"And the word of the Lord came to him: 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' He replied, ' I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left and now they are trying to kill me too.' "
-1st Kings 19: 9-10

Overcoming The Odds

I love reading about the prophet Elijah. You can read about his life in the Old Testament Books of 1st & 2nd Kings. I believe that we can learn a lot from Elijah on overcoming the odds. Elijah was a great prophet that lived in a time in which most of the people of Israel had turned away from God's word. He is credited with performing many miracles such as bringing a widow's son who had died back to life (1st Kings 17: 18-24) and predicting the drought & famine (no rain for three and half years-1st Kings 17:1), to mention two. There were times when Elijah was the only prophet left in Israel (see 1st Kings 19: 9-10 above). Yet Elijah kept his faith in God to help him overcome the odds.

My favorite story of Elijah is when he defeated the 450 prophets of Baal. "Then Elijah said to them, 'I am the only one of the Lord's prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. (1st Kings 18: 22) The story goes on (read it for yourself in 1st Kings 18: 16-46) and they prepared two bulls for sacrifice. The challenge? "Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire-he is God." (1st Kings 18: 24) The prophets of Baal tried and tried in vain to get their god to ignite the sacrifice. Elijah even begins to tease them. "At noon Elijah began to taunt them, 'Shout louder! he said. 'Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must not be awakened.' " (1st Kings 18: 27) In the end the false god Baal could not ignite the fire. Elijah then had his altar and sacrifice drenched in water three times before he prayed to God. "Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench." (1st Kings 18: 38)

450 against 1! Insurmountable odds? Not when God is on your side! Elijah was a man of great faith. We are reminded of this in the Book of James. "Elijah was a man like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced it crops." (James 5: 17-18) Elijah's secret? His faith in God! He understood that the odds do not matter when God is on your side. In our lives we will all face obstacles. Sometimes the odds seem to great to overcome. It is in these times that we must remember men like Elijah and put our faith in God just as he did. Elijah had quite an ending to his life on earth (see 2nd Kings 2: 11 below). What a ride that must have been for this man of God. Elijah had kept his faith in the Lord in the good times and the tough times. We may not get to ride a chariot of fire to heaven as Elijah did :) but like him we too can overcome the odds by placing our faith in God!

I pray that all is well with you. Please let me know if you have any prayer concerns or praises. Have a good week and remember to smile :), the Lord loves you!

In Christ,

Shan D. Hartsough

"As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind." -2nd Kings 2: 11

Back