I actually came across this a few weeks ago but needed some time to chew on it. There is some powerful stuff at play in chapter 17 of 1 Kings… Allow me to set up the scene…

Most extraordinary people in the Bible have some sort of introduction via biography. We usually get some sort of genealogy of some sort. You know…who their father was, where they are from, how they grew up…stuff like that. As a matter of fact, this is what you will find in the Books of Kings. It is basically a short history background as to what happened with each King. Literally, from chapter 1 to chapter 16, we see the basic fundamental background and history of each king of Israel…all the good and all the bad…mostly bad. Here is the cool thing though, just when you think things are going to keep getting perpetually worse, (because up to that point you have no other reason to think different) chapter 17 comes in and changes everything…

1 Kings 17 Vs 1                     

“Now Elijah…”

What an introduction! I couldn’t help but see the hope that the word “now” brings in this chapter. It is definitely a signal to anyone reading that change has finally come. The “now” is so instant that the writer doesn’t have time to give us Elijah’s background. All we know is there was no hope and no future in the first 16 chapters…but in chapter 17 we find that “now” things are about to change. God’s man has showed up from nowhere with no background and no back story. He just appears…”now”.

How many times have we cried for something to happen “now”?

Does it sometimes seem that things keep getting perpetually worse or that they just stay constant? No matter what you do, you keep finding yourself in failure, up against the wall in obstacles and obstructions? Maybe you feel as if your life is like the first 16 chapters of Kings…mostly bad with a few signs of hope that it could be better…

If that is you today, then let this scripture sink in…

Because, “Now Elijah”, signals change taking place. Elijah showed up from nowhere with only one purpose…to bring about change. He came to restore the people back into relationship with God.

Grab on to that today… This very scripture is here to remind you that God will sometimes show up and make drastic changes in your life for one reason, and one reason only… to restore your relationship with Him….