James, the half-brother of Jesus, said that Elijah was a man just like you and me. Yet, when I consider the many things that Elijah did I can’t help but wonder about that. Elijah had more courage than I could ever imagine myself having. Would I have the faith and courage to approach the President and say that God was bringing judgment upon the country because of his leadership – the way that Elijah did to King Ahab? Would I have the faith and courage to stand before the entire nation and challenge them to choose between God and The American Dream? Would I have the faith and courage to call out 450 of the Enemy’s most powerful agents for a spiritual showdown? Could I invoke the power of the Holy Spirit to call down fire from heaven? To defeat those agents of the Enemy? To outrun the President’s motorcade on foot? These are all things that Elijah did. I would like to think that if God specifically called me to do those things that I could and would do them, but they seem so far beyond anything that I would expect. So how can Elijah be a man just like me?
The truth is that despite doing such amazing things, Elijah was a man
just like me and he had the same fears – and the same failures that we
have. Maybe he was physically, spiritually,
and emotionally spent (I’ve been there), but after doing the great things that
he did, Elijah fled for his life at the threat of the king’s wife, Queen
Jezebel. Now maybe there was something
special about Jezebel – certainly she was a very evil woman – or maybe Elijah’s
well had just temporarily run dry.
Nevertheless, in a way that I certainly can and do empathize with,
Elijah found himself alone, sitting under a broom tree (whatever that may be), running
from the Queen, wondering whether God and everyone else had abandoned him, and
wishing that he would die. Now that, my
friends, is more like the man just like me.
But it was in that moment of weakness that Elijah had his close
encounter with God. The story is found
in 1 Kings 19. First, God sent an angel
to strengthen and encourage him. Then,
he sent him on a 40-day pilgrimage into the wilderness, where he ended up in a
cave at Mount Horeb. Now, in case you have forgotten, Mount Horeb was a special
place. It was in the land of Midian east
of the Jordan river. It was the place that God appeared to Moses in
a burning bush. It was the place where
God gave the people of Israel water by having Moses strike a rock with his
staff. It was the place that, after
wandering in the desert 40 years, Moses gave his final speeches and
exhortations to the people Israel before he died (i.e., the book of
Deuteronomy). In other words, God was
present at Mount Horeb.
It was there in that cave on Mount Horeb that God spoke to Elijah: “What
are you doing here, Elijah?” To which
Elijah gave is very weak response: “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the
God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down
your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am
left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” That is when God commanded
Elijah to leave the cave and go stand out on the mountain. The LORD (that is, Yahweh) passed by, causing
a great wind that tore apart the rocks, but the LORD was not in the wind. An earthquake followed, but the LORD was not
in the earthquake. Then came a great fire,
but the LORD was not in the fire. If I
had experienced these things all in succession, I think I would have been
terrified and would have run for cover, but Elijah stayed – that is when the
sound of a quiet whisper came – and it was in that quiet whisper that the LORD
spoke to Elijah. So imagine in your head
a soft whisper… “What are you doing here,
Elijah?” (or just fill in your name instead).
There is so much that can be learned from Elijah’s close encounter with
God. For instance, we can learn the fact
that all the noise and commotion of the world can keep us from hearing God’s
voice. We can also learn that to hear
God’s voice, sometimes we need to be still and quiet. As it says in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know
that I am God” - and again in Psalm 37:7, “Be still before the Lord and wait
patiently for him.” We can learn how
faithful God is to us when we are weak and in despair. But I think what may be the most instructive
to us is what God said to Elijah AFTER he spoke in a still, small, voice.
Elijah responded to the whisper with the same, weak response he did
before, but God’s response to his weak answer changed the course of Elijah’s
life. It says in 1 Kings 19:15-18
“Go, return on your
way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael
to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son
of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of
Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the
one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one
who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave
seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every
mouth that has not kissed him.”
God’s response to Elijah was, if I may paraphrase, “Pick yourself up; I
still have work for you to do.” Elijah
had defeated the prophets of Baal and had confronted the whole nation with
their sin, but that would only be one battle in a long spiritual war. Elijah would be leading the efforts in a war
on behalf of Yahweh that would ultimately result in the complete annihilation of
the house of one of the most evil Kings Israel ever saw. In that war, he would not be alone. He would have an appointed captain, an
appointed successor, and seven thousand allies scattered among the people. Elijah would go on to do all that God
appointed him to do, but it was his close encounter with God in his moment of
greatest weakness that made the difference in his life.
In our moments of greatest weakness we, too, feel alone. We feel, like Elijah felt, that despite all
of our efforts, everything just seems meaningless and without benefit. It is in those moments we need to seek out a
close encounter with God. God can
nourish us and strengthen us. God can
help us remember that we truly are not alone.
And most importantly, God can remind us that we still have work to do.
Now I would suspect that God doesn’t want you (or me for that matter)
to topple an evil empire (did anyone else just have a Luke Skywalker moment –
sorry I couldn’t resist) – but you never know.
Never discount the possibility that what God has in store for you is
anything but extraordinary. Be open to whatever plan God may have for you. But whether
it is bringing down an empire or something much less daunting, there is without
question work that he has appointed for us all.
That work may change as our life circumstances change, but it never goes
away. Don’t be afraid of that work. Don’t remain mired by your weakness – or tiredness.
Remember that in the end, it is really God’s work that he will do, not you
doing it in your own strength. You are
just the willing vessel empowered by an Almighty God. So instead of despairing, earnestly seek your
close encounter with God.
Picture used by permission: pastoralponderings.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/the-sound-of-a-still-small-voice/
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