God’s Empowering & Equipping Grace Through the Mountains and Valleys of Ministry 1 Kings 18-19

Ministry is hard

Ministry that exalts Jesus in the church, community, and home is undeniably challenging. The constant demands on our spiritual and personal lives can feel like a perpetual grind, leaving us feeling stretched and exhausted.Dennis Newkirk from 9Marks Ministry explains,

“Ministry is hard on our spiritual lives due to overexposure to church problems, the temptation to use the disciplines of Bible study, worship, and prayer in a utilitarian (actions create happiness) way, and the stress of the schedule.” Dennis Newkirk (Pastors’ Forum: Staff Meeting Best Practices.” 2011. 9Marks Journal, 17.)

Difficulty in ministry is nothing new. Elijah, one of God’s most revered prophets, suffered exhaustion and distress in his ministry. He was the voice in the wilderness calling Israel to repent, turn back to the Lord, and follow his commands. Elijah found himself on mountains and in valleys as he was called to minister to God’s people who were in a great spiritual decline. Elijah had to minister in a time when,

Devotion to Yahweh was Broken (1 Kings 11:1-4)

Israel’s decline begins when Solomon’s heart turns away from the Lord. In the first three verses, we are told Solomon married may foreign women, which Moses warned Israel not to do (Ex34:16). In verse four, these women seduced him into idolatry. Where the king goes so go the people. In 1 Kings 11:9, God promises to tear the kingdom from Solomon’s hands.

Division among the people (1 Kings 12-13)

Division from God leads to division among his people. Rehoboam, Solomon’s son deals with the people harshly. As a result, Jeroboam rises up in revolt and leads ten of the tribes of Israel to the north, while Rehoboam holds onto the tribe of Benjamin and Judah in the south. God keeps his word by tearing the kingdom from Solomon’s hand and giving it to Jeroboam, his servant. As we already know, sin always separates. Sin is at the heart of division.

Denial of the One True God (1 Kings 13-14)

Kings and the “man of God” refuse to listen to God and in chapter fourteen disaster ensues.

Deterioration of Israel’s culture and society (1 Kings 15-16)

At this point for Israel, the rise to power of kings comes through assassination. The personal moral failings of the kings have a widespread impact on the morality of the entire kingdom. The phrase "did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and followed the example of his father and the sin he had caused Israel to commit" appears repeatedly in these two chapters, serving as a common expression of the leadership of Israel. The people of God live in constant fear due to the disregard for life and justice resulting from widespread evil. This period reaches its lowest point with the rule of King Ahab, who is considered the most wicked king in the history of Israel.

For Elijah, his ministry threshold broke after he had all the prophets of Baal slaughtered. Even though he had seen a miraculous work of God, his heart grew tired and fearful at the threats of Jezebel, Ahab’s wicked wife. The fatigue, fear, frustration was like mud on the windshield of his heart. He couldn’t see spiritually straight.

Elijah lost focus on Who mattered most

Jezebel is an evil woman who committed all her resources to kill Elijah over his ministry. She is so evil, that Jesus says one the churches tolerates her spirit in the Book of Revelation 2:20. She consumed his heart and mind. In 1 Kings 19:3

1 Kings 19:3 ESV

3 Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

It's interesting to see how Elijah's mindset changes from witnessing God's power in chapter 18 to feeling scared and desperate in chapter 19. In a cave, God asks Elijah, "What are you doing here?" (1 Kings 19:9-10) Not because God doesn't know, but to provide care for Elijah's soul. God helps Elijah confront his fearful unbelief, which are leading him into despair. Unbelief tells God he is not able ot sufficient in your time to of need. This leads Elijah to the place of giving up. Elijah expresses his feelings of worthlessness by saying, "I am no better than my fathers.” Elijah prays for God to kill him (1 Kings 19:4), a stark contrast to his previous prayers. When his eyes were focused on God, he prayed for God to reveal His power to save Israel from idolatry. Now, he only saw death as a means of escape.

Distorted spiritual eyes leads to distorted faith. Distorted faith is unbelief. Without a proper perspective and focus on God, our unbelief can over emphasize our failure, and failure hits close to the heart in men. Elijah thought his ministry was over and that he had failed. I can't help but think that he felt his failure so deeply that death seemed like the only way out for him. Brothers, may I suggest that someone of may have lost focus on who matters? Is your unbelief toward God weighing your failures as a husband, father, or man of God too deeply? Seeing your life and ministry through the lens of unbelief keeps your focus on your circumstances and not on the God who is sovereign over your circumstances. Moreover, unbelief feeds your soul lies that God’s grace and mercy are not sufficient for you.

Consider where Elijah’s unbelief led him to loose sight of the sovereign goodness of God.

