Lesson from the Limb
The Nation of Israel had fallen into idolatry; the government had begun hunting down and killing the prophets of God. Becuse of this, God caused it not to rain for three and a half years.
God then sends Elijah to contort the king; he meets the king and suffests a showdown, Jehovah vs. Baal. They go up to Mount Camel, where Elihah faces down 900 false prophets.
The text suffest there was an audience.
He has them take to cows, one for him and one fo rthe prophets of Baal. They cut the cows into pieces and placed them on the altar. Then Elijah thells them to pray to their gods while he prays to Jehovah, and whoever causes fire to come down from heaven to consume the cows wins.
The prophets of Baal pray and pray, and nothing happens. The Bible says that they prayed from morning till evening.
- They jumped up and down on the altar.
- They screamed at Ball.
- They cut themselves.
- Still nothing
Elijah begins to mock them and suggests, "perhaps Baal is busy; maybe he's in the bathroom."
Then Elijah prays, and God sends fire from heaven and consumes the offering. Elijah then has all the prophets of Baal excuted.
1 Kings 19:1-2 "And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also if I make not th life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time."
Remember what Elijah had just experienced; he just had one of the most significant victories in the Old Testament.
- The prophets of Baal were shown to be frauds.
- Baal was proven to be fake.
- God was proven tio be the only real God
- Elijah was vindicated.
Elijah had probably been working for years toward this king of victory. Finally, all his hard work had paid off, but instead of celebrating, he has to run for his life.
Often, our most significant test follow our most important victories:
I King 19:3-4 "And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belogeth to Jugah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers."
Sometimes wins don't feel like wins. Elijah found himself in a situation where he had stepped out on a lim and found himself alone.
He took a stand for good and God, expecting others to be with him, and found that life out on a limb is lonely. He was depressed and wanted God to take his life there and then.
VS 5-8 tells us that God sends an angel to encourage Elijah. The angel gives him food and water and then sends him on a journey through the wilderness, which takes 40days.
I Kings 19:9 "And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?"
God sends him to a cave, I want us to note two things about the cave:
- The location
- The popluation
The location was the middle of nowhere; the popuation was Elijah. So, he finds himself in the middle of nowhere, all by himself.
Elijah goes out of his way to point out to God; he says in vs 10 and 14 that "I only, am left" meaning, "God, I'm only one serving you."
The reason I'm taking the time to point this out is to ask the question, why did God send him to a cave where he would be alone?
We're told in chapter 17 that Obadiah was protecting 100 prophets of God in two different caves; why didn't God send Elijah to one of those caves?
Elijah found himself out on a limb and found that life on the limb was lonely. He was desperate; in the previous section, he asked God to take his life.
This brings us to the point; God is testing Elijah. This is a test of isolation. There will be times in our lives when God will ask us to take a stand, and more often than not, that stand will be unpopular. So, the question is, will you take the stand anyway.
I King 19:10 "And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD of God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, throun down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away."
- Can you hear the anger? " I have been very jealous (or zealous) for the Lord" he hasn't just been zealous for the Lord; he had been "very zealous," and what does he have to show for it?
- Can you hear the loneliness? Elijah finds himself in a cave in the middle of nowhere by himself. The whole country has abandoned the way; now, he's facing the possibility of (to his mind) being forever alone.
Question
- Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you're trying to do the right thing, and no one is with you?
- Have you ever taken a stand for what's right, and when you look behind, just to discover you're all alone?
- Or has someone abandoned you and left you alone?
- Maybe it was a spouse
- Maybe it was a friend
- Maybe it was your children
If so, you find yourself in a similar situation to Elijah. He thought God had abandoned him, along with his friends. He thought the whole nation had left him alone.
And not God called him to this cave, for what? God was testing him. God wanted him to learn two lessons from the cave.
Lessons from the cave
God never leads you to where He is not
I Kings 19:11 "and he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by. anda great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks 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."
He thought he was alone, but God was there. The lesson is this, "God doesn't just send; He goes with."
Psalms 139:7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
Psalms 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
Psalms 139:9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Psalms 139:10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
Even though we might feel forsaken, we are not; God is with us. Elijah may have felt alone, but God was there.
You may feel alone, but God is with you. Jesus tells us that He will never leave us or forsake us.
- So, when I feel most abandoned, God is with me.
- When everyone has left me high and dry, God is with me.
- God is with me when I feel I have to do everything by myself
Psalm 139:11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
Loneliness can take us to a dark place because we feel unseen, and there is almost nothing worse than feeling unseen. These emotions compound when we feel as if God is the one who called us to this situation.
That's where Elijah is in our text
- He's alone
- He feels abandoned
- and judging by the tone of his remoarks toward God, he feels betrayed.
Bt even though he felt alone, he wasn't, and though he felt abandoned he wasn't. God was with him in the darkness, but Where? This brings us to our second lesson.
Sometimes God's presence is subtle
I Kings 19:11 And he said, God forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks 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: I Kings 19:12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
Remember what Elijah had just experienced 40 days earlier, he prayed that fire would come down from heaven and it did.
This was a loud proclamation of God's presence in his life, but now he finds himself in a cave by himself, and instead of feeling this loud presence of God, he feels nothing.
When I was younger, I remember going to chuech camp and feeling God's presence in a big way.
When I got home, I expected to feel that every day and when I didn't, I wondered where God was.
- God resued some of you from addiction in a powerful way
- or maybe there was a time in your life when you had a profound experience with God.
And now you expect to have these mountain top experiences every day.
But if God gave that to you, you would stop relying on God's word and only seek those experiences.
Often in those times, God will call you to a place of isolation so that he can prove to you that his presence is not just in the spectacular events of life but in the still small voice.
The plain and simple truth is that God has to use spectacular events to get through to people far from him but for those close to Him, He only has to whisper in a still, small voice.
Here's what I want us to take away.
The times when you feel most alone are the times when you need to listen the most intently. God has not forsaken you; He may have led you to a season of isolation so He can whisper your new assignment.
Sometimes God calls you away from everyone else so that He can bring you closer to Himself.