1 Kings 19:9-18
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Introduction
Introduction
Read 19:1-9
Walk through a bit of what has been going on
9-10
9-10
Read 19:9-10
Elijah has an issue, with his problem, the Lord brings him to mount Horeb
and while he’s there, God asks him a relatively simple question
What are you doing here, Elijah?
And Elijah is worried about what is going on
He mentions that Israel has forsaken God’s covenant
Thrown down His altars
Killed His prophets
Only he is left and they are seeking to take his life
This is the complaint
Yes, this is and should be terrifying. But where has he been?
Elijah has told the king of Israel that there would be no rain because of the nations wickedness
Then he is protected by God in the wilderness for three years while rain refuses to fall
Elijah comes out of hiding and challenges Ahab’s prophets of Baal
Of which he defeats them when Baal does not show up but the Lord burns His altar until there is nothing left
Then Elijah rounds up all 450 prophets and kills them with the sword
He has done all of these things, and even more as there are other miracles in his story which are performed through him
But what I’m pointing out here is that even with his past and the evidence of it, he freaks out
Jezebel, the wicked wife of Ahab, is pissed and says that she is going to kill him and he flees
Doesn’t that sound outlandish?
Like surely something else must have happened between killing the prophets and Jezebel’s threat, right?
Well, you can read it, if you want to
Because he kills the prophets towards the end of chapter 18, the rain starts again, Ahab returns to tell Jezebel what Elijah did, and she threatens him
I mean, what do you do with that?
Why would he be scared, hasn’t he seen all of the amazing things that the Lord has done?
Haven’t we all?
Haven’t both you and I seen what the Lord has done around us and yet we still feel the fear, we still feel the anxiety, we still feel the depression
Some of us have memories of camp experiences, when you feel like you are on top of the mountain
Only to come home and life settles down once again
Others love the time of praise during the church service, but when we are alone it feels as though the demons come creeping back in
And we begin to fear and doubt
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, a left, and they seek my life, to take it away.
This is Elijah pouring his heart out. He is showing his vulnerability here, and letting it all out
Do you and I respond in this way when we feel that the world is against us? When we feel that there is nothing that we can change or fix?
God is asking a very good question, and it comes to you too
What are you doing here?
I think it’s interesting, what all of this comes after
Jezebel threatens him
He flees
He sits under the juniper tree
and asks for death
Why?
Because the situation that he is in he sees as hopeless
It would be better for me to die than to continue on in this hopeless task
He isn’t the first to proclaim this
“Oh that I might have my request, and that God would fulfill my hope, that it would please God to crush me, that He would let loose His hand and cut me off! - Exclaimed Job
I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.” Moses said
Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed! Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, “A son is born to you,” making him very glad. Let that man be like the cities that the LORD overthrew without pity; let him hear a cry in the morning and an alarm at noon, because he did not kill me in the womb; so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb forever great. Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame? Cried Jeremiah
It wasn’t the first time, and I know it won’t be the last. I am guessing some of you have felt at some point in your life so beyond hope that you do not know where to go from there
In fact I have the words of someone here
“I am so heavy laden. My heart has sunk into the depths and I am struggling to breathe. My eyes struggle through each and every moment. They fight against the waves of tears which siege their borders.”
Those are the words of some, and I’m guessing that there are more of you who have echoed something similar
We all lament, and if you haven’t, you will
Elijah, after saying this, laid down and fell asleep
Only to be awoken by an angel
AN ANGEL, can you imagine?
I one time woke up while my cousin spent the night, forgetting that he was there and almost attacked him
The angel wake him up, gives him food, and he goes back to sleep, wakes him up, feeds him again
The good Lord makes sure that you have exactly what you need
In this moment of overwhelming fear and despair the Lord gives him rest and feeds him, before anything else
Then, Elijah is moved from where he was and is told to go to the mountain of God
Fasting for forty days and forty nights
That is when the Lord asks him what he is doing there
It’s been some time, Elijah has had time to sit in all of it, and God asks him what he is doing
This, after all of this, is when Elijah determines to pour our his heart
11-14
11-14
Read 19:11-14
Can you imagine this?
I mean just picture the power of what is happening here!
The wind that crushes stone, the mountain shaking, the fire or lightning coming down!
I read a lot, it’s one of my hobbies, and while I was working on this sermon, I read this passage which immediately brought me back here, from The Hobbit:
“All was well, until one day they met a thunderstorm—more than a thunderstorm, a thunder-battle. You know how terrific a really big thunderstorm can be down in the land and in a river-valley; especially at times when two great thunderstorms meet and clash. More terrible still are thunder and lightning in the mountains at night, when storms come up from East and West and make war. The lightning splinters on the peaks, and rocks shiver, and great crashes split the air and go rolling and tumbling into every cave and hollow; and the darkness is filled with overwhelming noise and sudden light.”
