Running On Empty

Rough Side of the Mountain (E)

Chours

I'm comin' up (comin' up on the rough side) On the rough side (oh yeah) of the mountain (what I gotta do) I must hold to God (His most powerful hand) It's a powerful hand (yes I'm a-climbin') I'm comin' up (comin' up on the rough side) On the rough side (oh yeah) of the mountain Lord, I'm doin' my best to make it in.

1) Oh Lord, Lord, Lord you know I'm strivin'; Trying to make it through this barren land. As I go from day to day I can hear my Savior say, "Trust in Me, child, I'll hold your hand."

2) I'm climbing up, oh yes, I'm climbin' up! Oh my burdens, sometimes, they press me down. If I can keep the faith I'll have strength to run the race; I'm looking, yes I'm lookin' for my crown.

3) Now one day this old race will soon be over. There'll be no more races to run. When I stand before God's throne all my heartaches will be gone And I'll hear my Savior say, "Welcome home."

Midnight in the Middle of the Day (C)

1) THE SUN WAS HOT, AN ANGRY MOB STOOD BY THE GRAY STONE BUILDING, WHILE A MAN DRAPED IN VELVET WITH A CURLY BLACK BEAR, STEPPED OUT ON THE BALCONY. NERVOUSLY WASHING HIS HANDS TO RID HIM OF THE BLOOD THAT HE WOULD NEVER WASH AWAY. HIS WRINKLED BROW SHOWED THE WORRIED LINE, I HEARD PILATE SAY,

“I FIND NO FAULT IN THIS MAN CALLED ‘JESUS”, THE HEALER FROM THE SHORES OF GALILEE. I COMMAND YOU TO ASK ME TO LET HIM GO FREE, DON’T LET ME TAKE HIS BLOOD TO THE GRAVE WITH ME”

THEN HE NERVOUSLY WASHED HIS HAND, TO RID HIM OF THE BLOOD THAT HE WOULD NEVER WASH AWAY, THE MOB CRIED FOR BLOOD OF AN INNOCENT MAN, I HEARD PILATE PRAY

Chorus

AND IT WAS MIDNIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY, TREMBLING SOLDIERS FELL BEFORE THE CROSS TO PRAY. THE WHOLE WORLD SHOOK, THE VEIL WAS RENT, WHEN THE SINLESS CHRIST WAS SLAIN, AND IT WAS MIDNIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY

TAG

THUNDER ROARED ACROSS THE RUMBLING MOUNTAIN, LIGHTNING BURNED LIKE FIRE ACROSS THE SEA (MY LORD), BUT ON THE HOLY HILL THE ANGELS RAISED THE CRIMSON SHOUTING DEATH! DEATH! DEATH! GOOD LORD!, DON’T YOU KNOW THAT DEATH WAS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY, VICTORY

He Never Left Me (A)

Ch) He never left me, Though I turned my back on Him  Living in a world of sin, Trying to run away, He never left me, When I chose to walk away, Even when I couldn’t pray, He never left me  1) Came to a junction, The roads looked the same, He gave me instructions, I disregarded in shame, Then sudden destruction, Soon came my way, I’ll have to say  I’ve only got me to blame  2) I chose the wrong road, It looked good to me, I walked blindly onward, I just could not see, I was lost and I was dying, But now I’m trying, You see I reached out to Jesus  You know he reached out to me

Something out of Nothing

1) In the beginning, the world was formed by your design. With just a word, the sun began to shine; You created the lowest valleys and mountains tall; You made something out of nothing at all.

Chorus

I was nothing, just a beggar, as lowly as I could be. Ain't it something I'm now an heir to heavens royalty! You gave me light in my darkness, You gave me strength each time I fall. You gave me something out of nothing at all.

2) My life was aimless, full of empty wasted years. I was lost, so full of doubt and fear. Then You reach down, you heard my anguish and desperate call; You made something out of nothing at all.

Running On Empty

Running On Empty

I. Introduction

Tonight, I want to talk about “Running On Empty.”

I want to talk about the story where Elijah’s river went dry.

Turn with me to the book of 1 Kings 19.

Leading up to this passage, the last three years, the nation of Israel -God’s people) has been living through a severe drought.

