Coffee With The Lord

Ever have a nightmare? They’re usually really scary stuff – and they seem so real! Sometimes you wake up in a cold sweat and have to take a little time and calm down! As a child I had a few nightmares that made me sleep with my head under the covers for “protection.” Moms and dads of small children have often had to respond to screams in the middle of the night with a lot of loving comfort.

Nightmares rarely turn out positive! There’s a “dream-vision” (a “nightmare) that Daniel had recorded in Daniel 7 in the Bible that did turn out positive, however. After seeing four absolutely frightening beasts in his dream-vision, representing four different world empires with some vicious and oppressive dictators, Daniel saw something else – something wonderful, something positive, something filled with hope…

Tragically we live in a time and culture in which the default behavior for many who are unhappy with something seems to be picketing, screaming, vandalizing, burning buildings, and some resort to even violence. It’s especially unfortunate when those who claim to be Christians upholding righteous causes resort to such unrighteous methods to make their positions known! Shame on them – Jesus is NOT pleased – God is NOT impressed!

When the disciples were tempted to use such methods in defense of Jesus Himself, saying “Look, Lord here are two swords!” He said to them, “It is enough!” (Luke 22:38) On another occasion the Bible says, “Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him. And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, ‘put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword! Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and He will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?’” (Matthew 26:51-53) One more… even in the Old Testament the directive was, “Thou shall not follow a multitude to do evil!” (Exodus 23:2)

Ever get caught in a situation (not of your own making) that was absolutely frightening and foreboding?  Danger (even death) were staring you right in the face!  You didn’t know whether or not you’d survive or perish.  As a Christian you just had to trust God and His promises to protect and provide!

The big question in a situation like that… Does that work?

Well it does if your believe the Bible is factually true and reliable!  There’s a case study in this kind of thing in 1 Kings 17 in your Bible:

Elijah, at the direction of God, had prophesied a terrible drought as judgment upon King Ahab and Israel’s sin:  “There shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”

Good people – righteous, God-fearing people, suffered along with the ungodly during the crisis that followed!  God instructed the prophet, Elijah, to go to the village of Zarephath, and told him, “Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”

Elijah obeyed, and as he entered the village… (and here we give you the story right out of the Bible…)  “a widow was there gathering sticks. Elijah called to her and asked, ‘Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?’  As she was going to get it, he called out to her, ‘And bring me, please, a piece of bread.  ‘As surely as the Lord your God lives,’ she replied, ‘I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and then die.’

And then the audacious request of Elijah!  “Elijah said to her, ‘Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son.  For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”

Wow!!  Would you have done it?  Would you have acted and been obedient on just the prophet’s word given the desperate situation the widow and her son were facing?  [Notice: Somehow she must have experienced an inner witness of the Holy Spirit… earlier God had told Elijah, “I have COMMANDED a widow there to feed you.”]   “So she went away and did as Elijah had told her… [And the result?]  SO THERE WAS FOOD EVERY DAY FOR ELIJAH AND FOR THE WOMAN AND HER FAMILY.  FOR THE JAR OF FLOUR WAS NOT USED UP AND THE JUG OF OIL DID NOT RUN DRY, IN KEEPING WITH THE WORD OF THE LORD SPOKEN BY ELIJAH.”  (From 1 Kings 17:10–16)

Oh Lord, help me learn from the little unnamed widow – a single mom – in this story!  When I face frightening circumstances – desperate circumstances – to trust you, to depend on and obey your word, to believe your promises!  Help me to trust you to protect and provide!  Sometime I going to need the truth this story teaches… I just know it!