I love the Old Testament, especially the stories. Filled with intrigue, sword fighting, revenge, true love, giants, monsters, miracles and lots more, they describe God - who he is, and what he does.
Many people mistakenly think the God of the Old Testament is harsh, capricious, and maybe a little bit violent, while seeing the God of the New Testament as loving and kind. It’s a false dichotomy; both the Old and the New Testaments reveal the same God.
For example, in the New Testament God describes Himself as gentle. Matthew 29:11 says “Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.” And in the Old Testament God embodies the supreme example of gentleness.
Consider this story from I Kings 17-19.
You might remember that Saul was the first king of Israel. After him was David, then Solomon, and after that the country divided into two factions: the north and the south and engaged in a long, off and on civil war. The transfer of power in both the north and the south was usually bloody and with only a few notable exceptions, the new government was no better than the previous one.
At one point, a dude named Ahab becomes king in the north, and he demonstrates horrendous leadership. Ahab marries a foreigner from Sidon named Jezebel. The spiritual problems in their marriage affect the whole country.
Jezebel had grown up worshipping the false god Baal, and when, as a teenager her father ships her off from the lush Sidonian coast to the desert nation of Israel to create a political alliance by marrying it’s king, she has no intention of leaving her religion and culture behind to start worshiping the God of Israel. Instead, she slaughters a bunch of the spiritual leaders in Israel and convinces Ahab to start worshiping her god, Baal. Pretty soon lots of people in Israel start worshipping Baal.
This poses a serious problem because God had a special relationship with Israel and part of the deal was that they would worship only Him. God planned to use that special relationship with the Israelites to bless the entire world. This situation with Ahab and Jezebel was problematic because it threatened God’s avenue for blessing everyone everywhere by destroying Israel’s unique relationship with God. Because He loves everyone, He couldn’t let that happen.
Despite the situation, some people remained faithful to God, including a guy named Elijah. God sends him to Ahab with a message. Elijah walks right up to Ahab and informs him there would be no rain in Israel until God sent him back to say it would rain. Elijah promptly leaves town.
For a while he stays by a creek and God takes care of him there. When the creek dries up, he goes to live with a widow in Sidon, Jezebel’s hometown, and God takes care of him there too.
Meanwhile things are getting desperate in Israel. Three years go by. Ahab launches an international manhunt. No Elijah and no rain.
Finally God sends Elijah back to Ahab. Ahab greets him with a political nickname: “Troubler of Israel” to which Elijah responds, “No, you are!” Their conversation isn’t off to a good start. Elijah says nothing about rain.
Instead, he proposes an experiment to determine which God they really ought to be worshipping. A huge crowd gathers for the great experiment and the prophets worshipping Baal pile their altar with wood. They cut up an ox, lay the carcass on the altar and call for Baal to show himself real by sending the fire and accepting the sacrifice. No fire. Elijah taunts them. “Maybe Baal is on vacation or taking a nap? Maybe he’s using the bathroom?” The prophets go to extremes, cutting themselves and begging for Baal to show up, but he doesn’t - because he can’t - because he’s not real.
In the evening, Elijah walks over to God’s altar that’s fallen into disrepair through neglect. He calls all the people close and they watch him fix it up, arrange the wood, place the prepared oxen and then soak the thing with gallons and gallons of precious water. Elijah prays a simple prayer. He asks God to send fire so that everyone would know the God of Israel is real, He loves them and He wants to be loved back. In one epic moment God answers that prayer and sends the fire.
In the fall out, the prophets of Baal are killed, a reversal of Jezebel’s policy when she had the prophets of God killed. Elijah gives God’s word and retreats to pray for rain. Enraged, Jezebel sends a death threat to Elijah.
Now… you’ll have to read the whole story yourself to get all the details, but suffice it to say Elijah had had a really long, exhausting day on the heels of three years of famine and exile. He still trusts God, but he freaks out and decides to scram. He goes a day’s journey when he falls into a heap. God provides him with everything he needs: rest, food and counseling.
In Elijah’s counseling session, he pours out his heart to God, how hard he’s worked, how he’s all alone, how Jezebel plans to kill him. Then God speaks. God makes a pictorial replay of Elijah’s situation with tornadic force winds, a massive earthquake and a huge forest fire. The world feels like it’s in total chaos; I’m sure Elijah could relate. Then God comes to Elijah, in a gentle breeze. There’s all this chaos in the world, but God reminds Elijah that He is gentle, exactly the soothing thing Elijah needs to hear.
We don’t have to look far to see cultural, political and spiritual chaos in the world. We see it on both a personal and a global scale, but the Bible tells us God is Gentle. If God could steady Elijah with His gentleness, that same gentle God can calm us too. And if God is gentle, then by His Spirit, we also can be made gentle. Let us ask Him to show His gentleness to us and to teach us to be gentle toward others.
ABOUT OUR BLOGGER
Elisabeth Schelp has been an adjunct professor of chemistry and a lab coordinator in a genetic center. She enjoys working in her garden, goes hiking whenever she gets a chance and feels happy when she makes things. Elisabeth and her husband Rich gratefully parent four children – their boys joined their family by birth and their girls came by way of adoption.
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