Sermon for 10/28/2012

1 Kings 19:1-10
  Elijah Flees from Jezebel Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’ Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep.
  Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, ‘Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.’ He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’

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How many of you are afraid of spiders?

Now, think for a second about why you're afraid of spiders. Perhaps you've never given this much thought—all you know is that any eight-legged creature deserves instant death, after giving a piercing scream. But if you stop and think about it for a minute, you can realize that the number of people who die every year of spider is 4. That's right—4. You're ten times less likely to die from a spider bite than you are from a fireworks accident. But how many people walk into the fireworks store and start screaming? In Britain, 20 people die every year from falling out of bed. But how many of us peer over the edge of the bed in abject horror every morning? None of us.

The thing is, fear isn't rational. I'm not afraid of heights because I had a really bad childhood experience where my parents threw me over the edge of a building. I'm afraid of heights because falling from them seems pretty scary. Most people who are afraid of spiders don't spend a lot of time thinking about why they're afraid of them—they just know that they're nasty and should all be killed with lots of fire.

Our fears don't make sense. If we sat down and reasoned them out, we'd come to the conclusion that we have nothing to fear. Maybe Frank Roosevelt was on to something.

But we're not alone in our fears. Consider Elijah. Here he is, coming off one of the most dramatic events in the Bible. A duel is set up between Elijah and the 450 false prophets of Baal, and God responds to Elijah's prayer in dramatic fashion—all of Israel is there to witness God's response, and Elijah then kills the 450 false prophets, as the law demands. Surely, Elijah can sense the presence of God with him and feels like nothing in the world can stop him, right? Surely, this man of God who has seen God work miracle after miracle and intervene in dramatic ways has nothing to fear, right?

Right?

Not exactly. When Ahab sent Jezebel word that Elijah had just disposed of 450 of her prophets, Jezebel was less than pleased. In fact, she sent Elijah a message indicating that within 24 hours, Elijah would be as dead as one of those prophets.

Did Elijah laugh in the face of her threat, confidant in the God who has protected Elijah in the face of every threat? Was Elijah emboldened by God's power to stand and face Jezebel?

Nope. He fled for his life, the text says, because he was afraid. He even left his servant behind and went a day into the wilderness, where he sat down under a tree and asked God to take his life. He was so afraid that he preferred death to life. And this from the guy who had just dramatically killed 450 prophets after triumphing in a duel before the entire nation of Israel!

But fear isn't rational. We all know that. Anyone who has ever been afraid could say that fear isn't rational. It grips us and shakes us and rattles our bones. We're afraid, not because we've logically reasoned out that fear is the best response—we're afraid because once fear grips us it is so hard to release ourselves from its icy clasp. Fear isn't rational.

Fear causes two things in our minds to happen. The first is that we begin to overestimate the strength of our opponents. Take spiders, for instance. Tiny little critters, most of which cannot harm us, all of which have very long odds of doing permanent harm to us. But we overestimate their power. We are afraid of them because we believe they are more powerful than they truly are. It's like the fear of shark attacks—the ones that happen are so public, we attribute more power to them than they deserve, and once they have a foothold in our mind, their influence only grows. We overestimate the power of that which we fear.

Secondly, we underestimate our own resources, our own strength, in the face of fear. We don't believe that we can overcome. We become so paralyzed by fear we're certain that there is no way out in the face of the danger before us. We're so afraid of heights that we don't believe anything will ever allow us to overcome this fear. We think that we will always be afraid.

The way that this works in our spiritual life is that we underestimate the power of God. We overestimate the power of fear and evil in the world, and we underestimate God's power and strength. We forget that the God who created the universe has promised that nothing shall ever separate us from him. We forget that the God who conquered death has promised that those who believe in him will not die, but live. We become so overwhelmed by fear that we forget God's power and sovereignty.

So let's talk about the things we fear today. Most of us don't have an evil queen threatening to take our lives because we just killed her favorite prophets. If you do, there's an app for that.

But we've got some real fears.

Let's talk about job security, the loss of income. That's scary.

How about the global economy, threatening income that you're depending on to live. Anybody worry about that?

Does anyone worry about not having enough money to make the next house payment or car payment and having no reserves?

