Read through Elijah's story in 1 Kings 19:1-21
Elijah was feeling pursued, and rightly so! He was told he
would be killed for killing the false prophets. He ran to a town in Judah and
asked God to just take him! He said he
had had enough running, he had to do so much for God and he was done! He left his
servant there and ran off into the wilderness to die in his plan... He had had
enough!
We all have probably had a moment when we felt like we had
enough and could not take one more thing! I love God's response to get up and
eat, when he was laying there in the wilderness He gets up and looked around
and found bread and water! in the wilderness God fed him! In the lowest of his
lows, God fed him!
Good stuff too! The bread was on hot stones! it was fresh!
So he ate it.
God feeds us when we think we are done! He nourishes our
souls along with our bodies!
Then he sent an angel of the Lord again to touch him, to
wake him and tell him to eat some more to prepare him for the journey ahead.
God feeds us more than just one serving! He allows us to
rest up before gearing us up physically for the journey He has placed before
us.
He prepared Elijah for a 40 day journey! It gave him enough
strength for the journey to Sinai... the mountain of God!
Then he Lord spoke to
Elijah.. after he was fed, directed where to go... 40 days , tough to walk
through, he didn't mention a car, a train, a plane or even a donkey, he walked!
For forty days!
Sometimes it takes time to get to the place where God will
speak to us.
Elijah then is asked why he is there?
Do you ever feel like God sent you someplace either
physically or maybe a place in your life path, where you feel like you were put
there by Him and then you have to answer for it?
Elijah had to tell God why he was there! What he
wanted! He cried out to God and
basically I really worked hard to do what You wanted he did everything he was
told and worked as a good hard working servant doing Gods will, doing what was
right in God's eyes, and then the people got mad and killed all the other
prophets and that he was the only one left.
Do you ever feel like you are alone? Elijah did! and he had
nowhere to turn but to God!
God told him to stand in front of Him on the mountain.
That is where the story comes in ... The wind blew, the
earth quaked, and God did not speak up, he was not in those. He did not touch
him... the fire came and burned ... nope
still not God.
Then there was a tiny soft voice that said... What are you
doing here Elijah?
Elijah probably thought, “What ? You told me to be here, why
are you asking me?” But maybe not...So
he repeated what he had told Him in the first place, he was done! He didn't want
to stay in this world anymore, he felt like he did everything right and had
nothing to show for it but a death threat!
Then God said, “Okay, I’ll give you a successor.” And tells
him where to go to anoint Elisha.
Sometimes we feel like we have done everything right, walked
where He said to, and still bad things chase us in life! But God is not done with us yet, even if we
think I AM DONE as Elijah did.
Think about that a moment.... He did everything, God told
him to do, we don't even really do that, we are so weak humans, we fail all the
time, but God forgives us. And gives us help, or a successor, or whatever it is
that He sees we need to help us continue our work for Him in life... Thinking
on this today, God speaks when we don't expect it, in a way that we do not
expect it, and yet, He speaks... He is answering our desires, our request, our
cry, but are we hearing Him? Also are we ready for what we are asking for? Are we?
Think on that for a while!
Are you READY? Here comes the big finish for this chapter…
It ends with Elisha wanting to finish plowing his field, and
then Elijah says okay dont leave work undone before you follow God cause He is
calling you!
Be ready! Don’t leave a mess behind you. God is calling you.