Pastor and author Max Lucado has a simple message for Christians in his new book: Keep going. Keep working! Be steadfast. Ours is a call to wait on the Lord even when circumstances around us make no sense; ours is a call to trust in God when there’s no rain in the forecast for our parched land.
Lucado is a master storyteller who uses personal examples and relevant context to make biblical truth and an unchanging God come alive anew. He makes the reader believe everyone can trust like the prophet Elijah trusted, everyone can pray like the prophet Elijah prayed, and everyone can endure the way the prophet Elijah endured.
Elijah lived, spoke, and worked in perilous times. There was nothing easy about trusting God in the middle of a drought situation when God asks you to get food from someone who has no food to offer you. There was nothing easy about trusting God in front of a wicked king and his wicked wife. There was nothing easy about trusting God as the true and sovereign God in a place and era that was brimming with false gods. God’s own people had turned aside from truly worshiping him and were “playing hopscotch with their divine allegiances”
For an undetermined amount of time God enrolled Elijah in “divine boot camp” so that Elijah could be shaped into the person and prophet God needed as his spokesperson. God used challenge after challenge in Elijah’s life to remind Elijah that he was still God and he was still reigning.
Like Elijah, believers today live in dark times.
Lucado reminds readers that the devil and his hosts do not have the final say in our destiny. God is the true king. We can stand on his promises and listen for the voice of his Spirit. We can live and act with unbreakable courage because we know that one day soon God’s justice will prevail and evil will be defeated forever.
The print version of this book includes a chapter-by-chapter discussion guide for individuals or small groups. (Thomas Nelson)
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Aime Spriensma