Transcript
If you haven’t done it already, open your Bibles to First Kings chapter 19.
First Kings chapter 19, beginning to read at verse 1. First Kings 19 and verse 1:
And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.’
And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die and said, ‘It is enough now, Lord. Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.’
Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Arise and eat.’ Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.
And the angel of the Lord came back the second time and touched him and said, ‘Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.’ So he arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.
And there he went into a cave and spent the night in that place. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’
So he said, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.’
Then He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.’ And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire a still small voice.
So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And suddenly a voice came to him and said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’
So he said, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.’
Then the Lord said to him, ‘Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill. And whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.’
The title of my talk this afternoon violates one of the basic rules for good titles. Good titles are supposed to be short and therefore easily remembered. But my title this afternoon is a little bit long, but hopefully you will be able to remember it.
Here it is. Serving God is not a walk in the park. It is a ride on a roller coaster. Let me repeat that, since I would like to fasten it on your minds. Serving God is not a walk in the park. It is a ride on a roller coaster.
Now as I look back over more than six and a half decades of my life, to the very best of my knowledge and recollection I have only ridden a roller coaster at one time. And it is so vivid in my memory that it could have happened last year, even though it happened many years ago. And I can still remember the roller-coaster car reaching the high, high top of that first rise and then falling, and it felt like we were in freefall.
And I think I have had very few experiences in my life more scary than that. And to the best of my recollection I have never ever again ventured onto a roller coaster. So I am deeply sympathetic with the plight of the prophet in the passage that we read just a moment ago. Because I think, without him knowing it, he has stepped on board a roller coaster.
Now you remember that Elijah is fresh from a spectacular victory on Mount Carmel. He has stood virtually alone confronting the nation of Israel, confronting Ahab whose hostility toward him was very poorly concealed, confronting the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, the four hundred prophets of Asherah. And he stands alone and challenges the prophets of Baal to a contest by fire. Whose God will bring down fire from heaven?
And as you know, it was the Lord God of Israel that brought down fire from heaven and consumed the sacrifice and the altar and the water that was in the trench around the altar. And then, because there was a need to have rain, he went up to Carmel and he prayed seven times that God would send rain. And sure enough, God sent rain.
And this is certainly one of the most spectacular performances of courage and boldness and faith that you will find anywhere in the Old Testament. I doubt if you can find a prophet in the Old Testament who had a more spectacular victory than this.
So what has Elijah done? He has reached the pinnacle of the first height. He has reached the highest point in his prophetic career. But in chapter 18 the car starts rapidly going down. You see, Ahab reports to Queen Jezebel what Elijah has done and that he has wiped out the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal.
And so Jezebel sends a messenger to Elijah with this message. And she says, “May the gods do so to me and more also if I don’t make your life like one of their lives by this time tomorrow.” And if I may freely translate Jezebel’s message to Elijah, she is saying, “Elijah, you are dead meat. And you will be as dead as my prophets are by this time tomorrow.”
So Elijah says, “Ha ha, you think that scares me? I’ve just been up on Mount Carmel and I faced the whole nation. I faced the king. I faced the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah. And God sent fire down from heaven and then He sent rain from heaven. You think I’m going to be scared of a woman, even if she is the queen?”
He didn’t say that, did he? Nor anything remotely resembling that. And we are almost stunned. We are almost shocked. And Elijah gave in to this message because the Bible says, “Then he arose and ran for his life all the way down south to Beersheba.” Wow.
This is the bold, courageous, triumphant prophet of Mount Carmel, and he’s running away from a woman, powerful and ruthless though that woman was. What is the lesson that we get from this story at this point? It’s a very simple one, but it’s a very important one.
You cannot live today on yesterday’s faith. I repeat that. You cannot live today on yesterday’s faith. Yesterday I may have trusted God to meet my needs. Yesterday I may have trusted Him to work out my problems. Yesterday I may have trusted Him to give me boldness and courage to face what I had to face. That was great for yesterday.
But I have to do it again today. And if fear replaces my faith in God, then I can wind up going down the roller-coaster ride as fast as Elijah the prophet was going at this point. Remember the words of the Apostle Paul. He says, “But though our outward man is perishing, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.” And this is in the same context where he says, “We walk by faith and not by sight.”
And the life of faith, my friends, is a life that we have to live every day of our life. We are saved once and for all by an act of faith in Jesus Christ when we believe in Him for eternal life. That permanently settles our relationship to Him. But every day, every day is a new battle of faith.