What about health problems—how many are worried about lab results? How many have a lump that terrifies them, but you're too worried about what it might be to have it checked out?

Fear is real, folks. I don't have to tell you that. You know what fears you have. Fears about the future. Fears about the present. Fears about the known. Fears about the unknown. Fears about global problems and fears about household problems. We had to pick up an Epi-pen on Wednesday because Caleb has a nut allergy. Trust me—this world is a scary, scary place.

So what to do, then?

Well, one option is, like Elijah, to go find a solitary tree in the wilderness, sit down, and ask God to take your life. Certainly takes fear out of the equation. But notice, friends, that Elijah's story doesn't end there. Most of the Old Testament prophets experience this deep depression. None of them have their request to God for death granted. God sees beyond our present state, beyond our paralysis of fear, into a future filled with hope.

Fear paralyzes the way we think. Fear makes us believe that the way life is now is the way life always will be. Elijah believed that he would be hounded by Jezebel for the rest of his life. If you have financial instability, you think it will always be this way. If you're afraid of dying, you don't believe things will ever change. Fear does this to us—it traps us in the prison of our minds and convinces us that things will never change.

But God does new things. We worship a God of new beginnings, who picks up the prophet who wishes for death and points him in a new direction. He gives him something to do, somewhere to go, and sends him on his way, to face the world and serve the church. God doesn't let you sit and stew in your fear—he puts you to work, giving you a vision for a new future.

Notice the 2 things God does for Elijah, and I think the same two options are available for us. 

The first is that God feeds Elijah.  Now, he has an angel point him toward miraculous hot cakes.  Perhaps you consider Krispy Kreme the modern day equivalent of that.  Otherwise, I’d recommend that you spend some time in God’s Word.  When we talk about fear, we discover plenty of Scriptural resources to remind us that we actually have nothing to fear.  We find in 1 John  that perfect love casts out fear, and 2 Timothy tells us that God does not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love & self-discipline.  The Bible reminds us, time and time again, that God is bigger than our fears and has conquered them all.  It is a reminder to us that we need not fear, though the mountains fall down around us, for God is with us and has promised to abide with us in the deepest valleys of life.  Whatever we fear cannot kill us.

Secondly, God sends Elijah out.  He doesn’t let him lie around and dwell in fear.  He sends him out with a mission, on a journey.  He gives Elijah something to do.  In the same way, when we are afraid, we need to let God send us out.  Let God send us out into the world, to love and serve others, and then our mind becomes occupied with service, with love and care, rather than our own fears.  We have the chance to focus on others, rather than ourselves, and as we busy ourselves with reaching out to others, we stop thinking about ourselves, our own fears.

Friends, God has conquered sin and death.  He will triumph in the end.  He has promised that those who believe will dwell in him for eternity.  Let’s focus on that, and let our fears fade away to a place where they cannot harm us, cannot occupy our minds and hold us captive.  Let’s focus on the love of God, a love that held Jesus to the cross so that we might be a people of hope, rather than fear.

Let us pray

10-25 E-News

Announcements

Trunk or Treat—Saturday, October 27th from 2-5. Please talk to Janet if you're planning on attending, and invite your friends and neighbors!

New Hope News

Project Time!—Sunday, October 28 there will be a short meeting following worship for all those interested in working on any of the Building & Grounds projects outlined in the Session's plan for the money from the city.

Sunday School—This Sunday, the adult class with study the book of Micah.

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Pray For:

Lynn Meyer—

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Pray for those who do not know Christ.

Links

The Grateful Gobbler is November 22. (Monies raised go to support Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition.

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Some of the things God is up to on the Southside of Chattanooga

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Agreat article about gay rights & religious liberties

Keith's Random Thoughts

It's been a pretty big week for Caleb. He had a birthday party this past Saturday, then celebrated the sacrament of baptism on Sunday. Tuesday, he got chewed on at daycare, and then Wednesday he had allergy tests and found out that he couldn't eat nuts. That's a lot for a little kid. (I'll admit it—I probably wouldn't handle it as well as he does. He just claps, and the world claps along with him.)

