Cutting off the Water...

The little man with big eyes for God
Faced up to some big odds…

A rotten society…
A cruel religion…
And the big bosses…

He told them that God was going
To cut off their water…
Shut down their game…

This little meek guy!
Huh…
Call him a prophet? 

Anyway…

God turned off the spigot
For three and a half years…

Take that, big bosses!

I Kings 17: 1

Sustained by Ravens...

The bosses were upset and angry
With their water cut off…

So God told the little man
To hide by a special brook east of town.
He could drink from the brook
And ravens would feed him…

Ravens?

God provides in mysterious ways…
To the faithful
And courageous.

But of course the brook dried up
Since the rain was cut off.

Now what?

I Kings 17: 3- 6  

The Larder Failed Not...

Could things get worse?

In faith the little man
Again listened to God…
And went to a village down the road
And found a poor widow
Who God said would feed him.
But, she had no food!
Huh?

Again God provided in a mysterious way…
And her larder failed not.

Then…
The widow's son took ill.
His soul left him…
Elijah prayed and God heard
And the boy's soul returned.

Faith wins out again.
Things were looking up…

I Kings 17: 8,15 and 22

Then the Fire of the Lord Fell...

Things were looking up?
Not quite…

The big bosses still prevailed…
The prophets of Baal still pranced…
That called for a showdown.
The God vs society's god…

First up the prophets of Baal.
An altar was set up with wood and offerings…
The prophets danced until they limped…
Nothing happened!

Elijah's turn…
He even soaked everything in water.
He prayed to God…
And the fire of the Lord fell…
Consuming everything…

There you go…

I Kings 18: 22- 24, 37- 39

Behold, a little Cloud...

The water had been cut off
For three and a half years…
And it hurt.

So now the little man 
Prepared to open the spigot.
He prayed on a mountain top
Calling on God in faith…

Seven times a lookout saw nothing.
Then…
"Behold a little cloud is rising…"
Soon there was a great rain…

God keeps His promises.

I Kings 18: 41- 45

A Still Small Voice...

Things were still not looking up…

One of the big bosses was still angry…
And threatened the little man.
Discouraged and lacking faith
Elijah took off in a hurry…
And hid in a convenient cave.

Hiding from God?
Avoiding all those nasty problems?

God came to him.
"What are you doing here, Elijah?"
The little man with big eyes for God
Was despondent and feared for his life.

Then God spoke to him,"in a still small voice."
Elijah understood…
And walked out of the cave…

God cleared things up!

I Kings 19: 3- 18

Casting the Mantle…

The little man with big eyes for God
Left that cave after hiding from God.
God had cleared things up…
And in faith Elijah took God at His word.

Then God told him to anoint Elisha
To succeed him as prophet…
What the…?
But, God had cleared things up…
Big time!

So Elijah went and found Elisha…
Plowing a field with many oxen.
Elijah went up to him 
And cast his mantle high in the sky.

The cloak fluttered like an excited, purple bird
And landed on a surprised Elisha.
The new prophet celebrated with a party
Then followed Elijah…
Big time…

I Kings 19:19

Flying Home...

Things were looking up…
God had made everything clear
And Elijah trusted in God's will.

He had stopped the rain…
Had been sustained by ravens
And a poor widow.
Raised an ill boy…
Called down fire from Heaven…
And he returned the rain.

Not too shabby for a little man
Full of faith and trust in God.

As Elisha, his successor,
Waved goodbye…
Elijah took off on an exciting
Trip to Heaven.

II Kings 2: 11 

I was originally fascinated by the adventures of the prophet Elijah before I even became a Christian when I worked in an art studio with eleven other artists. One of the artists was quite different from the rest of us. He was one of the most humorous men I have ever met, but he was also an extremely fundamentalist Christian. One of his personal methods of witnessing to his faith was to read his Bible out loud at break times. Really loud! During one of these sessions he read the story of Elijah. He read a short segment each day as if it were a soap opera series. However, he read the story with a humorous Jewish accent. Being from the New York City area he was quite good with the accent. He would have the whole studio of artists laughing as he even had God speaking in the Jewish accent. He would always end each day's segment relating that part of the story to Christian faith and God's love.

Even at that time I was impressed with that wild story about Elijah and the humor found in the Bible. I knew that someday I would have to express Elijah's adventures in artwork. That goal became more meaningful after I finally did understand God's Love and Grace through the witnessing of my wife and that funny Christian artist in that art studio years ago.

The artwork on Elijah became a reality in the early 1970's when I was inspired to create a series of seven acrylic paintings on his story. I wanted the depictions to have a humorous character relating to how I heard the story read in the art studio years before. My cartooning background inspired me to draw Elijah as just a little, meek man with no power of his own, but with his eyes wide open to God using His power through him in faith.

Now, many more years later I have revisited the Elijah art series and have slightly revised the compositions to fit a new format by using computer art drawing. I have tried to retain the character of the early paintings while enhancing the expression. I also added an eighth composition, "Casting the Mantle." The current final Elijah series is computer mediated ink jet prints.

I still laugh as I remember that strange Christian artist with his funny Jewish accent reading the adventures of Elijah from his beat up, old Bible during break times in that art studio many years ago.

Robin Jensen

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