1 Kings 19 A Journey for Answers

1 Kings 19

The Journey for Answers

Intro:

Read Verses:

Main Point: What you think about God and ourselves determines How we deal with the Highs and Lows of Life.

Running to the Wilderness (1-8)

Why Me? Or what did I do to Deserve This?

Elijah just experienced a High by defeating his enemy, but the situation quickly plummets because Jezebel threatens his life. She wants him dead. It is revenge for him killing her prophets of Baal.

It is just better not to continue the journey. For whatever reason, be it fatigue, lack of faith, or a sense of resignation at the prospect of never having peace—Elijah flees. Elijah basically wants to quit or more accurately, he thinks his ministry is over or at least it should be. In fact in verse , he lets his servant go. He says assistant pastor, I have no church, I don’t need. You around. You might be better off at a different church. But why?

Because Jezebel is as committed to Baal as Elijah is to Yahweh. But Yahweh beat Baal on Mt Carmel. And Elijah experienced a high but all of a sudden he is brought low or more accurately, he brought himself low by fearing Jezebel.

So Elijah is asking himself, Why me? What was I supposed to do if I still didn’t actually win. I must have failed, I am no better than my ancestors. Take my life God. Kill me, so I can join my other prophets.

But God has other plans; He sends two angels or at least one angel twice to feed him to strengthen him for the journey to Mount Horeb.

Have you ever felt like Elijah/? I tried my hardest, god and I just could get it all the way across the finish line. Ministry is hard. It’s ups and downs. It’s a full church one day. And then There are three people next week. Its mailing ot 400 flyers and no one from the neighborhood shows up.

So it is easier to run away and this would be to just stop doing outreach or withdrawing from the public. Make the church mimicry about you and your likes and dislikes. Accusing the others of not being Christian enough or they are just heathens. And then the church becomes a country club for saints.

We must persevere. This life that we have been given and all the roads we find ourselves on are long. Or hopefully it is long.

But listen God provided the food because The journey would be too much for you. If you don’t take the spiritual food, you will not make it. Why,because the mountain is tall

Climbing the Mountain (9-14)

It’s not until after Elijah arrives on the mt Horeb in a cave and God asks What are you doing here? And we finally get insight that we get some more information as to why Elijah is so depressed. The people witnessed the victory, killed Baal’s prophets, but it seems like from Elijah’s statements that the people did both yet turn back or become followers of Yahweh again. Which would make sense why he says he is the only one left.

But the question Elijah needs to ask himself in this situation is Who Is God?

He was bragging to the prophets of baal and he was reveling when God’s fire rained down Mount Carmel.

But now, Elijah is in a cave on top of Mt Horeb, And God says Go outside and stand on the mountain in the lord’s presence. And Elijah feels a mighty wind, an earthquake and a fire. But God was not in them all. God made it happen, but he was not there in these big cataclysmic events. And then After all the noise and fury, Elijah hears a small voice; a soft whisper. And he instantly knows that it is God

After that God asks him the same question. What are you doing here and Elijah gives the same answer.

Elijah answers as in 19:10: Israel has rejected the covenant, Israel has become idolatrous, he is the only prophet left, and Jezebel plans to kill him. Implied in this response is Elijah’s doubts that the Lord can save him or turn the nation back to the covenant. Who has God become in the prophet’s life? Only a restatement and reassessment of his theology can extricate him from this pit of fear and depression.

The Lord’s word to him reaffirms God’s uniqueness, his sovereignty over all nations, and the importance of the prophetic word. God tells him, “Go back the way you came,” a command that calls Elijah back into active service of the Lord.

So in this scene we hear God’s voice four times. God’s word is where the Power manifests. God does not yell at Elijah. Instead he realizes he is tired and worn out, and so God uses a quiet voice to comfort and teach Him. Ultimately God is restoring his prophet. God tells Elijah to Go back the way you came.

Meeting Companions in the Wilderness (15-21)

The question to answer here is Who Will Come Next?

One of the Things that Elijah doesn’t see is the big plan. He thought he was the last prophet left. But God is now letting him know the next stage.