There was a drought because they had turned away from worshipping the true God in favor of worshipping a false Canaanite god named Baal.

Now Baal was supposed to be the lord of the dew and rain, so God sent the prophet Elijah to King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, who were the ones who led the Israelites to worship Baal, to say there wasn’t going to be any dew or rain until the people remembered the trustworthy source of their supply.

Now, there was a big showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, at the end of that showdown, the people turned back to God, and God sent rain on the land.

So the rivers aren't dry for the first time in three years.

But not everyone is happy about that.

II. Main Body

1 Kings 19:1-2

1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

2 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 your life like that of one of them.

So she’s ticked because her god, Baal, and her prophets were revealed as frauds.

But instead of turning to the true God, she turned on his prophet, Elijah.

Now, how does Elijah respond?

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. (1Ki 19:3a)

After everything Elijah has seen, that seems crazy, right?

So what happened?

What happened, happens to all of us from time to time.

This is the first of four mistakes we’ll see Elijah make:

Mistake #1 - He let his problem determine his perspective.

Perspective is how we see what we see.

It’s how we interpret it.

It’s how we understand it.

It’s how much significance we give to it.

So he has a problem...Jezebel wants him dead, and I’m not saying it’s not a real problem.

It was.

But what’s interesting is that it wasn’t a new problem.

Jezebel’s been trying to kill Elijah for three years now.

But she’s failed time and time again because God protected him time and time again.

In light of that, Elijah should look at this threat, this problem, and go, ‘‘Yeah, whatever.’’

But instead of interpreting this problem in light of the larger picture of God’s faithfulness, he allows this threat to overshadow the larger picture of God’s faithfulness.

He let his problem determine his perspective...and then what happened?

He panicked.

Let me ask you a question: is there a place where you’re letting a problem determine your perspective?

Because that’s what’s happening to Elijah here.

What does he do?

He panics, and he runs.

1Ki 19:3b-4a

3b When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,

4a while he went a day’s journey into the wilderness.

Now Elijah makes two more mistakes here.

His first mistake was letting his problem determine his perspective, but he makes two more mistakes here.

I want to ensure we don’t miss them because they help explain what will happen.

So, what were the two mistakes?

Mistake #2 - He wore out his body.

Mistake #3 - He shut out God’s people-meaning he didn’t reach out or help. Always remember the Bible says that there is safety in a multitude of counsel.

During Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal, God supernaturally enabled Elijah to run from Mt. Carmel to Jezreel, which was maybe 25 miles.

And he could do that because God enabled him to do that.

God supernaturally supplied him to do that. But what did he do when he heard that Jezebel was out for his head?

He started running again, and this time, he ran from Jezreel to Beersheba, about 100 miles.

The Bible doesn’t say he did that with supernatural strength.

He did that on his strength, so now that strength is gone.

Then, he left his servant behind and went for another day into the wilderness by himself.

By the way, the Hebrew word for wilderness can also be translated as desert.

He came to a broom bush, sat under it, and prayed that he might die.

1Ki 19:4b

4b I have had enough, LORD,’’ he said. ‘‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.

That’s a dry place, right?

He’s not just in a dry place, the river in him has run dry.

But let’s review how he got to this place: There’s a certain symbolic irony here, right?

At a time when most of Israel is experiencing rain again for the first time in three years, Elijah picks the driest place he can find and goes there by himself.

The rivers around him are flowing, but the river inside him has run dry.

1. He let his problem determine his perspective.

2. He wore out his body.

3. He shut out God’s people.

1Kings 18:5-6

5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, ‘‘Get up and eat.’’

6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

7 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.’’

An exciting thing happening here doesn’t come across in English.

In Hebrew, the word for angel is Malek, which literally means messenger.

So Jezebel sent a messenger with a message of death to Elijah, but God sent a messenger with a message of life.

But I want you to notice this message of life because it’s so interesting.

What’s the message of life?

Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.

By the way, in the original Hebrew, there’s no verb in that last statement.

It would be ‘‘the journey too much for you.’’

And it’s unclear if the angel is talking about the self-imposed, panic-induced journey Elijah has taken to get to this place or the journey God is calling him to take to get out of it.

It’s probably both, but the bottom line is the same: get up and eat.

That’s the message of life, ‘‘get up and eat.’’

Do not let your problem determine your perspective.

Just get up and eat.

He’s sleeping, and he’s eating.

Now listen: this isn’t going to sound super spiritual, but it’s good theology:

When your river is running dry, get some good sleep and food.

That’s good theology because God has made us both body and soul.

In theology, we say that humans are a closely interacting dualism.

Our bodies affect our souls.

Let me just ask you a question.

Let’s be honest: how many of us have ever been grumpy?

Now, grumpy is a spiritual condition.

But let me ask you this: how many of us have been grumpy because we didn’t get a good night’s sleep?

How many of us have been grumpy because we were hungry?

Grumpy is a spiritual condition, but a physical condition can bring it on.

There’s a reason why the devil waited until Jesus had been fasting for 40 days before he tempted Jesus.

Because he knew that when Jesus was at his weakest physically, he was also at his weakest spiritually.

Now, even at his weakest, Jesus was too strong to give in to temptation, but the point is that our physical condition affects our spiritual condition.

Is there a physical component to your spiritual struggle?

1Kings 19:8

8 So he got up and ate and drank Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

1Kings 19:9

9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: ‘‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’’

Do you know what that question means? It means that Elijah wasn’t where he was supposed to be.

The angel had given him a different destination.

We’ll see where he was supposed to go in just a second.

But here’s Elijah’s fourth mistake:

Mistake #4 - He spent his God-given strength on things God never intended it for.

We take ourselves on journeys he never directed.

We shoulder burdens He never intended us to carry.

We assume responsibility for things that are on His plate, not ours.

1 Kings 19:10-12

10 He replied, ‘‘I have been very jealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.’

He says, ‘‘I’ve got all these problems, God; what will you do about my problems?

11 The LORD said, ‘‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.’’

Don’t miss this: Instead of offering a solution to his problems, God showed His presence.

…Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came to a gentle whisper.

Elijah says, ‘‘I have all these problems!’’

And the irony is that the power of God in the wind that shatters rocks or an earthquake or fire would make a great solution to his problems.

But God wasn’t in any of those things.

He was in the gentle whisper.

By the way, that’s a challenging phrase to translate.

But the point is that it’s delicate...and it’s intimate.

It’s a still, small voice.

The wind and the earthquake and the fire...that was power...which is probably what Elijah wanted.

But somehow, he knew, in this moment, God wasn’t in those things: he was in the gentle whisper.

And it kills me that we don’t know what words were whispered.

But I have a good guess: He may have said, “Elijah, I will never leave or forsake you; I am with you always.”

What we need most isn’t the presence of God’s power but the power of God’s presence.

1 Kings 19:13-20

13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, ‘‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’’

There’s the question again: what are you doing here?

This isn’t where you’re supposed to be.

This isn’t where I told you to go.

14 He replied, ‘‘I have been very jealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.’’

Word for word, the same answer as last time, right?

Elijah’s sticking to his story. He’s committed to his complaint.

Because when we’ve lost perspective, we lose our ability to take on truth that challenges the lies we’ve accepted.

15 The LORD said to him, ‘‘Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. -Apparently that was where he was supposed to have gone. - When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.

16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.

17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu.

18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel-- all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.’’

And on the surface, that sounds like more for Elijah to do...and some of it’s challenging, like anointing a new king over Israel.

Ahab’s not going to be happy about that, and Jezebel is going to lose her mind!

So yes, this is more work for Elijah to do, but there’s something deeper happening here: a more profound whisper.

God’s saying: you are not alone.

You aren’t carrying the burden alone.

19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him.

20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. ‘‘Let me kiss my father and

mother goodbye,’’ he said, ‘‘and then I will come with you.’’ ‘‘Go back,’’ Elijah replied. ‘‘What have I done to you?’’

21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.

III. Conclusion

Which of these mistakes keeps you from experiencing God’s presence?

1. Letting a problem determine your perspective.

2. Wearing out your body.

3. Shutting out God’s people.

4. Spending your God-given strength on things God never intended it for.