Beside the Smelter

When Elijah heard the voice of God he must have been excited. Finally, some direction a sense of purpose, perhaps even a revelation of God’s will. Now things will start to happen, everything will be clear, somehow some sense will come out of this time wasted in the wilderness. “What do you want me to do Lord? Go back to Ahab; see if there has been any change? Maybe end the drought, show them how mighty you are. Do you want me to perform some miracles, preach about repentance, smash a few idols?” Imagine the shock when Elijah heard “Go to Zarephath and live there”. “You have got to be kidding God. I mean that’s 160 kilometres through the desert, in Sidon. And you know that’s in Jezebel’s country. What’s happening in Zarephath that needs me there? It’s a heathen place and we’ve got enough troubles of our own. I could understand a quick visit, but you want me to live there? What in the world for?” All of this dialogue is of course imagined. I don’t know what went on in the conversation between Elijah and God, may be he just quietly went along with it. I know that I would be likely to ask questions and complain and I suspect that Elijah would at least think these things even if he didn’t speak them out.

Zarephath means a ’smelting place’. It was a town on the Mediterranean coast about 160 kilometres away from Brook Cherith, through the desert. It was in the kingdom of Phoenicia, which was ruled over by Queen Jezebel’s father. Why would God send Elijah there? Zarephath had not escaped the famine and drought; this was no refuge from the crisis affecting Israel. It was a heathen place, not a spiritual retreat. Why would God send him to this place, what plan did he have, how did this new direction fit in with what had gone before? What was the point of sending a shepherd from Tishbe to a coastal town named after a furnace? The Bible doesn’t reveal immediate answers to these questions although in commenting on it in Luke 4:26, Jesus makes it quite certain this was no mistake, but God’s definite plan.

Apart from any other reason that God had, there may have been a clue in the name of the town. While Zarephath means a smelting place, the word itself also means a place of refining or testing. This was to be a place of further testing of Elijah. A place of preparation for the future. No metal is used for important purposes unless it has been first tested and refined to remove all the impurities that would weaken it. A warrior in battle would not use a weapon made of metal unless he was sure it would stand up under stress. The metal would be tested through the furnace before it was put to use. Elijah was about to be put into the furnace. If you want God to use you then you need to be refined. You may need to go to your own Zarephath to be tested. This may be a physical place, or a circumstance that is difficult, or even a job that you find frustrating or difficult. It is not the wilderness of solitude but the furnace of adversity that will bring out the precious metal from the dross.

Zarephath was a place of testing, but also a place of ministry for Elijah. There are two recorded miracles that he performed here, and one of them was later referred to by Jesus. God will put you through testing times, but in these times and circumstances you will still have the opportunity to serve him. God will still do mighty things in and through you even while you are in the refining process. You do not need to wait until you are fully refined before God will use you. Do not back off from ministry because you are not good enough. In the midst of his testing and refining of you God will use you to bring glory to his name. If and when God tells you to go to Zarephath, go – not without some trepidation but also in anticipation of what God is preparing you for and how he is going to use you, even while you are being refined.

Strength for the Journey

‘You found new life for your strength and so you were not faint’ At first reading these words in Isaiah 57:10 seem greatly encouraging, but when they are seen in their context they are in fact puzzling. God is criticizing and judging the nation of Israel because of their constant failure and disobedience. He accuses the nation’s leaders of immorality, idolatry, lying and rebellion and in the midst of this he declares that they did not find their way hopeless but instead found renewed strength for the journey. God is speaking about a disobedient people who had deliberately and determinedly turned their back on him and followed their own desires. They had pursued their chosen course so vigorously that they had become worn out. But even in their exhaustion they had somehow found the strength to continue. No matter the displeasure that they had incurred from God and the judgments that came as a consequence they could still dig deep and find the energy to continue down their path to destruction.

The truth is that these people put their trust in those things that gave them short term satisfaction and motivation, even though the result would be catastrophic. They could always find some benefit that would cause them to continue on their chosen course. We are surrounded by the illusion of those things that are attractive to behold but produce emptiness and loss in the longer term. The road we are on may be surrounded by glitz and glamour, public adulation and material success. In achieving these things we find motivation to press on. It is these illusory rewards that keep us going. When life gets hard and our path becomes almost unbearably difficult, the praise of men or a financial reward will give us the strength to keep on going until the time when we seek these benefits rather than the goal of the calling to which God has brought us. We may even choose a course of life which is clearly inconsistent with what we know God’s will to be and it is the little benefits along the way that keep us going, pursuing a goal we know to be wrong.