Elijah is to go back the way he came. On his journey he is going to anoint two kings and find his replacement Elisha. And there are 7000 other Israelites that are worshippers of Yahweh. So much to the Joy of Elijah, he gets a new assistant and there are a lot of other people to join the church as it were.

Elijah has experienced the power and healing of God. So he sets out to obey God, fully aware that God is his strength and his word will not fail. Elijah throws his cloak, or mantle, upon Elisha, a symbolic way of transferring the prophetic power from one man to the next. Elisha says farewell to his family, then slaughters his oxen and burns his plow, which demonstrates the clear break between his old and new lives. Jesus reflects on this type of separation when he states, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). Elisha seems to know he must take a single-minded approach to the difficult task he will assume. For now he recedes into the background of the story but will step forward again in 2 Kgs 2:1.

Application

When You are Low

1) Eat Something for the Trip

After feeding the masses with five loaves and two fish. The crowd basically hunts Jesus down and asks for Jesus and more bread. John 6:26–27 (CSB): 26 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27 Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”

The trip is long. Paul constantly encourages the churches to keep going. To persevere in the faith. Persevere in spite of and with the suffering that takes place when you are a Christian. Not because if you don't you will lose your salvation, but you will miss out on the greater gifts of God. of knowing you have seen your part to the end.

Oswald Chambers in His devotional Book My Utmost for His Highest says Perseverance means more than endurance— more than simply holding on until the end. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, “I can’t take any more.” Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God’s hands. Is there something in your life for which you need perseverance right now? Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the perseverance of faith. Proclaim as Job did, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).

Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong and vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. And even though you cannot see Him right now and cannot understand what He is doing, you know Him. Disaster occurs in your life when you lack the mental composure that comes from establishing yourself on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the supreme effort of your life— throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God.

Fill Up on God. He is the one that sustains you. A lot of times I am not even hungry after teaching and preaching because I am sustained by what God has given me. I am joyful at the work I have done for God. And I am content with the work he had me do as well.

In order to fill up on God you have to put yourself before God

2) Put Yourself before God

Last Thursday we started off with 4 kids right about 405 or so and we started at 4. No so people may just be fashionably late, but when you just ordered 12 pizzas and you have four people, it can be disheartening. But an interesting thing happened. Kim Prayed. And then we ended up with 25 people by the end of the Kids club time.

Chambers goes on to say “God ventured His all in Jesus Christ to save us, and now He wants us to venture our all with total abandoned confidence in Him. There are areas in our lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet— places still untouched by the life of God. There were none of those places in Jesus Christ’s life, and there are to be none in ours. Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they may know You…” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life will become one great romance— a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.

3) Listen for God’s voice in the miraculous and the mundane.

We would love to always Have God show up on the mountaintop, throwing fire at our enemies and having ravens feed us because it's unusual and miraculous. But oftentimes, it’s the small voice that tells us to wait or go, that is actually God talking to us.

The apostles wanted The conquering King showing up or the son of man riding on the clouds. But what we got was an infant, born of a virgin, laying in an empty feed trough. A boy who lived a fairly regular life until he grew to adulthood and then instead of leading a revolt, he was led to a hill lugging the cross beam that he would hang from in a few hours.

They thought the whole journey was over and ran away and hid in the upper room , ready to quit their mission, until the Risen Lord appeared to them. And then revealed the next phase of the mission: To go into the world and make disciples. That is the overarching standing order. Go and make disciples. So if you get stuck and don’t know what to do, go and make disciples.

The people loved the idea of Jesus healing people but didn’t want to hear his teaching. They loved the bread he created but didn’t understand that he was the bread of life and the living water.

Conclusion:

God was still there defeating Death, this time Elijah’s own request or want to give up his own life. He turned Elijah’s hopelessness into hopefulness. Because God is the King of the World. He is sovereign over his creation and His mission, to bring his Kingdom into existence will not fail or stop.

And so when it seems hopeless, Look to God, Look and Listen for in His Word. When you are stuck in the valley, look to the Sky, where your help comes from because it comes from God. Look for God in the sparrow or butterfly as much as you look for him in the Whale or the Kodiak bear.