We live in a world of conflict – a world of war. The joke for those mocking beauty pageants is that every contestant desires “world peace”. While most of us would love to see peace across the whole earth, most of us would actually settle for something a bit less ostentatious: peace in our families, work relationships and friendships.

Jesus had just left Samaria where many had put their faith in him. On his way to Cana, he met an unnamed man. The text says the man was an “official,” a member of King Herod’s court. Herod was considered by most Jews to be a poser “King of Israel” installed by the pagan Romans. This man came and asked Jesus to heal his dying son.

The author of this book notes that, as his great-grandfather, David, Asa did what is right in the eyes of the Lord. This was not said of his father, nor of his grandfather, in spite of the fact that both of them accomplished some things in the name of God. But God knows the hearts of men and women and discerns their thoughts. Asa served the Lord with his whole heart, even if he, like each one of us, was not perfect.

As we see in this story, the kings of Israel went from bad to worse as they moved away from the Lord altogether. They led the Israelites into some increasingly terrible heathen practices, like those of the Canaanites whom God chased away under the leadership of Joshua. Not only did they separate themselves from the Lord, they started building temples to idols worshipped by foreign people.

Elijah is an unforgettable bible figure who is part of eight chapters in the narrative of the kings of Israel. All that the Bible reveals of his background is that he is from the village of Tishbe in Gilead. Elijah is recognized as the greatest prophet after Moses. He appeared with Jesus at his transfiguration as the one who represents the prophets, along with Moses who represents the law (Matthew 17: 3).

What a wonderful story!

The worst king of Israel had Obadiah as his palace administrator. Obadiah was a man who had respect for the living God. At the risk of his life, he had hidden and fed 100 prophets of the Lord, in spite of the famine which was striking Samaria.

I was sitting in a truck parked at a look-out spot above the Stewart River valley in the Yukon. My mind and spirit were in turmoil. I’d been trying to make life work on my own terms but had only succeeded in making myself miserable. The circumstances had come to a point of desperation and in desperation I began talking to God, even though I had convinced myself he did not exist.