GOD’S VOICE IN THE VALLEYS
1 KINGS 19:1 12
There are valleys that we all, at some time or another, have to walk through. The valleys are real...and to a great degree are to be expected. You probably have all heard the saying, "Into each life a little rain must fall." Sometimes more like a monsoon!!
But we would all do well to learn the truth that God speaks in the valleys. His voice can be heard even in the lowest times of life. This is a lesson that Elijah learned...and I hope we can gain some insight from his experience.
Most of you have heard of Elijah. He was quite a colorful character that we read of in the Old Testament. Now, he was around for quite a while, but we probably know most about his ministry during the reign of King Ahab in Israel.
Ahab was a king who knew about God, but became very laidback in his faithfulness to God. We also know a lot about his wife...a woman from the city of Tyre named Jezebel.
Jezebel was a person who was very religious...she was very devout in her worship...the problem was that the "god" she worshiped was Baal. Now, Baal was the Canaanite god of the storm and fertility.
And Jezebel made no apologies for her worship practices. Right in Israel she openly worshiped this false god...she erected a temple in his honor...she even supported a college to train his prophets.
Now, it would have been bad enough for his wife to be doing these things in Israel...but Ahab joined right in and worshiped Baal too. In fact, in chapter 16 it says that Ahab did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any king before him. And he provoked the Lord to anger.
Our main text is found in 1 Kings Chapter 19...But let’s go back a few chapters in 1 Kings so we can get the picture of what is taking place here in our story. During this time there came a great drought in the land of Israel...but it wasn’t just a freak of nature that caused this drought.
READ 17:1 ...So because of the horrible, grievous sins of Ahab and Jezebel, the heavens were closed and there was no rain. Now look at 18:1 (READ).
So shortly after this Ahab and Elijah meet again. And when they do...it ends up that Elijah challenges the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah to a contest.
What they did was got 2 piles of wood set up and brought out 2 bulls. On one, the prophets of Baal would cut up the bull and place it on the altar...on the other, Elijah would do the same, placing his bull on his pile of wood.
Each would then call on their god...and the one who answered by fire would be the god of Israel. Now, being the gentleman that he was, Elijah allowed them to go first. And they called on their god from morning till noon...but nothing happened.
So Elijah began to taunt them..."Maybe your god is busy...or traveling somewhere else. Shout a little louder, maybe your god fell asleep. Then they really got frantic...and they started cutting themselves with knives, making the blood flow...and they carried on like this til evening...but their god never answered.
Finally Elijah had them stop and he built an altar out of 12 stones and dug a trench around it. He arranged the wood, put the sacrificed bull on it...but then had them pour water on it. Three times they filled 4 large pots with water and poured it on the altar ...until it filled the whole trench.
And after calling on the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob... the fire of the Lord fell and burned up not just the sacrifice, but the wood, the stones, and even the soil...and dried up the water in the trench.
The people immediately recognized who the only true God was...and they fell on their faces before Him. Elijah then had the prophets of Baal taken to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered them there. After all this was done...he said that the rain that the people so desperately needed would now finally come.
Many of the people who witnessed this tremendous event confessed God as their God...and man, was Elijah ever flying high. Talk about a mountain top experience. He was completely overwhelmed with joy and enthusiasm.
He had seen God work in such a powerful way...and surely nothing could get him down now...or could it? That’s where we come to the next scene...the main text for today which is 19:1 12. READ
This very next scene is one that begins a very strange turn of events. Elijah’s mountaintop experience would very quickly be challenged...as we saw in verse 2...READ
Now, Elijah knew that Jezebel was a woman who got what she wanted...no matter what it took. And her threat was no just an empty one. She fully intended to have him killed the next day. So Elijah and his attendant got out of Dodge in a hurry.
After they got to Beersheba, he left his servant behind...continuing on to face alone whatever was ahead. And from there he walked a whole day straight into the desert. And he was walking rather aimlessly... with no real destination in mind.
He really didn’t know where to go or what to do. So finally he sat down under a shrub and said to God, "I’ve had enough! I can’t take it any more. Lord, just take my life...it’s all over for me know anyway!"
He sat there under that shrub, whining so long that he fell asleep. I guess he was just like so many of us...when the going gets tough...he was ready to give it all up.
