2023_09_01 Insight Post- Julie Christensen
This week’s reading- 1 Kings 17-22, 2 Chronicles 33
Quiet time wasn’t so quiet this week. I had to start over and over many times as I tried reading and rereading about Elijah, Obadiah, black birds, flour and oil, blindfolds, bulls……
I kept questioning the oddity and wondered, as I have many times before, just what does God want me to know from His word in I Kings and 2 Chronicles. A wee bit of selfishness creeped in as God asked “Are you praying for the non-believers? Are you praying for the unknown? Are you praying for those you don’t even know?” It’s easy to pray for ourselves, our loved ones, and specific requests from friends, but do we dig deeper and listen to God during our conversations with Him? God kept laying the non-believers on my heart. What if a curious non-believer opened a Bible and simply read “The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.” (1 Kings 17:6). Some may simply shake their head in disbelief that a Big Mac could be delivered by a black bird, slam the Bible shut and not opening its powerful pages ever again. A simple sentence that can easily be taken out of context isn’t what our faith is all about. God has help for us where we least expect it. He provides for us in ways that go way beyond our narrow expectations. No matter how hopeless or impossible our situation may seem, God is there even if it is in a strange place. Yet, I can’t help but to still be pondering those non-believers. God is challenging me to pray for those who don’t have faith; to pray for those who simply open the Bible and quickly shut it in disbelief; to pray for those I don’t even know; to step away from my easy, comfortable, convenient prayer life and dig deeper. I’ll be doing that this week. Join me!
Julie Christensen
Senior Director of Silo Center