The story of Elijah and the three year drought, brought down by God as judgment for Israel's rebellion, just goes to show that men cannot be driven to obey God or believe God.
Because Israel wouldn't stop worshipping Baal, God withheld the rain. Imagine the foolishness, that they would insist on worthless worship of the idols which did them no good, even when it was in their own best interests to stop doing so.
This demonstrates the blindness that sin imposes upon us all - it even overcomes our intellects and what we can plainly see with our own eyes!
But in the midst of this, God's grace was shown to the widow at Zarapheth. He gave her food during the drought. This goodness came out of the blue, by God's mercy, to a nobody woman in a far-away place.
Jesus took these matters further still. In the parable of the king's feast, He describes how men will not accept God's goodness even when it's offered to them. No, the king had to send out and invite strangers and poor people, and then he had to drag some of them into the banquet.
So judgment doesn't drive people to the Lord. Even free Grace will not bring them to the Savior. No, God has to reach out and bring sinners to Jesus, or else they would never come.
We ought to marvel that God has saved us who have trusted in Jesus! Our sin and our blindness would prevent us from ever believing the Gospel, but God has sweetly forced us to Christ.
We look at the world and we see brokenness, and poverty, and laziness and irresponsibility, and we ask, why don't those people shape up and do what they need to do to improve their situation!
But that is the story of fallen man - but praise God, He overcame our folly! |
