Sabbath & Your Humanity

Introduction

I’ve always been really into sci-fi stuff, movies, books, whatever. And one of the recurring themes in science fiction is the question: what does it mean to be human? Because there are either aliens or robots or AI or whatever and that thing is usually being compared or contrasted to humans. And usually, when there is a robot or an AI, as they become more aware, they go on a journey to become more human.

On the flip side, I think we’re often trying to create these things in order to try to be less human, to transcend what we see as our limits and our flaws, to say, what if we could create something that knew everything that can be known, something never had to sleep or eat, that didn’t have emotions or make mistakes, that would work all the time and never stop.

But the truth is, we ARE humans, and God created us to be human, with everything that comes with that. We have limits. We have emotions. We can’t keep going and going and never stop.

And that’s why this rest series is so important. Because it acknowledges that we are real people with real limitations. When we skimp on rest, we feel it, even before we feel it. There are warning signs in our bodies and our minds: we feel tired, our minds are scattered. If we don’t deal with it, then we end up burnt out, stressed out, and overwhelmed. And it affects our spiritual relationship with God. Maybe we feel distant, maybe we’re struggling to trust him, etc.

So, the idea I want us to consider today is that rest is where we can bring our whole selves to God.

Main Idea: Rest is where we can bring our whole selves to God.

As we’ve been in this series on redeeming rest, we’ve looked at different aspects of the principle of Sabbath and rest in the Bible. We talked about the importance of stopping work, of resisting the culture of hurry, of delighting in and worshipping God. Today, we’re going to focus in on what it means to truly connect with God in our rest—how do we relate to God in our rest and how does he speak to the fullness of who we are.

So, we’re going to look at a story in 1 Kings about Elijah as an example of what this looks like. This is one of many examples in the Bible about similar experiences. When God speaks to people, he often does away from the busy-ness of life, when they are resting, not when they’re moving.

So, we’re going to read most of this chapter, and I’m just going to point out some details about the text as we go through it, and then in the second half of the message, we’ll explore how we can live out some of the main ideas here.

Okay. 1 Kings 19.

Scene 1 - Elijah runs away (vv. 1-4)

1 Kings 19:1–4 NLT

When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including the way he had killed all the prophets of Baal. So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: “May the gods strike me and even kill me if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you just as you killed them.” Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”

The first thing I want you to notice is that Elijah was afraid. Now, some people look at Elijah in this passage and they criticize him. They view this fear as a weakness, as a lack of faith, but I have to be honest, I don’t see that here. As we go throughout the passage, we’ll see that God never rebukes him for being afraid, he never calls him out or tells him to repent, never gets on him. Fear is a natural human response to danger. That’s literally how God designed us in order to keep us safe.

I’m like low-key afraid of heights. I remember when I first graduated college, I was working at this customer service company, and went on a sales trip to Chicago. This is the only time I’ve done this in my life, but we went to a really fancy, really expensive sales dinner at the top of a tall building in Chicago. I don’t remember which one. But I do remember they had floor to ceiling windows and I walked up to it and looked down at the city and my stomach flipped and I had to back up. My body was telling me: Don’t go over there because you could fall and if you fall…that would be bad for you.

So, fear, like all our emotions, is a part of being human and it’s good and it has purpose. The problem with our feelings is never the feelings in themselves, it’s how we respond to them. The Bible says, “Be angry and do not sin.”

So, Elijah is afraid, which is a natural human response to being threatened with death. Now, I think it’s interesting when this happens. The story that happens in the previous chapters is that God tells Elijah that there will be no rain and there isn’t, but God takes care of Elijah by providing for him through some ravens and then through a miraculous feeding from a widow, and then, Elijah faces off against the prophets of Baal, who was a rival “god” of that time and God literally sends fire from heaven to prove his power, and then God finally gives the command and sends rain to end the drought. So, like thing after thing of God showing his power and saving the day and providing for Elijah and protecting Elijah and he’s still afraid. And again, the Bible never says anything negative about it. It doesn’t say if it’s right or wrong that he was afraid, and I don’t think that’s the point. I think the point is that it’s normal.