We all have weeks like that—well, maybe not exactly like that, but weeks where it feels like the entire world is shifting and changing beneath our feet. As a nation, we feel a bit like that due to election season. (You may noticed that by now. You may not have noticed that there are more than two people running for office.) As individuals, we often wonder what tomorrow may bring.

The easy answer to that question is that we don't know what tomorrow holds. It's somewhat terrifying to admit that we don't even know if we will get a tomorrow. All we have is today.

In this constantly changing world, it is so important that we cling to Christ for stability, that we allow his grace to define us and be the one constant thing by which we measure ourselves. The world will change around us, people will change, life will change—but Christ is unchanging, as faithful today as he has been forever. He will not abandon or forget you, and if you place your trust in him, you will never be disappointed.

When we are centered in Christ, the changes of the world will not rock us as severely—for we will be reminded that the world will pass away, but Christ will endure forever.

Text for this Sunday

1 Kings 19:1-10

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’ Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, ‘Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.’ He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’

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Sermon for 10-21-2012

1 Kings 18:17-40
  When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, ‘Is it you, you troubler of Israel?’ He answered, ‘I have not troubled Israel; but you have, and your father’s house, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. Now therefore have all Israel assemble for me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.’

  So Ahab sent to all the Israelites, and assembled the prophets at Mount Carmel. Elijah then came near to all the people, and said, ‘How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.’ The people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets number four hundred and fifty. Let two bulls be given to us; let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it; I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. 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 is indeed God.’ All the people answered, ‘Well spoken!’

  Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many; then call on the name of your god, but put no fire to it.’ So they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, crying, ‘O Baal, answer us!’ But there was no voice, and no answer. They limped about the altar that they had made. At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, ‘Cry aloud! Surely he is a god; either he is meditating, or he has wandered away, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.’ Then they cried aloud and, as was their custom, they cut themselves with swords and lances until the blood gushed out over them. As midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice, no answer, and no response.

  Then Elijah said to all the people, ‘Come closer to me’; and all the people came closer to him. First he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down; Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, ‘Israel shall be your name’; with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. Then he made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two measures of seed. Next he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, ‘Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt-offering and on the wood.’ Then he said, ‘Do it a second time’; and they did it a second time. Again he said, ‘Do it a third time’; and they did it a third time, so that the water ran all round the altar, and filled the trench also with water.

  At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, ‘O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.’ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt-offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, ‘The Lord indeed is God; the Lord indeed is God.’ Elijah said to them, ‘Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.’ Then they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon, and killed them there.
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Caleb is a little more than one year old right now. He only recently started crawling, which means we have only just begun to use the word that will primarily dominate the next few years of his life. Some houses ring with laughter, others with sounds of dogs barking, some with music—the parents of small children know that their houses resound with the word 'no'!

As he ages, we get to move beyond simple 'no's. We get to add a wonderful phrase on to the end of it. We can ask, 'Why did you do that?'

His answer, most likely--“I don't know”.

I'd like to believe that once he begins school he'll age out of that answer, but I know better than that. I remember using those same words when my parents asked me why I did stupid things. I still use those words today when Rachel gives me that quixotic look and wonders why I did something.

“I don't know.”

As adults, we don't always act with purpose. We're not always aware of exactly why we're doing something. Sometimes, we're not even sure what it is we're doing. We don't know what our purpose is in our actions. Often, this leads to a bit of a mindless walk through hours, days, weeks—we're acting, moving, alive in the world, but we don't know why it is we're doing what we're doing. We don't know what our purpose is in life, and it saps us of energy.

Purpose is sought by all people. From the CEO of Apple Computers to the guy who cleans the bathrooms in Apple's offices to each and every one of us, we're seeking our purpose—what is it that we are called to do? What role are we called to play? How do we best use the gifts God has given us? There's a reason that The Purpose-Driven Life was the second best-selling book ever—people are hungry for purpose.

God, being the sovereign God of the universe and the source of all wisdom, isn't immune from having a purpose from his actions. The difference, one of the many, between us and God is that God knows exactly what his purpose is in his actions, and every action of God happens to move that purpose forward. Everything is done with one loving, gracious action—to gather all people together in worship. This is God's singular purpose—it is the reason we were created, to be in a passionate relationship with God, and it is how we best function.

