I want to begin by asking you a question. Are you in a cave?
What I mean by that is, is your personal world made up of walls; job, family, friends, hobbies, recreation?
It can also be not so much a physical thing; but, is your cave made up of fears, doubts, complacency, indecision...
...While what God is doing in the world around you is going on somewhere outside the mouth of your cave?
Have you ever observed that God is a God of action? In all of scripture there is no period of dormancy attributed to God. We never see Him inactive or uninvolved.
Psalm 121:4 says “Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”
So to me it seems that the surest way to judge whether we are in the center of God’s will for us at any given point in time, is to make an honest evaluation of our present circumstances, and ask the questions, “Am I dormant? Am I hiding? Am I shirking the responsibility God has given me; either in the governing of my own life, or in my relationship to others?”
“Am I in a cave, insofar as my personal relationship to God is concerned?”
We have before us in the 18th and 19th chapters of I Kings, an account of a great man of God, who found himself in a cave.
Please go ahead and turn to I Kings; we’ll read just a portion of it. (Let’s read I Kings 19:9-14) (pray)
I want to start by saying very clearly that I will not disparage this man. I will not find fault with him.
God saw fit to take Elijah home in a whirlwind!
Have you ever stopped to consider the implications of that?
We hear things like this in sermons or read them so often that they tend to lose their punch, unless we stop for a moment and spend some time meditating on them.
The Bible says that Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
Elijah was bodily, physically, taken into Heaven. We know this because as he ascended Elisha, his student, yelled, “Father, the horses! The chariots!” and Elijah heard him, and threw his mantle back down to him on his way out.
So Elijah was physically caught up into heaven in a whirlwind!
So I will not criticize Elijah for being found in a cave.
Nor will I criticize you. There are any number of reasons we may often find ourselves in a place other than that perfect place where God would have us, and it’s not always a result of neglect or cowardice or sin on our part. Sometimes it’s just ignorance, or the burden of long trials.
I believe there is a greater, more encouraging lesson to be learned from this account in Elijah’s life and it is that I want to focus on.
The setting here, is that Ahab, the king of Israel, has erected an altar to Baal, and an Asherah, a symbol of a fertility goddess. He is married to Jezebel who was not a Jewess, but a Zidonite, who was a zealous worshipper of Baal, and was a conniving, controlling, manipulative, murderous, woman.
The Bible says that Ahab “did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.” (I Kings 16:33)
This was an evil man, married to an evil woman.
Elijah, being a prophet of God, has opposed Ahab, and the big finale of his opposition is to invite all the prophets of Baal to a ‘sacrifice standoff’ on Mount Carmel.
The priests of Baal prepare their sacrifice, then spend hours and hours dancing and chanting and cutting themselves, but their god doesn’t respond.
Elijah even makes fun of them. “Maybe he’s busy, or gone on vacation...maybe he had to go potty!”
Then when they’re all tuckered out Elijah prepares his sacrifice by having the stones piled up, the bull placed on the altar; then he has gallons upon gallons of water poured all over the altar and into a trench that he had dug around it. The sacrifice, the altar, the wood, the stones...everything is saturated with water.
He says a very short prayer, then God sends down fire from heaven that torches the whole thing. It consumes the sacrifice, the altar, licks up the water in the trench and even burns the stones and the ground.
Then Elijah has the priests of Baal killed, and when word gets back to Jezebel she is not a happy camper.
She sends word back to Elijah that she has taken an oath to kill him by this time tomorrow.
So he goes into the wilderness and sits down under a Juniper tree and asks the Lord to take him home.
Now, I don’t remember who first penned the words, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”,... but he may have been thinking of Elijah and Jezebel. In any case, this prophet who had the courage to face down all the prophets of Baal, runs and hides from one woman with a vendetta.
I’ve heard different speakers speculate as to what kind of emotions Elijah was experiencing as he sat under the Juniper tree. Some have suggested that he was suffering the depression that sometimes comes after an adrenaline high.
That’s one that I can identify with. I can remember times as a Police Officer, that we would have an exiting night shift. We might have caught a burglar or two in a residence or a place of business, or we might have made a vehicle stop that resulted in a search of the trunk and finding enough stolen goods there to solve a whole series of auto burglaries or robberies... and the next day, almost without fail, would seem very dull and boring in comparison. Even depressing.