Even the next part, which I do think is intentionally dramatic, when Elijah is like, “I’m done, I quit. I can’t do this anymore. Just take me away God. Let me die.” I don’t necessarily think that it’s the right response, but I do think it’s a normal response. I think every one of us has had a situation in life where we felt like it was too hard, like we couldn’t go on one more day, and we prayed, maybe not for death, but for God to miraculously move us to a desert island, away from our problems.

I think the modern terms we would use for what Elijah is experiencing is burnout and depression. He’s been following God through difficult circumstances for years and years, and he’s just done. He just wants to sit under a tree and die. So let’s see how God responds.

Scene 2 - The angel provides for him (vv. 5-8)

1 Kings 19:5–8 NLT

Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God.

So, God sends an angel to care for Elijah. And how does God’s angel care for Elijah? He gives him food and water. God’s first move is not a display of power, it’s not a Word of truth, it’s a nap and snack.

And all the parents of toddlers said “Amen.” I have a toddler, but I won’t throw him under the bus. But I will say, we all know that when a child doesn’t get food, water, or sleep, it’s real obvious—it shows up in their mood and their behavior. And as we get older, we get more and more control, which is good, but I think that can lead us to forget that our mind, our body, and our soul are connected.

From a scientific perspective, we know that taking care of the basic needs of our bodies help to regulate our feelings and our thinking. Quite literally, we cannot think straight when we’re running low on food or sleep. From a theological perspective, we know that God created us as whole beings and we shouldn’t separate our spiritual life from our physical life or our emotional life. That’s why, in heaven, we’re not just floating souls, but God gives us new bodies. That’s why Jesus, after his resurrection, still had a physical body. I think one of the funniest lines in the Bible is when Jesus appears to his disciples after his resurrection and the first thing he says is, “Anybody got some food?”

So, God's angel gives Elijah food and water and rest, twice and then he sends him on a journey to meet God at Mount Sinai. I think it’s interesting and important that God does this first. He needs the physical strength to truly meet with God and be able to hear what he will say.

Scene 3 - God speaks in the quiet (vv. 9-13)

1 Kings 19:9–13 NLT

There he came to a cave, where he spent the night. But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.” “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

So Elijah meets God on Mt. Sinai and he gives his complaint to God.

Elijah speaks his honest feeling to God. He’s like listen, “I’ve been doing what you’ve asked. and it’s not working.” Maybe you’ve been there. I’m reading into Elijah’s motivation here a little bit, but I’m assuming when God called Elijah to be a prophet, he thought, “Okay, I know this will be hard, the people are not following God. But if I put in the work, if I zealously serve the LORD, then things will change. They will get better.”

I wonder if Elijah had kind of a secret condition or expectation when serving God. I think I wonder that because that’s what I often do: “God, I’ll do this, I’ll serve you, I’m even willing to sacrifice to do it” but then somewhere in the back of my brain is the expectation that if I do all that, then it will work. I’ll get results. Things will change, get better. If I give faithfully to the church, then God will take care of my finances. If I love my neighbors, even when it’s hard, then they’ll come to know God. If I place Christ at the center of my dating relationships, then I’ll find the right person to marry. If I respond with forgiveness and love toward someone who hurt me, then they will respond the same way back. And then, when things don’t work out the way we had hoped or planned or expected, we think, “what’s the point?”

And that seems to be where Elijah is: “I did all this stuff for you, and what was the point? Nobody is listening, nobody is changed. And now they want to kill me.

God doesn’t respond right away. He tells Elijah to “go stand before me on the mountain.” He’s already talking to Elijah, so it’s interesting that he says this. I think he’s essentially telling Elijah, pay attention to me. So Elijah does, and now we come to the most famous part of this passage: the still, small voice of God.

There’s a mighty wind, an earthquake, and a fire. If you look closely at this passage, I think there are a few connections to Moses. First, the journey took Elijah forty days and forty nights, and he traveled to Mount Sinai to meet alone with God. When God rescued the Israelites from Egypt, he brought them the first time to Mount Sinai, where Moses went up on the mountain for forty days and forty nights and he met alone with God. The first time, there was a great storm with thunder and lightning. This time, there’s the same grand displays of power. God is reminding Elijah of who he is: he’s the God who brought Israel from Egypt. He’s the God who made a covenant and a promise to his people. He’s the God who met with Moses face-to-face, another man who led the people of Israel when they were stubborn and wouldn’t listen to God or Moses.

