Discouragement and anxiety are vices that are recurring warts in the lives of even the most seasoned believers. These problems have the potential of stealing our focus from where it should be and can land us in a
bad situation. Such was the case when I came to the end of my senior year of
undergraduate training. Although God had allowed me to experiences every level
of success I could have hoped for and then some, the uncertain future gnawed
away at my confidence, brought me to tears, and kept me up many nights as I
wondered where I would work, what I would do, and If what that was would even
really matter. As irrational as this sounds, similar feelings often plague our
minds at some point or another. Elijah faced a similar and more acute case of
this syndrome in 1 Kings 19:1-4. Today we are going to make THREE OBSERVATIONS
of Elijah’s struggle and hopefully learn how we can keep our wits about us when the
winds of discouragement begin to blow. People are grieving, men are suffering
as no one would wish on their worst enemy, people we love to fellowship with
are missing, but God has a message for us today and it is all to do with His
provision to get us through it.
I. OBSERVATION #1: The
Problem is Presented-19:1-2
In the passage leading up to 1 Kings 19, a competition took
place between God and Baal on Mt. Carmel. Following an embarrassing display by team
Baal and their priests and a healthy dose of heckling on Elijah’s part, when it
was Yahweh’s turn to show His stuff, He did not disappoint and totally consumed a drenched altar with fire
that came down from the sky. After God reigned victorious, the prophets of Baal
were captured and slain alongside a riverbank. This was the post-game report
that Ahab (a wicked ruler) relayed to Jezebel (an embarrassed an even more
wicked woman). This was not something she wanted to see on the prime time news
highlights. This was not the victory she was hoping for. How embarrassing for
her and the gods she worshipped and required of her people to worship!
Ever meet one of those sports fans that simply cannot accept
defeat. You know those guys or even girls who love their team so much that even
when they lose big, they find some way to explain that defeat away, thus
instilling a false sense of pride in them concerning their losing team? This was Jezebel’s sentiment here, “…So
Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, ‘may the gods deal with me, be it
ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make you lifelike that of
one of them…” (19:2). Although her gods had been exposed as total and complete
frauds, she simply cannot accept it and swears by them that she is going to
kill Elijah. Perhaps she waits twenty four hours to do so because few would be
willing to go against the guy who was able to call down fire from heaven right
away. Perhaps she was just blowing off steam and reacting the only way she knew
how. Whatever the reason, she gets under Elijah’s skin.
Herein lies the problem. Though Elijah had just experienced
a great victory, a dark cloud of discouragement soon followed in the form of
this threat, spoiling the joy God had brought about in this prophet’s life.
This same situation is often experienced by saints today, who, after reaching a
mountaintop with God’s help, are then knocked off that pedestal by something
relatively small and yet altogether defeating. As in Elijah’s situation, joy in
the Lord is so often robbed from us when
we in our fragile humanity stare down new threats at the hands of this world.
II. OBSERVATION #2: The
Prophet is Petrified-19:3-5
Ever been there? God brings an incredible victory your way
and it is followed by a threat to your livelihood that seems to just cut your
legs out from under you? Elijah was there and in a moment of spiritual
weakness, despite the victory that had immediately preceded this threat, he
flees the scene and is completely petrified in fear of this powerful woman,
“Elijah was afraid and ran for his life” (19:3). The event that he had hoped
would finally settle the score between Baal and Yahweh, an event that showcased
God’s almighty power, did not silence Jezebel nor did it keep her from defying
Yahweh and swearing by other Gods.
As an obnoxious fan who even after losing the championship
game cannot accept defeat, Jezebels persistence keeps this false God alive in
the minds of her people and continues its memory.
Rather than remember all that God had been teaching him for
the past 3 years as a prophet, Elijah quickly forgets God’s hand of provision
and puts a visor on, keeping him from maintaining a proper perspective (cutting
off his vertical perspective and delimiting his gaze horizontally). Fear and discouragement
are improper responses to even the most troubling of problems, even those that
are life-threatening. They reveal an exaltation of the situational circumstance
rather than an undying love and devotion to an all-powerful God.
So where did Elijah run? He ran for his life all the way to
Beersheba, 95 miles south of Jezreel on the southern tip of Judah, “…When he came
to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s
journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed
that he might die…” (19:4a). Desiring to go the rest of the way alone, the
prophet relieved his servant after the three days journey. Either the lad was
too exhausted to go any farther or Elijah was so discouraged that he no longer
wanted any company. Elijah also
understood that there was no reason why his faithful servant should be
subjected to the uncertainties of the desert to which he now subjected himself.
When he could walk no further, he curled up underneath a
juniper tree to die. There he sat at the conclusion of his journey. Exhausted
physically, depressed psychologically, isolated relationally, and despondent
spiritually. These characteristics even drove him to suicidal ideation.
He communicates his discouragement by saying, “God, I’m at
the end of my rope, take me now, I am a disappointment,” “I have had enough,
LORD,’ he said. ‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay
down under the tree and fell asleep’” (19:4b-5a). It does not take much in
Elijah’s life to get his mind off of God and His glory and put all his
attention on his circumstances or present condition. Notice where this brings
him…to a point of desperation and depression. He says in this short plea that his
circumstances are beyond his ability and that his life has ended in failure.
