February 2 Daily Devotional

Monthly Theme:

Elijah's name is his mission: "My God is the LORD." Elijah teaches us the meaning of repentance by the removal of idolatry. Unless we obey the Word, God's blessings don't descend. Instead, the land will experience a terrible drought.

Bible Reading:

1 Kings 17:1–6

Bible Text:

"As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain" (I Kings 17:1).

Devotional:

The true God delivered his message through the prophet Elijah: There will be no moisture in the land until I send it. If there is no water, there will be no growth. If there is no growth, there will be a famine. And if there is a famine, there will be death in this Godforsaken country.

Israel was the appointed guardian of God's revelation at a time when Israel had no room for the Word of truth. Elijah was to Israel what the Bible is to us. When the prophet left the country, God's Word had departed. God's favor left, and a famine starved the land.

God hid Elijah across the Jordan near a brook in the Kerith ravine. Elijah drank from the creek. At God's command the ravens brought Elijah bread and meat in the morning and evening.

The ironies in the story are outstanding. Ravens are unclean birds in Israel, but they obey God better than God's own people do. Israel trusts in Baal, the god of rain and fertility; but the drought is slowly killing everything.

For us as for Israel, God's judgment must lead to repentance. When we (or our children or church or nation) lose the Word, we lose life, unless we repent and cry for times of refreshment:

Apart from you I long and thirst, and naught can satisfy;
I wander in a desert land where all the streams are dry.

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published in 1994. This edition is copyright by Faith Alive Christian Resources, from whom may be ordered Daylight, the predecessor of Twilight.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this edition of Twilight are from the New International Version

Be sure to read the "Preface" and the "Acknowledgments" by the author.