Walking Out Loud

Treasure and Pearls

By Galen Harrill / February 18, 2024 February 18, 2024

Treasure and Pearls

Consider John and Mary, owners of land out in the Sierra Nevada range of California. For years, they had noticed what I would have called a piece of trash in the shape of a metal can barely breaking the surface of the earth out in a section of their property. They thought it may have been placed there to hold flowers on a grave and had simply been buried with the passage of time. Curiosity finally got to them when they considered it might actually be some kind of marker. So, they decided to dig it up. What they found were eight cans containing gold coins minted between 1847 to 1894 with an estimated value of ten million dollars.

Are any of us truly immune to that kind of story? It fires the imagination even from a young age. Growing up, I was always told that the woods around me surely had to have some arrow heads hiding just below the surface from bygone Lenni-Lenape settlements. I dug around several promising sites in the woods around our house to no avail while friends a couple of miles away even found a stone tomahawk. A few years ago, there was a big story about a guy walking in the mountains of California and finding a six-pound gold nugget on public lands. These are the kinds of stories that drive our imaginations wild – in fact, I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to get your attention back – but hopefully, Jesus can.

Because He tells a similar story in Matthew 13:44-46. A man discovers a treasure hidden in a field. Not an unusual thing before the advent of federally insured banks, and certainly not unusual in ancient times. Somebody put it there like someone did out on that property in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The only problem is, well, the guy who found it? He didn’t own the property. No matter, he’s going to buy it because he is all about that treasure. He knows the value and so he sold absolutely everything he had faster than a fire-sale. And then he bought that field.

Now. If we knew for a fact everything we owned paled in comparative value to the treasure on the property we were going to buy (that there were eight cans of gold coins buried on it, for example), we’d do it too. But we’d have to know for sure it was worth it. The guy sold everything. Let that sink in… because our most valued possessions are usually not the most expensive. They are the heirlooms. The pocketknife from my grandpa. The quilt my grandma made specifically for me. What have you got? What would it take for you to give it up? It would need to be a treasure indeed.

So, this is where the gears of our minds start grinding. He sold everything but he’ll be richer than he has ever been and can replace or maybe even buy back the things he sold to begin with. Win/win. But the next parable puts a wrench in that. You see, we get the impression the guy bought the field from someone who didn’t know the part about the treasure. But the guy selling pearls? I’ll guess the seller knows a thing or two about quality when it comes to pearls. Same buyer situation though, our merchant wants that pearl and sells everything to get it. He pays market value. He now possesses the best pearl he’s ever laid his eyes on and he’s… not… letting… go…. He’s pearl-rich and cash poor and now out of business.

“No, no, no, you must have that wrong – this pearl is just a pearly steppingstone to greater things! He’ll make a profit and move on to the bigger and better!”

Where does Jesus say that? He never tells us this treasure or this pearl is leverage. It’s not. The treasure is the point. The pearl is the point. And if we’re of the sort who are willing to hear, something Jesus has said is statistically unlikely, we’ll realize the Kingdom is the point. We don’t get the Kingdom to move on to something else. We get the Kingdom because there is nothing else.

That’s what we are supposed to hear.

Are we ready to give up everything for this Kingdom? That pocket-knife, that quilt? How about rich family traditions running counter to the Kingdom? How about our reputations? How about a hobby or career standing in the way of true discipleship? How about our pride in our own understanding? If the answer is “no,” then we don’t have ears to hear and really don’t understand the true value of the Kingdom….

New Under the Sun

By Galen Harrill / January 22, 2024 January 22, 2024

Ecclesiastes 1:9 states, “There is nothing new under the sun.” I’ve often heard that in church discussions concerning the state of the world, sin, troubles, and temptations. It’s often meant to encourage us to understand we can withstand anything Satan throws at us. The logic is simple; people have endured the same things for centuries, we can too. I’ve no doubt about the enduring part – but with the Spirit living within us, it goes way beyond enduring – we thrive when we put ourselves firmly in God’s camp.

It’s the “nothing new under the sun” part I take issue with. You see, this is Solomon speaking, and while Ecclesiastes is God-breathed scripture, God Himself often overturns the understanding of His own authors in the inspiration to bring them to a greater understanding of who He is. Job’s friends made seemingly astute observations in the book of Job, for example, but that doesn’t mean they were right.

