1 Kings 19:1-21
19:1 Ahab returns to his wife and recounts all that has just occurred: through the prophet Elijah, God ended the drought as well as the population of false prophets in the land.
19:2 Jezebel, an evil woman, sends a message to Elijah. The message is a cold and brutal one, she promises to kill Elijah by the next day. Jezebel only retains power as long as the population of people under her fear the false doctrine she has implemented. And she is not a woman willing to give up her power and prominence.
19:3 Elijah escapes to Beersheeba.
19:4 Elijah prays intimately to God in the wilderness under a broom tree. Elijah's spirits are low, so low that he prays to die. He feels that he has failed God. Elijah's heart bursts with love for God and he so passionately wants to turn other hearts toward Him as well. His seeming inability to due so depresses him. Elijah feels that God deserves a better prophet. A better, more successful effort.
This is one of the most tender moments in the Bible. The depth the emotion is even more prominent coming from a prophet. How much more inadequate do we, seemingly ordinary children of God, feel about what little we present to Him? Most of us do not make the grand declarations and displays that Elijah has just made. And yet even he experiences brokenness and hopelessness. Elijah blames himself. It hurts him to know that he unable to do fix the tribes of Israel; it hurts him because he feels God deserves someone to do so. God does not deserve to be neglected, hated or disregarded. Elijah absorbs all of that as his own failure. It is precisely the gentle heart that would feel such strong emotions, that would blame itself when it is entirely blameless, that God swoops in to claim. Because Elijah has been a beautiful, righteous child of God. God cherishes our love for Him. And although we think our actions do not matter, to God we are mighty.
19:5 So God sends an angel to Elijah and gently encourages him to arise and eat. Elijah has just admitted to God that he has been made weary by the evil of the world. It has broken him, weakened him. And so God, through this angel, begins to restore and strengthen his precious child.
19:6-8 Arise and eat, the angel continues to encourage. Food and water is presented to Elijah. God truly provides what we need to be restored; when we are weak, He is strong for us, 2 Corinthians 12:10. God is aware that this is not always an easy journey. For forty days and forty nights Elijah is tended to by the ministrations of God's angel.
If you have ever been made weary by the world, consider Elijah. God is sensitive to our experiences; He is grateful for everything we do on His behalf in the name of compassion and faith. He never abandons us and He certainly never allows the darkness to convince us to extinguish our light. Elijah feels that he has been knocked out of the fight but God has declared him the victor. And this moment of pain will be intricately healed. These tender moments become a launch pad into strength and joy.
19:9 God always gives us the opportunity to speak our heart. Our honest, raw emotion. God asks: What are you doing here, Elijah? Because what we feel and think matters to God. But He always asks in such a way as to point out that He has planned other places for us to be. Better places.
The question is essentially: Why are you in this emotional state? Why have you given up on yourself? God already knows the answers, but He gives Elijah (and us) the chance to speak for ourselves, to unload our burdens. Because once we identify to God the source of our discomfort or hopelessness, He begins to build comfort and life there. And from this outsider perspective, it is easy to see what God sees: a blameless child in need of the love that will restore him to his path.
19:10 Elijah pours out his truth, an answer to God's question: I love you so much. Everything I do is for you but it is not enough and I am hunted for it by my enemies. Indeed Elijah's fellow prophets have all been killed by the very people pursuing him. The human frame grows weary from the pressure, the seeming failure. God has a plan to regrow Elijah's spirit.
19:11-12 God instructs Elijah to go stand on the mountain. God passes by the mountain and the wind causes rocks to fall off in pieces. But God is not the wind. After the wind, an earthquake occurs, but God is not the earthquake. A fire starts, but God is not the fire. And after all of this tumult all around him, Elijah finally finds God: a still, small voice. God is our gentle steadiness amidst the chaos.
The havoc and corruption around Elijah has caused him to forget that God is quietly at work beneath it, above it, in the midst of it. Elijah has not failed. He is a fellow-worker with God and boldly, compassionately so. It is not always through spectacle that God does amazing, reconstructive work.
19:13 Elijah hears the voice of God and goes out toward it. God asks the same question: What are you doing here, Elijah?
19:14 Elijah's answer is the same, but this time God propels him forward, out of his desperate situation. God prods Elijah back into his life's purpose, forcing him to put the troubles in the periphery for they have no power to truly block him anyway. The situation is the same, certainly everything depressing Elijah is true. But absolutely none of it changes Elijah's purpose or ability to fulfill it.
19:15 With His commands, God invites Elijah to get back to work with Him. He tells Elijah to anoint a man name Hazael as king over Syria. Let's get back to work, that still, small voice boldly speaks.
19:16 God continues: Anoint Jehu as king over Israel. Anoint Elisha as prophet in your place. God has plans for this land and these stubborn people. He has plans to replace evil kings and create nets for corruption. All is not lost.
19:17 God creates a network of kingdoms which will ensure justice. More and more, Elijah learns that he never had to give up. God always had these plans to rebuild and restore. Never give up on God because His plans and abilities are limitless.
19:18 God reveals to Elijah that there are seven thousand in Israel who have remained faithful to Him. Elijah is not alone as he had believed! Elijah is not alone in his love and obedience to God. Not only has he always had God, he now has a host of people. Things are not a desolate as Elijah imagined. And with these instructions, God has given Elijah back his purpose and motivation. Elijah is allowed to be sad, the circumstances warrant it, but God encourages him not to give up. Not to let his spirit be stifled by that sadness.
There are so many battles, and sometimes we lose them. But the war has already been won by our God. Therefore, stay in the ring, John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
19:19 Elijah departs and finds Elisha, who will be appointed in his place as prophet. Elisha is plowing with twelve oxen, representative of the twelve tribes of Israel so in need of righteous leaders.
19:20 Elisha is excited to follow Elijah, he only requests that he is able to kiss his parents before he leaves.
19:21 Elisha turns to prepare a meal for the people around him from the oxen. He gives up his trade, his livelihood, to take up the yoke of God, Matthew 11:28-30 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Only a righteous and faithful heart would ever leave behind the comforts of their normal life for the adventure God invites us on.
