Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - A Costly Gift | Historical Books | 1 Kings 19:19-21

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

What is the most valuable gift? Have you received a costly gift? Do you value God's gift above everything else? In today's episode, Tanya shares how 1 Kings 19:19-21 encourages us to respond to God's gift by setting our hearts on Christ. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Kings 19:19-21

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. Time. That's the gift that means the most to me. When someone gives me their time, I feel loved and valued, not just because of the time itself, but because of what it represents. When my best friend takes time to pray for my family, I know it's because she truly loves my kids, and she wants them to love Jesus. When my running friends take the time to answer my texts, I know it's because they want to invest in our friendship, because it's important to them. When my kids take time to have lunch with me, I know it's because they're hungry. Okay, I'm kind of kidding. And because I think they want to deepen our relationship.

And when my husband takes time to walk with me after dinner, when he really would rather be watching TV, I know it's because he loves me enough to put my wishes before his own. Not all the time, of course. None of us can live up to that expectation, especially if you're married to me, but often and intentionally. Time is precious. So let me ask you, what is the most valuable thing others give to you? Today we're talking about Elijah and Elijah, and in case you've not seen those written out before, Elijah is with a J and Alicia is with an S.H. The Lord told the prophet Elijah to anoint three people. The third was a man named Elisha, who would serve in Israel, the northern kingdom, to help turn the people back to God.

So when Elijah went to find him, Elijah wasn't sitting in a temple or waiting in a line of prophets. He was working in the fields. First Kings 1919 tells us, So Elijah went from there and found Elisha, son of Shafat. He was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the 12th pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Now that's kind of an interesting data point. He came to annoy him and he threw his cloak over him.

Hmm, I wonder if it was hot. Well, let's talk about the cloak. The cloak was actually the most important piece of clothing a person owned. So this was symbolic. The cloak could be bedding at night. The cloak was something you could use as a covering for warmth. It could keep you out of the sun when it was hot. You could use it as a place to sit.

You could even tie it up and put your stuff inside and use it to carry your belongings. So when Elijah placed his cloak on Elijah's shoulders, it was both an action and a symbol. This was a costly gift, and it was a clear sign that Elisha would become Elijah's successor. Have you ever received something so costly? You wondered if you were truly worthy of receiving it. That's a natural question to ask. When someone gives you something costly, whether it's their time, their trust, or their love, part of us wonders if we really deserve it.

Am I worth that kind of sacrifice? Am I valuable enough for someone to give me that gift? And when it comes to God, the question can run even deeper, because what he has given us is the most costly gift of all. That's the question our enemy loves it to whisper. Do you really deserve this gift? Do you really think God would give something so costly for someone like you? The enemy mocks our confidence that God has made us his children.

He points to our failures, to the promises we've broken, to all the ways our lives fall short. And then he asks us why we would believe that God would really keep his promises. But Elisha shows us how to respond when those doubts creep in. First Kings 1921 says, So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoga voxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate.

Then he set out to follow Elijah and become his servant. Elisha slaughtered his oxen and burnt his equipment, the very tools of his livelihood. By doing so, he made it impossible to return to his old life as a wealthy farmer. His feast wasn't just a community meal, it was an offering of thanks to God who had chosen him. Elijah's costly response matched the costly gift. He showed that he valued God's gift above everything else and that he believed it. We too have received the most costly gift, not a cloak, not a calling to be a prophet, but the crucifixion of God's own son given for our salvation.

The question is, how will we respond? Will we hold on to the tools of our old life? Will we leave ourselves a way back to who we once were? Or will we set our hearts fully on Christ, giving thanks and following him wherever he leads? Time, sacrifice, and devotion, those are costly gifts, but they are only the fitting response to the greatest gift of all, the gift of God himself.