However, he failed to realize, as is seen all throughout Scripture, that
nothing is beyond God’s ability (He had, in fact, called down fire from heaven
hadn’t He?) and that when God’s will is accomplished, there is no failure.
Elijah’s literal wilderness experience is not unlike what
many experience in our world figuratively. Something threatens our joy or our
very lives and we immediately run away in fear. In our running away, we
separate ourselves from fellowship with others, and ultimately, if unchecked,
we separate ourselves from fellowship with God Himself! This leaves us in a
spiritual wilderness that can lead us toward personal destruction. Moments of
victory and great celebration can so easily be cut short by anxiety in the face
of this world and its perceived threats. These threats give way to
discouragement and then self-defeating remarks toward one’s ability. Perhaps it
is similar for you. The doctor after performing a successful surgery some weeks
later tells you there is an unforeseen complication. Shortly after your loved
one get over their battle with illness, you are thrust upon the operating
table. Or while your family continues to prosper and grow, you can’t seem to
enjoy it because of all the pain and suffering experienced by those around you.
Or perhaps, effort is made to tell people about the Lord and invite them to
church and yet the body does not grow. You like Elijah say, “I’ve had enough!”
“Get me out of this situation!” This is the destination for all of us when we
become consumed with our problems, our difficulties, ourselves, or our
strength, rather than God, His unique ability, and His subsequent glory.
So, what is supposed to pry Elijah out of this rut? What
hope does God give us in these ruts we face?
III. OBSERVATION #3: The
Provision is Provided-19:5b-9
In the darkest moment of Elijah’s life, God intervenes (even
though Elijah did everything he could to die instead of trust in the Lord).
However, the way in which God intervenes demonstrates His desire to teach
Elijah an important lesson. Rather than immediately eliminate his suffering and
massage his self-confidence, God gives him a simple and concise command to
follow, thereby testing Elijah’s faith and heart. God in this moment proves
that while He is able to relieve suffering and save from despair, He will more
than likely take His people through it, teaching them important lessons along
the way. Asleep beneath the tree, God, through an angel, wakes him and calls
him to eat a meal, “All at once an angel touched him and said, ‘Get up and
eat’…” (19:5b).
“…He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of
bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay
down again…” (19:6). In simple obedience, Elijah sees this miraculous provision
and obeys, trusting God to lead Him the next step of the way when necessary. It
is important to understand that although he desired much more than a meal,
Elijah is faithful to God’s small command. In essence, like a good coach, God
is drilling Elijah with small and simple tasks in order to get His prophet back
in the game. Slowly but surely, we see Elijah less concerned about the queen’s
threat, the future of his ministry, or the past success of the event on Mount
Carmel, and more and more we see him focusing on God in real time, seeking Him
and trusting Him once again for his most basic needs.
With drill one completed, the Coach asks him to run the same
task a second time “…then the angel of the LORD came back a second time and
touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you’…”
(19:7). Through this exercise, Elijah is relearning how to hand his life over
to the Lord, only this time, he is learning this in the midst of a real threat
while anticipating a long and arduous journey. In this second text, the angel
discloses a discreet message concerning what lies ahead. The journey ahead is
too much for Elijah, it always would be.
The same is true in our lives. What you are going through
now or ever will go through is too big for you to handle without the
intervention of the LORD. Just as Elijah, hungry and exhausted, relied on the
food provided for by the Lord, we too whether we realize it or not are just as dependent
on the Lord for everything.
“…So he got up and ate and drank…” (19:8a). Elijah obeys a
second time, slowly mastering the technique of faith and trust that the coach
is drilling into him. No hesitation, no questions, no problems, Elijah, having
forgotten God before, is now stepping up to the plate and obeying His every
call.
God provided for Elijah’s essential need, and because of this,
he was strengthened, “…Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and
forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a
cave and spent the night…” (19:8b). He was strengthened enough for the next leg
of the journey. When he prayed for his problems to cease (asking for God to
kill him) Elijah was answered with enough strength to continue the next step of
the journey. The important thing to realize here is this, although the
alleviation of our existential problems may or may not be in God’s will,
strength to do what God has called one to do in spite of these problems is
always in His plan.
Although we pray for people to be saved from this or that
struggle, a prayer that is more near to the spoken will of God would be for
strength to get through the trial they are facing. This sort of prayer is
possible when God is the focus rather than ourselves or our circumstances. It
is up to Him!
So What?
Are you facing a
struggle today that has discouraged you or brought you to the point of
desperation? Maybe you feel guilty for being that way because you know, upon further
recollection how God has blessed you in the past. Because of this, maybe you
are discouraged, shaken, and emotionally drained. Perhaps as a result of your
experiences, what you see, or, as it so often is in my case, what I don’t see,
you have run away from those who are there to help and have even placed some
distance between you and God. Today is the day to refocus your life toward God
rather than your problems, yourself, your circumstance, or your own power.
Elijah learned through a step by step process to trust the Lord, and maybe it
is about time that you do the same. Call upon the coach to re-teach you the
fundamentals of following Him and trusting Him with your life. He is a guide,
He is our very present help in time of need, and He is far greater than
anything you face. May we as a church, in spite of the discouragement around
us, have a higher view of God than the issues, lack, and problems we face. May
we, like Elijah, learn to celebrate what God has provided us in His wonderful
grace, get up, and eat of His wonderful bounty so that we might be strengthened
to head into the future undeterred by the threats of this world!
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