 God declares through Isaiah that he dwells on a high and holy place and with the contrite and lowly of spirit so that he can revive their spirit and their heart. The strength for the journey that God calls you to is first of all found in the High and Holy place. It is in that union with God that can only be found by holiness of life and character. Access to the holy place is through the blood of Jesus Christ but is maintained by holy character and lifestyle. Secondly God chooses to dwell with the lowly and contrite. He is not looking for the movers and shakers, the Christian celebrities who tour the revival circuit, but the lowly, self-effacing, humble and broken who are prepared to give themselves up to the plans and purposes he has for them.

The badges of success and accomplishment that the world has to offer may sustain you for a while. They may give you the illusion of hope and provide some meaning to the life you choose to live. But unless these things flow from a humble and contrite heart that is determined to live in obedience to the word of God, no matter what it requires they will fail and leave behind a vacuum that no amount of worldly rewards will fill. If you have become tired by the length of your road be careful to make sure that the road you are on is the right one, don’t just summon up the strength to go on. If you are on the wrong road take the first exit you see and start heading in the right direction.

Days of Ahab, or Elijah?

King Ahab was not one of Israel’s better kings, while skilled in battle and having led Israel to victory on a number of occasions he was an evil person who carried on the sins of his father, King Omri and his ancestor King Jeroboam. He even managed to add a few new ones of his own. King Omri is not mentioned much in the Bible, but Assyrian records of the time show that he achieved impressive military and political gains, so much so that Israel was called the ‘the Land of Omri’ long after his death. Omri was responsible for building Samaria, a vast fortress city that became the capital of the northern tribes.

Despite his own ability and reputation for skill in battle, Ahab tried to further secure his future by marrying the Phoenician princess Jezebel of Sidon. Jezebel was the daughter of King Ethbaal who had claimed his throne by murdering his own brothers; he was also high priest of the cult of Baal. Jezebel followed her father’s practices after her marriage to Ahab convincing him to introduce Baal worship to Israel. She arranged the murder of the prophets of Israel and replaced them with prophets of Baal and Ashereh, the supposed wife of Baal.

Despite his moral failure, Ahab prospered. He surrounded himself with pomp and luxury, even to the extent of building an ivory house. His court was filled with all the trappings of royalty where no expense was too great or comfort denied. Ahab was given the privilege of leading God’s people, and while his own ability and that of his father had given him great opportunities to do good he instead turned his back on God and gave himself up to greed and pursuit of power. Even in his success he was insecure and tried to protect himself through alliances with other nations, contrary to God’s command. Ahab thought that he was secure, he had used his own ability to gain a reputation for himself and then formed alliances to gain added protection, but God had had enough, he had seen his prophets slain and replaced with idol worship and he was not going to let it continue. Elijah was the messenger he was going to use to get Ahab’s attention.

Elijah is often identified as the embodiment of the prophetic line, in him all of the prophecies of the future kingdom of God are expressed. He looked forward to a time of righteousness being restored, but in his own day he did not see these things realized. He lived in a time of idolatry and profligate living. Where the royal court was more concerned with pomp, circumstance and power than in righteousness. A time when political intrigue, unholy alliances, corruption and moral bankruptcy was normal. Surely these are not the days he or we look for?

The days’ we seek are those that Elijah looked forward to but the distinction between righteousness and the state of societal life that existed in his day, remain even now. In fact there are many parallels between Elijah’s day and our own. The rulers of the day paid lip service to God but shored up their future by making alliances with the corrupt and ungodly nations round about. They acknowledged God in public life but denied his reality in the way they conducted their personal or corporate affairs. Trade was more important than godliness and if necessary they would engage in trade agreements with other nations contrary to God’s direct instructions if they thought there was a profit in it. The bottom line of profit was more important than equity or fairness and labourers were routinely oppressed in order to increase the profit margin. The living God was replaced with idols of their own manufacture. Then it was stone and wood, now it is careers, houses, cars, sporting achievement and so on. The nation of Israel was blessed so that it could be a blessing to others. It was the herald of righteousness to its neighbours. But it took its blessings for granted and turned its back on God.

When our own nations suffer drought or famine our political leaders will often encourage us to pray for God’s favour, and the church may well lead in this direction, but now, as then the only thing that will avert God’s judgment is genuine repentance. To simply pray in times of trouble without acknowledging our failure and determining to turn from it is less honest than to simply carry on as before.

Elijah emerged from obscurity to bring a message to Ahab, there was to be a drought. This drought would continue until corrupt practices and injustice was dealt with. It was not a message of judgement but of hope.

Robin Mark, the author of the song ‘These are the days of Elijah’, wrote this: How do you express the sense that these might be days, not of failure and submission, but of the sort of resilient, declaring, even arrogant trust and hope that Elijah had in his God? That these are not days of God stepping back and allowing the world and the church to roll uncontrolled towards eternity, but rather days when he is calling on his body to make a stand, to offer right praises and to declare that He is totally in control.

It is time for you, me, and the church gathered together to make a stand, raise a voice and confidently proclaim that these are indeed the ‘days of Elijah’ where righteousness will be restored.