The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 166: Responding in Faith (2023)

Episode Date: June 15, 2023

Today, we are introduced to the prophet Elijah, who again and again responds to God's invitations with faith. The readings are 1 Kings 17-18, 2 Chronicles 18-19, and Song of Solomon 5. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 166. We are reading five chapters once again, kind of like yesterday, kind of a long one, kind of a slog, but it's going to be awesome because we're reading 1 Kings

chapters 17 and 18. We're getting introduced to our buddy, Elijah, the prophet, and also 2 Chronicles chapters 18 and 19, hearing more about Jehoshaphat, remember that good king in the south. We're also praying and reading Song of Solomon chapter five. As always, the Bible translation that I'm reading from is the revised standard Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. And if you want to subscribe to this podcast, you can do that and you can receive daily episodes every single day as we put out an episode every single day. As I said, we're in First Kings chapters 17 and 18, 2 Chronicles chapters 18 and

19, and Song of Solomon right smack dab in the middle with Song of Solomon chapter 5. The first book of Kings chapter 17, Elijah's prophecy of a drought. Now Elijah, the Tishbite of Tishbe in Gilead said to to Ahab, As the Lord the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by my word. And the word of the Lord came to him, Depart from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, as I have commanded the ravens to feed you there. So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and dwelt by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan.

And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening. And he drank from the brook. And after a while, the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land. The widow of Zarephath. Then the word of the Lord came to him, Arise, go to Zarephath,

which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, Bring me a little water in a vessel that I may drink. And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand. And she said, As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar and a little oil in a pitcher. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks,

that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die. And Elijah said to her, Fear not. Go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make for yourself and for your son. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, the jar of meal shall not be spent, and the pitcher of oil shall not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth. And she went and did as Elijah said, and she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not spent, neither did the pitcher of oil fail,

according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Elijah. Elijah revives the widow's son. After this, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill, and his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elijah, What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son. And he said to her, Give me your son. And he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the upper chamber where he lodged and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried

to the Lord, O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn by slaying her son? Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, O Lord my God, let this child's soul come into him again. And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, See, your son lives. And the woman said to Elijah, Now I know that you are a man of God,

and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth. Chapter 18, Elijah's message to Ahab. After many days, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth. So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria, and Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. Now Obadiah revered the Lord greatly. And when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave

and fed them with bread and water. And Ahab said to Obadiah, Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive and not lose some of the animals. So they divided the land between them to pass through it. And Ahab went in one direction by himself, and Obadiah went in another direction by himself. And as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him,

and Obadiah recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, Is it you, my lord Elijah? And he answered him, It is I. Go, tell your lord, behold, Elijah is here. And he said, Wherein have I sinned, that you would give your servant into the hand of Ahab to kill me? As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom whither my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they would say he is not here, he would take an oath of the kingdom or nation that they had not found you. And now you say, Go, tell your Lord, behold, Elijah is here.

And as soon as I have gone from you, the spirit of the Lord will carry you. I know not where. And so when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me. Although I, your servant have revered the Lord from my youth. Has it not been told my Lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifties in a cave and how I fed them with bread and water. And now you say, go tell your Lord, behold, Elijah is here and he will kill me. And Elijah said, as the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today. So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, is it you, the troubler of Israel? And he answered, Elijah triumphed over the prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table. Elijah triumphs over the prophets of Baal. So Ahab sent to all the sons of Israel

and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. And Elijah came near to all the people and said, how long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord. But Baal's prophets are 450 men. Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the people answered, It is well spoken. Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal,

Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call on the name of your God, but put no fire to it. And they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, O Baal, answer us. But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped about the altar which they had made, and at noon,

Elijah mocked them saying, cry aloud for he is a God, either he is musing or he has gone aside, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened. And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out upon them. And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one heeded. Then Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me. And all the people came near to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down. Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be your name. And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord.

And he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. And he said, Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering, and on the wood. And he said, Do it a second time. And they did it on the wood. And he said, do it a second time. And they did it a second time. And he said, do it a third time. And they did it a third time. And the water ran about the altar and filled the trench also with water. And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah, the prophet came near and said, Oh Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel

and that I am your servant and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have turned their hearts back. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust

and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God. And Elijah said to them, seize the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape. And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and killed them there. The drought ends. And Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and he bowed himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees. And he said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up

and looked and said, there is nothing. And he said, go again seven times. And at the seventh time, he said, behold, a little cloud, like a man's hand is rising out of the sea. And he said, go up, say to Ahab, prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you. And in a little while, the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. And in a little while, the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. The second book of Chronicles, chapter 18, Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab.

Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor, and he madeat's alliance with Ahab. Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor, and he made a marriage alliance with Ahab. After some years, he went down to Ahab in Samaria, and Ahab killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth Gilead. Ahab, king of Israel, said to Jehoshaphat, king of Israel, Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together four hundred men and said to them, Shall we go to battle against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up, for God will give it into the hand of the king.

But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here another prophet of the Lord, of whom we may inquire? And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah, the son of Imlah. But I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, Bring quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah. Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting on their thrones, attired in their robes, and they were sitting at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria. And all the prophets were prophesying before them. And Zedekiah the son

of Chenanah made for himself horns of iron and said, Thus says the prophets were prophesying before them. And Zedekiah, the son of Chenanah, made for himself horns of iron and said, Thus says the Lord, With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed. And all the prophets prophesied so and said, Go up to Ramoth-Gilead and triumph. The Lord will give it into the hand of the king. Micaiah's Prophecy of Defeat And the messengers who went to summon Micaiah said prophecy of defeat. And he said, These have no master. Let each return to his home in peace. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil? And Micaiah said, Therefore hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the hosts of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, Who will entice Ahab the king of Israel that he may go up and fall at Ramoth

Gilead? And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, I will entice him. And the Lord said to him, By what means? And he said, I will go forth and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, I will go forth and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, You are to entice him, and you shall succeed. Go forth and do so. Now therefore, behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets. The Lord has spoken evil concerning you. Then Zedekiah, the son of Chenna'ana, came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said,

Which way did the spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you? And Micaiah said, behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself. And the king of Israel said, seize Micaiah and take him back to Ammon, the governor of the city and to Joash, the king's son and say, thus says the king, put this fellow in prison and feed him with scant fare of bread and water until I return in peace. And Micaiah said, If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me. And he said, Hear, all you peoples. The death of Ahab. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth Gilead. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear yourilead. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself

and they went into battle. Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his chariots fight with neither small nor great, but only with the king of Israel. And when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, It is the king of Israel. So they turned to fight against him, and Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him. God drew them away from him. For when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. But a certain man drew his bow and unknowingly struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate.

Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, Turn about and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded. And the battle grew hot that day, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Syrians until evening. Then at sunset he died. Chapter 19. The Reforms of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, returned in safety to his house in Jerusalem. But Jehu, the son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the Lord.

Nevertheless, some good is found in you, for you destroyed the Asherahs out of the land and have set your heart to seek God. Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem, and he went out again from among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and brought them back to the Lord, the God of their fathers. He appointed judges in the land in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, and said to the judges, Consider what you do, for you judge not for man, but for the Lord. He is with you in giving judgment. Now then, let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Take heed what you do, for there is no perversion of justice with the Lord our God,

or partiality, or taking bribes. Moreover, in Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat appointed certain Levites and priests and heads of families of Israel to give judgment for the Lord and to decide disputed cases. They had their seat at Jerusalem, and he charged them, Thus you shall do in the fear of the Lord, in faithfulness and with your whole heart. Whenever a case comes to you from your brethren who live in their cities concerning bloodshed, law or commandment, statutes or ordinances, then you shall instruct them that they may not incur guilt before the Lord, and wrath may not come upon you and your brethren.

Thus you shall do, and you will not incur guilt. Behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all the matters of the Lord, and Zebediah the son of Ishmael, the governor of the house of Judah, in all the king's matters. And the Levites will serve you as officers. Deal courageously, and may the Lord be with the upright. The Song of Solomon, Chapter 5. The Groom's Song of Love and the Torment of Separation. I come to my garden, my sister, my bride. I gather my myrrh with my spice. I eat my honeycomb with my honey. I drink my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends,

and drink. Drink deeply, O lovers. I slept, but my heart was awake. Hark, my beloved is knocking. Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one. For my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night. I had put off my garment. How could I put it on? I had bathed my feet. How could I soil them? My beloved put his hand to the latch, and my heart was thrilled within me. I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with my fingers with liquid myrrh upon the handles of the bolt. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not. I called him, but he gave no answer. The watchmen found me as they

went about in the city. They beat me. They wounded me. They took away my mantle, those watchmen of the walls. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am sick with love. What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you tell him, I am sick with love. What is your beloved more than another beloved? O fairest among women, what is your beloved more than another beloved that you thus adjure us? My beloved is all radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand. His head is the finest gold, his locks are wavy, black as a raven. His eyes are like doves beside springs of water bathed in milk,

fitly set. His cheeks are like beds of spices yielding fragrance. His lips are lilies distilling liquid myrrh. His arms are rounded gold set with jewels. His body is ivory work encrusted with sapphires. His legs are alabaster columns set upon bases of gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars. His speech is most sweet. He is altogether desirable. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. Father in heaven, we thank you. Thank you for your love for us. We thank you for the way in which you reveal to us how you work again, once again, in history, how you work in our lives,