Elijah focused on the evil of Jezebel and not the God who judges Jezebel

Do you know what Elijah means? It means “My God is Yahweh.” My God is the one true God, the sovereign one over all of heaven and earth. The God who revealed himself with power and authority when he sent fire down from heaven to consume every bit of the altar. Do you know what happened to Jezebel? God condemned her to die, and her flesh to be eaten by dogs. In 2 Kings 9:30-37, Jezebel is thrown out of a window by three eunuchs, her body trampled on by horses, and her body eaten by dogs, just as God promised. Elijah had no clue God was already ahead of him taking care of the evil that threatened him. Keep your eyes on the prize, men, not on the evil that surrounds you.

Elijah’s focused on what he thought he lacked, not on what God had always faithfully provided

It's remarkable how quickly we tend to blame God for being unfaithful; despite forgetting how many times He has actually provided for us. God never abandoned or forsook Elijah. During the famine, God protected Elijah from Ahab (1 Kings 17:1-7), provided food and oil for him and the widow (1 Kings 17:8-16), enabled him to raise a boy after a heat stroke (1 Kings 17:16), empowered him to confront Ahab and the 450 prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18), and even sustained Elijah with food and water from His angel (1 Kings 19).

Brothers, if this describes you in some way, I want to encourage you today to hold fast, believe the promises of God, keep your eyes fixed in Him.

God will faithfully empower and equip you through the mountains and valleys of ministry.

Elijah’s faith was empowered by God to confront Israel

Elijah's power and strength come from God. God empowered Elijah to minister to the widow, even raising her son (1 Kings 17). In 1 Kings 18:46, the author says, "the hand of the Lord was upon Elijah,” which means the Spirit of the Lord was with Him. At the peak of Israel’s rebellion, God sends Elijah as a means of grace with a message of repentance. He stands in front of people who are trapped in idolatry with over 450 idolatrous priests (1 Kings 18:22). God sent his prophet into a den of wolves, and He strengthens Elijah with boldness to stand before his enemies and proclaim the truth. Elijah confronts Israel by calling them to Mount Carmel to offer them a choice; follow Baal or follow Yahweh (1 Kings 18:21).

Elijah’s confidence was empowered by God to confront the prophets of Baal

Elijah witnessed God stopping the rain, providing oil for a widow, and even raising her son from the dead. Elijah knows that God is faithful. The faithfulness of God is your confidence, brothers. To reveal to Israel that Yahweh is the one true God, Elijah sets up a duel. A large sacrificial offering is arranged on an altar in a very wet environment. The 450 prophets of Baal were given the chance to arouse their god by dancing and cutting their bodies, but nothing happened because there are no other gods. There is none like our God. Elijah was so confident in God's faithfulness that he mocked the 450 prophets of Baal, maybe your god is asleep-which implies he is weak and tired, or maybe your god is using the bathroom. Dance a little more. Offer more of your blood. After an afternoon of this nonsense, crickets. God as made sure He is on display. After mocking them, Elijah prayed with faith and confidence to the one true God.

Elijah’s prayer was empowered by God to reveal his single power and authority to turn his people back

In 1 Kings 18:36-37, Elijah prays,

1 Kings 18:36–37 ESV

36 And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”

1 Kings 18:38 ESV

38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.

Elijah wanted God to be worshiped the way he deserved to be worshiped. His one goal in his ministry was to make God known so God could be glorified. In the New Testament, we have one aim: to make much of Jesus. He receives all the glory. To that end, we pray. And in the sovereignty of God, our prayers cooperate with God’s will, just like Elijah. The whole purpose of the prayer was to do what God had already willed to do, reveal himself with such power and authority as to turn his people’s hearts back to himself.

It was not Elijah who would turn their hearts back to the Lord. Elijah prayed. God used his prayer. Make no mistake about it, brothers. It is the mighty hand of God that turns the heart. Brothers, it is not your sole responsibility to save your church, community, or home. It is not your burden to “win souls to Jesus.” You are not a failure if your kids go off the deep end, or your church does not grow into a mega church, or your marriage is struggling, or your sermons and bible studies appear to fall to the ground. Do not despair because your church is small, the people you serve seem to take three steps forward, and two steps back, or your influence seems insignificant. Do not grow weary because you share the gospel repeatedly but see little to no conversions. You do not save people. You do not cause obedience. You encourage it. You do not make fruit grow on the vine. You pray for it. God simply calls you to exercise faith, pray with confidence, and trust him to work. Elijah was called to proclaim repentance and to pray. It was and still is God’s sovereign responsibility to save his people, to bear fruit in their life, and he will do so in his perfect timing. Faith recognizes that you may not even get to see the fruit of your ministry on earth. Elijah did not see some of his greatest fruit until after his death.

