, at least she and her son would have died in an act of pure charity” (Ensign,May 1996, 29).[2]
There is an excruciating irony in the second trial of faith for the widow. She had been prepared for both of them to die after eating the last of her flour and oil, but the Lord, though Elijah, saved her. Now her son had died. One wonders who this woman was and what she or her son were to become, for again her faith is rewarded as Elijah restores her son to her.
2. Elijah challenges the priests of Baal and opens the heavens for rain.1 Kings 18.
Eight hundred and fifty priests of Baal and, presumably, Ashtoreth (1 Kings 18:19—groveshere equates to the female consort of Baal) ! All in an unholy frenzy of false worship to false gods—can you imagine the noise alone, let alone the blood as they cut themselves—all day long. Interestingly, Elijah offered them a way out before this happened (see 1 Kings 18:21). It reminds me of Abinadi talking to the false priests of Noah. There at least we know that one pivotal man heard him and changed his ways. We know of no-one of those 850 who repented and avoided annihilation. But the people did acknowledge the Lord’s power and humbled themselves, sufficiently to allow the heavens to be opened once more.
This sealing power, that Elijah was so blessed to be able to wield comes down to us today as that which binds us to our ancestors. In a very real way, the heavens are opened and the veil made thin as we have the spirit of Elijah and seek out our kindred dead.
Joseph Smith said:
“The spirit, power, and calling of Elijah is, that ye have power to hold the key of the revelations, ordinances, oracles, powers and endowments of the fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood and of the kingdom of God on the earth; and to receive, obtain, and perform all the ordinances belonging to the kingdom of God, even unto the turning of the hearts of the fathers unto the children, and the hearts of the children unto the fathers, even those who are in heaven. …
“I wish you to understand this subject, for it is important; and if you receive it, this is the spirit of Elijah, that we redeem our dead, and connect ourselves with our fathers which are in heaven, and seal up our dead to come forth in the first resurrection; and here we want the power of Elijah to seal those who dwell on earth to those who dwell in heaven. This is the power of Elijah and the keys of the kingdom of Jehovah” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 337–38).
3. Elijah is comforted by the Holy Ghost and instructed to continue in God’s work.1 Kings 19.
The Lord has demonstrated His power over nature to Ahab and his people through Elijah. Now it becomes necessary to demonstrate that power to Elijah. This is a reminder to us that all of us can falter and that we need to seek His voice, not in the tumult of the world, but in the quiet, “And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks 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: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:11–12).
Finally a quote from President Kimball’s Faith Precedes the Miracle:
Just as undaunted faith has stopped the mouths of lions, made ineffective fiery flames, opened dry corridors through rivers and seas, protected against deluge and drouth, and brought heavenly manifestations at the instance of prophets, so in each of our lives faith can heal the sick, bring comfort to those who mourn, strengthen resolve against temptation, relieve from the bondage of harmful habits, lend the strength to repent and change our lives, and lead to a sure knowledge of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Indomitable faith can help us live the commandments with a willing heart and thereby bring blessings unnumbered, with peace, perfection, and exaltation in the kingdom of God.[3]
Additional Material
The Journeys of Elijah
[3]Faith Precedes the Miracle(1972), 11, 12. https://www.lds.org/manual/teachings-spencer-w-kimball/chapter-13?lang=eng.
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