When we left off last, Elijah was spending the night in a cave at Mount Horeb. Queen Jezebel has issued an execution warrant for him and he's in fear for his life. He doesn't feel safe going about the countryside or in any of the cities openly. There's probably a great reward in store for anyone who brings him in to Jezebel, dead or alive. I don't know what Elijah is planning to do next, perhaps flee the country altogether and go and live where nobody knows him. But the Lord has other plans.
"And the word of the Lord came to him: 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' He replied, 'I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and put Your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.'" (1 Kings 19:9b-10) Have you ever felt hurt and angry because trouble came into your life while you were doing the best you could to serve the Lord? I have! Elijah has too! He says something like, "Lord, You know how much I love You and have spoken to the people in Your name, begging them to repent. But no one listened to me. Instead of turning away from idolatry, they've given themselves over to it more and more. They're no longer content with blending pagan religious practices with their worship of You. They've forsaken You altogether, torn down Your altars, and killed many of Your prophets. Now they're about to kill me too! What good did any of my words do? I've accomplished nothing. I've risked my life for nothing."
Elijah's words remind me of the psalmist Asaph who was troubled by the fact that bad things happen to good people in this fallen world. In his distress he said, "Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments." (Psalm 73:13-14) Asaph said something like, "I've tried to live within the will of the Lord. I've loved my neighbor. I've done unto others as I'd have done unto me. And yet it seems like each new day brings more troubles." We live in a world that's been polluted by sin. Bad things happen here like illnesses, accidents, and death. Bad people do things that affect good people. The only way we could avoid trouble entirely is to leave this world entirely, which is what Elijah wants to do. He doesn't want to go out at the hands of Jezebel but he wouldn't mind the Lord just calling him on home to heaven. The Lord has something else for him to do though.
"The Lord said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.'" (1 Kings 19:11a) Some scholars propose that the cave in which Elijah spent the night is the same cleft in the rock where the Lord appeared to Moses in the book of Exodus. I think that's a valid theory, not because the Lord is limited to making an appearance at any particular place but because Elijah would have been especially encouraged by having the Lord appear to him at the same place he appeared to the great leader Moses.
"Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper." (1 Kings 19:11b-12) Awe-inspiring manifestations of God's glory are sometimes necessary to get someone's attention. Fearsome displays of power are sometimes necessary for the Lord to testify of His existence to unbelievers, such as the fire He sent down from heaven in the sight of the Baal worshipers. But to His own children, a still small voice---a comforting voice like the voice of a good father soothing a worried child---is often what is needed most. Elijah already knows the Lord is capable of performing astonishing displays of His power, but it's hard to feel emotionally close to a God of thunder, fire, wind, and earthquakes. Elijah needs a personal word from God at this time when he feels so desperately alone. The sights and sounds he experiences on the mountain get his attention so that he's ready to hear the gentle whisper in the silence that follows.
He recognizes the whisper as the voice of the Lord. "When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave." (1 Kings 19:13a) Elijah knows that the Lord told Moses on the day He passed by Moses in the cleft of the rock, "You cannot see My face, for no one may see Me and live." (Exodus 33:20) The Lord's holiness is so great that it would consume us in our human frailness if we looked upon Him. Elijah shields his face when he steps outside of the cave. I know that earlier in Chapter 19 Elijah expressed a desire to die but the inbuilt instinct of self-preservation is strong. If the Lord hadn't created us with an instinct for self-preservation we wouldn't survive for very long because we'd fearlessly do foolish things and get ourselves killed.
"Then a voice said to him, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' He replied, 'I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and put Your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.'" (1 Kings 19:13b-14) The Lord asks the same question He asked earlier and He gets the same answer. Elijah's mind is stuck in a loop and that's something I can relate to. I'm about to turn fifty-three years old next month and I've been dealing with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder since I was twelve, or at least that's the age I was when this condition really began to manifest itself in my life in a major way. When a problem crops up it can take over my every waking thought. I'll turn it around and around in my mind until I can't seem to think about anything else. And you know what happens when we become intently focused on a problem? The problem keeps getting bigger and bigger in our minds. Elijah's problem seems so big to him now that as far as he can tell it's insurmountable. He needs something to interrupt the loop his mind has settled into, so the Lord gives him something constructive to do.
"The Lord said to him, 'Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel---all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.'" (1 Kings 19:15-18) Elijah thinks his ministry has been a failure and that he is the only servant of God left who is faithful to Him. But not everyone has ignored Elijah's preaching. There are people all over the nation who have not given themselves to idolatry. There are men who will see to it that justice is carried out against those who are promoting and enforcing idolatry in the land. God is not finished with Elijah or with Israel. He's just getting started! So the Lord says to Elijah, "Anoint these three men I'm telling you about. They will do what I've called them to do. Your ministry has not been in vain and you are not alone. Take heart, Elijah!"
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