1 Kings 17-18; Psalm 120; John 9

July 3: 1 Peter 4:10-11 urges us to steward our gifts well, speaking according to the strength God supplies, speaking the utterances of God. Elijah makes a great example, and the blind man healed at Siloam is an example of growth in stewardship, as he first testifies:

1. that Jesus is a prophet, (John 9:17),
2. then is pushed to call Him a sinner and refuses, saying he only knows he was blind and now he sees, (John 9:25).
3. As the religious leaders continue to push him, he begins to realize: if this man were not of God, He could do nothing. (John 9:33)
4. Finally when Jesus fully reveals Who He is to him, he believes and worships Him. (John 9:38)

He knows he’s facing expulsion, yet he declares the truth that he knows boldly. We must do the same, no matter the consequences.

1 Kings 17-18: You have to wonder: did Elijah not doubt at all? He was boldly sarcastic with the prophets of Ba’al. He set up an “impossible” altar to set ablaze. He stood alone against the 850 pagan prophets and challenged the people to make a decision. In the next chapter he faces a crisis of faith, but God seems to have upheld him from any doubt at this time so that he could clearly and courageously present a way to repentance for the people of the Northern Kingdom. How merciful of God, though He had been largely abandoned by the people.

Psalm 120: As I look at the cry for deliverance today in Psalm 120, I’m thinking of the prophets of the LORD under the reign of Ahab and Jezebel. The Psalmist worries about his mighty enemies, who hate peace and speak for war, deceiving everyone. Were some prophets delivered? There was Elijah himself, the 100 prophets hidden in a cave by Obadiah, and seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Ba’al. But what of Elijah's claim? “…the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword…” (1 Kings 19:10) In a day of deception, might not even some of the Lord’s faithful meet such a fate? As Stephen accused, “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers” (Acts 7:52). Truly for Christ’s sake, we are in various places at times killed like sheep for the slaughter, Romans 8:36; yet, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21) Hebrews 11 reminds us that the world was not worthy of these who were slain, and they did not accept deliverance in order to gain a better resurrection. (Hebrews 11:35)

John 9: Why specifically was the blind man healed in this way? What was the significance of sending him to the pool of Siloam instead of instantly healing him as Jesus had done before? Each evening, at the conclusion of the day celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, the Jews carried water from the pool back to the Temple area, where the people would drink in celebration of the wilderness wanderings, when water was brought forth from the Rock. On the last day they don’t do this, and Jesus used that opportunity to invite any who thirsted to come to Him and drink. (John 7:37) Putting mud in the man’s eyes and sending him to Siloam took advantage of the tradition to bring attention to a miracle in a way He didn’t usually do. A man navigating unerringly to the pool with mud in his eyes demonstrated that he was indeed a blind man. He was  “sent” to be healed, and thus ordained to testify about the One Who sent Him, just as Jesus Himself had been sent to testify about the One Who sent Him. Jesus had explained beforehand that God is at work, even on the Sabbath, (John 5:17), then He demonstrated it in a way that proved He had been sent, proved He was the source of Living Water and proved He was the Light of the World.