God's Snack and Nap Cures All

Prayer of the people

Heavenly Father, Today we ask You to bless our earthly fathers for the many times they reflected the love, strength, generosity, wisdom and mercy that You exemplify in Your relationship with us, Your children. We honor our fathers for putting our needs above their own convenience and comfort; for teaching us to show courage and determination in the face of adversity; for challenging us to move beyond self-limiting boundaries; for modeling the qualities that would turn us into responsible, principled, caring adults. Not all our fathers lived up to these ideals. Give them the grace to acknowledge and learn from their mistakes. Give us the grace to extend to them the same forgiveness that you offer us all. Help us to resist the urge to stay stuck in past bitterness, instead, moving forward with humility and peace of heart. We ask your blessing on those men who served as father figures in our lives when our biological fathers weren't able to do so. May the love and selflessness they showed us be returned to them in all their relationships, and help them to know that their influence has changed us for the better. Give new and future fathers the guidance they need to raise happy and holy children, grounded in a love for God and other people - and remind these fathers that treating their wives with dignity, compassion and respect is one of the greatest gifts they can give their children. We pray that our fathers who have passed into the next life have been welcomed into Your loving embrace, and that our family will one be day be reunited in your heavenly kingdom.

Its in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that we pray

Amen

Introduction

While preparing for the message this week I found this story.

“My son just about got expelled for doing the right thing. He and a few other students found a security issue that allowed them to access registration information for any current or prior student in the school system on a public facing website. As a group they realized they should not be able to do that and told their teacher. A week later I got a call that the central office was launching an investigation into the code of conduct violation by my son and the others. A week after that I got another call that they were leaning towards expulsion. At that point I calmly explained the severity of what my son and the others had found, how they only accessed other student information to show that it could be done, and had reported the issue immediately. I suggested that perhaps the media should be alerted to the data breech, even though it did not involve social security numbers it did expose other personal information that could be used for identity theft purposes. Another week passed and common sense was finally applied. Each of the students involved received a written warning telling them while the district appreciated them reporting the security problem, they had violated the student code of contact by accessing other students information and that further instances would face appropriate disciplinary action. A more reasonable response but in my opinion still a little heavy handed.”

Have you ever ben punished for doing the right thing? How did that make you feel? The protagonist of our passage today knew exactly how this felt. Elijah was tasked with explaining God’s will to the people of Israel. The problem was the people of Isreal did not want to listen so rather than praising Elijah the people rejected Elijah for giving them the truth.

Elijah Was Rejected for God’s Message

Elijah was tasked with bringing God’s message of repentance to the people of Israel

Elijah proclaimed the drought because of the people’s unfaithfulness.

(1 Kings 17)

Elijah showed God’s power on Mt. Carmel

(1 Kings 18:16-40)

Elijah brought the rain back

Even though Elijah brought good news to the people they still wanted him dead

Because good news comes with a price

It comes with repentance

It comes with self sacrifice

It comes with humility

We are called to bring a similar message to people

A message of eternal life

A message of repentance

A message of self sacrifice

A message of humility

Like Elijah It is likely we will be hated for this message

Because we are set apart

John 15:18–19 NIV

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

Because they are not willing to hear the truth

John 15:21 NIV

They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.

God Gave Elijah Rest

After Fleeing God gave Elijah a safe place to rest

God lead him into the wilderness alone.

A place where he could sleep

God offered him comfort even when he was at his most vulnerable

God calmed his mind when he was struggling with depression

1 Kings 19:4–5 NIV

while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”

When we are struggling We can find our rest in God

Are there times when you are struggling with some crisis of faith?

All we have to do is rest in God

God Gave Elijah Food

Two times an angel of the Lord fed Elijah

(vs. 5b, 7)

God was not only taking care of Elijah spiritually he was taking care of Elijah physically

The food gave him the strength he needed.

After that he was able to travel 40 days and 40 nights to where God was ultimately sending him

We have times when we are so beaten down that we have not physical strength.

God offers to give us strength when we are weak

In fact God is the most strong when we are at our weakest

2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

God Gave Elijah Direction

After God fed Elijah he gave him the outline for the remainder of his ministry

God sent him to Horeb

God Spoke to him in the gentile whisper

God told him what to do

Anoint Hazael king of Aram

Anoint Jehu king of Israel

And anoint Elisha to succeed him

But God did not give him direction until he was fed and rested

He had to be full and rested to be able to hear God’s direction for his ministry

We also must first accept God’s rest and nourishment before we can hear God’s plan

Are we having a hard time hearing what God is telling us to do?

Maybe it is because we have not yet accepted God’s rest.

We are so busy trying to work for God we are not willing to first rest and be fed by God

Conclusion

Elijah had to learn that hard way that he did not needs God’s grand miracles to be fulfilled, he did not need lots of people to follow him, all he needed was God. This is something many of us have a hard time with. We think that we need to be the biggest church, we think we need to baptize the most people, or lead the most people to Christ. All we really need is God.

Elijah didn’t have a large number of followers and when he did what God had instructed him he created more enemies than friends. The work almost destroyed him, gave him depression, and could have lead to his death, but he rested in God. God took care of his needs, God gave him the rest he so desperately needed, God nourished his body, and it was only when he was rested and ready did God send him out.

So some times when you are having a hard time discerning God’s calling on your life maybe all you need is a snack and nap. Rest in God and let him lead you. Let’s pray.