The songwriter has it right. “Simply trusting every day, trust through the stormy way. Even when my faith is small, trusting Jesus, that is all. Trusting as the moments fly, trusting as the days go by. Trusting Him whate’er befall, trusting Jesus, that is all.” Every single day.
Well, apparently Elijah had a servant who went with him as far as Beersheba. And then he leaves the servant in Beersheba and he goes out into that desolate region there that was called a wilderness, all by himself. He goes out into the wilderness and he sits down under a broom tree, kind of a desert shrub that I understand got to about twelve feet tall sometimes, offered a little shade although probably not a lot.
And Elijah prayed. Now remember that Elijah is a great man of prayer. Elijah prayed for the dead son of the widow woman who was his hostess for so long and God heard his prayer and raised her son from the dead. Elijah prayed that God would send down fire from heaven and God sent it down. He prayed that the rain would come and the rain came. This is a mighty man of prayer.
So here he is out in the wilderness of Beersheba under a broom tree and he’s praying. And guess what he’s praying for? He’s praying that he might die. Listen to his words. “It is enough now, Lord. Take my life, because I’m no better than my fathers. I’ve had it, Lord. I’ve had it. All my ancestors are dead, so I may as well be dead too. Take my life.”
Do I need to tell you the roller-coaster car is still sinking? Obviously, obviously Elijah is depressed and he wants to end it all. Now the God who raised the widow’s son from the dead, who sent fire from heaven, who sent rain on the parched ground of Israel does not do what Elijah is praying right now that He should do.
Do you know that sometimes when we are frustrated, when we are depressed, we ask God for some very stupid thing, some very foolish thing? And isn’t it nice that we have a gracious, good Heavenly Father who doesn’t give us the stupid, foolish things that we ask for when we are frustrated and disappointed and feel defeated?
So God doesn’t take his life. But what God does do is allow him to lie down under the broom tree and go to sleep. And after he slept for a little while, guess what? An angel wakes him up. And there in front of him there is a cake baked on coals, a cake of bread, some water. The angel says, “You know, eat and drink.”
So Elijah ate some food and drank some water and then he lay down and slept again. And what does that suggest to you? That even though God didn’t give him what he asked for, He gave him something, didn’t He? Remember the words of Jesus. “Ask, and it shall be given you.” Jesus didn’t say, “Ask, and you shall always receive what you are asking for.” And God reserves the right to give us something better than we’ve asked for. And in this case that’s exactly what He did for Elijah.
Let’s call it a little snack, shall we? Do you realize how physically and emotionally draining it must have been for Elijah to do what he did on Mount Carmel? Sometimes when I’ve gotten down from the pulpit in here, which isn’t all that much, a preacher puts out a lot of physical and emotional energy. You’d be surprised how drained a preacher can get after he’s preached.
And think of the tension, think of the pressure, think of the physical and emotional reserves that Elijah had to put into his confrontation on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal. And after it was all over he must have felt desperately, desperately drained. And it’s not surprising, he’s not excused for this, but it’s not surprising that in his drained condition he falls prey to fear and falls prey to depression.
And God sees the real need of this man. And what the need is is some food and sleep. And you know, sometimes when we are frustrated, when we are disappointed, when we are kind of depressed, you know what is the best thing we can sometimes do? Eat. Or even go to bed and maybe take a few days off. And that’s exactly what God is allowing Elijah to do.
And he lies down. He goes to sleep again. And then when he wakes up there’s more food. But this time there’s a miracle in connection with the food. He eats the food and he proceeds on his journey for forty days and forty nights without another bite to eat. Is that something? I never met a meal that could have lasted me anywhere near that long. But here’s a man who travels forty days and forty nights on the strength of one meal provided by God.
And one thing is evident from this, isn’t it? That if Elijah was physically drained as a result of his experience on Mount Carmel, he’s back in shape again. Don’t you agree that somebody who can travel for forty days and forty nights on one meal is in pretty good physical shape? The physical problem is solved, folks.
But the spiritual problem that resulted in depression in Elijah is not yet solved. And after this long journey, drawing strength from this one meal, guess where Elijah goes? Into a dark cave. We’re tempted to say to Elijah, “What are you doing in this cave?” Well, that’s exactly what God did say to Elijah. God came to Elijah and He said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
So he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts. But the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant. They’ve torn down Your altars. They’ve killed Your prophets with the sword. And I’m left all by myself. Now they’re trying to kill me.” Oh, oh, Elijah is mad. And Elijah is angry.