But this time, it specifically says that God is not in the earthquake, and he’s not in the wind, and he’s not in the fire. God’s presence appears in a gentle whisper. He had already done so many big miracles in Elijah’s life, I wonder if he wanted to remind Elijah that’s not how he normally operates. He normally operates in the quiet stillness of the spiritual. God doesn’t have to shout because he’s always right. He wants us to lean in to him, to want to hear him, to get away from all the noise of the world that’s distracting us and truly, really listen to him.

I don’t have very good hearing. I failed a hearing test once as a kid. They gave me a second try and I passed. If I’ve ever asked your name during meet and greet and then later ask you again, I’m sorry: it’s probably not because I don’t remember meeting you, but because I couldn’t hear it. And what I’ve noticed is that the problem for me is not so much that I can’t hear, but when there is background noise, I have trouble distinguishing the sounds. And I think that’s sometimes what happens with God.

It’s not that God’s not speaking and it’s not even that we’re not listening, it’s just that there’s so much other noise that we can’t understand what God is saying. That’s why God brought Elijah to Mt. Sinai, that’s why he spoke to him in a whisper, to get him away from the threats of Jezebel, to get him away from the noise of life, to get him to quiet his soul, lean in, and really listen.

Scene 4 - God directs Elijah (vv. 14-18)

1 Kings 19:14–18 NLT

He replied again, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.” Then the Lord told him, “Go back the same way you came, and travel to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive there, anoint Hazael to be king of Aram. Then anoint Jehu grandson of Nimshi to be king of Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from the town of Abel-meholah to replace you as my prophet. Anyone who escapes from Hazael will be killed by Jehu, and those who escape Jehu will be killed by Elisha! Yet I will preserve 7,000 others in Israel who have never bowed down to Baal or kissed him!”

Here, finally, God speaks directly to Elijah with truth and direction. But first, at the end of verse 13, when he spoke to Elijah again, he asked him the same question: what are you doing here? It’s interesting that he asks him the same question twice, and it’s interesting that Elijah gives him the exact same answer…word for word. It seems to me that Elijah wasn’t ready for the answer the first time, so God waited, let him quiet his soul, and now he responds.

God’s response isn’t some life-changing inspirational speech. It’s not exactly what I would expect. He gives him a plan: Anoint two kings and one prophet. This gets into a lot of ancient near east politics and difficult theological questions about evil that we don’t necessarily need to get into this morning, but the point that God is making is this: Elijah is worried about the injustice, sin, and idolatry of the people of Israel, but God will take care of it. He will judge the evil people doing evil things and he will save or preserve the people who are faithful to God. He is making a promise to Elijah that his service to God was not for nothing. And he’s giving Elijah a replacement, so he’s showing him that there is an end in sight.

So, God does encourage and direct him. And Elijah obeys. He faithfully finishes the mission that God gave him in life. He gives him what he needs to continue.

So, in light of this whole story, what does that mean for us and for rest?

Let God care for you (all of you)

First, you should let God care for you. Meaning let God care for all of you. In our humanity, we are whole people, body, mind, and soul, and God cares about all of us. He cares about your physical health. He cares about your mental health. And, I believe, he’s provided what we need and given us the freedom to be able to use it, but we need to be willing to accept it and, sometimes, to make choices about how to better use what he’s given us. Elijah could have refused the food the angel brought. He could have left and gone back to work to try to fix it on his own. He could have said no, the only thing I need is prayer. He could have not answered God’s question and pretended like everything was okay and he didn’t feel anything.

When we’re in a hard place, it’s easy to ignore caring for ourselves, thinking that it’s not that important, and we try to “fix” our situation without considering the fullness of our needs. God wants to care for us by giving us opportunities to take care of our whole selves, body, mind, and soul, but we have to accept the help, make the right choices with the resources he’s given us, and remember that making sure we’re well-fed, well-rested, emotionally-balanced, those are spiritual acts.

