| 1 Kings 19 is one of the most remarkable chapters in | | | | more spacious place of saving his people. There are |
| the Bible. For the depressed and lonely it is a | | | | times when we have to be "caved in" to gather |
| necessary chapter, for it encourages a view of God | | | | strength and to learn valuable lessons so we may be |
| as a Presence who loves in spite of what we do and | | | | worthy to do God's work within the greater plan which |
| what we are. It is a display of God's power, as well, | | | | He has for us.But what about the discouragement and |
| and is similar to the rebuke God gave to Job when | | | | physical exhaustion we experience as human beings? |
| Job questioned and murmured (although given similar | | | | Does God really understand how frail we are? Yes! |
| circumstances, how well would we have endured?). | | | | When we fail and fall, He lifts us to even greater |
| God answered Job out of the whirlwind (Job 38:1) as | | | | heights of work for Him. "The Lord upholds all those |
| he sat on the dunghill with his friends, and He | | | | who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down" (Psalm |
| answered Elijah in the still small voice on Mount Horeb, | | | | 145:14). Our Lord's life on earth was spent in putting |
| as Elijah peeked out from the cave in which he sought | | | | down the lofty and lifting the lowly. "But many who are |
| to hide from the world in which he was so | | | | first will be last, and many who are last will be first" |
| disappointed (1 Kings 19:12).Even in discouragement | | | | (Matthew 19:30). If we think we are last in fame and |
| God meets us where we are, whether we have | | | | fortune, we need to remind ourselves that it is the |
| unwillingly and unwittingly landed on the heap of the | | | | meek who God calls His children. And when we are |
| rubbish and wreckage of life or we are hiding in a | | | | bowed down with infirmities of mind and body, He |
| cave, away from what we perceive to be an | | | | reaches down to raise us from a living death.From |
| inhumane humanity. He knows whether we need the | | | | sinking sand He lifted me, |
| whirlwind or the soft breeze to get us back on His | | | | With tender hand He lifted me; |
| track. God knows that we damage our compass of | | | | From shades of night to plains of light, |
| life now and then with the heat of our passions and | | | | O praise His name, He lifted me. |
| the cold of our indifference. Our "sense of | | | | (Hymn, He Lifted Me, Charles H. Gabriel, |
| instrumentation" becomes faulty and we head in the | | | | 1856-1932)."So he [Jesus] went to her, took her hand |
| direction of a living death. We need to regain the | | | | and helped her up" (Mark 1:31). He does no less for all |
| sense of "mission and submission."It is interesting that | | | | his helpless children. But Jesus came and touched |
| Elijah, Moses and Jonah all requested that they be | | | | them. 'Get up,' he said, 'Don't be afraid'" (Matthew 17:7). |
| allowed to die. Listen to Jonah: "Now, O Lord, take | | | | "People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have |
| away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live" | | | | him touch them" (Luke 18:15). "For though a righteous |
| (Jonah 4:3); Moses: "If this is how you [Lord] are going | | | | man falls seven times, he rises again" (Proverbs 24:16). |
| to treat me, put me to death right now" (Numbers 11:15); | | | | Seven times; seventy times seven times; whenever |
| Elijah: "I have had enough, Lord, take my life; I am no | | | | we fall! The secret is in getting up again. What a great |
| better than my ancestors" (1 Kings 19:4c). Job's | | | | comfort this verse is to the discouraged who grope |
| troubles drove him to cursing the day he was born: | | | | for strength and find they do not even have the |
| "May the day of my birth perish..." (Job 3:3a). His | | | | strength to gather strength. "Being confident of this, |
| existence which was a joy before has now become | | | | that he who began a good work in you will carry it on |
| his intolerable burden. It is good for us to know that | | | | to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians |
| God's greatest heroes had their moments of | | | | 1:6). "For it is God who works in you to will and to act |
| despair--and that there are some prayers God does | | | | according to his good purpose" (Philippians 2:14). The |
| not answer the way we would like.It is also good to | | | | good man's fall is an event; the bent of the good man's |
| know that one of God's great heroes, Paul, said, "It is | | | | life is goodness. This was so with Elijah. It was so with |
| more necessary for you that I remain in the body. | | | | Peter, too. One look from our Lord and we weep |
| Convinced of this...I will continue with all of you for your | | | | bitterly over our fall from His grace and graciousness |
| progress and joy in the faith..." (Philippians 1:24,25). Paul | | | | (Matthew 26:75)."The eternal God is your refuge, (not |
| wanted Paradise where the weary find rest, the sad | | | | a cave!), and underneath are the everlasting arms" |
| find joy, the lonely find kindred spirits, the fearful find | | | | (Deuteronomy 33:27). Underneath our sorrow are |
| safe harbor, and the doubting Thomases and | | | | arms that lift us to the shore of serenity. "Teacher, |
| Thomasenas find assurance and reassurance.But | | | | don't you care if we drown?" (Mark 4:38). He said to |
| earthly claims checked Paul's desire, and check ours, | | | | their storm as He says to our chaos, "Quiet! Be still!" |
| also. He wanted to dissolve but instead resolved | | | | (v.39). "Then the wind died and it was completely calm" |
| against his own wishes. Paul obviously had no fear of | | | | (v.39b). "Come to me, all you who are weary and |