He’s angry, first of all, at Israel. These people, they don’t do anything right. They’ve killed everybody else and now they want to wipe me out. But if you look very closely at Elijah’s words, I think you will find that he’s not only angry at Israel. He’s kind of angry at God. “I have been so zealous for You, Lord. Look what it’s got me. Look what it’s got me. I’m left all by myself and they’re trying to kill me. No wonder I’m in this cave. You think I’m gonna go out and preach for You again? You think I’m going to go out into the public again and face these people when they’re trying to kill me? You haven’t been fair to me, God.”
I’ve told this group over and over again that we had a couple of psychologists at Dallas Theological Seminary who insisted that all depression is related to suppressed anger. And certainly we can see it here, can’t we? Here is a man who’s drained himself for God on Mount Carmel. And in his weakened physical condition he falls prey not only to fear but to anger. And he wants to chuck it all. He wants to throw it all overboard.
And now that he’s feeling better he just doesn’t want to go back into the battle again. Right? A cave is where I want to be, not out in the firing lines anymore. Listen closely. For you all this means, if you walk with God for any length of time, if you try to serve God from your heart, if you try to be dedicated to God, sooner or later something will happen that will make you mad. And then you know what you’ll want to do? You’ll want to quit. You’ll want to quit. That’s always the way it works.
I suppose you know that this September, I don’t know exactly what day in September, I will be celebrating the conclusion of my forty-sixth year of ministry at Victor Street. Do you think it has ever occurred to me to quit this ministry? You better believe it has. Do you think anything has ever made me mad? You better believe it has.
What’s wrong with these people? They hear me preach every Sunday or every fourth Sunday or whatever it is. They don’t seem like they’ve learned anything. They don’t read their Bibles. They don’t pray very much. They don’t come to the Lord’s table. They don’t share their faith. They give as if what they’re giving is their last dime. And then, why did You give me a ministry like Victor Street? Why am I here, Lord?
And I can assure you that it is only by the grace of God that if He spares me till September I will have completed forty-six years in this ministry. Ever think of quitting something you were doing for God? Did you ever do more than think about it? Did you actually quit? Why did you do it? Were you mad? Were you mad at God’s people? Were you mad at God? Or is it possible that you’re not as devoted to Him as you ought to be?
Now this was a sudden burst of anger on Elijah’s part. And you know, we would have been surprised if God said, “Oh, oh, Elijah, you know not to get mad like that.” He could have said that. It would have been true too. But He says to him, “Come out and stand beside the mountain.” And you know what? Elijah doesn’t do it right away. He stays in the cave.
And then the Lord passes by. And as He passes by there’s a fierce wind that rocks the mountainside and cracks the rocks. And God isn’t in the wind. And then there’s an earthquake that shakes everything. And God isn’t in the earthquake. And then there’s a blazing fire. And God isn’t in the fire. And then there’s a still small voice.
I have a note here in my Bible from the people who prepared this Bible: “a delicate whispering voice.” What is God trying to say to Elijah here? I think He’s trying to say this. Don’t look for something spectacular. Remember the important thing is what I say. The important thing is My word. The important thing is to listen to My voice.
You know what happens when we get frustrated and angry in our ministries? We kind of wish that God would sweep in like a tornado and turn everything upside down and shake everybody loose. You break them up and you know, change things, Lord. And we forget that the way God basically and normally does His work is to speak quietly and softly into the human heart, into the human soul. And what really is a miracle that manifests God is the work that God does in the quiet and stillness of human hearts who respond to His truth.
Well, Elijah was a little impressed by this. He wraps himself in his mantle, you know, I think showing some reverence for God. And he finally comes out of the cave. But he’s not quite ready to go back yet. And so God repeats the question, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” And Elijah was nothing if he was not stubborn. And he repeats himself.
“I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts. And the children of Israel have broken Your covenant. They’ve torn down Your altars. They’ve killed Your prophets with the sword. And I, and they’re seeking my life.” And God says, “You said that before.” No, God didn’t say, “You said that before,” did He?
Notice what God says. He ignores the anger. He says, “Elijah, you said you go up to the wilderness of Damascus.” That was a long, long way from where Elijah was now. I can guarantee you that way up north. “And you anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. Then you anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel. And then you anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat to be prophet in your stead. And I will execute My judgment through them. They will kill sinners with their swords. And by the way, Elijah, you’re not the only person that’s heard My voice. There are seven thousand people in Israel who had listened to My still small voice and have not bowed the knee to Baal. Their mouths have not kissed him.”
What is this answer all about? Well, I think God is saying to Elijah, “Forget about the anger bit, Elijah. I just showed you that what’s important is My voice, right? And here’s what I’m saying. Do you listen to My voice? I’m saying to you, Elijah, get busy again. Go on, Hazael, go on, anoint Jehu, go on, Elisha. They’ll take care of the judgment part for Me. Don’t you worry about that. And just remember that it’s My work in the hearts of men that matters. I have seven thousand people in Israel who hear My voice.”
