Outnumbered?
(Message #11of the Series: View From God’s Mountaintops)
1 Kings 18 October 8, 2000
Have you ever been so overwhelmed by life that you wished to die? Or perhaps just go to sleep – or start over again, as a new person? Life has been known to put that on people.
Perhaps life hasn’t quite come to that for you; but, it has gotten to all of us at one point or another. We feel so inept – like we haven’t got a clue. There was a man raised in the back woods of the hollows. His wife went into labor in the middle of the night, and the doctor was fetched to assist in the delivery. Hours later, he arrived, but still in time!
Since there was no electricity, the doctor handed the father-to-be a lantern and said, Here, you hold this high so I can see what I am doing. Soon, a baby boy was brought into the world. Whoa there, said the doctor. Don't be in a rush to put the lantern down, I think there's yet another one to come. Sure enough, within minutes he had delivered a baby girl. Wait now, don't be in a great hurry to put down that lantern. It seems there's yet another one to come.
Sure enough, within minutes he had delivered another baby girl. No, no, don't be in a great hurry to put down that lantern. It seems there's yet another one in there! cried the doctor.
The father scratched his head in bewilderment, looked at the lantern, looked at his wife, and asked, Do you think it's the light that's attractin' 'em?
Well -- maybe not!
Five Overwhelming Realities of Life
Consider with me the kinds of circumstances we fear today, those things which cause us to imagine a great loss is just around the corner. (After we look at the fearsome five we will consider God’s Timeless Answer – Faith!)
Financial Ruin is Overwhelming
Who hasn’t felt the sting of too much month left over at the end of the money? One wag said,
If your outgo is bigger than your income,
Your upkeep is going to be your downfall!
What is the possible loss we fear? If you don’t pay the mortgage or rent, you’ll sleep under the stars. The finance company could come and take away that nifty ’54 DeSoto you’re driving. Many people live just about one paycheck away from repossession and eviction.
Relationships Lost is Overwhelming
The world is a tense place to live these days. We fear the loss of affection from spouse, children, and parents. We could lose our friends; we could lose a job. Many men identify so strongly with their career, that when it ends, so does their reason for living. Mothers, because of the innate nurturing instinct, suffer worse than Dads do over the empty nest when children leave. We fear this loss.
Schedule Demands can be Overwhelming
One of the most overwhelming aspects of our society is the incredible speed at which everything moves. Soon four year-olds will be driving, and we’ll have a 7th grader in the White House.
Mostly it is not a fear – more a realized loss, that many folks today do not rest or sleep long enough to regain their full charge. Without adequate rest, we can become irritable and grumpy. That causes us to be less effective in everything we do…especially when it comes to dealing with people. Remember the rhyme…
Mary had a little lamb, that would’ve been a sheep;
But he went and joined a Baptist church, and died from lack of sleep
Some people, after riding the treadmill of rush hour day-in, day-out for years on end, fall victim to the melancholy malaise; they lose hope. Humans can live without a lot of things, but hope is one of the essentials – right up there with oxygen.
Health Decline is Fearfully Overwhelming
In our HMO, managed care, impersonally specialized world of ills, pills and bills, we may be living longer, but I’m not certain it’s much better. We fear the pain associated with chronic or serious health issues. Like the man said, I’m not afraid of dying – I’m just not too crazy about the trip.
Another fear connected to this issue is the loss of independence. As we live longer we become more dependent on the system, the kids, or kindness of others. And we also fear the ultimate loss – life itself. One other….
Information Glut is Becoming Overwhelming
With the advent of accelerating knowledge, most of us reach the point of fear that life is passing us by. We buy a computer to keep up, and by the time we get it home and plugged-in, there is an improved model being advertised.
The Internet allows us to instantly access more information than a hundred thousand libraries could contain. Surprisingly (or not), it is the mature segment of our society that cannot handle this success. In a survey conducted by Newsweek the following statistics came to light about suicide and age:
Number of suicides, per 100,000 people ages 15 to 19: --- 11.1
Per 100,000 people ages 75 to 84 --- 24.9
We live in a world that increasingly makes little sense. It drives us to feelings of worthlessness, and being overwhelmed. We have become a nation of what R.C. Sproul has called fanatics -- A fanatic is a person who, having lost sight of his goal, redoubles his effort to get there.
What is it like to be overwhelmed? It is to halt or waver between decisions – when halting is the worst thing you can do.
And Elijah came unto all the people, and said,
How long halt ye between two opinions?
If the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
1 Kings 18.21
Israel didn’t have a word to say…Has God anything to say about these overwhelming realities?
