1 Kings 18:17-20

When Ahab saw Elijah.

Deliverance from the mouth of the lion

I. The wonderful protection of the prophet;

II. The unjust accusation brought against him;

III. The bold language he uses; and,

IV. The secret power he exercises. (F. W. Krummacher, D. D.)

Elijah meeting Ahab

I. That in darkest times God reserves some men and keeps them true to himself. Conspicuously does this appear in the great character Elijah. The word itself covers a wide field--Elijah. The history of an age is covered by such a character. As time goes by, after he vanishes from scenes on which he came suddenly, his proportions increase, as a mountain seems greater the farther you go from its base. By and by it comes to pass that the mighty hero of God’s making will be expected again on earth when the extremity of human need is reached. Elijah must come, men said, as the forerunner of the great Messiah, and as a restorer of all things. God keeps such spirits as these in His unseen Army of the Reserve; and, when darkness covers the earth, and men’s hearts fail them for fear, suddenly an Elijah steps upon the scene, pronounces doom on the guilty, gathers together the righteous, and re-enacts the eternal law by His word.

II. we learn that God determines to let men know that He governs this world.

III. We learn from the lesson before us, still further, that wicked men charge the righteous with being disturbers of the peace. “Whatever,” said George Shepard, “may be true in medicine, God’s system of moral cure is by contraries. He puts forth the truth to crowd out the error, and what if it does happen, in the fierce antagonism, that there are seasons of confusion and trouble? What though the tempest twirls everything into disorder, if it only blows away the miasma? There are people who are exceedingly alarmed at the presence or the prospect of agitation.”

IV. Finally, we must feel, as we read again this familiar meeting between Elijah and Ahab, that it would be well if there were more of elijah’s stamp to-day. (Monday Club Sermons.)