Living Thru The Nothings
Pt. 3 - Running Man
It is one of my least favorite words. Nothing. It is a word that reveals lack. It holds no element of promise. It contains no ounce of hope. Let me see if I can explain.
You kill yourself in efforts to knock out the best paper you have ever written. It has all the makings and components of an "A". So on the day it is due you go to the faithful computer and go through the steps to pull up the file only to see the dreaded "File Not Found" message. Nothing.
You fill out application after application. You go to interview after interview. You dress for success. You nail every answer. Your resume is perfect. And every time . . . nothing. No phone call. No follow up interview. No chance.
You take the meds. You toe the line and do exactly what the doctor said to do. Weeks go by and nothing. No improvement. No change.
The demand is there but the resource is not! The need is apparent the solution is not. A withdrawal is requested but there seems to be no funds. Energy is a must but the tanks are empty! Nothing in the cabinets. Nothing in the bank. Nothing in reserve. Relationship longed for but nothing. Nothing!
I hate the word. I hate the experience even more.
I wonder if maybe some of you are presently living through a nothing moment?
Expectations unmet? Dry when you expected oasis? Caring has become cursing. Wedding turned to war. Health lost to sickness. Healing only a desire. Nothing.
How do you live through that?
There are several "Nothing" accounts in Scripture that I think we would do well to examine and learn from. If all your dreams are coming to pass and life is all fairytale endings for you, then you are not going to understand or need this series. But for the rest of us maybe this will provide some help if not hope.
In Week 1, we dealt with the nothing experience that the disciples had. They were presented with the challenge to feed a hungry crowd and they had nothing. Jesus uses that situation to publicly expose their nothing so that they would have to rely on Him and on others around them. Then He exposes the lie of lack. The disciples had allowed the size of their need to overwhelm the truth of what they had to offer.
Last week, we talked about the nothing Elijah faced when he prayed for rain only to have his servant come back and say he saw nothing. We learned that in order to make it through the nothings we must believe promise more than the proof. We must remain in the position of prayer and remember that small clouds can produce a huge miracle. You can't overlook the first indication of change because God can make it rain!
So let's go forward. I will have to apologize because I do realize over the course of the last 6 years I have referenced this passage quite a few times. However, when you talk about living through the nothings you cannot leave this passage out. I will hopefully be able to bring some new insight out of it.
Text: 1 Kings 19:1-16
Ahab reported to Jezebel everything that Elijah had done, including the massacre of the prophets. Jezebel immediately sent a messenger to Elijah with her threat: “The gods will get you for this and I’ll get even with you! By this time tomorrow you’ll be as dead as any one of those prophets.” When Elijah saw how things were, he ran for dear life to Beersheba, far in the south of Judah. He left his young servant there and then went on into the desert another day’s journey. He came to a lone broom bush and collapsed in its shade, wanting in the worst way to be done with it all—to just die: “Enough of this, God! Take my life—I’m ready to join my ancestors in the grave!” Exhausted, he fell asleep under the lone broom bush. Suddenly an angel shook him awake and said, “Get up and eat!” He looked around and, to his surprise, right by his head were a loaf of bread baked on some coals and a jug of water. He ate the meal and went back to sleep. The angel of God came back, shook him awake again, and said, “Get up and eat some more—you’ve got a long journey ahead of you.” He got up, ate and drank his fill, and set out. Nourished by that meal, he walked forty days and nights, all the way to the mountain of God, to Horeb. When he got there, he crawled into a cave and went to sleep. Then the word of God came to him: “So Elijah, what are you doing here?” “I’ve been working my heart out for the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,” said Elijah. “The people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed the places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.” Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.”A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper. When Elijah heard the quiet voice, he muffled his face with his great cloak, went to the mouth of the cave, and stood there. A quiet voice asked, “So Elijah, now tell me, what are you doing here?” Elijah said it again, “I’ve been working my heart out for God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies, because the people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed your places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.” God said, “Go back the way you came through the desert to Damascus. When you get there anoint Hazael; make him king over Aram. Then anoint Jehu son of Nimshi; make him king over Israel. Finally, anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.
We pick up right where we left off last week. Hours have gone by and Elijah goes from triumphant to trembling in a matter of moments. I think this passage gives us a glimpse into one of the best examples of a "Nothing" Season. It is one of the most significant swings in experience and emotions found in Scripture. On top of the mountain one second to running for your life the next. From champion to chump. From powerful to puny. From warrior to wimp. He goes from Rain Man to Running Man in the blink of an eye. The change in Elijah's experience is so severe that it is almost impossible to recognize him as the same man. He is a shell of the man we saw on the mountain swing sarcasm and sword at the prophets of Baal. However, in his running he teaches us three more things about living through the nothings.
a. In the nothings we must be able to distinguish between insulation and isolation.
