Paul is talking about death, but more specifically that when we die, when we leave the body behind, we go to be with the Lord. How could Paul be so sure?
Paul says that we walk by faith. We take God at His Word. Our security is not found in the things we can see and feel, but in the living God who has given His Word to us.
As we return to Elijah we see that this is not only the lesson he learnt at the Brook Cherith, but which shaped and focused his life. Though the Brook dried up it was not until the Word of the Lord came to him that Elijah moved on. Three times in these first 8 verses we find reference to “the Word of the Lord”, emphasizing that this was the key directive of Elijah’s life. He exercised implicit faith in God’s Word. Obedience for him was not a matter of following where he could see, it was a matter of faith.
This was not only true at the Brook, but as he left the ‘classroom’ into daily life as he walked to Zarephath. As we shall see today this meant walking right under the noses of Ahab and Jezebel who were seeking everywhere for his blood.
Does that mean he understood God’s ways? Does that mean that his faith was never challenged? On the contrary, but he lived out the principle that Paul enunciated “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
Our response to God’s ways must always be one of faith. In this way God confirms faith as the established principle of the believer’s life. In that sense we only leave God’s school of faith when we enter glory.
Though the challenge is real, as we understand the essential principles underpinning God’s ways with us (that they are not irrational, but carefully orchestrated and always accomplished) we find a fresh sight of God and renewed vigour in serving Him.