1 Kings 18

“A very long time passed….God’s word came to Elijah”.  It has been dry for a long time.  A very serious drought is happening.  Things are bad – no food, no grass, little water.  God comes to Elijah and tells him to “present yourself to Ahab; I’m about to make it rain on the country”.  See this:  God wants Elijah to go to the king who has been chasing and trying to kill him.  We are in the middle of a terrible drought which Ahab believes is Elijah’s fault.  God wants Elijah to tell the king that God is “about to make it rain”.  Whoa – that seems a little early to show up doesn’t it.  It isn’t raining.  The king wants Elijah dead for causing the drought.  Seems like the time to go to the king is right after the rain, not with a message that rain is coming.  Have you been there?  Has God asked you to walk in faith and trust Him when you can’t see the “rain” yet?  Elijah responds like this.  Scripture says “Elijah set out”.  He didn’t argue, he didn’t run, he didn’t make excuses – here it comes again – he obeyed.  From my chair he put himself in grave danger by willingly going in the open to the king.  He just takes off to find Ahab.  That is trusting God.  Of course God has a plan as He always does.  Obadiah, who was in “charge of the palace” for Ahab, is out looking for some grass to try and keep the animals alive and is the one who comes upon Elijah first.  Obadiah tries to make excuses why he is not the guy to approach Ahab with the news that Elijah wants to see him.  “I have been devout…risked my life by hiding them (he saved some of God’s prophets from death when Ahab was killing them all).  Elijah tells him he needs to go get Ahab. “Obadiah went straight to Ahab and told him. And Ahab went out to meet Elijah.”  We see two godly men do the same thing here – OBEY!