Listen While In the Wilderness (1 Kings 19:9-13)

Introduction

Welcome back for week three of our sermon series, “Wilderness.” I hope you have enjoyed it so far. God has something to say to us today from His word once again, and I’m excited to share it with you.

We’ve been spending some time hopping around to different stories in scripture, all of which have something to say about the seasons in our life we would define as a wilderness season.

These are the times when we feel as if we’re all alone, or we don’t matter, or maybe we feel as if we’re lost and will never be able to find our way once again.

The wilderness is an important place because, as we have already mentioned in this series, God is often able to teach us important things about both himself and us.

The wilderness is a space where our faith is challenged and strengthened.

And today, I want us to look together at the story of Elijah, as we learn how to: Listen in the Wilderness.

Main Teaching

Please open your Bible and turn with me to 1 Kings 19:9-13.

Now, at this point in history, Elijah had just finished a challenge on Mount Carmel with some prophets of Baal, a false god.

After showcasing God as almighty, and even killing the prophets of Baal, he fled to Mount Horeb (or Sinai) to escape Queen Jezebel, who was trying to kill him.

And while he was alone in a cave in the wilderness, here’s what the Bible says…

Read 1 Kings 19:9-13

This is such a unique story of God speaking to someone.

Now, it’s important to understand the way in which God spoke to Elijah is not always the way God speaks to people.

Story: My daughter Sophia is unique in our family in that there have been two times that she specifically spoke and my wife and I knew it was from the Lord because that specific thing actually happened. 100% of what she said came true!

This is one example of how God speaks today.

And here’s the hard thing about God speaking: we often don’t hear His voice as clear as we hear those around us day today.

So, we have to learn to discern the voice of the Good Shepherd over and above the cacophony of other voices in our ears throughout the week.

It’s hard to hear from God when you are telling Him what to say!

Learn to Discern

If you were here last week, we talked a little bit about David and how he had patience when it came to his anointing to be king of Israel.

And we specifically focused some of our time together on how he had patience.

We came to the conclusion that it was because of his time spent with God, that he could understand God’s will on a deeper level.

Therefore, he was able to persevere in patience because He had a relationship with the Father.

I believe that when it comes to discerning God’s voice, we have to gain intimacy with God as well. But before we even talk about how to discern God’s voice, we need to understand what discernment actually is.

Here’s how the dictionary defines it, “To judge well, with the goal of obtaining and maintaining spiritual guidance and understanding.”

You see, discernment has to do with separating different things, in this case different voices, into different categories.

And as we grow closer to our heavenly Father, we will learn to discern His voice and His leading.

We trust the reality that Jesus shares in John 10; “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me...My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”

You see, the goal for Elijah in the wilderness is the same for many of us today in similar scenarios: guidance.

“God, I don’t know where to go next and I need your guidance”.

And what do we do when we need guidance from God?

I believe we must run back to His word.

The Bible is full of stories and principles that relate to any and all situations in life.

We have to be committed to studying those stories, reading about those principles, ultimately growing closer to God, and learning to discern His voice.

God will often speak through someone around us, which makes it even more important to discern.

Fellowship with others is powerful.

A community can be transformative… but you also need to be careful of people who mean well, but may be missing the mark.

Story: Having godly friends is necessary in that they can give you words that are rooted in what God does.

The godly friend has his roots in the Scriptures.

The godly friend will call you to remember God’s History!

Are the things you’re listening to, from friends and those close to you especially, in alignment with God’s word?

The more we read and understand God and His Word, the easier it will be to discern which voices are pushing toward godly things, rather than things that are futile, worthless, or even destructive.

But once we learn how to discern God’s voice above the noise, we must get to the point where we can actually listen to what God has to say to us.

This may not be an audible voice from the sky that we hear in a cave, but nonetheless I believe God is speaking. And in order for us to listen, there seem to be two requirements on our part.

Reception

Story: A corn farmer asked his field "are you listening?"To which the field responded "I'm all ears"

Maybe this is you, maybe you know someone that is always like this.

Either way, I think we have a tendency to do this kind of thing with God sometimes.

We say we are listening, but we are so preoccupied with different things in our life that we simply cannot hear clearly.

Read Hebrews 12:1

You see, the Bible actually tells us to “throw off everything that hinders” us.

Because God knows that there are certain things that will keep us from pursuing Him at the pace we want to go, they will slow us down in life.

And maybe for you, one of the things that has been keeping you from fully chasing after God, especially in seasons of wilderness, is the ability to actually listen for His leading.

And in this story of Elijah, part of his learning how to listen and receive God’s voice, was learning where, what, or who, He would speak through.

We have already talked about the importance of discernment.

Elijah witnessed many places that God could have spoken, God could have shown up.

But when it came time to receive God’s voice and lead his life, Elijah found God in an unfamiliar place: a still, quiet voice.

Read 1 Kings 19:11-12

Maybe you haven’t heard God yet because you’ve been searching for Him in all the wrong places.

Maybe there are things hindering or distracting you from receiving.

Maybe it’s as simple as scheduling time to be with the Father, much like we schedule time to be with our other friends.

One of the most important lessons we learn during our time in the wilderness is this;

When everything else is gone, we are most ready to receive.

Think about it like this; Have you ever been out in the forest camping and looked up into the night sky? hy766g v

It’s overwhelming how many stars are visible when you’re outside of the city - away from the glare of other lights - away from pollution that clouds the atmosphere.

Sometimes you have to unplug in order to connect.

God still speaks and makes Himself known in many different ways. And once we are able to receive from God, the story of Elijah picks up and teaches us the other key factor to listening well in the wilderness: our response.

Response

It’s so interesting what Elijah does in response to hearing the Lord’s voice in a still, quiet, whisper. Here’s what verse 13 tells us…

Read 1 Kings 19:13

The Bible says Elijah went to where the voice was. In order to listen well in this instance, what God required of Elijah was action.

He needed him to move from where he was (in the cave, where it was comfortable), to outside the cave (where it was uncomfortable).

In fact, God then calls Elijah to go back the same way he came, risking his life on the journey.

But the key is that Elijah had placed his faith and trust in God alone.

There will be many seasons when God will call us from our current residence of comfort to an uncomfortable place.

Do you have faith that God is a God who goes with you on the journey He calls you to go on?

It’s a lot easier to listen to someone you know and trust, than someone you don’t know or you only hear from every now and again.

Story: There is an old story of a father who took his young son out and stood him on the railing of the back porch. He then went down, stood on the lawn, and encouraged the little fellow to jump into his arms. "I'll catch you," the father said confidently. After a lot of coaxing, the little boy finally made the leap. When he did, the father stepped back and let the child fall to the ground. He then picked his son up, dusted him off, and dried his tears.

"Let that be a lesson," he said sternly. "Don't ever trust anyone."

Bad example and advice from this father.

YOU CAN TRUST GOD!

Can you trust God?

Have you placed your whole faith in Him to guide you?

Are you ready to respond?

CONCLUSION

One of the beautiful things about gathering together every week for church is the intentional time and space where we come to connect with God and each other.

It’s a safe place.

A place free from distraction (hopefully).

A place where we can tune in together and receive.

In the book of Hosea God says something incredibly important about the wilderness through his prophet… He says, "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.”

God often calls us into the wilderness to speak tenderly to us.

Unencumbered by all the usual chaos we can clearly hear His voice and receive from Him.

That was the case in Hosea, it was the case for Elijah, and I believe that it is true for us as well.