Solomon is right in this – human nature remains the same. We all have the capacity for really messing things up for ourselves and others. True wickedness exists, and it is exhausting to think about and experience in the myriad forms of oppression, injustice, and unholiness we have around us. “Wearisome” is the word Solomon uses. Point taken.

But there are other points. How many times do I sing Jeremiah’s words in Lamentations 3:23? “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end… they are new every morning!” Okay. So, where Solomon finds the sun’s rising and setting wearisome, Jeremiah recognizes new grace in every new day!

Consider this – if human nature is what it is, then the cure is the same for all – namely, Jesus, who broke into this world in an entirely new way to bring salvation! “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law…” okay, you see that “but now” don’t you? Then was then. This is now. New! Something that was not and now is! And yet it reaches back into all time to answer the very question Solomon was asking centuries before.

But I also need to explore the darker side of this “nothing new” question – because while I believe Solomon is right in terms of our sinfulness, I believe there is something very new under the sun in terms of how our enemy attacks. It is a full court press, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, designed to keep the bulk of God’s children on injured reserve and those outside of His grace so distracted they don’t even know there is another team.

What do I mean? Just this – Solomon was wearied by the rising and setting of a tiresome sun under which he saw people act unjustly every day. Now? We are inundated with injustices from around the world at a pace and volume that’s debilitating. So, while it is totally legitimate for me to be very concerned about those dying in wars halfway around the world, Satan would fill me with such despair from what I see going on there that I don’t even know that my neighbor is fighting for her life against cancer. He would have me be the cave-dwelling Gideon before God got ahold of him and made him see it didn’t matter he was the least in his family in the smallest clan of his tribe. He would have me bewildered and impotent. Satan’s new tool is pace and overload.

There is a solution to this spiritual ADHD, and it has everything to do with focus. Peter sank when he took his eyes off Jesus; the point is to keep them on Him. Our Hebrews author confirms this need in chapter 12, while Peter, perhaps recalling his Galilean swim, speaks of the need to add goodness to faith, knowledge to goodness, self-control to knowledge, etc., with the benefit of becoming effective and productive. What does he contrast this with? Nearsightedness and blindness. Simply put, we can improve our spiritual vision. How?

First, get in the word. Get really in the word. Read your Bible and chew on it every day. If research is correct, for all the bad news we fill ourselves with, we should counteract with three times the amount of good news. Last time I checked, “gospel” means good news. Spend more time there than anywhere else. Ask questions of what you are reading and let the last question be, “What am I supposed to do about this?”

Second, pray continually as Paul encourages in I Thessalonians 5:17. Realize you are in the presence of God Almighty in every moment of your day and know He wants to hear from you. Include Him in your family conversations when you are at the dinner table laughing over something and thank Him for the laughter. Cry with Him, drive with Him, run with Him, change the oil in the car with Him, you get the picture.

Third, open your eyes and see more of Jesus in everything around you. Tell yourself every day that in Him we live, move, and have our very being. Look at a sunrise or your children and see the beauty God has placed in all His creation and be thankful.

Fourth, talk about your walk with God with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Make it a focus to be an encouragement to others to live this life of faith. Ask them how they are doing and seek advice how to be more Christlike and less world-like. And yes, the place where God intended for you to do this is in that collection of believers called the church. It’s also a great place to learn how to get along with people!

Finally, when the Spirit says, “Right there in front of you I have a way for you to be the hands and feet of Jesus,” don’t hesitate – be His hands and feet. Look after the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner living in your midst. Be the Samaritan and love your neighbor.

In the end, we might find there is one more new thing under the sun – ourselves….

Bible Reading Plans

By Galen Harrill / December 31, 2023 January 21, 2024

Bible Reading Plans

One of the things I don’t get to do much of is spend time with others who are involved in ministry. However, I do work in keeping up with some folks, and Mark Finn of Collingswood, NJ is one of them. He and his wife put together two Bible reading plans that I can highly recommend. The New Testament reading plan breaks things up between the four gospels, the letters, Acts, and Revelation, so you are not in any one genre for too long. The Old Testament plan is not a plan for the entire Old Testament. It leaves out sections of Leviticus (and other books), for example, which is honestly pretty difficult slog for most people. Anyway, the plans are linked below in PDF, Mark gave me permission to publish them. Why not make it a resolution to spend some time working through the Bible using one or both of these plans this year?

