A wonderful story is told about Alexander the Great of a time when he was only 12 years old.  He saw a beautiful horse he wanted that no one had been able to ride the horse.   Alexander made a bet with his father, Philip of Macedon.   If he, Alexander, was able to ride the horse, his father would buy it for him. But if Alexander could not ride the horse, he would buy the horse with his own money.

For quite some time the young Alexander watched others try to tame the fine horse.  He noticed that the horse was afraid of his shadow and would buck at anyone who came near. Alexander turned the horse so the horse was facing the sun. Since the horse could not see his shadow he was calm and docile. Alexander got on the horse and was able to ride him.

King Philip bought the horse for his son. It is said that father said to Alexander, ‘You must find a kingdom worthy of you, my son. Macedon is too small for you.’

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When I study history, I think it’s always interesting to read about what people were like before they were famous.  It’s comforting to know that the Wright brothers learned a love of tinkering from their mother and that this tinkering served them well as they opened their bicycle shop, and later built their first glider and even later built their first airplanes.

I love to think of young George Washington chopping down the cherry tree, and when confronted by his father declaring, ‘I cannot tell a lie.’  I like to think that even as a child he learned the kind of character that he would exhibit as he led the Armies of the Revolution.

I like to think about Lincoln walking 17 miles to the county courthouse to see how lawyers worked and how courts operated.

And I am proud to know that Eleanor Roosevelt was already occupied with works of kindness and charity in the slums among the poor immigrants of New York City when she met the distant cousin who would later become her husband, Franklin Roosevelt (and how interesting that she never had to change her name!).

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These stories are interesting to me because it helps me to understand that people who attain true greatness did not simply wake up one morning and decide to be great.  They do not simply reach into their backpack and pull out the virtues of character and compassion, perseverance and charity.  They came by these virtues slowly over the course of many years.  They became great because they started out making small choices, unimportant decisions that led over time to bigger and greater things.

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This morning, we get a glimpse of the great prophet Elijah when he was just starting out.  Of course we all know how he ended his days.  He is considered the greatest of the Old Testament prophets.  He is the only person – besides Jesus – who is credited with healing a leper.  Later we will read about how he faced off against 450 priests of Baal and how the Lord used him to win the day. 

We all remember that Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind and that it is prophesied that he will return before the Messiah comes.  IN the gospel texts, we read that people wondered if John the Baptist might be Elijah and even today, when our Jewish brothers and sisters celebrate the Passover, they set an extra place for Elijah.

But what was Elijah like at the beginning of his work – before all those miracles and accomplishments?  We meet Elijah in verse 1 of this chapter (1 Kings 17).  We are not told anything about his childhood but we know that Elijah, the Tishbite from Gilead, was called by God to be a prophet.  Prophets never have it easy but being a prophet during the reign of Ahab had to be especially nerve wracking. 

Scripture tells us that Ahab did more to provoke the anger of the Lord than had all the kings of Israel who were before him.  He was a bad dude who even took a foreign wife, Jezebel, and began to worship her God, Baal.

Elijah’s first job for God is to deliver a message Ahab: ‘As the Lord the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.’  These are big words, fighting words, and fearsome words to threaten a king with.  Not only does a drought threaten the lives and welfare of all of Israel, but it is also a direct affront to the false god Baal who is worshipped as a God of rain and agriculture.

After threatening Ahab, Elijah becomes a wanted man.  God tells him to ^‘turn eastward, and hide himself by the Wadi Cherith’ where he will drink from the waters and where ravens will bring him food morning and evening.  ‘But after a while the wadi dried up, because there was no rain in the land.’

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This brings us to this morning’s scripture portion.  Elijah has delivered God’s message and been sheltered and fed by God’s providence.  But now God calls him from the frying pan to the fire.  He is told to leave the relative safety of the wadi and go to Zarepath in Sidon – the home town of the evil queen Jezebel – out of Israel and into enemy territory.

When he leaves Israel, Elijah leaves behind everything he knows.  He leaves behind his family, his clan and his culture.  He goes to a place where he is an outsider, a stranger, a foreigner – someone who in a time of drought and want is certainly unwelcome.

God has prepared the heart of a widow to care for Elijah.  As he arrives, He sees the widow gathering sticks so that she may make one final meal for herself and her son.  Their cupboard is bare.  As a widow she has no one to help her through this difficult time.  Since her son is fatherless, he is considered an orphan.  The man who will one day be considered the greatest prophet in Israel must now rely on the kindness of two of the poorest and least important people is a foreign country.

This gives the Lord a chance to show Elijah a bit more about God’s power and mercy.  Elijah assures the woman that if she shares the little she has then the jar of meal and the jog of oil will never be empty.  The woman does share and indeed they are never emptied and the three unlikely members of the household never go hungry through the drought that will last for 3 ½ years.

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  How humbling it must have been for an Israeli man to rely on a foreign widow for all that time.  What a blessing it was for that widow and orphan to have food in a time when even the rich suffered from the drought-induced famine.  How comforting it must have been for them all to look into that jar and jug and see that God was still faithful.

How their faith grew slowly, day by day, as they experienced the mercy of God as God faithfully supplied al their needs.

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When God calls again, Elijah will leave this quiet place and return to the palace of Ahab and Jezebel.  He will pit the power of God against the power of Baal and 450 of his prophets – and God will prevail – big time – but more about that in another sermon.

What we need to remember is that even the great prophet Elijah started his career in God’s service with something small – with a quiet decision that, ‘yes’, he will follow the call of God.  That small decision led to bigger and bigger decisions that led Elijah further down the road of faith.  As every turn the God of Israel was with him, helping, guiding, protecting and leading.  And little by little Elijah followed God to greater and greater acts of faith.

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            What has this got to do for us in this day?  It is that while we may not be called to prophesy against evil kings and queens, we are called to make small choices that show we put out trust and faith in God.  We are called to step out in faith when we hear the call of God.  When we do, we will discover that God will take care of us in the most unexpected ways.

            Following God in the small things will grow our character and increase our faith and we can start today.  Perhaps God is calling you to make peace with a neighbor or friend.  Perhaps God is calling you to reign in your spending so you can support a worthy charity that serves the poor.  Perhaps God is calling you to take better care of yourself or to care for others more than yourself.

            Whatever it is, we can this morning, with God’s help, make that small choice that will take us down the path of character and faith.  Amen.