The problem of sin is that we have deviated from that purpose, and the devil twists our hearts and minds to substitute other purposes in our lives, to confuse us and distort our lives. We begin to act with the purpose of growing rich or powerful, with the purpose of winning affirmation from our community or love from another person. We begin to let that purpose guide and define us, but God has not given up on humanity. God is at work in the world, in our lives, with the singular purpose of gathering us back from the corners of our scattered lives, pulling us in so that we fulfill our greatest and highest purpose, the reason we were made—to worship God.

What never ceases to amaze me about God is that he has a purpose of bringing people together to worship him, and that he generously invites us to join in with him. Rather than do all the work himself, he calls us to join him, to offer our lives and let his singular purpose define our own lives, so that his purpose then becomes our purpose. Then, no longer feeling lost, we are sent into the world, into our communities of influence, and called to help God gather all people to himself. As disciples, we are called to invite others to become disciples, multiplying the number of people God works through.

And when we decide to join with what God is doing in the world, it's clear that it's not about us. It's not based on us acting perfectly—it's based on our getting out of the way and letting God work in and through us. God promises us his strength, his grace, his love, if only we will submit to his will. We stubbornly refuse, certain that we know best what is good for us, but God, our Creator, patiently waits for us to recognize that the Creator knows best what his creations were made for.

When we come to our story today, there is a lot going on. We'd call this a busy 23 verses, filled with action and drama and tension. Elijah summons 450 prophets to a duel, calling all of Israel to come and witness these events so that they might know which God has power in the world. The 450 prophets of Baal start early, at sunrise, and they prepare the bull and then spend the entire day trying to lure Baal to act, to consume the bull with fire. They cried aloud to the heavens, but no reply came down. 450 voices were lifted up to the heavens, and doubtless they made a pretty impressive racket. They even began to cut themselves, as was their custom, in the hopes that their blood might draw Baal to act.

Elijah stood by himself, one man before 450 prophets. There were thousands of witnesses. If Elijah lost this duel, it would probably cost him his life. There were plenty of reasons to be afraid. There were plenty of opportunities to doubt himself, to wonder if they knew something he didn't know.

But Elijah never lost confidence. He never doubted himself. He was even bold enough to mock the 450 prophets, asking them if their god was asleep or away on vacation. To display even more confidence, when he was preparing his own sacrifice, in the midst of the racket of the prophets of Baal, he even had water poured all over the bull, so that the people would not think it was some trick by which he conquered. Water ran all over the sacrifice, and then Elijah called on God to act.

Notice, Elijah didn't try to do this on his own. This was not the fruits of his labors. Elijah merely gathered the people and let his own life be used as a viaduct through which God would work. Elijah stepped out of the way, asking God to answer his prayers so that the people may know that the Lord is God, that you have turned their hearts back, it says in verse 37. Here we find Elijah's purpose, his mission statement, his vision—that the people will all know that the Lord is God. That's the reason he does what he does, that's what leads him to put his life on the line—not for his own benefit, not that his name would be made great, but that the world would know who God really was. Elijah wasn't in it for himself.

And what happens?

God acts. God acts with certainty and resolve. God consumes the offering, every bit of it, even the dust and the stones and the water. Think about that—the fire that God sent down was so hot the stones were even consumed. Next time you're around a bonfire, throw a stone in there and see what happens. Then think about the passion and fury with which God answered Elijah's prayer. This is how powerful God is—and this is how God can work through us if we're willing to step aside.

Notice, too, that we don't have to be perfect. It doesn't say that Elijah had ever prepared a sacrifice, and this one he covered with water three times. We often cover our own lives, our living sacrifices, as they are meant to be, with sins, with water, and we think we will make it even more difficult for God—but God can work through our imperfect efforts. God just needs us to make ourselves available, to let his purpose become our purpose, and God will do the rest. God will send his spirit to work through you, but you have to be willing to be available. I'm not going to pretend that it will be easy, and that it will always be fun—Elijah was outnumbered 450-1 and faced death if he failed. You will almost certainly never face such long odds, but God will be with you if you're willing to let his passion consume you.

Stop living your life for yourself. Stop believing that we'll discover our own purpose, our own reason for living, and that it will make us happy. The only thing that will give us the abundant life Jesus Christ discussed is if we allow God's purpose to take over our own life, if we allow ourselves to get caught up in God's story, and decide to let him work through us. If we want to satisfy our thirst for purpose, we need to drink from the Living Water.