Elijah did not send the fire from heaven. He was an instrument of grace in God’s hands, whom God used his prayer to reveal himself to his people. God empowered and equipped Elijah to proclaim truth and repentance, but it was God who accomplished his will through his faithful servant. The prophets of Baal were destroyed, and the hearts of his people turned back to him, because God did the work.

In a moment of weakness, Elijah’s faith was weak and his confidence waned. As we’ve aleady seen, he lost sight of God by focusing on his circumstances instead of God’s sovereignty over his circumstances, and he forgot God’s faithful provision. It looks like failure, and it is in some ways. But God never leaves his prophet. Elijah runs to the same mountain where Moses met God, probably the same cave. God meets him there in his despair. God sends and angel to care for him with food and rest. Elijah does not get to see God’s glory but hears God’s gentle rebuke, ‘What are you doing here?' 1 Kings 19:9).

Do you know what he means by that? God was expressing to Elijah, “you’re not God. I AM God. I AM fully aware of your situation. I AM in complete control of executing MY plan for Israel.” I always marveled at why God whispered to Elijah. I think God’s whisper was a way of communicating to Elijah, "I’ve got this. I’m not frazzled. I’m not freaking out. I’m not frustrated or afraid of some Jezebel. No power of hell or the schemes of man can ever stay My sovereign hand. I AM the ruler of all creation. I know the thoughts and intentions of every man’s heart, even before he knows it (Psalm 139). Elijah, what are you doing here? I’ve got this. Walk by faith!”

God goes on to kindly explain to Elijah that judgment was coming to the house of Omri and to those who lead Israel astray (1 Kings 19:12-13; 15-18). He explained that Elijah was not the only one left who was faithful to Yahweh, but 7,000 Israelites had not bowed their knee to Baal or kissed him (1 Kings 19:18). God showed Elijah that he only had a partial understanding of what was going on, but that partial understanding was enough for him to walk by faith.

Men, at the end of the day, when you are feeling the weight of being a godly man in your community, a servant of Christ in your church, and a priest in your home, and you are ready to throw in the towel, you need to know you don’t have all the information, but what you do have is enough to walk by faith. You need to hear God whisper in your heart, “What are you doing here? I’ve got this. Walk by faith.” The real heart grabbing majesty of this story is

When Elijah lost focus on God, God never lost sight of Elijah or His mission to save the world though his Son Jesus Christ.

In the midst of that whisper was a promise, “I will work all things for your good, even you failures.”

Elijah’s ministry “failure” leads to Jesus.

At the end of the chapter, Elijah is commissioned to anoint Elisha, and then he is taken up into glory. Elijah’s ministry ends, in part, on a sour note with God’s rebuke hanging over him. For Jews, this is it for Elijah. For Jesus, however, Elijah is not finished.

Elijah's gets a name drop in the context of John the Baptist and Jesus' ministry. John came in the spirit of Elijah. God does stop with a simple name drop. God has more for Elijah. In Matthew 17, Jesus leads Peter, James, and John up a mountain, where he unveils his divine glory. The scene is nothing short of awe-inspiring, with Jesus radiating a brilliance that surpasses the sun, and his garments transforming into a dazzling white light. This extraordinary sight leaves Peter, James, and John in a state of wonder. Do you know who else gets to see Jesus in His glory? Elijah!

Matthew 17:3 ESV

3 And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.

Talk about how all things work for your good. God invited him to encounter the transfigured Messiah! God took him from the mountain of failure and despair to the mountain of salvation and redemption! You do not read of Jesus saying, “What are you doing here?” Elijah is right where he was supposed to be, with Jesus, beholding His glory!

Don't you see, brothers? God did not see Elijah through the lens of his failure in 1 Kings 19. He saw Elijah through the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ. God does not view your life and ministry through your failures. He sees you through the atoning work of His Son, Jesus Christ! He knows you are weak, your faith is frail. He's not intimidated by your sinful nature. Jesus' blood covers all of your sins. Jesus' sacrifice absorbed all of His wrath. You are his sons, with whom he lavishes his love and whom he has prepared great works for you to do and accomplish (Ephesians 2:10).

Remember, Jesus has not left you. He is always with you, inviting you to be in His presence, empowering you to do the work He has called you to do. Just as He empowered Elijah, He has poured out His Spirit upon you to persevere in faith and bear fruit in your ministry. His promise is clear, 'I am always with you!' He has never abandoned you, and He never will.

He knows his plans for you, and just because you partially understand what is going on does not mean you need any more understanding to be faithful. Keep your eyes on the prize, the risen Jesus. Paul promises that we can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us, and that he will supply our needs according to his glorious riches (Philippians 4:13; 19). Yes, brothers, ministry is hard. But you are not left to yourself to fulfill you calling as man, a husband, a father, and aChristian. God empowers and sustains you through the mountains and valleys of ministry through his resurrected Son. ‌