God’s Timeless Answer – Faith!
Ahab was a rotten king. In fact he was the worst in Israel’s history. Under his evil leadership, God’s people turned from following the Lord to following the pagan fertility God, Baal. God was not happy!
As a result God sent Elijah to pray for drought. And the heavens dried up for 31/2 years. A famine ensued, and King Ahab blamed Elijah, and all the prophets of the God of Israel. There was persecution and death for anyone who named the name of Jehovah. It is like that with evil leadership at the helm of any government. Those who stand for righteousness and truth will make evil leaders nervous.
In religious circles we have our share of snake handlers, false faith healers and political expedients. A lot of stuff goes on in the name of the Lord.
By contrast, Elijah stood where his challenge landed. He had asked the people why they halted (or hopped) between serving God or Baal. He told them, Make up your mind – one or the other. The implication is that Elijah had already made his decision. That is always a good thing for people to do – make your decision about what god you will serve.
The battle between Elijah and the Prophets of Baal is well known. Elijah suggested a contest of the gods – winner takes all. (It was probably billed as Super Baal #1).
The playing field was Mt. Carmel.
The rules – each side gets a bull, an altar and a prayer. The god that answers by fire is God!
The Baalites went first, picking the bull, setting up their prayer-chain of 850 prophets. They prayed and danced around the altar, howling, pleading and cutting themselves in an effort to get a wood statue to answer by fire. NADA.
It was then Elijah’s turn. In an effort to display the power of God, Elijah had stacked the deck in the favor of the Baalites.
The odds were 850 to 1 (Jimmy the Greek eat your heart out!)
It was on a mountain – the very place Baal was thought to live.
Baal’s 850 prophets got first shot at the fire.
Baal was supposedly a god who carried a lightning bolt in one hand and would likely answer by fire.
When the Baalites’ god failed – Elijah had his sacrifice drenched 3 times with water.
The result was incredible. God answered by fire, consuming the bull, lapping up the water, and melting the stones of the altar.
Herein lies the key to what God says to us through all this – especially about our being over-wrought, and overwhelmed.
The Story Applied to our Overwhelming Circumstances
The way most of us deal with being overwhelmed is to investigate all our options – and keep as many of them open as possible. We hedge our bets, cover all the bases. We do exactly what Elijah had condemned the Israelites for – halting between God and whatever else.
God’s way isn’t that way! God’s way is complete surrender! Elijah placed himself squarely in the middle of a win or die, no turning back stand -- based entirely on the hand of God. In short, Elijah knew that with King Ahab and that miserable Queen Jezebel mad at him and standing alone against 850 loony prophets – if God didn’t show up, Elijah was toast!
Notice that when Elijah built an altar (18.31) he took twelve stones. He was reminding God’s people who they were. They were the holy twelve tribes of Israel, God’s chosen! God enthusiastically entered into that when He sent the fire, and it consumed not only the sacrifice, but also the stones, altar, water in the trench, and even the dust.
Now there’s your example of how to deal with being overwhelmed in this life. Put it all on the altar, and watch God go to work!
Elijah created a crisis when he challenged the enemy. The Chinese write their language in word pictures. The characters are pictures which stand for the words. Their word for crisis is two characters; one means danger, and the other opportunity. In Chinese, a crisis is a dangerous opportunity. Visually the characters form a cross. How is that for a picture?
Do you want to end the overwhelming heartache of being overwhelmed? Come to the cross – it is dangerous and scary to serve a God you can’t see. But, my friend, it is worth it all; it is the opportunity of your lifetime. That’s how you challenge the enemy – you give the entirety of your life to God!
Have you ever done that? Mrs. E.S. Adams wrote about some advice her husband received one time from the president of Bowdoin College. Her husband had to make a decision about his career, and where they would live. It was a life-changing matter. He was in agony; and even after he'd made the decision he felt tormented by doubts and fears over the consequences. He was overwhelmed! Came the advice, Mr. Adams, when a decision has been made and the die is cast, murder the alternatives.
Friends, I could stand and give you pop psychology and platitudes all day long about how to handle being overwhelmed by your Ahabs and Jezebels. But the bottom line here is to do what Elijah did – murder the possibility of escape from doing God’s will.
Max Lucado is a pastor who writes wonderful books. He wrote:
If there are a thousand steps between us and God,
he will take all but one.
He will leave the final one for us.
The choice is ours. (Leadership, vol. 17, no.2)
The dangerous opportunity is before each one of us – Elijah accepted – what will you do?