So let God's purpose guide you. May your every waking moment be seen as an opportunity to let God reign in your life, and to let God use you to bring others to himself. When we love and selflessly serve our neighbors, God uses us—it is God working through us. You don't have to change everyone—you just have to step aside and let God use you to change one person at a time, that they may know that the Lord is God.

Let us pray  

Sermon for 10/14/12

1 Kings 17:17-24

Elijah Revives the Widow’s Son

After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. She then said to Elijah, ‘What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!’

  But he said to her, ‘Give me your son.’ He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. He cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?’ Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.’

  The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, ‘See, your son is alive.’ So 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.’

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I've been married 6.5 years now. What that means is that our wedding day was a long time ago—much has happened between now and then, and I'll freely admit that I don't remember much from the hustle & bustle of the day.

So when Rachel and I were attending a wedding reception a few weeks back and the bride and groom celebrated their first dance, I wasn't sure what to think (or say) when Rachel turned to me and told me that they were dancing to the same song we danced to at our wedding. I listened for a bit and knew only one thing—I was certain that it wasn't that song. I couldn't say what song it was. But it wasn't that song.

Men, you all know the direction this is headed.

The discussion could have ended there were it not for the DVD recording we have of our wedding and the reception. There was nothing I could say in my defense, except to admit that I was wrong. I had forgotten this detail of the wedding.

In my defense, I do a pretty good job of remembering that I am married, trying to live into the promises I made on that blessed day. Remembering the promises I made, the vows I willingly took, guides my actions today. I remember that I promised to love one woman, for better or for worse, selflessly, as Christ loves the church. I remember that I am to be faithful to her, to be a source of strength and support, to grow together in faith and love. The memory of the promises I made guides me, as does the history we have. We've known each other for over ten years now, and the memory of our relationship reinforces the promises we made. I remember that she has been faithful to me, that she selflessly loves me, that she and I work together. The memory of our history reinforces the love we share now, and it also guides us through tough times. When we're upset at each other, we remember the promises we made and the history of faithfulness, and that assures us that we'll get through this together, that the good times in the past are assurance that there will be good times in the future. The memory of Rachel's continued faithfulness assures me that she will continue to be faithful. Unlike the stock market, past performance is usually an indicator of future guidance. Our common memory is an important part of our life together.

A marriage is a common analogy to a life of faith. It's an image lifted up throughout the Bible—that of God willingly choosing to be wed to the church. Christ is described as the bride of the church. So it is that memory is an important aspect of faith, too.

The word 'remember' is used throughout the Bible. It most often comes up in the journey of the Israelites through the wilderness. Remember—God did an amazing thing. He sent plagues upon the Egyptians and then parted the waters of the sea so that the Israelites would be delivered from slavery. Each and every one of them witnessed these incredible acts. But it wasn't long before their memories failed them—soon they were wondering where God was, if God would still be faithful. They forgot what God had done in the past, and without a memory of God's past faithfulness, they asked where God was now. Without a memory, you can forget that God has always been faithful, and so they complained. They cried out for God to do something. Often, God did do something, intervening to deliver the people. But they soon forgot and turned against God. In all of these times, Moses was imploring the people to remember. They needed to remember how faithful God had been, to remember all the things that God had done for them and be assured that God would not abandon them now. If God has always been faithful, Moses asked, why wouldn't he be faithful now?

Think about that for a second. If God has always been faithful in the past, why wouldn't we trust God to be faithful now? Perhaps you have a friend who is always late—say that you've known them for twenty years, and in that time they've never once been on time. If you set a lunch date with them, would you suddenly expect them to be on time? Of course not. You'd expect them to be late. In fact, you'd probably show up late yourself, knowing that you'd still beat them there. Their past history is a good indicator of what is to come.

God is the same way—our memory of God's faithfulness should inform our faith today. We can expect God to live up to his past history. So when we look back at the history of God's interactions with his people, we see a perfect track record—God has never abandoned a promise he made. God has not been unfaithful. Humans have been unfaithful, but not God. God has perfect attendance, and this should give us assurance that no matter what we're going through, God will be there and he will be faithful. Our memory of God's faithfulness informs our faith.

