He Ran Away - To A Place of Healing!!!
Ever had a time in your life when you had things going for you? Where you had just accomplished something really great and impactful - for your self, for your family, for your work, or even for your community?
It’s a great feeling, when things seem to be going right in your life….
Yet, how many times do we face the greatest adversity, or disruption or struggles right after that time of victory in our lives? More than we care to admit…right!
It happens to all of us. However, it is not the fact that adversity and struggle come after great achievements that is the issue - rather it is how we handle those testing times that is the real test of our character.
In 1 Kings 18 we see the prophet Elijah have a great victory over the priests of Ba’al. In that victory, Elijah was instrumental as Yahweh showed his power over the demonic false god Ba’al, and over the earthly power of King Ahab and his wife Jezabel. After Elijah defeated the priests of Ba’al, Jezabel put out a hit on him and threatened him with death.
So what did Elijah, the mighty man of God do???
He Ran Away!!!!
1 Kings 19:1-18 tells of Elijah’s flight out into the wilderness.
Verses 1-2: “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.”
How often do we balk whenever someone threatens us, after we have done something good - especially if it is an act of obedience to God?
How often is it that we let the mere words of someone…especially someone who is evil…bring us down to the point of running away from the very thing God has called us to do?
What this shows is that God uses normal people, with normal emotions, and normal fears.
Verses 3-4: “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!”
I am sure that many of us have felt the same way as Elijah. Where we just want to crawl into a hole or hide somewhere unseen to escape all the pain, suffering, turmoil and oppression we are facing…I know I have.
It is okay to say and do what Elijah did - it is not a sin - in fact God meets him in that place of despair. It contrasts the “flight of Jonah” away from his calling, is an act of rebellion against God.
Paul in talking to the church in Corinth said in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” - It is this perspective that we need to take in our struggles.
Verse 5-7: “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.”
Even when we flee in fear, God will meet us in our despair and provide for our needs just as he did with Elijah.
God didn’t rebuke Elijah, instead he sent an angel to provide for Elijah’s physical needs, so that Elijah could travel to a place where his emotional and spiritual needs could be met and addressed.
God will provide us with what we need to complete the journey he is setting before us. Nothing more, nothing less.
Verse 8: “So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.”
Mount Horeb is the same mountain that Moses went up and received the 10 Commandments, and it is the same mountain that held the presence of God while the Israelites were camped in the area.
When God leads us to a place of emotional and spiritual healing he leads us to his presence. God’s presence is the only place that we can truly receive emotional and spiritual healing. We can do it ourselves, nor can the world provide it for us.
We need to go back to a holy place, a sacred place to do so. We are blessed that as believers we have the Holy Spirit indwelling in us, so we don’t need to go to a specific place to commune and be in God’s presence.
Verse 9-10: “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.”
God let Elijah travel a great distance to a holy place - then he questioned why he was there. Sometimes, God let’s us run from a situation, but he let’s us run towards him. Which is precisely what Elijah did, as he ran to Mount Horeb.
Elijah’s plea to God should sound familiar to many of us. There are times in our lives that we call out to God and tell him what we have done in his name, yet we feel so alone and isolated because of those accomplishments for the kingdom.
Sometimes standing up for what is right separates you out from others - even within the church.
That isolation should serve to guide us towards a closer and deeper relationship with God. It should also allow us a place and environment that we can be open about what we are facing with God.
Verses 11-12: “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.”
I have heard so many sermons and teachings on these verses, and just about every single one of them portrays Elijah as this depressed, cowardly person hiding at the back of the cave while God’s presence is outside….this is wrong - have a look at it again. It says “The He (God - Yahweh) said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord”
God directly instructed to go out onto the mountain side - just as Moses had done - to be in the presence of the Lord (Yahweh).
Then God literally moved the mountain in an earthquake, a mighty wind and a supernatural fire. Yet, He wasn’t in those things - God caused them, and he used them for a divine purpose, but he wasn’t in them.
Sometimes, we get caught up in the evidence of God’s action in our lives and the lives of others, that we forget to listen to the “still small voice”.
Verse 13: “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. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Like Elijah, when we hear that still small voice, we need to recognise it as the voice of God, and be reverently fearful in that space.
It was in this place of reverent intimacy in the presence of God that, Yahweh now spoke to Elijah - questioning why he was out there in the middle of no-where.
God doesn’t ask Elijah why he is there…but rather “What are you doing here?” - these are two distinctly different questions.
Asking why means that God is wanting a reason for Elijah’s flight into the desert wilderness. But that is not what God wants to know.
Rather, he asks “What are you doing here?” - this is a question that implies that God wants to know why he came to that place, and what he intends to do (as in actions) in that place.
It is like God is acknowledging that Elijah sought out his presence - which is what God wants from all of us - yet it wasn’t the place that God had instructed him to be active in. This is the warning to us all. God will meet us with his presence in places that he does not want us to be active in - but he will always steer us back towards those places, he will always give us the next steps in his plan for our lives.
Which is precisely what God does to Elijah in the following verses.
Verses 14-18: “And 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.”
It is interesting to note that while Elijah does repeat his feelings and God ignores it.
Instead God goes straight into a set of instructions for Elijah. It is almost like God is saying to Elijah “Yeah, I get it, they want you dead, but I’m with you - so turn around and go back to where you belong and get this done!”
God gives Elijah some very clear instructions - namely to anoint several kings who will do the will of God and get rid of the evil idolatry in the region.
Then God also provides Elijah some hope by informing him that he isn’t truly alone - that he is part of a remnant of those who worship and honour the Lord.
God will do the same for us. Not only will he show us the next steps for our lives, but he will also show us that we are not alone in carrying out the will of God on Earth.
So, there you have it - you can experience the greatest triumphs of your life, then succumb to the greatest of fears and flee from that situation. But then God uses your running away, to guide you back to a place where you encounter his presence and build your trust back in his perfect will for our lives. God will help you in the midst of your desert mountain experience, you just need to listen to that still small voice, and not seek out the emotional/super-spiritual experiences (as evidence of God’s work in our lives) that often come with our spiritual journey.
Seek God’s presence and He will meet you anywhere!!!!