Reflections
May 19th, 2013
“No
More Doubts”
“And the woman said to Elijah, 'Now by this I know
that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy
mouth is truth.'” 1 Kings 17:24
Scripture Reading For This Week: Genesis 15; 1 Kings
17; 18; 19; Habakkuk 2; John 10; 12...
It is so easy to lose faith and to be filled with doubt
when we place our focus upon the circumstances instead of the word of
God. God desires for you to believe Him with all of your hearts. And
if you are struggling in any way—believing what God has promised
you, then allow the Father to remind you of His promises and His
power, so that you will have no more doubts.
I declare and decree that this week's Reflections
will be a constant and continuous source of encouragement for
your heart, mind, and soul. This is the week that all doubts will be
eradicated, and your faith stirred up, as you stand upon the word of
God and His promises to you.
Let's face it; when we first receive a word from the
Lord, and we understand His promises and what He has spoken to our
hearts—we are strong in our faith and we will declare what the
Father has spoken concerning our lives with enthusiasm and complete
faith. Then time happens. We wait, and we believe, but the seasons go
by, the calendar changes and we are still waiting. Others seem to
have received their promises. People begin to ask you: Didn't you
say God said? The enemy begins to whisper: Did God really say
that? Maybe you heard Him wrong. You know, He will not come through
for you. Look how long it's taking. He's forgotten about you.
I know; I've been there. But neither time,
circumstances, words of people around us, or whispers of the enemy
changes what God has spoken and has promised. It will come to pass.
Every. Single. Promise. We must continue to believe and have faith;
even when it feels to painful to do so, or the situation impossible.
During my study time this week, I was reading 1 Kings
17. The Lord told the prophet Elijah to go to Zarapheth where He had
instructed a widow woman to sustain him. At this time, there was no
rain in the land, because Elijah had prayed so. Elijah asked the
widow to bake him a cake. She told him that all she had was a little
meal and some oil, that she was going to use to bake a cake for her
and her son to eat and then die. He instructed her to bake him a cake
first. He then told her that her barrel of meal and cruse of oil will
stay replenished until the lord sends rain.
1 Kings 17:8-16 NASB “8
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to
Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have
commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10 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,
“Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.” 11 As
she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring
me a piece of bread in your hand.” 12 But she said, “As the Lord
your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl
and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks
that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it
and die.” 13 Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you
have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it
out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your
son. 14 For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour
shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the
day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.’” 15 So
she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and
her household ate for many days. 16 The bowl of flour was not
exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word
of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.
As I studied the 17th
chapter of 1 Kings, it occurred to me that at some point in time,
perhaps this widow woman had begin to doubt; to doubt that Elijah was
a man of God and spoke for the Lord. Yes. She'd seen the miracle of
God in the meal and oil. But it still had not rained. The drought in
the land was severe. Maybe Elijah was wrong? Maybe the meal and oil
would not last? Maybe he was not a man of God, but one of Jezebel's
prophets.
At some point, doubt
entered into this widow's heart concerning what the Prophet Elijah
had spoken. Even though she'd seen with her own eyes the meal and
oil; time had effected her perception, and caused doubt. There was no
rain, and the land was suffering.
It is easy for us to
forget what God has already done for us, and what He has promised
when we look at the situation we are face with, and the length of
time that it seems to be taking for the promises to come to pass.
While waiting, we may grow weary and begin to doubt that which God
has spoken concerning our lives because we don't see anything
happening, or it is taking some time for the promise to come to pass.
Here's my reasoning
for believing that doubt began to settle in the widow. At some point
during Elijah's stay, her son becomes ill, loses his breath and
dies...
1 Kings 17: 17-24 NASB 17
Now it came about after these things that the son of the woman, the
mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe
that there was no breath left in him. 18 So she said to Elijah, “What
do I have to do with you, O man of God? You have come to me to bring
my iniquity to remembrance and to put my son to death!” 19 He said
to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her bosom and
carried him up to the upper room where he was living, and laid him on
his own bed. 20 He called to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God,
have You also brought calamity to the widow with whom I am staying,
by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself upon the
child three times, and called to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God,
I pray You, let this child’s life return [o]to him.” 22 The Lord
heard the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child returned to him
and he revived. 23 Elijah took the child and brought him down from
the upper room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah
said, “See, your son is alive.”
And this is how she responds, which is my reason for
believing that doubt began to settle in:
verse 24: Then
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.”
Beloveds, there are
times in our life when God has spoken a word to us. He has sent His
messengers, His prophets, His teachers, His shepherds. We receive the
word. We wait. We even have been blessed and seen miracles and God
move in such a way that we were certain it was God. Yet, there is
still that promise; that one or two things that God said He was going
to do that had yet to come to pass. And in the midst of our waiting,
we begin to doubt. We begin to question if it will surely come to
pass. Although we have experienced blessings in many areas. We have
witnessed the move of God in many ways; doubt can still arise when we
take our eyes off of God and begin to count the seconds and minutes
of the clock.
It is in these times
that I believe God will move exponentially in some way, and we will
witness His hand in such a mighty way, that every doubt is
eradicated. That, every voice that is contrary to what God has said
is shut up. Our faith is recharged and we again can wait with
expectation and hope that whatever God has spoken—no matter how
long the wait—it will come to pass because God said so!
Perhaps the widow had
her doubts from the beginning about Elijah. It was not uncommon for
soothsayers and magicians in that time. For people, just as today, to
say they spoke for God, but knew nothing of the One true God. In the
midst of her waiting for the rain, and the surfacing of doubt
arising, tragedy occurred, taking the life of her son. But God used
his prophet, and restored the life of her son, and her faith in the
Lord, and that Elijah truly spoke for the Lord.
What have you been
waiting for the Lord to bring to pass in your life? What promises
have you been waiting to see manifested. I have a few. And I refuses
to give in. I will believe with every part of me that whatever God
has spoken is surely coming to pass. And if there be any doubt in me,
I pray that He'd remove it and deliver me from any unbelief. Because
I do know: There is NOTHING impossible for God!
I decree that the
spirit of peace and of prosperity will find rest in your lives:
spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and
financially. Believe in the word that the Father has spoken to you.
Stand on His word. Meditate on it day and night; allowing it to wash
away all doubts. You are blessed. Now go...and Be a Blessing!
©2013. Ruthe
McDonald. All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment