The Wilderness Experience
I Kings 19:1-5, 11b-12
Today’s Scripture is about Elijah the Prophet. He ministered from 873 BC to 832 BC in response to actions of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Elijah’s ministry was closely linked to Ahab and Jezebel who was the daughter of the King of Sidon. Ahab entered into an alliance with the King of Sidon by marring his daughter, Jezebel. Now the people of Siden were Phoenecians and worshipped the pagan god Ba’al who was responsible for the rain. When Ahab married Jezebel, she brought her religion with her and started to impose that on the people of Israel. I Kings 16 describes Ahab’s reign like this: “Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab…did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.” I Kings 16:30-33
Jezebel brought 450 propehts of Ba’al with her and built a temple to Ba’al where they started to make sacrifices to Him. Then she started systematically to kill the prophets of Yahweh. And Ahab willingly went along with this, doing nothing to stop this. It is in the midst of these circumstances that God raised Elijah up as a prophet. Now Elijah’s name literally means “Yahweh is my God.” His focus was to make evident that Yahweh is the only God and that Ba’al is no god at all. The pinnacle of Elijah’s ministry was a showdown between himself and 450 Ba’al prophets. The challenge was to see whose God would act when called upon and only Yahweh did. At the end, a battle ensued and all 450 prophets were killed. Upon hearing this, Jezebel put a price out on Elijah’s head and promised to kill Elijah within 24 hours. Elijah flees to Beersheba in the wilderness to save his own life. At this point, Elijah wants to give up. He’s not only afraid for his life but he is exhausted and downtrodden. He had just single handedly defeated and killed 450 prophets of Ba’al. You would think he would be on top of the world. Instead, with a price on his head, he’s at the end of his rope.
He sits down under a broom tree and asks God to die. “I have had enough, Lord. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.” Can you relate? Every one of us at some point in our life may not have prayed to die but you may well have wanted to give up in your life. I know what that’s like. There have been times I have wanted to give up in ministry, times when I have wanted to throw in the towel when people are attacking me, spreading malicious lies, fighting me at every turn and the problems and challenges seem insurmountable. I’m not alone. Fifty percent of pastors will not survive in ministry longer than 5 years. Over 1,700 pastors left the ministry every month last year. Have you been there when you wanted to give up? The most amazing thing is that Elijah was the greatest of all the prophets and had the most effective ministry and yet, he reaches a point where the burdens and challenges become too much for him.
First, God ministers to us physically. What often happens when we’re in the wilderness is that we get so tired and worn down that we fail to take care of ourselves and our bodies. We don’t get enough sleep and we don’t eat healthy. The angel comes to Elijah and ministers to him by letting him sleep. Sleep is important, especially when you’re exhausted. James Bryan Smith writes, “The number one enemy of spiritual formation today is exhaustion. We are living beyond our means…physically. And as a result, one of the primary activities of human life is being neglected, sleep.” In the 1850’s, the average American slept 9.5 hours. By 1950, that had dropped to 8 hours and today the average American gets only 7 hours of sleep a night. James Bryan Smith continues, “Neglecting our bodies…impedes our spiritual growth…If our bodies are not sufficiently rested, our energies will be diminished and our ability to pray, read the Bible, enter solitude or memorize Scripture will be diminished.” So the first thing that God allows Elijah to do is rest so that then he can begin to minister to him.
Second, go to your place to meet God. The angel makes Elijah bread. Bread is important in Scripture. It was considered a staple of life. Elijah eats to get enough strength to make his way further south until he reaches Mt. Horeb, also known as Mt. Sinai. You remember that this was the mountain Moses ascended when he encountered God and received the 10 commandments. This is the place where covenant was made, where the Hebrews became God’s people and where faith began. Because of this, Mt. Horeb was thought to be the place where God resides. And so Elijah goes there to meet God. And so one of the questions we need to ask is when we are in the wilderness, “Where is the place we go to meet God?” Where is your Mt. Sinai? Is it here in the sanctuary or the Prayer Room or a place in your house? Where do you go to meet God?
Third, listen for God. Elijah arrives and he’s in a cave in the cleft of the rock and waiting for God to speak. Now I don’t know about you, but I have never heard God speak to me verbally. But you can hear God speak to you every day when you read the Bible. A word or phrase on the page might jump out to you or a thought or impression might come to your mind. Sometimes it doesn’t happen the first time you read through the passage but the second or the third time. Or God can speak when you hear a Christian song or through the words of a loved one or when you pray and intentionally remain silent listening for God. And I hear him through a thought or impression. Well the Lord said to Elijah, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by. Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” The NRSV says that Elijah heard the sound of “sheer silence.” The KJV calls it “the still small voice of God.”
