Michelle Collins of the Globe & Mail:
When 26-year-old Geoff Emery put money down on his first condominium, he started looking forward to moving out of his mother’s house. The move-in date of November 2005 rolled around only to find himself in November 2006 still living with his mom in Markham.
He spoke of how exciting it was to watch his condo being built but at the same time he tells of his frustration at seeing others move and he was making no progress. The condo boom left him in limbo.
Limbo: a place or state of imprisonment or confinement. (Dictionary.com)
Mr. Emery made an interesting observation when he finally moved in more than a year later than promised. "The only reason that I think I’m in here now is that I didn’t sit back and let things happen."
Too many of us are living in spiritual limbo because we have chosen to sit back and ‘let things happen’ or as we say “Let the cards fall where they may”. We often catch glimpses of what God has in mind for us but somehow the vision never becomes reality. God has more in mind than spiritual limbo for YOU! He intends that YOU know the thrill of spiritual liberation!
Elijah – answers to the realities we face or have faced or will face. His experience was one of being a powerhouse prophet only to become a prisoner of his circumstances.
He became imprisoned and confined to a state of mind.
Take the journey with Elijah but see yourself and your realities of where you are and what you have become, versus what God has in mind for you. If you dare to show some courage and honesty, God will match it with dynamite deliverance and a breath-taking relationship with Him!
1. Liberation Results in a Power Surge
1 Kings 18: 1ff – 1:850 – Contest between the gods. Baal (storm god) & Asherah (Israelite goddess)
The political climate was one where Yahweh (the God of the Hebrews) was being confused with these other gods so that He was being called Baal. It was an important necessity that distinction be made to outline how Yahweh was not like other gods, that He was distinct. This proof that God is God of all gods would not have led necessarily to national worship and allegiance to Yahweh. It would likely provide though a significant, defining lesson that He was not as other gods.
Elijah had earlier brought bad news that there would be a drought (Ch. 17) which lasted for three years. Now that the time of the drought was nearly over and God would send rain, Elijah challenged the Baal worshippers to a duo – the God that sends fire would be known as true God. Elijah staged a demonstration! In this challenge we must not miss the key factor that brought this challenge about – it was God’s message to Elijah that he would send rain. One source notes of Elijah’s preparation of sacrifice, “he ordered water poured on it as part of the ritual related to the bringing of rain. Elijah had made the issue of rain the central issue in the contest.”
Results
• Baal and Asherah priests called on their gods – cutting themselves – no response.
• God sent fire to lick up the water and sacrifice
• People bowed down and worshipped Yahweh!
• Killed 450 Baal priests
• No mention of the Asherah priests. Among those who bowed down and worship Yahweh?
Yahweh not only delivered on the fire but followed through with His promise to deliver rain. This would certainly discredit completely the nature-god Baal who did nothing! God not only showed Himself once, but twice!
How blown away would we be to experience God working through the physical realities of our lives and times? Imagine what it would be like to face a situation where God is proven true and society is left without an answer! There are false prophets and Baals of every sort clamoring for attention and demanding they be heard. They want a voice in our pulpits and on stage. They want a voice in politics. They want a platform in our schools and workplaces. As soon as God is brought into the picture we are opposed and sometimes quite aggressively.
God responds to the clamoring gods of this world! The exciting news is that God does that through people! He invites us to partner with Him in the work of His Kingdom! Are you up for the challenge? Are you ready to cash your odds in with The Almighty? It is time to begin demonstrating with a purpose! I’m not suggesting we start marching around with placards in our hands, chanting for and against our positions. I am offering however, that we need to live on purpose, with purpose, for the purpose of exalting the name of our Redeemer Jesus Christ! We need to cease living in spiritual limbo and get with the program!
2. Fear Kills Liberation
1 Kings 19:1-3a…
We must never embrace fear.
Dr. Philip Holder defines fear as “an unpleasant, sometimes strong emotion caused by the anticipation of "loss". Consider anything that makes you afraid and you’ll like see loss as the motivator for that fear. E.g. Flying for me – dying; tests in response to the Doctor’s concern about ‘finding something’ – cancer; death.
Professors Anthony Campbell and Mark O’Brian provide a simple and concise explanation about what Elijah lost that day – Elijah lost his nerve in conflict with Jezebel.
How is this possible? Elijah had proven in the company of 850 disbelievers, with the King and his court observing, that God is the only God. Elijah held a demonstration and single-handedly won! How could he now come to be imprisoned by fear? The fact that Jezebel promised his death before another full day had passed, having the power of State to deliver on the promise, was too much for even a man of faith. To quote one scholar, “The despair that was stabbing Elijah’s heroic faith was overwhelming because of an unanswered question: Was Jehovah really God when Jezebel’s power remained intact?”
Another source offers a second option, “Elijah had lost faith in himself because he felt the Lord had lost faith in him.”
