AM I IN TIMEOUT?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
“So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the
Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there.”
(1 Kings 17:5)

MEDITATION:
Have you ever been put in ‘time out’? Maybe you have put a child
of yours in ‘time out’. Why would we put anyone in ‘time out’? On
the surface it made seem like punishment for doing something bad,
but it is really to teach them something, isn’t it? While they are in
‘time out’, hopefully they will learn that there are consequences to
their actions.

Have you ever thought about God putting us in ‘time out’? We read
in His Word how He gave specific instructions to Elijah. God told him
where to go and for him to stay there. It was kind of like a ‘time out’,
but it was for Elijah’s benefit. While he was there, God provided him
with food and water. Why is that important? Because the land was
experiencing a major drought at the time.

Elijah may have felt lonely while he was awaiting the next
command from God. Sometimes God’s messengers can have
times of loneliness. For instance, Paul said his friends deserted
him in his time of need.
    Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because
    he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to
    Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus
    to Dalmatia.
    (2 Timothy 4:9-10)

    At my first defense, no one came to my support,
    but everyone deserted me. May it not be held
    against them.
    (2 Timothy 4:16)

However, as we can see in the case of Elijah, the messengers
of God are never totally alone. God was always there with
Elijah, and He is always there with those who are dedicated
to sharing His Word with others.

God knows the burden His messengers can feel as they make
personal sacrifices and experience discouragement when others
seem to be uninterested in their efforts to serve the Lord. Even
worse, Satan may use others as a venue for discouraging those
God wants to use as His messengers.

The good news for those who are willing to sacrifice their time to
serve the Lord is, God is sensitive to the needs of His messengers,
He knows how some will discourage them from fulfilling the Lord’s
calling, and He will provide the encouragement that only He can give.

How encouraging is that? When God called Noah to build an Ark,
there were some who scoffed and made fun of him in their efforts
to discourage him from obeying God’s calling for him. But even in
the midst of the discouraging efforts from others, Noah continued
to sacrifice his time to fulfill God’s calling.

How could he do that? It had to be because God was continually
encouraging him, right? There may have been those ‘alone times’
when God was right there with Noah encouraging him. But there
may have been other times when God would use a friend as a way
to encourage him.

Since God does not show favoritism, we would have to assume
that since He encouraged His servant Noah, He will also provide
encouragement to those He calls for special service today. When
God calls us to serve, we need to be sensitive to, and aware of the
special friends He will use to encourage us.

Be thankful for the special friends who are participating with us
when we are serving the Lord. God calls some to serve in a specific
way and thankfully He calls some to serve by encouraging others
who are serving. Never underestimate the value of God’s calling
for you to be an encourager.

Although they might never tell anyone, serving the Lord can ‘feel’
lonely at times. Satan will use those instances as an opportunity to
try to convince us we are wasting our time, that nobody is interested
in what we are doing, and we should quit ‘spinning our wheels’ and
start enjoying what the world has to offer.

Our takeaways are:
    – When God calls us to serve, He will equip us with what we need.
    – God knows of the time we spend and will give us the
       encouragement we need to continue with our efforts to serve Him.
    – Satan will work through some to try to discourage us from serving.
    – God speaks to us through some friends He has
       given the special spiritual gift of encouragement.
    – When others are disinterested or try to discourage us, we need
       to realize it is Satan trying to work through them. Rather than
       becoming frustrated or angry with them, we need to pray for
       them (asking the Lord to defeat Satan’s efforts to use them).
    – We should thank God often for those special people He has
       sent to encourage us as we dedicate our time and efforts to
       serve where He has called us (we should thank those who
       are encouragers and tell them how valuable they are to us).

ACTION:
Are you serving as one of God’s messengers? If not, then how
are you serving Him? If you are a follower of Jesus, then you
know God has given you a spiritual gift that He expects you
to use in serving Him, right?

If you are not called for the specific purpose of sharing His Word,
then you can serve God by being an encourager to those who are
called to spread the gospel news. As a God-provided encourager,
realize the challenges, sacrifices, loneliness, and discouragement
that those serving the Lord can experience, and think of ways you
can encourage them. When you do, you will be a blessing to them,
and you can also expect to receive blessings from the Lord for being
supportive of His messengers.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for calling those who have
dedicated themselves to obeying You and sharing Your
Word with others. Open my eyes to opportunities where
I can be an encourager to them. I pray that You would
teach me to use the spiritual gift You were gracious enough
to give me when I confessed my belief in You and Jesus as
Your Son. Thank You for Your promise to never leave or
forsake me. Knowing that You are with me at all times, gives
me the stamina and encouragement I need to continue serving
You where You have called me to serve. Just as Your Spirit took
care of Elijah, I know I am not alone when I am serving You.”

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