Be honest with God

The second thing is to be honest with God. God is not afraid of your feelings. God does not require you to have it all figured out when you enter his presence. All throughout the Bible, people express their honest feelings with God, as Elijah does in this passage.

Psalm 13:1–2 NLT

O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will my enemy have the upper hand?

That language is very common in the Psalms, in how Moses and the Prophets speak to God, even in how Jesus speaks to the Father.

Sometimes, I think that we try to clean it up for God and we try to pre-empt our prayers with what we think we’re supposed to say. So, we hedge and we’re like God, “please maybe if you would will you help me manage this situation with my boss. It’s kinda sorta bumming me out and it would just be sorta cool if you could fix it if you want! No worries if not. I’m good either way!” But that’s not how people int he Bible talk to God. They’re like, I’m struggling, I’m depressed, I want to die, I’m angry, this is your fault, where are you, what is the deal?. They’re being honest with God. It’s okay for you to be honest with God. Now, I do think they had a common practice of trying to make the active choice of worship and trust in the midst of their feelings. Some of the Psalms are really dark, but they end with, “But I will put my hope in you” or something along those lines. And I think that’s part of it. When I’m truly honest with God, I can put it in his hands and then I can make the choice to trust him with it.

Meet God in the quiet

The last thing is to meet God in the quiet. This is what we’ve been talking about throughout the rest series. Rest creates space for us to do all this, to bring our whole selves to God. You can’t do that when you’re surrounded by noise. So, we should make time and create space to be with God in the quiet.

I mentioned this last week, but it’s going to be my challenge for you this week: spend some time in silence with God.

I was meeting with a spiritual director for a while and he would tell me to enter into the quiet and just wait and try to listen to what God was saying. At every point: what does God want us to focus on? let’s go into the quiet and listen. What does God want to say about that thing? Let’s go into the quiet and listen. And then I would say how I felt about that and he’d be like, let’s go back into the quiet. And I have to be honest, it was hard for me, especially at first. I was like, the quiet, again?! I just had all these thoughts running through my head and I didn’t know how to decipher them all—what was God and what wasn’t. Then, at the teen retreat, I tried to lead them in a similar kind of exercise, and I went into the quiet, and I listened, and I believe God spoke to me and I heard him clearly. I have loved God my whole life and I have prayed my whole life and asked God to speak to me, but I never really take the time to listen. And I have been trying really hard to listen, and God showed up.

So, I don’t know what that looks like for you, but I believe if you consistently set aside time to listen to God, he will speak to you. There’s this philosophy book I read in college that has an awesome title: God is there and he is not silent. Believe that. Act on that. Find five minutes this week and be silent with God. Ask him what he wants to speak to you. And listen. Really listen.

Conclusion

I want to end by looking at the person of Jesus. On the night before Jesus died, Jesus went out to a garden to be alone with God. Let’s read a few verses:

Matthew 26:36–39 NLT

Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

The passage this morning was about bringing our whole selves to God in rest, about how God speaks to the fullness of our humanity. And I think the most beautiful thing about our Christian faith is that God knows exactly what it is like to be fully human, because he became human in the person of Jesus. That’s what Christmas is all about: that God became a man and lived as we live and knows exactly what it is like to be fully human. And in the garden, we see Jesus doing exactly what Elijah does: getting away to meet with God, bringing all of his honest, human feelings before God.

For our decision time this morning, I’ve asked the band to wait a few minutes to give some space for you to meet with God. Sometimes for me it’s easier to sing that to pray. So, our prayer team will be up here or you can grab your neighbor if you want to invite somebody else into your time with God, or you can come kneel before God up at the front, but I want us to take a few minutes and all of us, enter into the quiet with God, to bring our full selves to him. Whatever you’re feeling or thinking, God can handle it. Then, the band will sing and if you want to keep praying, keep praying. If you want to respond in worship respond in worship. This is your time.

God, we enter into your presence. Fill this place with your spirit. Hear us. Speak to us.