| dying, but his eye and heart were single to the glory of | | | | burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28)."I |
| God and that meant staying in his earthly vessel for a | | | | have made you and I will carry you" (Isaiah 46:4). |
| while longer. In 2 Corinthians 4:16, Paul says, "Therefore | | | | Because He created us, He will carry us! What a |
| we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are | | | | sublime thought this is to the brokenhearted. "`For I |
| wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed | | | | know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, |
| day by day." We are "treasures in jars of clay."Paul | | | | 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to |
| also pleaded with God through earnest and prolonged | | | | give you hope and a future'" (Jeremiah 29:11). It isn't |
| prayer that an irritation be removed from his life. Paul | | | | God's plan for us to be defeated and to run away. He |
| did not take a fatalistic attitude about pain and | | | | will even carry us to the designated place He has for |
| suffering; he knew it was all right to ask God for its | | | | us, but if we are running in the wrong direction, we will |
| removal. "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take | | | | run by ourselves."So we say with confidence, 'The |
| [the thorn] away from me. But he said to me, 'My | | | | Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do |
| grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made | | | | to me?'" (Hebrews 13:6); "If God is for us, who can be |
| perfect in weakness'" (2 Corinthians 12:8,9). So it is not | | | | against us?" (Romans 8:31); "I will not die but live, and |
| wrong for us to plead with God to remove a sorrow | | | | will proclaim what the Lord has done" (Psalm 118:17). |
| or an annoyance from our life. Indeed, as our Friend, | | | | People are often in danger: Joseph in the pit, Moses in |
| He expects us to ask Him so that we may receive. In | | | | the ark of bulrushes, Job on the dunghill, David's narrow |
| the meantime, "I [Jesus] have prayed for you that your | | | | escapes from Saul, Paul who was let down in the |
| faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, | | | | basket, and Jesus who "hid himself, slipping away from |
| strengthen your brothers [and sisters]" (Luke 22:32). His | | | | the temple grounds" (John 8:59) for His time had not |
| grace is His prayer for us. And there is a condition | | | | yet come. "But they were furious and began to |
| which Paul understood, as well: after we are | | | | discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus" |
| strengthened, we then are to encourage and inspire | | | | (Luke 6:11); "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it |
| others: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord | | | | hated me first...But this is to fulfill what is written in their |
| Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God | | | | Law: 'They hated me without reason'" (John 15:18,25). |
| of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so | | | | They hated without reason, only with emotion that is |
| that we can comfort those in any trouble with the | | | | prejudiced. Jezebel hated Elijah because of emotion, |
| comfort we ourselves have received from God" (2 | | | | and Elijah ran away from this unreasonable |
| Corinthians 1:3,4).Jesus asked His Father to be spared | | | | woman.The extraordinary message of 1 Kings 19 is |
| the cup when He knelt in agony in the Garden. He had | | | | that it is God's ordinary way of caring for us. Lest we |
| told his disciples, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow | | | | think God is neglecting us, let us remember that He |
| to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with | | | | gives provisions and not visions when we are in |
| me" (Matthew 26:38). He wanted company in His | | | | distress. He uses the common means, rest and food: |
| agony. He asks them later, "Could you...not keep watch | | | | "Then he [Elijah] lay down under the tree and fell |
| with me for one hour?" (v.40). What a loving rebuke! | | | | asleep ("I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you |
| Yes, Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, was acquainted with | | | | alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety" Psalm 4:8). "All |
| grief. He even prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may | | | | at once an angel touched him and said, 'Get up and |
| this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you | | | | eat'" (1 Kings 19:5). In the depths of despair we are to |
| will" (v.39).Jesus prayed to be spared death but He | | | | rest and then, bidden by God Himself, we are to get |
| willingly died. It appears that His prayer was not | | | | up and to eat. He asks us to do our part. We must not |
| answered and yet it was, for Jesus fulfilled His mission. | | | | let the seeming facts of what is happening in our life to |
| God did not answer the prayers of Moses, Elijah, | | | | eclipse our faith and obscure our vision of God and so |
| Jonah or Job, for their missions were not yet fulfilled. All | | | | keep us from going to Him as He comes to us."The |
| prayers were and are answered because strength | | | | angel of the Lord came back a second time and |
| was and is given to meet the trials; finally, God's will | | | | touched him and said, 'Get up and eat, for the journey |
| was and is done in all lives. What we wish does not | | | | is too much for you'" (1 Kings 19:7). Not once but twice |
| determine God's will, whether we wish the release of | | | | he is bidden to arise from his lethargy of body and |
| death or the pleasures of life. It is God who determines | | | | spirit and eat for strength so he might continue on his |