And my friends, when we’re angry and frustrated and feel defeated, the best thing to do is just turn your back on your anger. Just throw it over your shoulder and ask yourself the question, “What is God telling me to do from His word? What does He want me to do on the basis of His word?” And then get busy and do it.
Remember the words of Jesus. He says, “He that has My commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father. And I will love him and I will manifest Myself to him.” The real test of our relationship to God is whether we hear His still small voice and whether we do what He tells us to do. And that’s the way we gain victory over anger, frustration and depression.
I apologize to Lewis for telling this story more or less in closing. I don’t think I’ve ever told it before. I remember one of my last conversations with Mrs. Gill. She was in the nursing home not too many weeks or months before she went into the presence of the Lord. I was sitting by her bed in the nursing home and we were reminiscing, as Mrs. Gill and I were wont to do over the years. We had a lot of years in this work. Mrs. Gill was in it longer than I was.
And we talked about all sorts of things, the ups and downs, the ins and outs. And then Mrs. Gill said something to me that I’ve never forgotten. She kind of caught me by surprise. Here is what she said. She said, “Well, at least we got Lewis.” You know, that really stuck with me. Why? Because Lewis was a man who had listened to the still small voice of God. The Word of God had gotten through to Lewis. And we both knew that Lewis was dedicated to serving the Lord.
Now Lewis is not the only one in this church like that. But I want you to know that what is really important in the sight of God is Christian men and women who really listen to God’s voice and do what God wants them to do. Now that won’t change the fact that serving God is not a walk in the park. It will not change the fact that serving God is like riding a roller coaster.
But it will change this fact. The highs won’t be as important and the lows won’t be as bad. And as you walk with God and take the ride, though your outward man is perishing, yet your inner man will be renewed day by day. For we walk by faith and not by sight.
Questions? Comments?
So Zane, what should Elijah have done if he had responded properly when he received the report from Jezebel? If he had responded properly he would have confronted her. Then I don’t know what he would have done. But his first step should have been not to run but to pray and to ask God, “What is my right move at this point?” It’s interesting that in the story he runs before he prays. And by the time he’s ready to pray he prays badly.
It’s always better to pray before you run, in fact to pray before you move, to pray before anything. And things always go better if you’re looking to God, you know, for the direction you need. I don’t know what he should have done, but running does not seem to me like the best option for the man who triumphed at Carmel.
Also seeing in verse 15 he not only has him anointing Jehu as king over Israel but Hazael as king over Syria. Does this suggest something about the work of God in the lives of even unbelievers, Gentiles? Well I think what’s happening here, because you’ll notice that in verse 17 you say, “Whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill. And whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill.” What really Elijah had done was complain to God about the disobedience of the children of Israel.
And God is saying, in fact I’m going to take care of that through Hazael. And the ones that Hazael misses Jehu will get. And the ones that Jehu misses Elisha will get. Don’t you worry about that. I’ve got that taken care of. You just go in and anoint these people for the role I have with them. So I think the point here is that, you know, God does use people outside of the family of God as instruments of His judgment as well as people inside.
In a scenario today where we have the same situation that, you know, if we’re sick we’re angry or whatever, and even if we’re physically good but we’re emotionally very drained, that can still tend to have that draining. That I guess when you’re told by God to say, “Still going to do it,” you see also a situation there where one can draw these emotional, mental strength of our Lord at that time to know that even though I feel drained I can get my, I know He’s with me and basically to be encouraged to be able to go as opposed to just going on and not being encouraged.
I think that two things are happening here in this interaction between God and Elijah. One of the things that obviously is that God is giving Elijah a chance to express his anger to Him. And God, you know, when God answered the second question he was going to get exactly the same answer from Elijah, the same angry answer. But it is advantageous for us if we feel anger to tell God we’re angry, to express it to Him, because that helps us to put it away.
And then the fact that God doesn’t respond to this is like saying, “No big deal. And I said no big deal. Now get to work, you know. Forget it and get to work on the new assignments that I have for you.” I think the therapy here is masterful in that Elijah gets to express what’s inside of him. But God says, “Okay, we’re done with that. Now let’s get down to business.” Yeah, you got it out of your system. So you know, I think this is a very masterful story about the way in which God deals with a depressed and angry servant.
