Today is the 17th day of June. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, it is fantastic

to be here with you today as we gather again. Take the next step forward together which brings

us to the conclusion of another one of our weeks together. So well done, we have made it

through another one of our weeks together. Probably more appropriately, we're about to finish another

one of our weeks together. And so let's dive in. We have been working our way through the book of

First Kings and we are moving through the different the different kings of Judah in the south

and the different kings of Israel in the north. Now that we have a divided kingdom, we have met the

prophet Elijah and King Ahab in the northern kingdom of Israel and it's not raining and it

hasn't rained for three years and so there is famine in the land and God is about to invite Elijah

back to center stage. He's been hiding and they've been looking for him for all this time and he's

about to make an appearance and so let's pick up the story. First Kings chapter 18 today.

After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah. Go and present yourself

to Ahab and I will send rain on the land. So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.

Now the famine was severe in Samaria and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator.

Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. While Jezebel was killing off the Lord's prophets,

Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, 50 in each and it supplied them

with food and water. Ahab had said to Obadiah, go through the land to all the springs and valleys,

maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of

our animals. So they divided the land they were to cover Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah

in another. As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to

the ground and said, is it really you? My Lord Elijah? Yes, he replied, go tell your master,

Elijah is here. What have I done wrong? Asked Obadiah that you are handing your servant over to Ahab

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