First Response Part 2
Scriptures: Proverbs 3:5-6; 1 Kings 18:21-26; 36-39; 19:1-4
Introduction:
This message will conclude this series on first responses. Previously I shared with you that our first responses are those initial responses that we have to a situation. It is those responses that can be described as a “knee jerk reaction.” This reaction is an initial, immediate reaction that comes without first thinking about how you will respond - you respond before you even think about it or may even be aware that you are responding. In the first two messages of this series I shared with you the story about Peter and how he responded to the people on the Day of Pentecost versus his response to being caught fellowshipping with the Gentiles Christians. I told you about Zaccheus who repented immediately upon entering Jesus’ presence. In the final story I told you about the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years and decided that if she could touch the hem of Jesus’ garment she would be healed. In each situation there was a first response that changed the course of the person’s life. Their responses not only confirmed what was already within them, but in the case of Peter, allowed him to recognize areas for continued growth.
Our foundation Scripture comes from Proverbs 3:5-6 which says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Our initial responses to situations will often speak to our faith and what we believe in our hearts. Although our faith and belief should be consistent across situations, we know that our faith can be stronger in some situations versus others. This morning we will look at Elijah and his two responses when faced with a challenge in his life. Although his responses are very different, I believe that they will enable us to understand some of our responses and why we need to really “do” what is recorded in Proverbs 3:5-6. Please turn with me to First Kings chapter eighteen.
I. Elijah’s Challenge To The Priests of Baal
Let me set the stage for you. The key players in these stories are Elijah, the prophet of God; Ahab who was the king of Israel; and Ahab’s wife Jezebel, the daughter of the king. In their relationship, Jezebel had the strongest personality and was the one primarily pushing the people to worship the god Baal. Ahab, although he was the king of Israel, considered Elijah to be the “troubler of Israel.” Elijah was the one who withstood Ahab and Jezebel and refused to follow their ways. As you read the entire story, you will find in chapter seventeen that God told Elijah to prophesy to King Ahab that there would be a drought in the land and that there would be neither dew nor rain except by his (Elijah’s) word. Once he delivered the message, God told Elijah to leave there and go into hiding. After three years God told Elijah to return and show himself to Ahab. By this time the drought would have been so severe that the people would have been on the verge of starvation. Ahab had a servant, Obadiah, who was over his household and feared the Lord. When Jezebel began to kill the prophets of God, he took one hundred of the prophets and hid them in a cave providing them with food and water. Elijah went to Obadiah and told Obadiah to go tell Ahab he was there. Even though Obadiah initially thought that this act would get him killed he did as Elijah requested.
When Ahab came to meet Elijah, he referred to him as the “troubler of Israel” (vs. 17) to whom Elijah corrected him and said Israel’s troubles were because of Ahab’s actions. Elijah told Ahab to gather all of the prophets of Baal and Asherah and to have them meet him at Mount Carmel. When all of the prophets were gathered, Elijah spoke to the Children of Israel who had also gathered. Let’s begin reading at 1 Kings 18:21.
“Elijah came near to all the people and said, ‘How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.’ But the people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I alone am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. Now let them give us two oxen; and let them choose one ox for themselves and cut it up, and place it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, and I will not put a fire under it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, He is God.’ And all the people said, ‘That is a good idea.’ So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose one ox for yourselves and prepare it first for you are many, and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it. Then they took the ox which was given them and they prepared it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon saying, ‘O Baal, answer us.’ But there was no voice and no one answered. And they leaped about the altar which they made.” (Vss. 21-26)
Elijah told the prophets of Baal to go first. They prepared their ox and then began to call on Baal. They called on Baal from morning until the noon hour, but there was no answer. As you read the rest of the story, Elijah began to mock them saying that maybe Baal had gone on a journey or was asleep and they should call out louder. (Remember, if Baal was truly a god neither of these things would be necessary.) So the prophets cried out even louder and began cutting themselves. This went on until the time of the evening sacrifice, but they received no answer. It was now Elijah’s turn. After Elijah had built his altar and reminded the people of whom they were, he did something really strange. To prove the fact that God was the one and only God, he had them pour water on his altar soaking the ox, the wood and filling the trenches. I believe he wanted them to know for a surety that if this sacrifice was to be consumed by God, it would take a mighty strong fire to do it. Let’s pick the story up at verse thirty-six. “Then it came about at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, ‘O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again.’ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.” (Vss. 36-39)
Elijah did not have to yell, scream, or cut himself for God to answer him. He was walking in what God had told him to do so he knew that God was going to “show up and show out” as some say. When the fire came, it burned up everything, including the stones and the dusk. I don’t know about you, but I have never witnessed fire consuming stone and dusk. When the people saw it they cried out that the Lord was God. When their hearts were turned back to God, Elijah commanded that they take the prophets of Baal and kill them. After this was done, Elijah brought the rain and the drought ended once again proving that God was the one and only God and that he was God’s prophet.
