Meditate on it

Below is a languid but lovely rumination on the phrase "it came to pass" from 2 Chronicles.  Worth pondering at length... It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.  - 2 Chronicles 20:1 “It came to pass.” The phrase occurs again and again in the Old Testament. “It came to pass after four hundred and thirty years that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt,” and, “It came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took the harp and played with his hand,” and so on. But has it ever occurred to you that the phrase is a very suitable one as describing the different events of earthly history and the varied phases of earthly experience? It hints not only that they happen, but that they are so soon over; they come, but they “come to pass.” We do not always realise that, but it is always true. We are not conscious that

In progress---just want to put a stake in the sand and say I'd like to explore this topic. Guiding Questions: How are we to interpret and manage our feelings? What exactly are "feelings"---is this the exclusive territory of the soul?  What part is flesh? What part spirit? When should we "listen" to our feelings? When are our feelings an accurate indication of God and His Spirit?  How do we discern/determine this? When are our feelings to be ignored or pressed through for a better aim? How do hormones affect feelings?  Any research on this? Discernment of feelings and spirits seems key here.

Timeline of kings and prophets larger view of this timeline Chart of Hebrew Kings & Prophets I7 Ahab Began reign in 38th year of Asa, reigned 22 years in Samaria. Was more evil than the kings before him, married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, King of the Sidians (Phoenicians, capital of Tyre) and bowed down to Baal. He built an Asherah pole, a temple and an altar for Baal in Samaria. Ahab fought the king of Aram. When Israel was given victory in that battle (by God, who explained that He was granting victory so that the Arameans would know that God was not just God of the mountains), Ahab failed to follow through and kill Benhadad.  Instead he granted him amnesty as long as he gave back Ramoth-Gilead.  He didn't and later they fought again (with Jehoshaphat's help) over this city.  Upon this occasion, Ahab died, even though he took pains to disguise himself in battle.  Jehoshaphat, who was undisguised, lived.  Great encouragement there---God's justice will pr

A threshing floor---the location of this meeting Although Jehoshaphat was open to the alliance with Ahab against Aram, he insisted that they inquire of the Lord first via a prophet.  Ahab rolls out 400 false prophets who are all in favor of the campaign, but Jehoshaphat presses to hear from one of the Lord's prophets.  Reluctantly, Ahab summons the prophet Micaiah, and reluctantly, Michaiah engages truthfully with the two kings. After initially replying with sarcasm, Micaiah warns the pair against battling with Aram.  He relays a very specific vision.  I supposed it's part of prophetic conventions, but the first verse reminds me of the way Isaiah began his beautiful vision in Isaiah 6: Then Micaiah continued, "Listen to what the LORD says! I saw the LORD sitting on His throne with all the armies of heaven around Him, on His right and on His left. And the LORD said, 'Who can entice Ahab to go into battle against Ramoth-gilead so he can be killed?'

The Calling of Elisha, Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, c 1430, North Netherlands "He found him, not in the schools of the prophets, but in the field, not reading, nor praying, nor sacrificing, but ploughing...Idleness is no man's honour, nor is husbandry any man's disgrace. An honest calling in the world does not at all put us out of the way of our heavenly calling, any more than it did Elisha, who was taken from following the plough the feed Israel and to sow the seed of the word, as the apostles were taken from fishing to catch men."  -Matthew Henry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "The voice in the cave of Horeb said many things; but it said one thing which, to my mind, was specially helpful to the future development of Elijah—it directed him where to find a human friend. If there was one thing Elijah needed to mellow him it was that. He seems never to have felt the influence of home ties. His life throughout had been one of war, of public commotion, of political a

"II. What lessons should this subject teach us? 1. That great men are subject to sudden changes in their mental moods. 2. That these seasons of depression do not unchristianise a man. John Bunyan tells us that the pilgrims were as surely progressing towards the Celestial City, when climbing the hill Difficulty, passing through the valley of Humiliation, and engaged in a hand-to-hand encounter with Apollyon, as when transported with the visions of the Delectable Mountains, fanned with the balmy breezes, and regaled with the fragrant odours of the land of Beulah, where the sun always shines. “If needs be,” says Peter, “ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations."  H Woodcock ~~~~~ "That Christian work is needful to spiritual health. Elijah was commanded to return to the wilderness of Damascus, and to do the work assigned him. He obeyed, and we never read of him wandering away again. Many Christians get low-spirited, and wander into forbidden paths,

"There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He said, "I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away." And he said, "Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD." And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and s