| the courses and discourses of our lives.In our fears | | | | journey. God does not give up on us! "So [Elijah] got up |
| and griefs of life, and the seeming unfairness of what | | | | and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he |
| others do, we run away just as quickly as Elijah from | | | | traveled..." (1 Kings 19:8). God prepared a table in the |
| Jezebel and Jonah from Nineveh and Moses from | | | | wilderness for His beloved Elijah who thought he had |
| Egypt. We, too, would like to shed the skin, the lien--the | | | | failed God. What a glorious lesson! Surely He prepares |
| terrible obligation--of our life. We, too, feel that we are | | | | a table for us in our wilderness and provides for us a |
| no better than our predecessors; in fact, we may be | | | | satisfying Bread of Life. We are to feed on Him that |
| making a huge mess of life. "But I said, 'I have labored | | | | we may have the strength to live in and for Him."The |
| to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for | | | | spirit is willing, but the body is weak" (Mark 14:38b). |
| nothing...'" (Isaiah 49:4). When Keats was dying, he said, | | | | Christ Jesus could say this to His beloved disciples |
| "I have written my name on water." Later, Keats' | | | | who slept through His lonely hour because He, too, |
| name was written on marble. Christ Himself would be | | | | knew rejection and sorrow and hunger and weariness |
| perceived as a total failure on earth--and Christ's name | | | | to the extreme degree. God understands that we are |
| is written on hearts and for eternity.The good news is | | | | not willfully weak. On the one hand, we have sins of |
| that God is there in the whirlwind of tragedy and failure | | | | infirmity; on the other, we have infirmities that are not |
| and He's in the still small voice of conscience, too. He | | | | sins: fatigue, natural consequences of growing older, |
| knows our frame, that we are made of dust and | | | | hunger, thirst, environment and heredity. This does not |
| fragile hearts; He redeems our life and crowns us with | | | | excuse us from overcoming, but it helps to know that |
| His love and compassion. Praise the Lord, O my soul! | | | | God empathizes with us because "He took up our |
| (Psalm 103).Some have condemned Elijah for running | | | | infirmities and carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:4). "In the |
| away from Jezebel and for requesting that God take | | | | same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do |
| his life. But there is another side--certainly a more | | | | not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit |
| humane view--of what Elijah experienced. Elijah's fire | | | | himself intercedes for us with groans that words |
| on Carmel became a more gentle breeze on Mount | | | | cannot express" (Romans 8:26).It is after we are |
| Horeb and he learned treasured lessons there, alone | | | | strengthened that He deals with the immediate |
| and friendless (so he thought) that he could not learn in | | | | problem: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (1 Kings |
| the heat of the so-called victory over the false | | | | 19:9b); "But the Lord God called to the man, 'Where are |
| prophets of Baal. Even Elijah had to learn that great | | | | you?'" (Genesis 3:9); "Then the Lord said to Cain, |
| lesson we all must learn: "Wait for the Lord; be strong | | | | 'Where is your brother Abel?'" (Genesis 4:9). God asks |
| and take heart and wait for the Lord" (Psalm | | | | us, too, why are we where we are and what are we |
| 27:14).Sometimes, like Elijah, we have to be put in a | | | | doing with our lives. We are our brothers' and sisters' |
| cave to get out of a "cave mood," as one author calls | | | | keepers, and this means being responsible and acting |
| it. "There he went into a cave and spent the night" (1 | | | | responsibly: both a willing and a doing.Elijah ran away |
| Kings 19:9). Elijah was shut into his littleness so he might | | | | from his responsibilities. Adam and Eve ran away from |
| understand the largeness that God was about to | | | | responsibility for their actions. Elijah's circumstances did |
| show him. God was processing Elijah for a greater | | | | not add up to reasons to run away and neither do |
| work. "He [God] brought me into a spacious place" | | | | ours, much as we long to do so at times. "I can do |
| (Psalm 18:19a).There is a dichotomy here with Elijah: he | | | | everything through him who gives me strength" |
| fled to save his life and then asks that it be taken | | | | (Philippians 4:13).Only God knows our quiet and |
| away. We are all dichotomous leaves waving with the | | | | pervasive influence in the lives of those with whom |
| winds of what we perceive to be misfortune when it | | | | we endure, and that is what it is at times in our lives. If |
| might be the breath of the Lord trying to bring breadth | | | | we are not where God wants us to be, then God calls |
| to our life. It was so with Elijah as he swayed with the | | | | us by name and lets us know through that still, small |
| strong squall of Jezebel's threats. Moses, too, struck | | | | and effective voice of conscience: silent because no |
| for God's cause but not in God's way: "One day | | | | sound is audible ("He will not shout or cry out, or raise |
| [Moses] watched [his own people] at their hard labor. | | | | his voice in the streets" Isaiah 42:2); small because it is |
| He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew...He killed the | | | | simple and not portentous; effective because it is God |
| Egyptian..." (Exodus 2:11,12). God sent Moses into the | | | | who speaks: it is the Divine Whisper of Mind to mind. |
| desert to prepare his heart and body and mind for the | | | | |