Scripture: 1 Kings 19:1-2, 7-14
Jesus, very intentionally, taught using parables. They were always based in the routine life of Israel, but there was also a spiritual lesson in each, which most folks had trouble understanding. When he was asked about it, he told his disciples that they had been given the secrets of the Kingdom, but others had not. He then quoted Isaiah 6:9-10 with these words - “13 This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.” This, I expect, is a problem for many – why would God withhold information about the Kingdom, or even about himself? Why would Jesus open up Godly secrets to some, but not others? Doesn’t he want everyone to know him?
I believe that God wants everyone to understand what is
being offered through Christ, but that all aren’t yet ready to hear - or
receive - the truth! We begin with
faith, and from there, we begin to understand. But today’s “problem” is slightly different –
why doesn’t God make his word apparent and obvious to us? Why do we have to think about it, instead of just
having it all laid out loudly and clearly for us to learn? Are we really that dense?
Read 1 Kings 19:1-2
A little background on what Ahab was telling Jezebel. Queen Jezebel, and much of Israel, had begun
worshipping Baal and Asherah – which were general terms for the Canaanite gods
of fertility. And not only was the queen
promoting foreign gods, she was having the priests of Yahweh killed. Elijah claimed that he was the last prophet
of God who still lived, and he had challenged the prophets of Baal and Asherah,
numbering 850 total, to a demonstration to see which god – the gods of Canaan,
or the God Yahweh of all Creation - was the true God.
Each had built an altar, prepared a bull for sacrifice, and
without lighting a fire for the offering, they called upon their own god for the
fire. The prophets of Baal tried for
hours to bring down fire, without success.
Elijah called on His God for fire, and heavenly fire came, consuming
bull, the wood, the stone of the altar, the soil around the altar, and many
gallons of water that he had poured upon the sacrifice.
God won hands down! And as
a result, Elijah ordered that the 850 false prophets be killed. The power of Elijah’s faith had seen him through
the ordeal, and one would expect that by this incredible demonstration of the
glory that comes through prayer and trust, that the man would be able to stand
up against anything that Ahab and Jezebel could throw at him. However, the prophet would take to the hills,
filled with fear, and convinced that his life was about to be taken from him.
Makes you wonder, doesn’t it!
After all, this man of God would one day meet with Jesus, along with
Moses, at the Lord’s transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13). He had just experienced the power of God at
work and the blessings that faith can bring, and now he was running from human
authority, who themselves would soon receive Godly judgement for their sins (1Kings 21:19-26).
He had apparently lost contact with his Lord, and confidence in
the protection and power that had surrounded him had, somehow, vanished. Do we ever experience the “Elijah
Syndrome”, and forget just who our God is, and what he is ready to do for us
and through us?
Read 1 Kings 19:7-9a
Even in Elijah’s flight from trouble, God is still with him,
nourishing him and strengthening him for the journey and task that awaits
him. Elijah, in all probability,
believes that he is still running from the threats that had come from the evil
Jezebel, when in reality, he is running right into God’s plan.
Have any of us ever been in that situation – feeling that our only
hope is to flee from the world’s persecution and threats, when God’s call is
still mightily upon us to share his ways with that same evil, threatening,
hateful people of earth? The truth is
that the Lord’s plan for our lives never goes away! And even though we may feel that God’s way
has been failing us, the problem is that we have been blinded, for whatever
reason, to what God is preparing for us!
Sometimes, our service is through suffering and persecution;
sometimes, our call is to proclaim the Lord to the most unusual and unexpected
people you will ever meet, and in the strangest and out-of-the-way places that
could ever be found; and nearly all the time, we haven’t got a clue as to what God
is up to in our lives, until much later when he reveals within us a glimpse of
his plan, which will always amaze and astound us.
This is where we now find Elijah.
Read 1 Kings 19:9b-11a
The prophet finds himself in a cave on Mount Horeb, which is another
name for Mount Sinai. And what happened there? This is the place where Moses received the 10
commandments – twice! The man finds
himself on the Mountain of God, right where the Lord wanted him to be. He had been fed and nourished by the Angel of
the Lord, had been led to the Lord’s Mountain, and now was being prepared for
the very word that would strengthen his faith.
