Sunday · May 10

Elijah: Praying In Hard Times

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Elijah lived in an evil time. Ahab was king of Israel during that time. King Ahab “did many bad things that made the Lord, Israel’s God, angry. He [Ahab] did more bad things than all the kings of Israel who lived before him” ( 1 Kings 16:33 , EASY). Elijah challenged the leaders of the god Baal at Mount Carmel (read 1 Kings 18 ). For sure, Ahab and his kingdom saw that God answers prayer.

Read Elijah’s prayers in 1 Kings 19:1–18 . Why is Elijah so sad? What does God do for him? How is God’s answer different from what happened at Carmel?

God answers every one of Elijah’s prayers. But Elijah’s thoughts and feelings soon change. God gave Elijah a powerful victory that day. But Elijah is so tired. He allows his fear about death to cause him to lose trust in God. Elijah becomes discouraged and very sad in his heart. What does God do when that happens? He takes care of Elijah’s needs. The Lord gives Elijah food and water again ( 1 Kings 19:5, 6 ). “The meal made him [Elijah] strong enough to travel for 40 days and 40 nights” ( 1 Kings 19:8 , EASY). When God finally announces Himself to Elijah, He does so in a very different way than He did for Moses.

Sometimes in our lives, God answers prayers in very powerful ways. His answers make our faith strong. We feel so close to God in our hearts during these times.

Other times, we may feel weak in our faith. We may think that following the Lord with strong faith is too hard. We also may look for God to answer our prayers only in ways that we expect. We must remember that our own thoughts and plans are not as wise and good as God’s thoughts and plans ( Isaiah 55:8, 9 ). We don’t understand many things about the wonderful things that God made in nature. So, we shouldn’t be surprised that we also don’t understand everything that God does.

God is our holy and loving Father. He knows just what we need. How can you learn to trust Him during the hard times of life? Ask Him now for the strength to help you trust Him during the hard times ahead.

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