Continual Burnt Offering: Daily Meditations, March 3 (18:17-18)
“And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel: but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim. ―1 Kings 18:17, 18.
HE who has the testimony of his own conscience that he is walking in accordance with the revealed will of God will be courageous in the hour of danger, when the enemies of the truth oppose with violence or deceitful pretense. There is a mere fleshly bravado which may exist where one is playing fast and loose with that which is of God. But holy boldness is another thing altogether and is the accompaniment of genuine piety and true loyalty to the Word of the Lord. It is this that we see exemplified in the life of Elijah, and in this we may well seek grace to emulate the devoted man of God who came to call the people back to the law they had forgotten.
—St. Patrick of Ireland.