Anyone involved in sports can tell about great victories in the game and the depression that followed, when the ‘rush’ was gone.
This happens to people in battle.
So who knows? Perhaps Elijah was feeling just a little more sorry for himself than he might have otherwise; but remember that the victory on Carmel also followed Jezebel’s mass murder of the prophets of Israel; something I’m sure weighed heavily on Elijah’s heart.
In this light, other preachers have suggested that Elijah was suddenly feeling terribly alone, having forgotten momentarily that God was with him.
I guess that’s a pretty good assumption; Elijah as much as says so when he is asked.
But certainly, it’s one that most of us can identify with.
When trouble comes, we very often tend to forget, at least at first, that He is our strength, and that He is always near.
We can certainly know that He’s near when we’re standing for what’s right, and what is Godly. The Lord’s mighty arm had certainly shown itself in the consumption of Elijah’s sacrifice.
But we know that it’s not only while we’re facing adversity that we need courage. Sometimes we need courage later, to face the consequences that come from doing what is right.
Listen to what Joy Davidman wrote:
“‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me’. That is the law of life and happiness and courage. Courage Himself, God the Lion, stands beside us to help us live by it”.
Well, temporarily at least, courage has fled, and so has Elijah.
Then as he naps under this Juniper tree, an angel comes to minister to him, feeds him; he sleeps again, the angel feeds him again, then sends him on his way nourished and rested.
Then he begins his journey, one that lasts forty days, to Mount Horeb, where he takes up lodging in a cave.
Now let’s take a closer look at our Lord’s approach to Elijah there in the cave, and think about the times He may be asking us, “What are you doing here?”.
First of all, why would God be asking such a question? We
alluded to it earlier. God is a God of action. As His children, He has things for us to do that can’t be done while we’re sitting in our little cave.
Jesus called us the light of the world. He said, “Let your light shine before men in such a way, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven”.
Do you notice that there are no conditions for waver of responsibility offered there? “Let your light shine before men...as long as you have the job you want; or the salary you want; or the house you want; or the spouse you want; ...or your mom and dad let you use the car to ‘shine’ in ...and you’re healthy and strong and good-looking and talented...
“so that they may see your good works and glorify... you...”?
But you see, we spend a lot of our time; waste a lot of our lives; sitting in our cave, waiting for some of these things to come about, determined that we’re going to get closer to the Lord when we have more time; when the kids are off to college; when I can get better work hours; when I can finally afford a cleaning service so I don’t have to spend so much of the day in routine chores; when I feel better...
We’re going to get involved in witnessing for the Lord and seeking good works to do, ...when I feel I know the Bible a little better; when the opportunity presents itself at a time when I won’t feel I’m jeopardizing my job or my relationship with family and friends; when I have more money; when I feel more spiritual ... (Hmmmm long wait ahead...) After we’ve overcome some of the problems at home...
God asks, “What are you doing here?”
‘Well Lord, I’ve been very zealous for You. The sons of Israel have forsaken your promises, torn down your altars, killed your prophets... and now they want to kill me too, so I’m hiding out in this cave until things cool down.’
‘Well Lord, I’m trying to remember to do my devotions every day... almost... and I’m reading every self-help book written by Christians that I can get my hands on... but our government is going straight down the tubes, all the famous TV preachers have bitten the dust, they put out a memo at work saying we shouldn’t discuss religion in the work-place because it might offend someone; and although I haven’t actually talked to anyone about it, I’m fairly certain that I’m the only one in my church who wants to get involved in any kind of evangelistic effort; so I’m sitting here in my cave until I hear Your voice come to me over my unplugged radio; or have a vision of You in the steam of my coffee, or something really obvious like that; then I’m going to just move on out there and do great things for you.
Don’t worry if you do not feel too inclined now to do some of the things He may want you to do in the future. He gives you the want to at the right time. What I’m talking about here, is being open and receptive. Stepping out of the cave so that you can see where He’s leading.
To anyone here, no matter your age, the thing in life that makes you ‘tick’, may be the very thing God made you love, because He wants your talents in that area, to be used in His service.
