Elijah: From The Pinnacle To The Pits Series

- It’s just considered a normal part of life now, that when things get tough, you find a way out

- Dad choosing to be an elder at his church

- Elijah didn’t want to face his problem

- It was so much easier for him to run away

- But, like I tell my high schoolers so often, “God doesn’t always call us to do what is easiest”

- And so, God had a different plan for Elijah

- When Elijah wanted to run away, God wanted to bring him back to where he had veered off track

God’s Redeeming Plan: TO BRING ELIJAH BACK TO WHERE HE HAD VEERED OFF TRACK

The LORD said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 1 Kings 19:15 (NIV)

- God is asking Elijah to take responsibility for departing from God’s plan

- God is calling him to go back to the place where he strayed from God’s plan before he can go forward

- Before Elijah can move on to what God has for him to do, he has to go back to the place where veered off track of God’s plan

- This is actually a pretty common practice amongst people going through 12 step programs

- The idea of having to take responsibility for where you’ve wronged others, and going back to take responsibility for where you’ve veered off track in your life

- Patti Kleist, our Celebrate Recovery Minister told me this

- One of the character defects that addicts often describe to themselves, but which I believe is universally human is the feeling of being a victim. By first identifying our problems in relationships and our part in them, then by making a list of those we had harmed, and then making amends to them – we pretty much clear ourselves of the idea that the world is “doing it to us”

- As long as we are a victim, we can excuse all kinds of bad behavior on our part. “I only drink cuz my boss picks on me all the time”, “I only had the affair because my wife doesn’t understand me”. It’s only when we begin to take personal responsibility for our choices in the past, present, and future, that we are able to be free

- God’s plan for Elijah is that he could take responsibility for having veered off the track of God’s plan

- That he doesn’t place the blame on Jezebel for wanting to kill him

- Or even on God for not taking care of him in the way he thought God should

- He was the one who chose to veer off track of God’s plans, no one made him do it, it was a choice that he made

- God makes Elijah go back the way he came before he can continue forward with the plans that God has for him

Elijah’s Impulse: AN EXPECTATION OF GOD TO MOVE IN THE EXTRAORDINARY

See 1 Kings 18:20-40

- Tell the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal

- Elijah taunts the prophets (vs. 27) “You’ll have to shout louder than that,” he scoffed, “to catch the attention of your god! Perhaps he is talking to someone, or is out sitting on the toilet, or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!”

- He had them dump 12 barrels of water onto the altar that Elijah made

- Elijah prayed a simple prayer “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make known today that you are God in Israel and that I’m your servant and have done all these things by your instructions. 37Answer me, LORD! Answer me! Then these people will know that you, LORD, are God and that you are winning back their hearts.”