Now consider how Elijah must have felt knowing that he was walking with God in the presence of a king and queen who hated him and the God he served. Imagine the vindication he must have because everyone had blamed him for the drought. Imagine, after witnessing what God had done through him and how the people’s immediate response to his request pertaining to the prophets of Baal, how the power and security in God must have felt. Walking with and obeying God meant something. He was not the trouble maker, but the deliverer whom God used to turn the people’s heart back to Him. Elijah must have been rejoicing upon seeing the people return to God. He knew that there was nothing that he could not do through the power of God working through him. Can you see this? Elijah never doubted that God was going to respond by fire because God had directed his steps. His first response to facing the four-hundred and fifty prophets of Baal was not one of fear, but one of assurance. But let’s see what happens just a short time later. Turn to the nineteenth chapter of First Kings and we will begin reading at verse one.
II. Elijah Run For His Life
“Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, ‘So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.’ And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a days 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 my life, for I am not better than my fathers.” (Vss. 1-4)
Ahab goes home and tells his wife Jezebel that all of her prophets were killed by Elijah. Jezebel immediately sends word to Elijah that she would do the same to him by the next day. Elijah, the man who just called down fire from heaven and had all of the prophets of Baal killed, ran for his life. Why did he run? Why was his first response to Jezebel’s threat to run versus standing his ground and telling her something like “Bring it on!” Think about it – when he ran he eventually asked God to kill him because he was no better than his fathers who had walked before him. Please understand I am not standing in judgment of Elijah, but I am using his story to help us understand our lives.
When Elijah heard Jezebel’s threat, he knew, believed and understood that the threat was real and that she had the power, authority and will to carry it out. This was no idle threat. Elijah knew that what she promised she could fulfill and he would be dead the next day – unless God intervene. She had already proved this by killing many of the other prophets of God. The Scriptures do not tell us if God told him to run or if he even asked, but it tells us what God told him after he ran and asked God to let him die. God sent an angel to minister to him and then sent him on a forty days journey to Horeb, the mountain of God. When he got there God asked him what he was doing there and then proceeded to tell Elijah to go back for his work was not yet done. Elijah was renewed and went back from whence he came. We do not know how many months he was away, but when he returned he was not in fear for his life. He knew that when God spoke, it would be done. When you finish reading the story of Elijah you will find that Elijah did not die a natural death for God took him. He sent a chariot to take Elijah. What a testimony!
Conclusion
I wanted to conclude this series with Elijah because what he experienced was real. He was a prophet of God who at some points in his life had to stand alone before the enemies of God. He experienced victories and he experienced fear. When he walked in the power of God, his first response was one of assurance that God’s will would be done. He did not doubt nor was he concerned about what he was supposed to do. When God gave him a mission, he knew that God had his back and that whatever God told him was surely going to happen. When Jezebel threatened his life, it appears that this caught him unawares. He did not see this coming. He reacted without giving it much thought. He ran to protect his life. He came off a mighty victory through the mighty power of God to be faced with the possibility that his life would be over the next day. Jezebel’s threat possibly temporarily made Elijah forget the power of God working through him. He knew what God had called him to do; knew what God had done through him; but he was not sure what God’s plan was for him in this situation, especially since Jezebel had successfully killed so many other prophets of God. When Elijah got to the wilderness I believe he was so ashamed of running for his life and that he had failed God miserably that he asked God to take his life. He said he was no better than his fathers. Elijah at one point believe that his mission for God set him apart from his fathers, but now he was thinking it was all fruitless. What he had done was for naught. He had not made a difference. He was no better than his fathers. What was God’s response? He sent an angel to minister to Elijah; had Elijah meet Him on His mountain; sent Elijah back to finish His work; and then sent a chariot to bring him to heaven.
You might be thinking, “I am no Elijah” and you would be correct. But what we have Elijah did not have. Through Jesus Christ we have the Spirit of God living within us. We do not have to go to the wilderness or a special place to find God; He is with us all the time. What I love about this story is that when Elijah ran and thought his life was a failure, God did not scorn or reject him for running away. He sent an angel to minister to him. God wanted Elijah physically and mentally ready to complete the work that he needed to do. We serve a might good God!
Our first responses might not always reflect what we believe in our hearts. Our first responses may sometimes show our weaknesses, insecurities, fears and worldliness. Our first responses may sometime embarrass us and those around us. We may get it wrong and feel that everything that we are trying to do for God is fruitless. Our first responses may sometimes get us into trouble and cause us to lose friends. The love that people have for us may sometime grow cold because of our first response being unlike the God we serve. We may hurt someone that we care about because our first response is one that is so natural to us that we do not check ourselves or realize the depth to which the response stings. Our first response can sometimes be so far off the mark that we wonder why God would ever choose us to do anything for Him.
I am speaking from personal experience and I want you to know that even though we might get it wrong sometimes, God is still reaching out and securing us. He is holding us up so that we can be strengthened to be able to get the response right the next time. He is not turning His back on us and has His Holy Spirit ministering to us so that we will not give up.
Have you examined your first responses lately? Are they in line with your profession of faith? Today is the first day of the rest of your life and a great day to start working on your first response.
Until next time, “May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