So often in the dry season of our life we so long for human companionship that we will seek out people and without even realizing what we have done we substitute human companionship for divine companionship. Look at the scene again . . . Elijah is having a divine encounter. He is having a face-to-face conversation with an angel, not a vision, not a dream an actual eyes wide open face-to-face encounter and all he can do is complain that no one likes him and no one wants to be his friend! In the nothings, he was more focused on people than he was on God. I have noticed that to our own demise we tend to run to people more than we run to God in the dry times. He ran on his own but I believe God steps in and uses his escape to help him evaluate. He insulates him from attack. I believe Jezebel would have tried to make good on her threat. So God insulates him and all Elijah can see is isolation!
In the nothings, if we are not very careful, then we will mistake insulation for isolation and fight our way into relationships and companionship that although they comfort us they also keep us from God's purposes and plans. If you are in a nothing season don't misjudge the separation that is taking place. You can fill the nothing with people and in the very same moment boycott and bypass your purpose! If God could get you away from your boyfriend, girlfriend, best friend He could get your attention!
b. In the nothings we must not neglect the natural or we will miss the supernatural.
He journeys a day into the desert and ends up under a bush and when he gets there he is spiritually exhausted! The truth is he has a valid reason to spiritually exhausted. He has just squared off in a spiritual battle with the prophets of Baal. He has just gone through a season of spiritual battle in what last week's passage called "deep" prayer. But is also abundantly clear from this passage that Elijah has not taken care of the natural. He physically attacks and kills 450 men by himself - don't kid yourself I believe they fought back. He then runs a marathon at a record pace (outruns horses). He then walks a full day's journey into the hot, dry desert! So surprise . . . when he arrives at the bush and stop he is physically exhausted! This is where God finds him! Here is man that has a great spiritual need and a great physical need. And, watch this, as bad as he needed a spiritual touch the Angel of The Lord feeds him! The angel deals with the natural before ever addressing the supernatural. Before he ever got his blessing he got a buffet. Before he gets his boldness back he gets biscuits.
We are so much like Elijah!!! It seems to me that when we need the supernatural we often neglect the natural.
I need a miracle in my marriage but I refuse to take care of the natural (i.e. clean up, fix up, shut up). Come on do your part in the natural!
I need a miracle at work but I don't do the natural (i.e. show up early, stay late, work harder).
I need a miracle physically but I don't do the natural (i.e. exercise, change diet).
I need a miracle in my thought life but I won't do the natural (i.e. filter, accountability).
I have discovered that miracles most often come on the other side of obedience and obedience almost always involves the natural. A lot of us during the nothings try to get more spiritual and what we need to do is get more disciplined! Take care of the natural and God will deal with the supernatural. Quit asking God to supernaturally overturn something that you won't address in the natural. In fact, you can't complain about what you confront! Address the natural and see if God doesn't show up with the supernatural.
c. In the nothings you must learn to distinguish God's voice from all the other noise.
It would seem that the nothing seasons are silent seasons. We talk about not being able to hear God. But I would suggest that during the nothing season it isn't that there is silence the issue is there is noise! Everything calls for your ear. You drown in distraction. I believe that the driest days are also the noisiest days.
So Elijah teaches us that while in the nothings you must listen more closely. You must make sure you are tuned in to His voice because it is his voice that will bring you out of the nothings. In fact, the nothings can lead you to purpose if allow those nothings to force you to lean in and hear His voice. If you succumb to the noise, distractions you will forever suffer in solitude and you will become trapped in the nothings.
When is the last time you heard from God? I know you have heard other voices. In the cave of pain, cave of hurt, cave of sickness, cave of brokenness I know you have heard other opinions. I know you have been given a multitude of messages and heard a symphony of suggestions but my question is in the dry, nothing moment of your journey have you heard from God? Elijah hears from God and it puts him back on task! He goes from sidelined to spiritual father. He goes from angry to anointed. A lot of times in the nothing seasons we think we can't hear God at all. I would suggest to you that even in our dry moments He is talking but nothing is filled with noise!
He hears voice and God sends him back the direction he had come. 40 days and nights, same scenery, same dryness, same desert, and same nothing. We want Word to change everything externally, but the only thing and the most important thing it changed was internal ... direction and determination. The Word you get in the nothings may not change anything but as long as it changes you it is what you need!
