17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
Sometimes we want to think that the people in the Bible were very different than we are, that they possessed some extra ingredient that made them so great, so able to withstand sin, but that simply is not true. Here James writes that Elijah was a person with the same passions that we have. His internal constitution was just like ours. He struggled just like we do. He was not made from a different batch of humanity that doesn’t struggle with sin. Instead, he was just like us. And as you learn about his life you can see these same struggles. He was used by God to accomplish some very great things, and he also struggled with fear, depression and loneliness. What I find most encouraging is that someone who had these kinds of struggles could be used by God at all. Doesn’t God only use perfection? God will use anyone who is willing to give God all the glory. All the glory. Too often the inner motives come out in pride and false humility. So in order to be able to use us, God often must humble us so that we recognize our total inability to stand on our own. We must be empty so that the Lord can fill us. We don’t like those emptying times in our lives. Empty is not a fun position to be in. It feels so vulnerable, even when we know we are in the loving hands of our grace-giving God. But once we have been there and get comfortable there, we never want to be anywhere else. Because when we are empty, then God can fill us with Himself. Then God can use us and we get to be right in the middle of God working, front row seats, center stage, best seats in the house. We get to experience God changing lives, like God changed ours. We are so close that some of the blessing that is flowing into the lives of others spills over into our lives. As they are blessed, we get doubly blessed, blessed because God used us and blessed because we witnessed the moving power of God. What is keeping you from being used by God? Remember, Elijah was just like you. If God could use him, He can use you.
The Arnold Journey 