But human beings are imperfect. We've been imperfect ever since Adam and Eve decided that it wasn't enough to be in a relationship with God, they wanted to be gods themselves. Our memories are short—especially now, but we're not nearly as different as we want to be than the characters in the Bible. We like to think we've advanced, but the more I read the Bible the more similar we become. We often forget what God has done.

The same is true of this widow. If you were here last week, you remember hearing two things, I am sure. You remember her despair at her situation in the midst of a drought—she was gathering sticks to go home and cook her last meal for herself and her son. She had no hope in the face of a certain death. She had ceased to fight and had no one to save her. The second thing you remember is that God intervened in an extraordinary way to save her. God made sure that her meal and oil never ran out, assuring that there would be food for her and her household. So this woman went from certain death to abundant life.

Remembering all of that, we focus on this story today—another tragic story. The widow's son becomes ill. The text says that there was no breath in him. This particular illness described here in our text is an ancient illness called 'death'. It's still around these days.

What does the woman say? Does she pray for another miracle, knowing that God has already intervened to save the boy's life once? No, she grows angry with Elijah and his God, blaming him for the death of her son.

So Elijah takes the boy upstairs and prays to God. Does his prayer illustrate his memory of how God has saved the boy and his mother once? Does Elijah beg God to do an extraordinary thing once more, to bring the boy back to life and restore the hope that God initially brought to the family? No—he blames God for bringing calamity on the family. The family that was prepared to lay down and die before God intervened.

So both Elijah and the widow seem to have forgotten completely that God has already saved the boy's life once, that neither the widow nor the son would even be alive today had not God intervened. For all we know they were complaining while eating food from the miraculous jar of meal. I look at this scenario and think that God has every right to ignore these cries for help from a people of short memory.

But God doesn't do that. God hears the desperate pleas of the widow just as he hears the passionate cries of Elijah. God listens to the prayer and revives the boy, restoring hope to a household, restoring life, once more intervening and creating life, once more demonstrating his power over death.

As a result, the woman says that she knows for certain that Elijah is a man of God, and the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.

God didn't have to save the boy. God didn't have to send life back into him. We could argue that God had already demonstrated his power and authority through Elijah by providing a meal source that never expired.

But God does anyway. And this is the core of what we're talking about today—we worship a God of abundance. God pours his grace out upon us, time and time again, even though we as a people are not worthy of it. We have short memories. We forget what God has done for us. We forget the miracles we have seen in our lives, the grace God has given so freely, and we sometimes ask with indignation where God is now. God has always been faithful to us, never abandoned us—but God doesn't cast us into the pit when we ask questions like that. The Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness questioning where God was, and God continued to do miracles before their very eyes—indeed, God was leading them by a pillar of cloud and smoke. Every day they had a visual reminder of God's presence, and yet they often questioned where God.

But God didn't give up on them.

God doesn't give up on you, either.

When we forget all that God has done, God doesn't throw up his hands and walk away from us. When we commit the same sin for the thirtieth time, God doesn't label us as beyond grace and never look upon us again. When we forget to offer our day to Christ in gratitude for all that he has done, he doesn't cease to shower love upon us. We worship a God of abundance, a God who pours his blessings upon us before we can even think to ask for them.

But the more we remember what Christ has done, the stronger our faith grows. The better we are able to remember what God has done in human history, the more faithful our life will be today. Because then, rather than questioning where God is today, we'll be looking for where God is at work today, because history teaches us that God is always at work, that the Spirit is always moving, calling, beckoning us to follow. When we spend time learning about what God has done in the past, it teaches us that God is reliable, faithful, and will not cease to abide with us even when we are in the deepest, lowest valleys of life. God has always loved you—God has always been with you—therefore, we can say with confidence that God will be with you today, tomorrow and forever. Our memory of God's faithfulness should teach us that we can rely upon God today, here, now.

So let's work on our memory. Let's study the Bible, let's study the history books, let's listen to each other tell stories of how God has worked in the past. In all these things, may our memories guide us to rely upon God, to trust his faithfulness, and to never forsake our calling as disciples.

Let us pray