Meditations on 1. Kings 19

And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time.

And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. vs. 1-4

After the moment of great victory, what brought one of the great prophets to this moment of despair: unmet expectations.

He expected the mighty miracles of God to move the hearts of a nation. He expected Ahab, having seeing the power of the true God would turn from his wickedness. But, yet Jezebel continued to run rampant, doing whatever she willed.

We too, like Elijah can run away or suffer disillusionment when are expectations are missed. We expect something to be a certain way and we can get angry and frustrated, but we mustn’t give into despair. The Lord declared:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.-Isaiah 55:8,9″

Elijah had no way to control the reaction of the people. His job was to declare the word of the Lord faithfully. Our job is to do the work the Lord has given us faithfully.

During my 2004 campaign for the State House, I was nervous leading up to the primary about the result. I went to the State Day of Prayer. Bryan Fischer was taking me back to my car and all along the way back, I’d been talking about my campaign and my concern with the result. Before I went back to my car, he prayed with me. I’ll never forget the word he prayed over me, “Duty is ours, results are God’s.”

We are not called to always be “the winners” but we are called to always be faithful to the vision the Lord has given us.

And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

The Angel of God was prodding Elijah. God does not want us to lay down in our depression and sorrow, but to get up, to rise up and live. So, Elijah gets up and goes to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God.

It was where Moses received a revelation. It was where God had moved mightily in the past. So soon after his great victory, he felt the glory of God was so far away. He wanted to see the power and might of God.

And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

God’s first question for Elijah is, “What are you doing here?” I think that’s also his first question for us when we step out of His Will.

Elijah came up in despair because he was abandonned and alone. He came to the place of God’s might to understood why God had left him so utterly alone.

Great manifestations passed by: wind, earthquake, and fire, but it says God was not in any of these. Then, came a still small voice.

I have people ask me sometimes for proof of God’s existence or proof of Christ. I rarely argue the point, because God is not a science project that you put under a microscope and study. That you on examining, say, “There, I see God.”

No, God is the Lord. He is in the still, small voice. Yet, most of us never stop to listen to Him. It is not, as some well-meaning ministers have professed, a result of cell phones and Internet. For in Elijah’s day, God was ignored by an entire nation.

What this tells us is that Elijah didn’t need to take his great Spiritual Journey up Horeb because God was with him in that still small voice that his own despair had drowned out.

God then asks Elijah the same question and Elijah gives the same answer:

13And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

14And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

And the LORD said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. v. 15-18

God’s message to Elijah two messages here.

The first is, “Elijah, get up, you have work to do.” Often when we throw a pity party, we can forget that God still has a work for us to do. We still have duty and self-pity is not a reason to avoid doing it.

The second is, “You are not alone.” When we sit on our isolation, we can feel like Elijah, “I’m the only one who truly believes in God as we live in a world that’s full of Sunday Morning religion.” Yet, God saw the hearts of seven thousand, who quietly held to the way of God, even as they hid from the wrath of Jezebel.

Elijah reminds us why we need to be in community with like-minded believers who will encourage us and lift us up. God is not so limited that you or I are all that He has. He has people everywhere who serve in Spirit and Truth whether we acknowledge it or not.

So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee? And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.

We meet Elisha and we learn two things about him. The first is that he’s ready to follow the Lord. Some man comes and throws a coat on us, or more likely tells us to follow him, and we’ll make excuses. We’ve got jobs and commitments. Elisha was hungry to do the Will of God. He doesn’t call after Elijah, he runs after him. That shows some enthusiasm.

Second, he leaves his family and steps on the road to becoming a great prophet. Where does it begin? He ministered to Elijah. His road to greatness began with servanthood, as it must with us all.

Linked to Random Yak, Pursuing Holiness, and Third World County

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