It is no small point that while Jezebel threatened Elijah it seems she had no intent to deliver on the threat. Sometimes the fear of what might happen is far more distressing and dangerous for us than the thing actually happening! It could be that Jezebel knew this and her purposes were served – to make Elijah run for his life and always keep him looking back over his shoulder.
Whether your fear is connected to thoughts that God is not in control or that God has lost faith in you and you have therefore lost faith in yourself you need to know that fear leads to
3. Depressive Disorder
Bill Hybels, Senior Pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois was mentoring five senior pastors. When he started the session with the question concerning their greatest need they all gave the same answer – How can they keep going with the pressure and weight of the ministry they were trying to provide?
S 1 Kings 19:3b-9
• BS Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism
• Decreased energy, fatigue, being "slowed down"
• Oversleeping
• Loss of appetite
• Thoughts of death
These feelings and emotions are all signs of depression
Author, Stuart Briscoe: “The spiritual high of the mountain left him vulnerable to a spiritual low in the valley.” We are never more dangerously vulnerable than when we have walked in victory.
Elijah had been overwhelmed with significant leadership responsibility and demand. One writer suggests that as a tractor-trailer has a load limit, so is it true for any human being. If you exceed your load limit you break. The answer to facing that reality is not deeper feelings of depression and becoming overwhelmed with failure and regret. The answer is to first of all realise that if you are facing depression it can serve much good. One writer notes, “When Elijah said, “I’ve had enough!” he was ready to learn that God is enough. When he thought, “I can’t!” he discovered that God can…The message at all times is still, “The way to up is down.”
Elijah’s depressive disorder kept him in spiritual limbo and was
4. Controlled by Fictional Realities
• Oxymoron – Fiction cannot be reality – note slide: to say there is a face in the bowl is not true, though it appears so. The reflection is not a factual reality. But fiction can be real, at least in the mind of a person if not in society. Lies become truth and perceptions become facts - Ref. to “only one left” - 1 Kings 18:22; 19:10; 19:14
This sense of being the “only one left” spoke of Elijah’s isolation. He needed support and encouragement from people who believed in him. He needed to know that he did not stand alone. God spoke of seven thousand who did not bow to Baal. Where were they the day Elijah held the contest?
Some of you are facing situations that present your reality as suggesting something is true and you have a right therefore to stand where you stand – a passive observer except for the frequent criticism as you stand by and look in on what is going on. What you think though to be reality presenting a truth does not make it truth. It may only be true in your thinking which is diverted and diluted by a lie. That’s what helped keep Elijah in spiritual limbo and it could be doing that to us when we allow the lie to become our truth.
To break free of spiritual limbo and being launched into spiritual liberation for God, Elijah had to be
5. Awakened to the Truth (Slide is humorous! Yet, we are a “Ministry of Defence” – defending the Truth).
• Truth – God is not removed from us – 1 Kings 19:11-13
• Truth – God has His Plan – 1 Kings 19:15-17
• Truth – Reality is not what it seems – 1 Kings 19:18
Professors Anthony Campbell and Mark O’Brian stated something else in addition to my earlier reference. Let me add to that at this point because it provides a marvelous solution to our loss of connection with God – “the narrative portrays a sense of Elijah’s loss of nerve in conflict with Jezebel. Elijah’s encounter with God at Horeb, source of Israel’s spiritual energy, reinvigorates the prophet and reasserts God’s control over Israel’s destiny.” (Italics and bold, mine)
I am fascinated with the lesson that God chose to come in the silent softness of a whisper. Why not the wind, earthquake or fire? Among many reasons may be the lesson that God does not show up as we expect – predictable, safe, explained. What we need to realise is that He shows up!
While God did not manifest himself in the meal, wind, earthquake or fire, God sent those things. To quote Briscoe again, “A miraculous meal, a supernatural strengthening, a mighty windstorm, a violent earthquake, a raging fire, and a gentle breeze showed Elijah that God is not limited to what is mighty and spectacular. He can be equally effective through what is weak.”
The message of God to His servant is penned beautifully by the veteran of pastors/authors, Chuck Swindoll. “No blame, no shame, no sermon, no name-calling, no blistering rebuke. In contradiction to the popular idea of confrontation, the Lord encouraged His friend to go on from there. He gave him a plan to follow, a promise to remember, and a traveling companion to help him make it through the night.”
It was in the silence of Mount Sinai that Elijah’s call and deep confidence in God was restored. Someone else found his commission and purpose there – his name was Moses.
Do you have a Sinai? Do you know a sacred place where God confirms His calling and anointing on you for the work of the ministry? S Do we wait in quiet surrender as the disciples in Acts 1 when Jesus told them, “Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift my Father promised” (v4)? In quiet surrender the anointing of God’s acceptance washed over them and surged within them through the Person of His Holy Spirit!
Elijah came out of his fear and depression to a life of spiritual liberation!
WRAP
• Too many are in spiritual limbo
• God waits to set you free
• Turn from the lies and embrace the Truth! (Jesus: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”) Life is not found after death. Life is found in living in the dynamic of fellowship with God NOW!