New Testament in 6 months reading plan

Old Testament in 6 months reading plan

A New Sword

By Galen Harrill / December 29, 2023 December 29, 2023

A New Sword

For Christmas, my wife got me a Bible. Not just any Bible, but a leather-bound NIV 1978 edition. It’s the edition I grew up with, the one I preach and teach from, the one I read from. It’s in perfect shape with no cracking on the leather, no wear on the gilding, no writing inside anywhere. My Bible of 43 years is showing its age. I’m not concerned about the years of page handling showing on the margins nor the gilding that is wearing off. But the leather on the spine is finally cracking through in places and that worries me. I can’t retire it – it’s been too good of a friend. But its travelling days may be over.

Many people ask me, “What version of the Bible should I get?” I obviously have opinions, but not of the kind you may think. You see, I could get a 1984 NIV edition, or a 2011, but they are different from the 1978. That’s my main problem. In my head, I’ve got 1978. When I read from the 1984 or the 2011, I trip up. Think of it this way – the word of God is sharper than any double-edged sword, something we are to take up and use. I’m simply going to use one I’m used to more effectively than one I’m not used to. Now. I “train” with other swords that have also honed me – NLT, ESV, KJV, etc., but that’s not my point. The Bible you should get is the Bible you’re going to use. It’s the one that trains you, the faithful friend you can grow old with and draws you closer to the author. It’s the one you breath with.

Which brings me back to this “new” NIV; it’s never been read. I’ve thought a lot about that since receiving it and I see two possibilities – either someone had no interest in what God has to say and ignored it or they had another sword they couldn’t put down because it was just too good of a friend. I’m hoping the latter.

I’d love to hear about what you are using and why. As for me, I’m breathing in every word of my “new” 1978….

A World Gone Crazy

By Galen Harrill / October 19, 2023 December 29, 2023

A World Gone Crazy

The world’s gone crazy. Really, this is my recurring thought over the past couple of weeks. We as Christians should naturally (or, more properly, supernaturally as the Spirit moves within us) understand we live in a fallen world where a lot of life will not make sense. We understand the father of lies weaves chaos into his warped plans while giving them a whitewash of logic that disintegrates in the light of God’s word. But this is only clear to God’s children or those honestly looking for truth.

What do we see in scripture? Common people along with even the tax collectors who come to see God’s way as right in Luke 7:29. Peter confessing Jesus as the Christ in Mark 8:29. Thomas, in John 20:28, after so much doubt, placing his fingers in Jesus’ wounds and declaring, “My Lord and my God!” More compelling, however, are those who have experienced the indiscriminate chaos of Satan’s ways more closely and come to Jesus. The man born blind in John 9, who, through his argumentation with the most educated of society, moves from belief to worship. The bleeding woman who touches the hem of Jesus’ garment and is healed is drawn into a deeper faith as she meets Jesus in Luke 8:43-48. And we cannot forget those Jesus came to rescue from their own personal hells of demon possession, such as the one from whom the legions are driven from and into the herd of pigs (Luke 8:26-39).

But those truly seeking seem like such a small minority. My wife and I were talking the other night about how out of place we feel most of the time. I found myself thinking of Madeleine L’Engle. In her book, A Wrinkle in Time, Meg needs to travel through time and space to save her father. She is led by cherubic creatures who make the mistake of almost taking Meg to a two-dimensional world. It almost kills her as her breath is squeezed out of her and her heart and brain fail to function properly. In a spiritual sense, I think this is a good metaphor for all of us in Christ. Never mind that God has set eternity into the hearts of all – we simply don’t fit in this world anymore because we are not of it (John 17:16). To be totally clear, it is not because the world is too big or great to comprehend. Rather, it’s because it’s too small for us. We are infused with the eternal, which is not a “something” but rather a someone, Jesus Christ, in whom all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form and in whom we have been given fullness (Colossians 2:9-10). He is infinitely larger and greater than the world we live in; we simply can’t fit anymore.

As the world groans as in the pains of childbirth (Romans 8:22), some things become crystal clear to us as we see the principalities and powers rage (futilely) against the Lord’s anointed. We then are the children Jesus praises the Father for in Matthew 11:25 after excoriating those in power, stating that to us are revealed God’s ways.

