Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - You Are Like Elijah | Historical Books | 1 Kings 17:1-17

Episode Date: September 8, 2025

How are we like Elijah? Will you trust that God will provide for you? Does God hear our prayers? In today's episode, Keith shares how 1 Kings 17:1-17 reminds us that we serve the same God as Elijah, the God who rules over all. 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 17:1-17

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. There are a lot of shocking statements in the Bible. I'm thinking of examples like Jesus saying that no one who doesn't hate his father and mother can be his disciple. Or when Jesus says to love your enemies. Or when Jesus says that he is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one can come to the father except through him. Well, there's a verse in the book of James that I think is shocking, but in a whole,

far more subtle way. In James 517, James, who was the brother of Jesus, says the prophet Elijah was a man like us. And the reason that's so shocking is if you know anything about Elijah, you know that he led a very, very different life than you and I do. Elijah prayed and God sent a three and a half year famine on Israel. Elijah publicly mocked 450 prophets of the false God Bail and then challenged them to a contest between the gods they served. Elijah called down fire from heaven. He outran the king's horses and chariots for 17 miles. Elijah miraculously supplied food for a widow after raising her son from the dad. And then at the end of his life, Elijah didn't die, but was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire.

When James says that Elijah is a person like us, he's telling us that he wants us to learn from Elijah, that we can't just dismiss him and write him off as some kind of holy man that we don't need to pay attention to because he's unique and has nothing to teach us. Let's pray and ask God to teach us from the story. God, I thank you that you gave us the prophet Elijah, and I ask that you would teach us what you want us to learn from his life. We want to learn to follow you. It's in Jesus name we pray amen well elijah is one of the more famous people in the whole bible he's maybe the most significant prophet it was elijah and moses who appeared with jesus on the mount of transfiguration john the baptist was compared to elijah but elijah's first appearance in the bible is in our passage today

it's first king seventeen he was a remarkable man that we can learn a lot from and i think the place to start is trying to understand what it means that he was a man like us. Because as we've already seen, it sure doesn't seem like his life was like ours at all. We find out in 1st King 16 that Elijah lived in Israel during the time of the evil king Ahab. Here's chapter 16 verse 29. Ahab, son of Omri, began to rule over Israel in the 38th year of King Asa's reign in Judah. He reigned Samaria 22 years. But Ahab, son of Omri, did what was evil in the Lord's sight, even more than any of the kings before him. That Ahab was more evil than the kings before him is saying something, because none of the

previous kings were in the least bit godly. Ahab married a woman named Jezebel. She was the daughter of a pagan king who was named after the god Bale. Together, Ahab and Jezebel turned Israel away from God and encouraged the nation deeper into idolatry. One way that we are like Elijah is that we too live in days, that idolatry is rampant and that people disregard God's commands. Greed, personal autonomy, sexual immorality, pornography, abuse of power, political idolatry. Well, those are common sins in our day.

Another way we're like Elijah is that we believe in the same God who reigns over the world. Here's chapter 17 verse 1. Elijah, who was from Tishby and Gilead, told King Ahab, As surely as the Lord the God of Israel lives, the God I serve, there will be no due or rain during the next few years until I give the word. Elijah saw his role as the servant of the true God, the only God, the God who controls the universe, the God who determines whether or not it rains. And in declaring that there will be a drought, Elijah is going right after the false God Bale.

He's the God the Canaanites worshipped because they believe that Bail controlled the weather and the harvest. So Yahweh goes right over on Bail's turf and says, I will show you who controls the rain. Listen, this drought shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone in Israel. Listen to what God said all the way back in the book of Deuteronomy. He said, be careful. And don't let your hearts be deceived so that you turn away from the Lord and serve and worship other gods. If you do, the Lord's anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and the ground will fail to produce the crops in harvest.

Then you will quickly die in the good land God is giving you. See, this drought wasn't just a natural disaster. It was divine judgment against the nation's idolatry. And of course, with the drought comes famine and suffering. But in the middle of all that, God provided for his people. Back to our story in 1st King 17, verse 2. Then the Lord said to Elijah, Go to the east and hide by the brook near where it enters the Jordan River.

Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food. So Elijah did as the Lord told him and camped beside the brook east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook. But after a while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land. God met Elijah's need in extraordinary ways. The ravens bring him bread and meat twice a day, and he has access to as much water as he needs.

See, God loves to provide for his people. God wants to provide for you. When Israel was wandering in the wilderness, God provided manna from heaven for them, and he teaches us to pray for our daily bread. Well, I already said that the New Testament book of James gives commentary on this story about Elijah, here's the full verse in James 517. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall,

none fell for three and a half years. See, James wants us to learn that God answers prayer in powerful ways. Elijah knew that God heard his prayers. God hears your prayers, too. In 1 John 5, it says we are confident that he hears us when we ask for anything that pleases him. That means you can bring all your requests before God, knowing that He hears your prayers.

But Elijah also knew that God was sovereign over the natural world. Here's Psalm 135. I know the greatness of the Lord that our Lord is greater than any other God. The Lord does whatever pleases Him through all heaven and earth, and on the seas and in their depths. He causes the clouds to rise over the whole earth. He sends lightning with the rain and releases the wind from his, storehouses. See, Elijah knew that God was the one who determined whether or not it rained. He also

knew that God was sovereign over every human being, including the king. Proverbs 21-1, The king's heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord. He guides it wherever he pleases. Because Elijah knew that God heard his prayers. Because Elijah believed that God was sovereign over the natural world, he determined whether it rained. Elijah believed that God was sovereign over every human heart, including the king. Well, that explains why Elijah was not afraid of Ahab. He knew that God is the one who was ruling. See, Elijah believed that God was in control.

It says this in Daniel 4. His rule is everlasting. His kingdom is eternal. All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He does as he pleases. among the angels of heaven and among the people of earth. No one can stop him or say, why do you do these things? So Elijah knew that Ahab couldn't do anything to him except what God allowed. What would we do if we believed that God was sovereign over all things, that God was sovereign over our life, that we had

nothing to fear? Is there some risk that we would take for God if we knew that he was in control and that he loved us? I just want to finish our time together by looking back at verse 5. It says this, So Elijah did as the Lord told him. I'd love that phrase to describe me. So Elijah did as the Lord told him. Can you substitute your name for Elijah? Do you do as the Lord tells you? How about with your words or your relationships, your family, your money? So often I say I will do as the Lord tells me as long as he promises me it will work out the way I want, or as long as he promises me that it will work out in a way that makes sense to me. But not Elijah. Elijah didn't make simple things harder than they needed to be. He simply obeyed God and left the results up to him.

Father, I pray that we would learn to obey you in every area of our life. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.