Post by Lee on Aug 25, 2014 2:20:44 GMT
"What doest thou here, Elijah?"
Who told you to leave your post of duty, just because of your personal feelings? What happened to your work for God —your joy and zeal and faith in the Lord?
And there was a mighty wind, and an earthquake, and a consuming fire, but God was not in any of these. These are destructive things. God uses them, but He is not in them. These are but the negative side—necessary because man is evil, and evil must be punished and destroyed. Man in his folly forces God to bring evil when He desires to bring good— "Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, therefore the Lord bringeth upon them the great river, the King of Assyria."
We foolishly force God to punish us. But God is love. God is in the still small voice—the gentle voice of a loving Father's instruction and comfort for His children. This is the real essense of the purpose. The other—the wind, the earthquake, and the fire—is but the passing back, ground of travail through which the still small voice is leading many sons to glory.
Elijah should have known this. It was the 7000 in Israel who had not bent the knee to Baal that counted. They did not show in the general evil picture, but they were there and God knew them. All others were but dross. We can see why Elijah, in his discouraged flight, should be drawn to Sinai—why God would lead him there. He was taken right back to the beginning, the glorious beginning, and was shown a broader view. He was assured that sin would be punished, and that the purpose would not fail, and that a faithful successor should carry on his work, and Elijah would know that that work would go on and on in the earth—the still small voice of holiness and victory amid all the wind and earthquake and fire of evil and failure.
Jehu was the earthquake, as Hazael king of Syria was the wind, and Elisha was the fire, and the 7000 faithful were the still, small voice. If we but keep the right perspective, we can never get discouraged, we can never think of failure. In God's sight there was no failure. There is never more than a remnant, but that remnant is all-important to God, and He is ever watching over it, though it may sometimes appear that He leaves it alone in the darkness, as He appeared to leave Job— to test him to the uttermost and bring him forth like gold.
—G.V.G. 1969 Berean 242
Who told you to leave your post of duty, just because of your personal feelings? What happened to your work for God —your joy and zeal and faith in the Lord?
And there was a mighty wind, and an earthquake, and a consuming fire, but God was not in any of these. These are destructive things. God uses them, but He is not in them. These are but the negative side—necessary because man is evil, and evil must be punished and destroyed. Man in his folly forces God to bring evil when He desires to bring good— "Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, therefore the Lord bringeth upon them the great river, the King of Assyria."
We foolishly force God to punish us. But God is love. God is in the still small voice—the gentle voice of a loving Father's instruction and comfort for His children. This is the real essense of the purpose. The other—the wind, the earthquake, and the fire—is but the passing back, ground of travail through which the still small voice is leading many sons to glory.
Elijah should have known this. It was the 7000 in Israel who had not bent the knee to Baal that counted. They did not show in the general evil picture, but they were there and God knew them. All others were but dross. We can see why Elijah, in his discouraged flight, should be drawn to Sinai—why God would lead him there. He was taken right back to the beginning, the glorious beginning, and was shown a broader view. He was assured that sin would be punished, and that the purpose would not fail, and that a faithful successor should carry on his work, and Elijah would know that that work would go on and on in the earth—the still small voice of holiness and victory amid all the wind and earthquake and fire of evil and failure.
Jehu was the earthquake, as Hazael king of Syria was the wind, and Elisha was the fire, and the 7000 faithful were the still, small voice. If we but keep the right perspective, we can never get discouraged, we can never think of failure. In God's sight there was no failure. There is never more than a remnant, but that remnant is all-important to God, and He is ever watching over it, though it may sometimes appear that He leaves it alone in the darkness, as He appeared to leave Job— to test him to the uttermost and bring him forth like gold.
—G.V.G. 1969 Berean 242