And so, when we see a former president set up a social network called “Truth,” using it as a forum to spout off the most outrageous lies, we recognize it as blasphemous; only Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. (I don’t intend to tie Trump specifically to the beast in Revelation 13:5 – I think many throughout history have played that part… but if the shoe fits…).

When we hear of wars and rumors of war as Jesus warned us we would in Matthew 24:6-8 and then see the megalomaniac of Moscow overrun a sovereign Ukraine, kidnapping the children and farming them out to willing Russian accomplices while purposefully bombing innocent cities… or when Hamas breaches the border of Israel, indiscriminately killing women, children, and the elderly, and then retreats to hide behind their own children, knowing all along they are signing the death warrant of thousands of their own people – of their own future… it is appalling but not surprising.

When we see the ego of the few shut down an entire country through their desire for the praise of men (or maybe just one) and their own self-aggrandizement….

Well… we understand all of these as the death throes of a power that is willing to take anything and everything down with it. But we are commissioned to do more than just understand. Jesus didn’t just understand. He moved….

“The people living in darkness have seen a great light!” (Matthew 4:16). This is Jesus as he moves among the people preaching repentance and salvation. He moved…. Stick with me….

Isaiah 59 is fascinating as it holds out the truth that sin and its consequences are real (explaining just about all of what we see in so much of today’s world), repentance is necessary, and God is the one who saves – He moves…. But the 17^th verse of Isaiah 59 kicks me square into Ephesians 6 and my responsibility as I myself am charged to put on the whole armor of God. In the jolt that comes from the living and active word of God, we are commissioned and animated as vigorous participants who, in the power of God, blast the whitewash right off Satan’s lies. Isaiah, in powerfully speaking the word of God, is that kind of participant. All the prophets were. They called the world out for what it was. That is part of the calling. We must not hesitate, worrying if we will offend (we will, even as we strive to be as gentle as doves, speaking the truth in love – Matthew 10:16, Ephesians 4:15) or that some or most may not listen (they won’t – Matthew 7:14). Many will because many know something is not right, resonating deep in their hearts. Again, part of the calling – because that only takes folks so far and it’s not far enough into the direction God moves. The other part is to do that other thing God does – call people to salvation – be Christ’s ambassadors – to shine like stars in this crooked and depraved generation, to let people see the light of the world Jesus is, in contrast to the great darkness the world is steeped in. And God saves, one soul at a time, from a world gone crazy.

Laughing With You or Laughing At You

By Galen Harrill / March 8, 2023 March 8, 2023

Laughing with you or laughing at you?

I’m not sure anyone gets through the public school system without getting bullied. Growing up, it was a fact of life for me and just about anyone I knew, perpetrated by those who, in retrospect, had some difficult home lives. I developed an allergy to folks laughing at me. So, when as a fairly young boy I dropped a hose with one of those trigger nozzles on the ground only to get a generous face full of water in the presence of my grandpa and dad, I didn’t react well to them laughing. They tried to explain and apologize, but while I accepted the apology, understanding came much later. The distinguishing characteristics between laughing with someone and laughing at someone are subtle.

Part of dealing with this, for sure, is learning how to take ourselves less seriously than we do. Getting laughed at hurts our pride. In the movie “The Mission,” Mendoza’s (Robert De Niro) prized possession was his pride – and when Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) openly admitted to laughing at him because of the pathetic position his pride had put him in, it was the start of Mendoza’s healing and redemption. And you know what? Laughing in the Bible is often of this sort. We see that in Psalm 2:4 or 59:8, where the Lord laughs at those who set themselves against Him. It is ridiculous for anyone to think they could thwart God – laughable. It is also a warning in places like Ezekiel 22:4 to turn to God and see Him fully. If that’s what it takes for repentance, then even this kind of laughter is good.

But then there is the other kind of laughter. It’s the laughing with. That’s the kind of laughing my dad and grandpa were really engaged in when I got that face full of water. Sure, it was funny, but it’s deeper than that because as family our experiences are shared. We all have skin in the game so to speak. Healthy families don’t laugh at each other, they laugh with each other, drawing from wells of belonging. That’s what happens in God’s family too. It happens in Psalm 126:2 when God calls all His children together in restoration and their joy is complete in His blessings. Jesus echoes that sentiment in Luke 6:21, where mourning will turn to laughter. He further makes clear the source of our rejoicing (which also draws from a shared reality) – that our names written in heaven (Luke 10:20). Together.