Wikipedia: "a coastal mountain range inn northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast.The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve and a number of towns are located there, most notably the city of Haifa, Israel's third largest city, located on the northern slope." Notes from video: 35 miles long creates a border from north to south Meggido is best passage from north to sort astoundingly green...Song of Solomon 7 "your head crowns you like Mount Carmel" Jeremiah 50:19  "I will bring Israel back to his own pasture and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan" Amos 9  hills are limestone, full of caves, 2,000 estimated  "thou they hide themselves on the top of Mount Carmel..." 1 Kings 18  Elijah & prophets of Baal face off on Mount Carmel "The Jezreel Valley lies to the immediate northeast. The range forms a natural barrier in the landscape, just as the Jezreel Valley forms a natural passageway, an

Notes from my first reading: 1. A significant amount of time had passed from the prior miracles.  God's timing is wholly His. 2. The Lord provides a bit of a buffer with Obadiah. 3. Even Obadiah's first reaction is "how did I sin" to deserve this task. 4. I think this is Obadiah, the prophet?  If so, interesting that God put him in charge of Ahab's Ba'al with raised arm, 14th-12th century BC, found at Ras Shamra (ancient  Ugarit ), Louvre palace.  Godly people work for ungodly people.  They are sometimes key instruments in God's plan there. 4. Elijah doesn't take any junk.  When Ahab greets Elijah with the question:  "Is that you, destroyer of Israel,"  Elijah corrects and points to Ahab's own sin quite directly. 5. 1 Kings 18:21 is worth some consideration.  How much easier it is to sit between a truth and a lie than to decidedly chose the truth. 6. Clearly, God does not delight in self-abuse or the dark kind of notions

All taken from the Biblical Illustrator: The great debate This book has been called the sphinx of the Bible, a not unapt name, for the book is grave, majestic, mysterious. Whatever its meaning be, it contradicts itself in the most flagrant way, looked at from every standpoint bug one. The book is clearly the record of a debate either between two men—one of them smitten with unbelief and despair, the other filled with conviction and hope; or more probably between two men in some one man—two parts of the same soul. In this great debate three things are discussed. But perhaps, we say, your experience was exceptionally unhappy, No, he answers, I have looked over the whole of life and find it everywhere the same. There is, for instance, he goes on, a season, a marked fixed time for everything and to every purpose under the heavens, and he enumerates some twenty-eight of these seasons, and the activities for which they are propitious. Looked at from one point of view it is very beaut

Just love this commentary from Frederick Brotherton Meyer on God's work in our lives.  Although the comments were written in reference to Elijah in 1 Kings 17, his words speak beyond the passages to life in general: On home and our character in the more private parts of our lives: "It is one thing to commune with God in the solitudes of nature, and to perform splendid acts of devotion and zeal for Him in the presence of thousands; but it is quite another to walk with Him day by day in the midst of a home, with its many calls for the constant forgetfulness of self... There is a constant need for the exercise of gentleness, patience, self-sacrifice, self-restraint... Thy home-life was chosen for thee by the unerring skill of One who knows thee better than thou knowest thyself, and who could not mistake. It has been selected as the best school of grace for thee."  On daily contentment: " Elijah teaches us contentment. God’s rule is—day by day. The m

Elijah and the Widow's Son, James Tissot Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again. And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.   1 Kings 17:21-22 From the BKC: This is the first recorded instance in Scripture of restoration to life of one who had died. ***** "He is very particular in his prayer: I pray thee let this child's soul come into him again, which plainly supposes the existence of the soul in a state of separation from the body, and consequently its immortality, which Grotius thinks God designed by this miracle to give intimation and evidence of, for the encouragement of his suffering people." -Matthew Henry ***** "listened" shâma‛ shaw-mah' A primitive root; to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.; causatively to tel

Elijah is one of the many Bible figures that I didn't meet until I was in my mid-twenties. My Catholic education strongly emphasized the gospels, but to the neglect of the entire rest of the Bible. Outside of Adam, Eve and Noah with whom I had a passing acquaintance, the bulk of the Bible outside the gospels, including Paul's letters, were virgin territory to my Catholic mind. Significantly, Elijah, along with Moses, is on the mountain during Christ's transfiguration. He made the short short list.  He's also a harbinger to the Christ .  Malachi proclaimed "See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes." (Malachi 4:5). Jesus  told the crowds that John the Baptist "is the Elijah who was to come." (Matthew 11:14).  Why was Elijah selected for such a distinction?  Knowing the Lord, it wasn't anything specifically exceptional about the man himself but more that he was a willing student of His greater