how you work through ups and downs and how you work through our faithfulness. And even in the midst of our unfaithfulness, you don't abandon us, you don't give up, but you continue to call us back to you. Help us to respond to that call with our whole heart, our whole strength, our whole might, our whole mind, with everything we are in Jesus' name, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen. So, gosh, again, overlap of stories, but we do get the story of Elijah. We get introduced to Elijah in 1 Kings this time. We also get introduced in a deeper way to Ahab. No, yesterday Ahab was mentioned. Ahab, one of the worst kings of Israel, king of the north. And Elijah, right, he prophesies a drought. And what happens?

Well, there's a drought. Sometimes what happens when a prophet does something, he prophesies a drought. And for three years, it doesn't rain. Now there's a couple of things that happen. One is God commands Elijah to go to the brook Cherith and he says, I'm going to feed you. And Elijah responds in faith. And that's so important. Elijah responds in faith and he goes there and the ravens feed him. He drinks from the

brook. And at one point, the word of the Lord comes to Elijah and says, go to Zarephath. And Elijah goes to Zarephath. And one of the things that first Kings is revealing is that Elijah is someone who listens to the word of God and obeys the word of God. And this sets Elijah distinctly apart from some of the Kings we've been hearing about, some of the people we've been hearing about who might hear the word of God, but not act on the word of God. But Elijah does that. And even not only that, but he invites others to be faithful as well. So this widow of Zarephath, it's such a funny story where she's saying, basically, I have a little bit of flour, a little bit of oil, and I'm going to eat it and give some to my son and then we're going to die.

And he's like, yeah, yeah, okay, bring me a cake. And yet he's inviting her to faithfulness. And that's the key here. He's inviting her to faithfulness. Even when her son dies, he invites her even more deeply into faithfulness and he responds with faith. And so this is so, so critical. There's a great, incredible showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal right on Mount

Carmel. And this is just such a critical moment because at the beginning of chapters 20, 20, 21, 22, basically Elijah asked the big question, not just the prophet of Baal, not to Ahab. He asked the question of the people of Israel up there in the north as they continue to go back and forth between belonging to the Baals and belonging to the Lord God. And Elijah asked the question, how long will you go limping with your two different opinions? How long will you stumble being of two minds? How long will you say,'m partly belong to the Lord, but don't fully belong to the Lord? Elijah is asking this question and they don't answer. They don't give an answer to him. And so he says, okay, here's the deal.

Here's the showdown between the prophets of Baal and the prophet of God and the God who answers with fire, that one's God. And this is so, so critical because here's the people, they won't answer when they're asked, do you belong to the Lord God or do you belong to someone else? They waffle, they are uncommitted. And so Elijah says, next, there's a God who is committed. He's committed to you. He's committed to his promises. He's committed to his commandments and he's going to answer. And this is the key thing for so many of us is what do we have? We have the invitation to respond to a God who's completely faithful to us, but we're not always faithful to him. And yeah, it's just, how is that? Like that God continues to love us when we don't love him

back. How is it that God is committed to being faithful to us when we're not faithful to him? And yet that is what happens. This is the whole story of this Bible because we have all these bad people, even good people who do bad things. And yet God is just, no, I'm gonna continue to be with you. I'm going to continue to choose you. I'm going to continue to love you. And so we have that story.

We also have this different story where Jehoshaphat, who's the good king, good king in Judah, who makes a kind of a treaty here with Ahab, the evil king of Israel to go against Ramoth Gilead. Josaphat escapes, right? And even though the prophet Hanani's son, Jehu, goes to Josaphat and says, yeah, you should not have entered into a league

with the king of Israel. Are you gonna, he says, basically, should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because Ahab is known to being a bad king, a false king, a faithless king with his wife Jezebel. And yet you did this. So don't think you can get away with this. And nevertheless, you have some good because you destroyed the Asherahs out of the land. You set your heart to seek God. So there is a sense where we can make those missteps like Jehoshaphat and still belong to the Lord fully. And so that's, that's one of the good news for us. But we also saw the death of, well, not the death of

Ahab. We have the death of Ahab in 2 Chronicles. We're going to hear about the death of Ahab with some different details coming up in the next couple of days as we hear about that in 1 Kings. But there's still more that we're going to journey with in evil King Ahab and definitely so much more we're going to journey with with Elijah now and Elijah's successor in the next number of days. And so that's what we have in store for us. So you guys have been so faithful, which is so good. So keep it up.

I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.