I’ve been reflecting on this as I contemplate the joy I have in being with my brothers and sisters in Christ, who have a like-mindedness springing from a Christlike attitude, and share in a same love, dedicated to being one in spirit and purpose (see Philippians 2). I shouldn’t be surprised at this joy, but sometimes it is overwhelming, especially when I compare it with so many of my other interactions. Let the world laugh at us – we’re laughing with each other.

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Fly Eagles Fly

By Galen Harrill / February 15, 2023 March 8, 2023

Fly Eagles Fly

I think it will be immediately clear I’m not getting too deep today. Church on Sunday was a sea of green: Eagle’s green. I’ve never seen a sports jacket worn over a football team tee, but it worked. Now, not everyone was in green. I wasn’t. It just never crossed my mind. And we do have two KC fans who came resplendent in red. We had a few more sports allusions throughout worship than usual (hey, if Paul can do it, we can too!), and afterwards we had a fellowship meal where everyone spoke to everyone else, in keeping with our allegiance to the Prince of Peace. We joked about it but of course it goes much deeper than that – we have sincere love for one another, heart to heart. Over goulash, spaghetti, poppyseed chicken, pineapple upside down cake, peanut butter pie etc., there were a lot of conversations about who was going to win and why, along with a lot of conversations trying their best steer clear of the topic, mainly in vain. In the end, the Eagles lost.

“Well, this doesn’t have much to do with my spiritual life.” No, it doesn’t – unless you see every moment as a blessing and every interaction with our brothers and sisters in Christ as a gift from God. We share our incandescent joys and those that just make us chuckle. We cry with one another, sometimes from deep pain, and sometimes because we’re just tired that week. We grapple with great spiritual truths and conundrums. We plan for quarterly classes and discuss how to grow the church. And we talk about car trouble, sprained ankles, the price of eggs, and sports. But none of those things are our binding agents. Rather, it is God working who knits us together from all our sometimes wildly disparate threads to make us one….

As for the birds, there’s always next year….

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Snow Geese and Job

By Galen Harrill / February 8, 2023 February 8, 2023

Snow Geese and Job

Despite Punxsutawney Phil’s shadowy prognostications, the snow geese are making their way back to the tundra from parts south. We’re on a major snow goose route and have been watching them fly overhead for about two weeks now. They cover barren farmland fields making them winter-like in white, which is fine since we haven’t had much snow this season. With their higher pitched honk than their Canadian cousins and their relentless drive to move on (unlike their Canadian cousins), they are pleasant reminders of the moving of the seasons at God’s bidding.

We think we know why they start to migrate. We think it has something to do with the lengthening and shortening of days. We also think their brains have some sort of built-in magnetic-like compass to help them differentiate north from south. We think all this because we’ve done tons of research; we may just be right. But it doesn’t lessen the wonder for me. And every time I see them, my thoughts turn to Job chapters 38-41.

These chapters really are straight out of another dimension. Job has suffered for no real reason. (I’ve talked about Satan and reason here.) He’s done some complaining. He’s asked for answers. He’s crossed some lines. Instead of answering, God comes back at Job with an avalanche of His own questions Job can’t begin to answer. The point? We can’t even scratch the surface of how God has everything worked out.

But it’s the questions that fascinate me, and ultimately, they fascinated Job. Consider his answer – “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know (Job 42:3)…”

I really don’t think God intends to shut us up. “…too wonderful for me to know….” You see, I think the wonder is key. I think to delve and discover and try to understand life, creation, humanity, sin, salvation, the universe, quarks… all that stuff… and ultimately God Himself… well… God loves to see us do it. And if we can’t understand it, to finally be awestruck by it. “O the depths and the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgements and His ways beyond tracing out (Romans 11:33)!

In the end, Job is blessed doubly. In maybe not such a small way I share in that blessing every time I see the snow geese making their way back home….

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Frustrate or Facilitate?

By Galen Harrill / February 1, 2023 February 8, 2023

Frustrate or Facilitate?

When I was in college, a Muppets-based breakfast cereal came out called “Croonchy Stars,” inspired by the Swedish Chef. The box was hilarious. Among the many ridiculous things written was a contest to find out how many times you could find the word “rutabaga” on the box. You were to send your answers in for some kind of prize, I think. The instructions, however, made it clear that the word did not count in the actual instructions for the contest given on said box. You had to find it elsewhere. Ah, there it was, in the lines, “This is a perfect rutabaga you see, but it doesn’t count when it is in poetry.” Scratch that. It also had “rutaba – almost.” There was one inside the box – no go, that was not on the box – crazy prepositions. Even thinking about it right now after all these years I’m laughing, and I’m afraid my wife is going to ask me why!

