Main Thought:
The prophet Elijah was steadfast in God’s word in the face of persecution. The person who follows God is steady like a tree because God’s word never changes. The wicked are blown like dust by the wind because they follow their own unstable ways.
Psalm 1
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Prayer
O God, thanks and praise belong to You because You have given us Your Holy Word. Enlighten us by Your Holy Spirit to understand Your counsel of grace in Jesus Christ, to love Your Word, and to take delight in learning Your statutes and walking in Your Law. Bestow Your blessing and prosperity on the works of our hands in our Christian calling and all our conversation. Amen.
A Prayer for the Commemoration of Elijah
Lord God, heavenly Father, through the prophet Elijah, You continued the prophetic pattern of teaching Your people the true faith and demonstrating through miracles Your presence in creation to heal it of its brokenness. Grant that Your Church may see in Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the final end-times prophet whose teaching and miracles continue in Your Church through the healing medicine of the Gospel and the Sacraments; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.