A man rebuilds a city that had lain in ruins for centuries and pays for it with the lives of two of his sons, and the chronicler records it in one cold sentence. That scene from the days of King Ahab (1 Kings 16) opens a reflection on ages that looked golden, and on what happens to a society that stops listening to God. Against that background stands Elijah, an ordinary man with no visions and no voice from heaven, holding only the written word of God, and that proved to be enough (1 Kings 17). Listen if you want to know why, in all the noise of success, God is so hard to hear today.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- In 1 Kings 16:29-34, Ahab enters a political marriage with Jezebel, and Hiel rebuilds Jericho at the cost of his sons. What do these two stories reveal about the state of an Israel that had stopped listening to God?
- Elijah announces a drought, even though the text never says God spoke to him first. How does Deuteronomy 11:13-17 explain how Elijah knew what to say to Ahab?
- The sermon asks why it is so hard to hear God amid today's noise of success. Where do you see the attitude of "we do it because it's legal, not because it's moral" around you?
- The speaker says that in a world that has stopped listening to God, the prophet is the one who still trusts His word. In which area of life (honesty, sexual purity, choosing a partner) do you find it hardest to hold on to what "is written"?
- Instead of confrontation and a great miracle, Elijah ends up by the brook Cherith, fed by ravens, and is then sent to a widow in Zarephath. How do you understand the idea that listening to God sometimes begins with us changing rather than our circumstances?
- What one small step of obedience to God's word can you take this week, and how will you make room for quiet to learn to listen to God?