What is not funny is when you find yourself in some type of situation that is more serious than breakfast cereal with real barriers. It’s exasperating when the goal is clear but the way is blocked. I consider these “bricks without straw” situations, like when Pharaoh told the Israelites they had too much time on their hands and were thus forced to make the same daily quota of bricks without the benefit of the previously supplied straw. They had to get it themselves. Jesus Himself excoriated the pharisees for shutting the doors of heaven in people’s faces, not entering themselves and not allowing others to enter.

Obviously, some things carry more weight than others – but while I’m here pondering these things, I may as well ask – how easy do I make it for people to reach the things that are truly necessary for human flourishing? Do I frustrate or facilitate? I don’t mean ensuring everyone gets what they want – rather that I do everything possible to help others thrive in God’s goodness, taking joy in theirs. Far be it from me to stand in the way of that!

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After the Spiritual Battle

By Galen Harrill / January 26, 2023 January 26, 2023

After the Spiritual Battle

I Kings 18 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. I won’t retell the story (you can read it here), but this is where Elijah calls out those prophets of Baal and has a little contest. God proves to the people He is in fact God by listening to Elijah’s prayer and sending fire to consume a water-saturated sacrifice after the prophets of Baal had no success with their own bone-dry offering. As many times as I’ve read this, and what happened in chapter 19 after the spiritual battle, I always come away with some new insight, some new thought. This time, I didn’t even read it. Life intersected with my memory of this story and bought me something new.

You may have noticed it’s been a couple of weeks since my last article. It was a tough December/January. I won’t go into great detail, but on several levels, we felt like the devil himself was after us. Which, to be clear, is always the case with God’s people. It just felt more concentrated and manifested itself in all-too-concrete ways this time. What did we do? We prayed. And we trusted. But it was still quite the month. God didn’t send fire from heaven at our request. But He did give us deliverance in the form of answers and assurances. And we thanked Him.

Often, however, after getting through difficult slogs, there is the crash. I myself often get sick, like I did after my grandma’s funeral. Sure, the hardest part is over and there is relief, but the reverberations from the battle still echo. Maybe you replay things in your mind, and you find you’re really quite exhausted and hope nothing else is coming your way for a bit.

That didn’t look like it was going to happen for Elijah. Jezebel is still queen. She still holds Ahab’s heart. And she is raging after Elijah with blood on her mind. Elijah runs away and prays to God for God to take him before finally falling asleep, exhausted, under a broom tree. God isn’t going to take him yet – He rather provides him with food and tells him to take a trip. Which he does – to Mt. Horeb, also known as Sinai of Exodus fame. This must be God’s favorite mountain….

Elijah goes to sleep in a cave, which seems awfully metaphorical to me, but I’ll leave that for another time. Upon awaking, God asks him what he is doing there. Thus begins a conversation where neither Elijah nor God answers the other directly. First, Elijah pours out his complaints and God tells him to get out of the cave and stand on the mountain in His presence. Several scary things happen while Elijah is standing there – a great wind, an earthquake, and a fire in quick succession. The important thing to note here is that God is not in any of those things. Oh, He could have been, but He wasn’t. Rather, He comes in the gentle whisper that follows. God asks again, “What are you doing here?” Elijah repeats the same complaints. I think God takes that to mean Elijah is not particularly doing anything there and therefore has time to do something useful. He gives him a few jobs.

This is the kicker for me – God never chews Elijah out. He never blows him off, shakes him out, or burns him. He never says, “Come on already! I sent fire from heaven for you! What else do you want??” He doesn’t yell, “Don’t you get it already? I’m with you, you don’t have anything to be afraid of!” He didn’t begrudge him the forty days off. God wasn’t in the hurricane or the earthquake or the fire, He came in the gentle whisper to a man who needed to regain perspective.

And I take it this way – after the spiritual battle, God is okay with us taking some time to lick our wounds. He’s okay with waiting to tell us what He wants us to do next. He understands our frailty and accommodates accordingly. I, for one, and very glad of it….

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