Fourth, practice silence. The problem is our world is noisy and hurried and that tends to drown out the voice of God. There’s the voices of the people around me, the radio, the TV, the cell phone which bring tweets, emails, texts and phone calls. Then there’s the voice of the culture and the messages in my head telling me, “You’re dumb!” “You’re worthless?” “You’re not smart enough, talented enough, educated enough.” And part of we need to do is to quiet the voices. That’s what happened to Elijah. There was the storm and then the fire but then it finally got to a place of quiet where he listened in the sheer silence. It’s so hard to find silence. I struggle with this in my own home. With two kids, a wife, two cats, a dog and two in-laws and cell phones and TV’s turned on everywhere. But to hear the voice of God, we’ve got to find the silence. Mother Teresa says, “In the silence of the heart, God speaks.” But for God to speak, we need to find the silence. I don’t know about you but I need more silence in my life. That’s where Elijah heard from God.
We’re uncomfortable with silence. It seems we almost always have to have the radio or TV or cell phones or computers on. But if we are to hear the voice of God we need silence. The practice of silence increases our capacity for contemplation. It enables us to focus our attention on deep matters of the heart and it allows us to hear God. How do you do that? First, follow the words of God in the Psalmist when he says, “Be still and know that I am God.” You have to stop your busy life long enough to be still. Second, you must make room for it — literally. Find a space of physical silence where you can sit quietly, away from distracting demands, voices, and sounds. You may need to get up a few minutes earlier or find time in the midst of your day between appointments and commitments. A lot of people find that their thoughts wander during times of silence. This is normal. Your mind is used to working continuously all day. To deal with this, have a pencil and paper and write down any important thoughts of what you need to do. Then let it go and get back to listening for God. If you need to focus on something, you can listen to your breathing. Don’t wait until you’re in the wilderness to start practicing silence. I want to suggest that you start with five minutes a day. Go there every day. And as you get more comfortable, you can add more time.
Fifth, know God’s not done with you yet. God says to Elijah, “Go back the way you came.” What? But Jezebel is looking to kill him! What God was saying to Elijah was this: I have work yet for you to do. God has been with Elijah. He has revealed his glory and power to Elijah. But now it’s time to get back to work. Psychologists know that when you are in the midst of depression, one of the best things you can do is go help other people. Take your eyes off yourself and serve others. Another thing you can do is find your purpose in life. Studies have found that there is an inverse relationship between purpose in life and depression. If you don’t know your purpose, you are more likely to be depressed. It lingers longer and has a greater impact. When you know your purpose, you are much less likely to be depressed, you have a reason to get up in the morning, and it helps you deal with the adversity and difficulty of life. When you know you have a purpose in life, it gives you the fight to get better.
So when God tells Elijah, I need you to go back to the way you came, Elijah realizes that God is not finished with him yet. And if God wants me to do His work, then he will strengthen me and sustain me for that work. Do you have a sense of God’s purpose in your life, a calling? God can use you even when you are feeling depressed and broken and worn down. You can become what Henri Nouwen called a “Wounded Healer.”
Every single hero in the Bible went through a period of despair and depression. Moses prays for God to end his life. David does the same thing. Elijah echoes the same prayer. You are not unique in this and you are not alone either. We all feel this way sometimes in the wilderness of despair. In the midst of the wilderness, we remember that God is there with us, that God is, God does, and God hears. And then we get quiet and listen because in the shear silence, we can hear the voice of God. And from that springs a well of hope. The desire can be to just stay there but like Elijah, we are called to go back to the work of the kingdom and God’s call upon our life. When you have this sense that God is not done for you yet and that God can use even your pain for the good of others and His glory, then there is no way you can stop His work. It is out of the sorrow that God can do great things not only in you but through you. We all feel like giving up at some time but the people who change the world don’t. Because their God is bigger than that and they have the faith and perseverance to journey through the wilderness.
What happened to Elijah? He goes back to Jerusalem and Jezebel didn’t kill him. He continued to confront Ahab and Jezebel for their actions. He anointed other people to be King. He mentored and raised up Elisha to carry on his ministry. He continued to be used by God to do amazing things. And on the last day of his life, Elijah and Elisha are walking along the Jordan River. “Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” 2 Kings 2:11 How much would Elijah have missed if God had answered his prayer under the broom tree? Don’t give up! When you’re in the wilderness, go to your Mt Sinai and reconnect to God. Let him speak to you in the midst of the silence and hear his call upon your life that he is not done with yet. Go back to the way you came. And continue the work God has in store for you and you will walk out of the wilderness of despair and into the will of God for your life. Amen.