But when God asks him what he is doing there, the fear of Jezebel that had
sent him running begins to bubble out of his heart once again. “I’m the only one who is still faithful, and
they’re trying to kill me, too!” In
essence, the prophet is asking the Lord why he has left him all alone to stand
against all of the lies and false faith that has filled Israel! “What kind of plan is this, Lord? This doesn’t sound like you at all!”
And God replies “Don’t worry – I’m with you, and I have a word for
your life. Just step outside of the
cave, and I’ll show you.”
Finally, God shows up, but where had he been for the past few
months? The answer is simple – he had
been with Elijah every step of the way. He
had been with him at Mount Carmel when his authority was shown to the prophets
of Baal; he had been in the wilderness where he satisfied Elijah’s hunger and
strengthened him for the task that awaited; he had been with him during that 40 day
and 40 night journey to the mountain, showing him where to walk and how to
hope; he had led the prophet to his holy mountain, and had shown him the cave
to rest in. And when the prophet finally
obeyed and stepped outside, the Lord would show him where he was - and where he
wasn’t.
We’ve all had those days when we wished that God would just make
his works and way more obvious to us.
Amen? But that is where faith
comes in – trusting and believing that God is at work within us and through us
and for us, even when we don’t know what is happening or what he is up to.
Read 1 Kings 19:11b-13a
Since the demonstration of God’s power to the disciples of Baal
and Asherah, the Lord has been anything but obvious in Elijah’s life. Fear over Jezebel’s threats, and uncertainty in
where God’s plan was going, had taken control of his life. But this is where trust must come into play –
not only in Elijah’s life, but in ours, too.
It's not that God is too busy to be present with us all the time, it’s
not that God doesn’t care about what we are going through, it isn’t even that
the Lord wants to test us at every step.
These are opportunities for us to grow in Christ, to become more
trusting, to be patient as we wait for the Holy Spirit to let us know what
these times are all about, and what we are to do about them.
Romans 5:1-5
is one of those passages that assure us that God has a plan for our lives, even
though we may not see it at the time. We
read that suffering, perseverance, character, and hope are all part of the path
that we are asked to travel from time to time.
And in that passage, Paul reminds us that the last step, that of HOPE, “does
not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through
the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
Hope in God needs to be our constant companion, just as it should
have been with Elijah. Just because the
Lord isn’t present with us in a way that we would like, that never means
that he isn’t with us in his way.
Just because Jesus isn’t visible in the mighty winds that blow through
our lives, just because our Creator God isn’t in the earthquakes that disrupt
the earth, just because the Spirit isn’t in the tongues of flame that threaten
to destroy us, and we are frightened nearly to the point of death, it only means that we should slow down, turn
our lives directly toward the Lord, and listen carefully, for that is where and
when we will come to know.
Read 1 Kings 19:13b-14
Even after hearing that “gentle whisper” of God, Elijah was
still fearful. But the Lord discounts
the prophet’s complaint, and gives him the very assignment that he needed to
receive. Finally, he will come to know
that his Lord God Yahweh hasn’t given up on him, and that his life still has
meaning. He has finally listened within
his own silence, just as we need to do, and when we are silent, God will
give us exactly what we need for that time.
Simon and Garfunkel are hardly great prophets of God but in the fifth verse of their song “Sound of Silence”, we hear these words – “And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made, and the sign flashed out its warning, in the words that it was forming. And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls", and whispered in the sound of silence.”
It would seem that the word of God isn’t in the flashy neon of our culture, in those “sound bites” that have become a staple of our learning experiences. The Lord wants us to stop rushing by him, and to take a moment to quietly hear all that he has to say, and then to reflect on what his word means for our life. In the song, we discover that we have to put our hurried life on hold, and stop, and face the message of God if we are to discover the truth that it holds for us.
Listen carefully every day, for the roar of the world can easily drown
out that gentile whisper of God, for that is exactly when his word becomes crystal
clear for our lives.
