Lesson 4 – Serving God with Devotion
Read 1 Kings 18:1-19 https://www.bible.com/bible/59/1KI.18.ESV
From 1 Kings 18:12 – I your servant have feared the Lord from my youth.

The drought was in its third year, and animals were dying for lack of grass and water. King Ahab only trusted himself, and Queen Jezebel had tried to kill all God’s prophets. The nation was in terrible trouble.

Elijah had been hiding from King Ahab during the three years of the drought; and one of Ahab servants, Obadiah, had hidden one hundred other prophets from Ahab and Jezebel too.

One day King Ahab took Obadiah out searching for water, each going in separate directions. Obadiah found Elijah as he walked through the countryside, and he fell to his knees and bowed reverently before him, asking – “Is it really you, my master Elijah?”

“Yes, I am Elijah. Now go tell the king you have seen me”.

Obadiah cried out in fear that if he told the king he had seen Elijah, the prophet would only disappear and Obadiah would be killed.

Elijah answered – “As surely as the Lord God lives, Whom I serve, I will meet face-to-face with your master Ahab today.”

Obadiah gathered courage and went immediately to King Ahab and told him. Ahab hurried to meet Elijah. The moment Ahab saw Elijah, he called out – “So it is finally you, you old troublemaker!”

Elijah answered him with God’s words – “I am not the one who troubles Israel, it is you and your idol worship. You have forsaken God and His commands and worship the local idol-gods, the Baals. I want you to have all Israel come to Mt. Carmel. Be sure the four hundred fifty prophets of the local gods, the Baals, are there, and the four hundred prophets of the goddess Asherah – all the prophets your wife Jezebel takes care of.”


Sometimes God takes us into places or asks us to do things which could easily get us into a lot of trouble. The Apostle Paul was warned of just such a danger he faced when he purposed to go to Jerusalem. He was told he would be captured and put into prison if he went – read the story in Acts 21. Paul told those who tried to keep him back that he was following and trusting God for everything.

We will find out in our next lesson what our awesome God does on Mt. Carmel!

*When has God led you into a situation that was dangerous and could have cost you something precious to you or even your life? How did God protect you?