#DailyDevotion Have You Left The Faith Of Your Fathers?
August 31
1 Kng 16:29—17:24
1Ki 16:33 And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
1Ki 17:14 For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.'”
Ahab, king of Israel thought it no light thing to not only follow in the sins of Jeroboam but he decided to double down on those sins. He did this by marrying outside of the faith of the Lord and then adopting the foreign gods of his wife Jezebel. When the kind did this he set up temples and high places to these false gods and the people of Israel followed Ahab in this sin against the Living God who had delivered their fathers from the Egyptians.
This thing angered the Lord, the God of Israel. He would have to show the Israelites who the true living God was and who were the false gods who could not help them. To this purpose the Lord brought on a drought in the land through the mouth of the prophet Elijah.
Now the Lord purposed to take care of Elijah and he brought Elijah to the home of widow foreigner who did not know the Lord. He promised that widow that she would always have flour and oil to feed him and her family. So it happened that her oil and flour never ran out. You might think that would convince someone the Lord was the true God not only of Israel but of all the earth. But it was only when Elijah brought her son back from the dead that she believed that Elijah was a man of God.
Have you been angering the Lord, the Living God by following other gods? Have you doubled down in your sins because you don’t believe our Lord Jesus Christ sees your sins? Your gods need not be like those of the ancient pagans. They are simply the things, persons, or activities that you turn to in order to receive every good. Some people look to their jobs, their families or even their churches for every good. Some people turn to alcohol, drugs or sex for every good. Some people turn to eating, money (in all its forms), or material possessions to provide them every good. Now the thing is all these things appear to be good and they are in themselves. But they were never meant to provide us with every good thing in life. Many of them are the good things in life. But we are called to look to the One who created all these things and us and to worship him.
So we all need to repent of our breaking the 1st commandment, “You shall have no other gods.” Jesus has promised us the Father knows what we need. He has promised us God will provide for us if we but seek his kingdom and his righteousness. This comes about by turning from our sins and believing Jesus won for us and gives to us forgiveness of sins and his righteousness. To prove this to us he rose from the dead on the third day just as he promised. Put your faith and trust in Jesus to provide all your needs of body and soul. You will not be disappointed.
Heavenly Father, you call all to repentance and faith in your Son Jesus Christ. Grant us such repentance and faith so that like the widow we may know your Son Jesus Christ to truly be the Son of God and by believing have life in his name. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.