Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-01-07
SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON
for Jan. 8th. l Kings II.
BY DIR. MARION NH. HULL

| grown from boyhood to man one who
would speak for Him.,
Elijah
| This boys father had given him
a name that was a protest against
the growing idolatry of the nation
| Elijah means Jehovah is my God. One
day there appeared in the ivory pal
ace at Samaria a stocly man with
| heavy, apparently Nunkempt locks,
| dressed in skins with a leathern belt,
! bare brown legs and sandals. He
stood, without ceremony, before King
, Ahab, and said: "As the Lord God
of Israel Iveth, before whom stand,
there shall not be dew nor rain these
| years, but according to my word"
| 1t was like lightning at midnight,
like thunderclap out Of a blue
sky. And before Ahab knew it
Elijah had gone. He had disappear
ed as suddenly as he had come. But
Ahab thought of him often during
the next three and a half years, as
the vegetation was parched and the
water supply gradually diminished,
for not a globule of dew nor a drop
| of rain was seen during all of that
| time.
While Elijah appeared suddenly,
it was not a sudden impulse on his
part. 1t was only after earnest pray
er that he could appear before Ahab
with this startling message. The Sc
cret of his power and of his fearless
ness was his consciousness of the
presence of the living God. BaaI was
not living, but a horrible idol. But
Jehovah was the living God Of Is
rael, and Elijah stood before him
constantly. Elijah, said James, SID
was man Of like passions with on :
selves, yet he prayed earnestly that
it might not rain, and it rained not
But the drought had not started
when he appeared so suddenly be-
fore Ahab. He could be and was
bold in his statement that it would
not rain because he believed God,
before whom he stood.
Another secret of Elijah's life and
power was his implicit and immedi
ate obedience to Gods commands.
God gave him sealed orders: "Get
| thee hence, turn eastward, hide thy
| self by the brook Cherith; drink of
| the brook, and I have commanded
| the ravens to feed thee there" He
| did not know what he was to do
| there, but that was what God had
ordered, so he went. 1t seemed a
foolish thing to think that ravens
would feed him; beside they were
considered unclean birds of prey by
every Israelite. But God ordered
him to go there; God had command
| ed the ravens to feed him; he be-
leved God and obeyed. On! that we
might have more Of the spirit of
| h
and as Immediately as he did! And
we will. If we, like Elijah, stand in
the presence of the living God.
| Nor was Elijah's faith unrewarded:
| for the ravens, strange as it may
seem to one who does not stand in
the presence Of the living God,
brought him two square meals a day,
and he drank of the brook! Cherith
was d great experience Of Elijah,
| there in that rugged gorge. away
from the haunts Of men, he had
| time for communion with God, and
learned the very essential truth of
| his utter dependence on God, with
out which he could not have done
his work later. Elijah particularly
needed to learn this lesson, for his
| type of character is very apt to
| feel Independent of God, and self
| dependent.
Widow of Zarephath
Finally, the brook dried up. Even
| that mountain stream failed God
could have provided water for this
servant there just as easily as He
had provided food; but he did not
choose to, for Elijah needed to learn
something else. So God ordered,
Arise, get thee hence to Zarephath,
in Zidon, and dwell there: behold l
have commanded a widow woman
there to sustain thee" Well, that
seemed about as unlikely as before.
Ravens and Il widow woman! I'm.
clean birds, and an unholy heather.
But Elijah went, for he had learned
the significance of the little word
there" Look back at verse and
now at verse 9 and underscore
there" The ravens would not have
fed Elijah anywhere else but
there" and the widow woman
there was Gods provider for him.
Elijah went there" because God
| had commended the ravens ''there,
| and the widow woman t"there" 1t