Now, Elijah took off without making the least attempt to see that his needs for food and water were provided for. He was so caught up in his own problems that he launched out into the wilderness with nothing.
But it’s so interesting to see that in spite of himself, God took care of him. Through His messenger, God provided food and water. After eating a little and taking a drink, Elijah went back to sleep.
But the angel of the Lord woke him up a second time...told him his journey wasn’t over yet...and gave him more to eat. And somehow Elijah responded...eating enough to get him on his way for a 40 day and 40 night trip to Mount Horeb.
Yet in spite of God’s powerful working to take care of his physical needs...in spite of the hope that should have filled him as he saw God’s care and concern for him...Elijah still hadn’t come out of the valley emotionally and spiritually.
Once he arrived at Horeb, he found a cave and simply went in there to feel sorry for himself. And for all practical purposes, Elijah had given up on life.....but God hadn’t given up on him!
Well, he hadn’t been in the cave very long before he heard the voice of God speaking to him saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" And look at his reply...READ v. 10
Now, what we have here is a pity party..."Poor me, I’m the only one left...I’ve been so good and faithful but now Jezebel is going to wipe me out."
Now, what do you do when you come across someone throwing a royal pity party for themselves. Especially when it is the last person who should be doing so.
But here is where we see the love and patience of God. Because God speaks to him in verse 11-12 READ
Look at me...that is the voice of God in the valleys. God doesn’t say "Your pain doesn’t matter to me. I don’t have the time to hear your complaining." No...that’s not the God of the valleys.
God’s whisper...His still small voice is the voice of assurance. It is both a reminder and a proof that God has not forgotten or forsaken us in our time of need. He speaks in a whisper...like the sound of stillness...and often that voice comes in the quiet after the storm.
God can be ignored...but we can never escape the reality of God and His love. In verse 13 God speaks to Elijah again...and asks him, "What are you doing here?"
This time God wanted to know why Elijah wanted to stay in this valley. And isn’t that the way we are...we get a good pity party going and we hate to shut it off!
Well, Elijah gives the same answer again. And to paraphrase him, he says, "Look God, serving you gets me nowhere. The people you ask me to minister to have killed off all the other prophets...and now that godless woman is after me!
What’s the use? Those people don’t care about me...and evidently you don’t either or I wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place."
Elijah had been in the valley. No one would deny that...least of all God. And God knew that he was hurt and discouraged and frightened. But He wanted to help Elijah, but Elijah refused to be helped. And many of us can relate to him...because we’ve been there maybe some are now.
And the thing was...Elijah heard God’s loving voice even in the valley ...but he ignored it. He wouldn’t accept God’s love and support. You see, God didn’t promise him a trouble free life or ministry.
God never promised him deliverance from this whole mess he found himself in. But God did promise Elijah His abiding presence. And still, all Elijah could feel was self-pity.
Well, the next time God’s voice came to Elijah in his valley; there was a great big difference. Because now God had stopped asking questions and instead said, "Okay Elijah, enough of the self-pity ... get back to business! If you’re my man, then you’ll go and anoint a new king for Syria. Let’s get on with it!"
And you know what...That’s exactly what Elijah did. He went back to doing what he was supposed to do...the thing God had called him to do in the first place.
And as it turned out...he wasn’t the only one in Israel who was being faithful to God...even though that is what he thought. As a matter of fact, there were 7,000 or so others who were just as faithful.
But that just goes to show how distorted things can get when we wallow in self-pity. And this is clear proof that even God gets tired of pity parties. But in spite of that truth...God still does speak to us in love and kindness when we have a valley to walk through.
Let’s think for a moment about the audacity as well as the confusion he experienced in his valley. He was not the only faithful one in Israel...he wasn’t even the only faithful prophet. And neither are we the only faithful ones who experience a crisis either.
If you are in a valley today...and they are real...then how can you expect to hear God speaking to you in your need? Well, most likely it won’t come to you in some earth shattering way that will knock you off your feet...and force you to hear God whether you want to or not.
And it won’t come in a way that will ignore the reality of your crisis or situation. But in the midst of your trouble...God speaks loving words...healing words...words of encouragement...words of expectation.
And they come in a still, small voice. And you know what? God is here this morning...and I believe that He is waiting for some of you to hear that same quiet whisper that Elijah heard.
