Fullness

#18 Sick and Tired 7.10.22

1 Kings 19:1-18 NASB Now Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me and more so, if by about this time tomorrow I do not make your life like the life of one of them.” 3And he was afraid, and got up and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah; and he left his servant there. 4But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree; and he asked for himself to die, and said, ‘Enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” 5Then he lay down and fell asleep under a broom tree; but behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, “Arise, eat!” 6And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a round loaf of bread baked on hot coals, and a pitcher of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. 7But the angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him, and said, “Arise, eat; because the journey is too long for you.” 8So he arose and ate and drank, and he journeyed in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.

Elijah at Horeb

9Then he came there to a cave and spent the night there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10And he said, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of armies; for the sons of Israel have abandoned Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they have sought to take my life.” 11So He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and powerful wind was tearing out the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire, a sound of a gentle blowing. 1314 Then he said, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of armies; for the sons of Israel have abandoned Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they have sought to take my life.” 15 The Lord said to him, ‘Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 You shall also anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. 17And it shall come about that the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death. 18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

The Brewing Storm

1. Perhaps no vessel of God has been more analyzed, diagnosed and disrespected more than Elijah. His depression has become almost as famous as his miracles.

2. But we must approach his life with the respect that is due a man of this spiritual caliber.

3. It is too simplistic to look on someone’s poor response without understanding the depth of the battle they are facing. We tend to define a life by snapshots rather than videos.

4. In three and a half years…

• We see his command to approach Ahab. Remember, Scripture tells us the story of one prophet who was told to deliver a message like this, then to run for his life.

• Isolation at the Brook Cherith followed by “exile” at the home of the widow and her son.

Note: This time was largely quiet for the Prophet, but in the public world, he was the object of continual manhunts and investigations. The disappearance of Elijah even strained most of Israel’s foreign relationships. Economically, Israel was on the brink of utter collapse.

• There were other “heroes of the faith.” Men like Obadiah and the 7,000 “Remnant Servants” (possibly prophets).

• There was a face-to-face meeting with Ahab, resulting in a confrontation with 850 false prophets on Mount Carmel.

• Following the drama and trauma of that day, the entire government of Israel was doubly determined to destroy him.

Why did Elijah “Cave-In”?

1. A long, relentless battle in difficult circumstances

2. His enemy was powerful and completely controlled the narrative and society.

3. Elijah was incorrectly regarded to be the cause of the nation’s trouble (Ahab: “So there you are, the Troubler of Israel.”)

4. He knew the truth, but there was almost no appetite in Israel for the real truth. (“It is not I who have troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house. You have forgotten and forsaken the commandments of The Lord”).

• It is exhausting to carry the Burden of The Lord when there is little or no support from the people.

• “How long will you halt between two opinions? If Baal be God, then serve him. But if The Lord be God - then serve Him.” “AND THE PEOPLE DID NOT ANSWER, EVEN WITH A SINGLE WORD.”

• Israel’s sin was along three lines:

vThey had abandoned the Covenant (no regard for The Word).

vThey had torn down the Altars (teachings, liturgy and holy living had been abandoned).

vThey had killed the prophets (Good was called evil; evil was called good — and the people of God had been questioned, then ridiculed, then marginalized, then villainized, and finally imprisoned and killed.).

5. There was a series of demanding events with no time for personal recovery in between.

6. The days when people regarded the prophet was generally over — they mourned for Samuel, but not for Elijah.

God’s “Cave Talk”

1. Get some rest — fuel your mind.

2. Get something good to eat — fuel your body.

3. Let God reveal your heart to you — fuel your soul.

4. Listen to God’s voice — fuel your spirit.

5. Get busy, but work under His Yoke.

Christian Life Lessons

1. Don’t make the mistake of simplistic, judgmental analysis when servants of God go through tough places.

2. The greater the conflict, the greater the need for rhythm and balance.

3. The greater the victory, the greater the need for rhythm and balance.

• “Two things I know about baseball”

• Times of success may be the times we are most prone to failure. In those moments, it is easy to “let-up” and forget how utterly dependent we are upon The Lord.

• Lessons from Rehabilitation

• “At the time when Kings go to war”

4. Generally, a “trickle charge” is better than a “jump start.”

• For the 200 mile trip to Horeb, Elijah was allowed forty days. He could have made it easily in ten or twelve. I suspect there were unplanned stops and surprise moments of leisure along the way.

• Sears technician Mr. Edmund: “We use both, but the trickle charge preserves the life of the battery. A jump start may get him on his way, but a slow charge will keep him from having to come back.”

• Sometimes God will turn water into wine. Usually he tells us to plant a vineyard.

5. Elijah was thinking in terms of a “battle,” not a “war.”

• Don’t be surprised by what is a “breaking point” or by what is not. God knows when to apply final pressure to bring down wickedness.

• By pointing out the 7,000, Elijah may have understood that his ministry had indeed been successful.

• Our goal: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

6. Elijah learned that God not only allows a venting of our frustrations, but He usually deals with us tenderly as He does so. (“As a Father pities his children…”)

7. Elijah was reminded that NOTHING can replace The Presence of God.

1. “The Cave” - some scholars think this may have been the actual “cleft of the rock” where God appeared to Moses.

2. In the end, we will return to wrapping our head in a cloak. We will learn to reverence and fear The Lord.

3. The question to Elijah was repeated. Elijah answered again, but something had changed. The complaint, it seems was the same. But his posture before God had changed.

8. Even deep spirituality does not eradicate fleshly weakness.

• “I am no better than my fathers.”

• James 5:16-18 NLT Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 17Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! 18Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.

• James 5:16-18 NIV Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 17 Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! 18 Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.

• James 5:16-18J.B. Phillips New Testament Tremendous power is made available through a good man’s earnest prayer. Do you remember Elijah? He was a man like us but he prayed earnestly that it should not rain. In fact, not a drop fell on the land for three and a half years. Then he prayed again, the heavens gave the rain and the earth sprouted with vegetation as usual.

• Remember

1. He came to understand himself, YET HE PRAYED.

2. He was given perspective on himself, AND HE PRAYED.

3. He saw God’s faithfulness, SO HE PRAYED.

“Some things happen when I pray that do not happen if I do not pray. Therefore, when I do not pray, something in my life or the life of someone I love may go undone.”