Daily Lesson for July 14, 2014

Today's Lesson comes from Romans chapter 11 verses 2 through 4:

2 Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

The dog days of summer can be trying for a pastor. The pews are half empty, giving is down, and you are just hoping to eek out the July mortgage payment on the building.  You wonder if by the time August comes there will be anybody or any money left.  You begin to question your call to the church, and to the city, and even your call to ministry.  Secretly, and we're just being honest here, you even begin browsing the classifieds to see if when everything goes south there is some truck driving school you could enroll in in a hurry.

And then suddenly, and pretty much with no warning, and no connection to each other, seven people walk the aisle at the invitation at the end of the service.

Seven people - okay, so it's not the seven thousand God sent Elijah.  But it might as well be; because that seven does the same for you that the seven thousand did for Elijah.  It lifts your drooping head and your sagging spirit, and reminds you that God is doing a lot more than you think or know about in other people's hearts.  In other words, it helps you remember that despair is presumptuous so long as you serve the Living God.