“But what is the divine reply to Elijah? ‘I have kept for Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’”

— Romans 11:4

Elijah the Tishbite—his name no doubt conjures up certain images. He was a man of the wilderness and the desert. John the Baptist was a prophet like unto Elijah. He was a man of solitude—a man whom God had prepared for a most difficult time. He was a man of unbending character. He was an austere man. A man whom perhaps many people would not find particularly likeable. He was what some people would call rigid in his beliefs. He was a diamond hard man for the hard days that were there.

To set this in context, in the early years of the reign of Ahab, he married Jezebel, who was the daughter of the king of Tyre and Sidon and she brought the Sidonian religion of the worship of Baal into Israel. This religion prospered and grew and Jezebel had set herself up to see Baalism replace the worship of Jehovah in Israel. She had killed a great many of the prophets of the Lord and provided hundreds of prophets of Baal. Baalism was rampant in Israel so that there were very few worshipers of the true God.

Elijah said that they have slain the prophets of the Lord and that he was the only one left, and they were seeking his life. But God encouraged him, as seen in the verse above, that there was still a faithful remnant.

May God help us to have resolute character to faithfully serve Him for our tasks at hand.

Righteous Father, we see our own country turning away from You and we too are discouraged by all the ungodliness. Thank You that there are many more than seven thousand in our land who have not bowed their knees to Baal…

BY GOD’S GRACE AND STRENGTH, WE CAN
STAND FIRM AND STRAIGHT IN A CROOKED WORLD.