The Power of God

The Infinite Power of God.
1 Kings 19
“Yet I will leave7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Elijah was discouraged and defeated. After his remarkable triumph over the prophets of Baal, he anticipated a national revival. Instead, they responded with a casual yawn. The people went home impressed but not transformed. Consequently, Elijah fled into the wilderness. In his mind, his ministry was a failure, the people were beyond redemption, and God's covenant was irreplaceably broken. Thus, he cries out to God to “take my life, for I am not better than my fathers” (vs. 4). For Elijah, all that was left to do was to pick up his marbles and go home, for the game was lost. All the prophets of God have been killed, and “I alone am left; and they seek my life to take it away.”  

So many times, when things seem to be going badly, we look upon temporal outcomes rather than the God who orchestrates events according to his purpose. The problem with Elijah was not the size of the failure but the size of his God. Therefore, God begins to restructure Elijah’s spiritual perspective. To do so, God needed to reorient Elijah’s understanding of God’s activity. Elijah had looked for God to demonstrate his power in the dramatic and extraordinary. So, when God’s miraculous act did not achieve revival, Elijah thought everything was hopeless. What Elijah needed to realize is that often God’s power is not displayed in the spectacular but in the ordinary and unimportant events of life.

To alter Elijah’s perspective, God begins by giving a staggering display of his power through hurricane-force winds, followed by a powerful earthquake. Yet God was not in the wind or the earthquake (vs. 11). Just as God brought fire from heaven to consume the altar, God again brought fire from heaven. But again, to Elijah's surprise, God was not in the fire. Instead, God came in the sound of a gentle breeze. In this, God was giving Elijah a significant object lesson. The most outstanding actions of God are not seen in the supernatural and dramatic but in the small and trivial events of life. He would achieve his purpose through the kings he appoints (vs 15-16). He orchestrates his events through the words of a prophet rather than the miracles of a prophet.

What Elijah deemed a failure was no failure, for God was still in control and actively working in the nation of Israel. Even though Elijah felt alone, God had 7000 people who were still standing tall in the faith, and it was through them he would bring revival to the nation. It is in our failures, rather than our successes that God often works for in doing so, he receives the glory not us.

God controls the universe and orchestrates mundane, insignificant events and nameless people to fulfill his plan. His redemptive plan would be achieved by the birth of a baby in a manger, by the death on a cross, and by the faithful preaching of the word by countless people throughout history. While the church history books recount the activities of great men of the faith like Augustine, Martin Luther, Billy Graham, and others, the church's real history is found in the witness and activities of countless unnamed people who shared their faith with another person.

Remember who is in control when you think your life is a failure, when it seems as if the adverse circumstances you face are overwhelming, or when it seems that your efforts are a fruitless. God fulfills his plan in ways we least expect. What we deem a failure may be the event God uses to achieve his purpose. The true power of God is that he takes what we view as trivial and unimportant and accomplishes the eternal. It is in these events that God’s power is displayed. When life seems like a failure, trust God to do the supernatural.

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