Thorin and his company clinging to the cleft in the rocks watching this storm rage on
Elijah within the cave as the Lord passes by
Might remind you of Moses, standing in the cleft of the rock as the Lord passed him by, on Mount Horeb
and while My glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with My hand until I have passed by.
What was God doing here?
He was reminding Elijah of who He is
On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.
Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.
Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
He bowed the heavens and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.
He rode on a cherub and flew;
he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.
He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,
thick clouds dark with water.
Out of the brightness before him
hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.
The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice,
hailstones and coals of fire.
And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;
he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
Then the channels of the sea were seen,
and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
God came from Teman,
and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah
His splendor covered the heavens,
and the earth was full of his praise.
His brightness was like the light;
rays flashed from his hand;
and there he veiled his power.
Before him went pestilence,
and plague followed at his heels.
He stood and measured the earth;
he looked and shook the nations;
then the eternal mountains were scattered;
the everlasting hills sank low.
His were the everlasting ways.
He reminds Elijah who He is through His power
Interestingly enough that power was displayed by great winds, the earth shaking and lighting, I keep referencing it to a storm because of Elijah’s answer
That Israel has chased after the Ba’al’s. Which he has just killed 450 of Ba’al’s prophets.
But more than that, God has defeated Ba’al on mount carmel in the last chapter, Ba’al, a storm God
And here in chapter 19 we see the power of the Lord displayed
However, of these expressions the Lord is not in any of them
More interesting than all the rest, where was the Lord, He was in the low whisper
Of which the Hebrew for that word is more like “thin silence”
We witness His power, we recall what the Lord has done so recently in defeating the storm God, and through all of this remembering the Lord asks, once more,
What are you doing here Elijah?
And Elijah responds in the same way as he did before.
I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
I’ve been thinking about this answer for about a week now
God doesn’t rebuke him, He doesn’t reward Elijah, rather He continues on and gives Elijah a new mission
I think that the lesson that we should see is first:
The Lord Is More than Patient With His People
The Lord Is More than Patient With His People
After everything that has happened, Elijah flees because he is afraid, and what does the Lord do?
He lets him rest, feeds him, lets him rest some more, and feeds him again
Then he directs him to Mount Horeb, which was the mountain of God
To ask him what he is doing
I’m picturing parents who are immensely patient with their children, where their goal is not to simply instruct them plainly, but to help them see what is happening
Elijah doubles down, but the Lord is so patient. He’s so patient with us too.
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
But the patience did not end there, the Lord moved on to give Elijah his next mission
15-18
15-18
Read 19:15-18
The Lord has a plan in place, and that is the continuation of what He is currently working on
Ba’al will be stamped out, and Elijah’s mission will continue on
There are three names which were given here
Hazael
An Aramean king, who will be the Lord’s instrument of destruction on Israel
Jehu
Will become king of Israel and will bring the Lord’s punishment on Ahab’s house
Elisha
Will continue Elijah’s prophetic work
These three men is who the Lord will use to execute the worship of Ba’al in Israel
What God is doing here is showing Elijah that he is not alone
Yet I leave 7,000 in Isreal, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.
He is not alone and this is the continuation of his work
Like Elijah neither you nor I are alone.
The New Testament is blatantly clear in that
This is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Not only that, but look around you. There are brothers and sisters here that are willing to share in your burdens.
I know, that the world can often seem harsh
Or that everything is coming in against you
Or perhaps that you have fallen back into a pit which you cannot see the way out of.
Rest, eat, speak with the Lord
Pour your heart out to Him
He understands
Do you remember what Jesus did on the night of His betrayal?
He prayed
saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Jesus understands where you are
No matter what put you there,
If it be a matter of situation,
If it be a sin struggle that you wrestle with and cant seem to escape,
If it be fear and anxiety of what is going on right now
The Lord knows where you are at, and He has experienced great tribulation with you
That’s why He took up the cross, so that you and I could be united with Him.
He experienced what He did because He loves you
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
So, when you are running because of the situations in your life, you need to be reminded that you don’t need to run
That
God is going to take care of you, like He took care of Elijah
God is going to remind you of who He is, through this book, and through His works in your life
God is going to continue to use you for his great big beautiful plan
Elijah was next used to issue in the next stages of the Lord’s plan
God’s plan didn’t end with him, and it doesnt end with you either
The Lord is a master of story, you are a part of this beautiful plan, and how we live and what we do operates within it
So, let’s check our own hearts to see where we are at,
And what are you doing, here?