And of course, you know, I think it is evident from the rest of the book wherever Elijah appears and he’s no longer an angry man. He once again is an effective servant of God. He left that anger at the cave. He didn’t carry it to Damascus. He didn’t carry it anywhere else that he went. And that’s what God intended him to do.
You know, they’re not going, you know, the number one always do the things that you were saying earlier about quitting, you know, want to give up, things of that nature. You know it’s crossed my mind because, you know, things that we prayed for and things that we believed in, you know, did not come to pass. It kind of, you know what I’ve been seeing what you were saying earlier. It’s kind of reminded me, you know, you keep going.
Yeah absolutely. But you know, like I mean the example that we all have the way we pray. We have a monthly prayer with a great, but then there comes the week, you know, you got to deal with them, with a kid, you know. You’re like me. You someone databases and you see the things that they’re doing and you’re praying you’re supposed to be great. But then you know.
But that’s a good point. And let me just say something here, Joe. This is not directed at you. This is a directive to the whole congregation. There’s no claim that God wants the spiritual best for our children. The only question is whether we’re going to hang in there and believe in for that too until He accomplishes it.
Now one of the, this is one of the advantages of having been here nearly forty-six years. The many of the parents who are praying for their children were slow-motion Christians for a long, long, long time. And then the temptation is that when you come back to the Lord you want God to speed up the wheel for your kids. Well I always say, “Give God as much time with your kids as He gave you. Or if necessary give Him more time. Let Him do it on His own program.”
And I think that one of the things that will come out of this is that if we will hang in there and believe that God wants this because we know from the Bible what God wants for His people, we will see God answering our prayers. That the day will come when the answers will start to come into view. And then we will have grown enormously in our ability to trust God. But right now we’re, the pickings are slim and the outlook is dim. We can’t see much happening. That’s when we have to hang in there and believe that God’s Word will be fulfilled.
And that’s where we don’t get mad because we pray for two years for my kid, “Lord You haven’t done a thing for him,” or we get mad at the kid. So this, this, this whole business of faith, we as a church are now going through an exercise to see if we will put our faith where our mouth is, whether we will really trust God however long it takes to fulfill His word.
We had a full congregation this morning down here that, I mean a lot of people there and a lot of our kids were there. You want to continue to see that, Joel was saying, man go prayer meetings. You have that for me. You have permit. You can create all if you’re not doing. I don’t expect for children to be here. Thank you for what they were saying. That’s the only way this is going from.
Both of my boys were there. I’m glad to see him enough Elwood. Well we got can in for you. The Lord will break them all back. That’s what it’s about. Not just a parent permanent once a month. Lord forbid it affects the only time you pray for your child. It takes constant day prayer and the Lord.
Yeah I think you’re right. But I think you’re also wrong. When Jesus was here in person with His disciples His disciples did not trust Him very much. They were, they were pretty, they all deserted Him at the night of His arrest. But what is it that makes the difference? It’s God’s voice getting through. It’s the still small voice. When God by His Spirit works that in us then that’s when things happen.
That’s one of the major points of this passage. It seems to me that God by His Spirit must take His word and make it vital in our hearts. One of the things that upholds me as a preacher is that, that how often people can listen to preaching and not be affected by it or at least not be affected by it very much. They walk in on Sunday morning. They listen. They walk out. They’re the same person. Could be fine if they were the same person one week. But you know after ten years it gets a little long.
What do we need for ourselves and for our kids? We need the voice of God to be heard in the depths of the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. What made the difference between the disciples when Jesus was here and after Jesus was gone? The Holy Spirit made the difference. The power of the Holy Spirit working. So that’s what we need. You’re pointed well taken. I’m not really, I’m not really boy finding fault with you. Yeah you know your point is very well taken. But we have God’s voice we can by this and we have God’s Spirit inside of us. We can respond as much as we could if Jesus were here in the flesh.
One other thing. I wonder if the question you mentioned twice, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” I wonder if that isn’t a good question all the time, not just when we’re in the cave of despair and depression, but whatever we’re doing. Isn’t that a good question for all of us all the time? “What are you doing here on earth?”
Yeah I think that’s a good question. I think in Elijah’s case the answer was, “I’m quittin’,” you know. And God is not gonna let it go to that. First of all He has to get him out of the cave and there’s still small voice. You know, “Elijah, come out here.” Elijah sits still many hears the still small voice. He comes out. And then God says to him, “Get going to Damascus.” So yeah I think you’re right. We should always ask that question, “What am I doing here in any situation in life?” But if the answer is “I’m giving up,” that’s the wrong answer. It should be, “I’m fighting on.”
Well thank you, folks. The comments were very worthwhile and we appreciate them.