Now the wording of our text indicates that Elijah was doing more than taking a breather. Verse 9 says that he ‘lodged’ there. You can almost see a lantern in one corner, a rock hollowed out to use as a sink...a little sign at the back of the cave with an arrow and the word, “Restroom”... a wooden port-a-closet to hang his mantle in...
He wasn’t just there for a breather, he was ‘lodging’ there.
Have you set up housekeeping in your own little world, and closed out the Lord with the exception of a little Bible-reading, and attendance at Sunday services?
You can almost hear the tone of rebuke in His words; “What are you doing here?” And He wasn’t talking to someone who had never done anything...
...He was talking to someone who had stopped.
What right have we to grow weary in the work of ministry, when He did so many things in less than four years time, that the Apostle John felt compelled to suppose that if all things were written down, the world could not contain the books? What right have we to say ‘enough; I’ve done my part’, when He went obediently to death on the cross to finish the work the Father had given Him to do?
Do we think we lose God by burying ourselves in secular work, or by so involving ourselves in the education and recreational pursuits of our children that we think He won’t be so rude as to interrupt our busy life?
When Nicole was about three years old, she was playing in the front yard while I worked inside. When I looked out the window and saw that she had left the yard, I knew that she had wandered to a friend’s house several doors down.
So I went to her. I didn’t call her back; I went to her, and I asked her, “What are you doing here?”
She stood and looked into my eyes, and although she didn’t answer, I virtually saw the thoughts going through her mind. “I’m where I’m not supposed to be, therefore, I am not where I am supposed to be...and I’m busted”.
It wasn’t that I didn’t know what she was doing there. The question was designed to make her look at her circumstances, and consider her situation.
I am confident that to her, leaving the yard to play with her friend was an important and pressing matter; important enough to go straight there at the first thought of it with no concern for my opinion on the matter. Nevertheless, her reasoning, whatever it was, found her in a place she should not be.
Do you need to hear that question from God?
Now let’s see what God did to encourage Elijah, and to teach Elijah something about Himself. Look at verses 11 through 13. (read)
It’s easier to follow the Lord’s leading; isn’t it; when there’s some very clear sign, like a voice from the vent, “I WANT YOU IN BOSNIA AS A MISSIONARY!”
If you do a careful study of the miracles of the Bible, you’ll see that the amazing physical miracles that He has done, both in the Old and New Testaments, were in the presence of unbelievers; to help them in their unbelief, or to leave them without excuse.
Alone with those who knew Him, they only needed His word.
When Elijah heard the gentle blowing, he wisely covered his face with his mantle, then he stepped out, finally, to the entrance of the cave.
My friends, I am standing on solid scriptural ground, when I assure you that when you finally come out into the open and say, ‘here I am’, you will know His presence, and you will hear His voice. There may not be vivid signs...earthquakes, mighty winds...but you’ll hear; you’ll know.
This brings me to the main point I want you give to you today.
The wording of His question to Elijah, was , “What are you doing here?” Notice that He did not ask, “Where are you”, as He asked the fallen Adam in the garden, and as He still does the unbeliever who is far from Him.
I want you to do something right now. I’d like for you to lean close to someone next to you, and whisper in their ear, “What are you doing here?” Then after you’ve done that, I want them to whisper the same in your ear. Do it now while I wait.
Did you feel the breath?
How close did that person have to be?
Whether Elijah SHOULD have been in the cave or not, God was there.
He didn’t ask “What are you doing there?”
As it says in Acts 17, we are all in Him; in that regard there is no one far from God; but only to those He calls His own, does He say, “here”.
God was near to Elijah, as He has been to others in history, whose hearts were near to Him; but we have His assurance that even though we were ‘far off’, we were brought near to Him.
Ephesians 2:13 says, “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ”. Now Paul was speaking specifically of the gentiles there, but it remains a truth for all who come from unbelief to belief in Christ’s shed blood for salvation; whether gentile or Jew.
Paul went on to say that through Him we, (both Jew and Gentile) have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
Now let me ad an exhortation here; earlier I said that I would not fault Elijah and I would not fault you. I have my own caves along the way.
But God does find fault. He has given plenty of admonitions to us to let us know what He expects of us. Hear the words of Jesus:
“We must work while it is still day” “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” “Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and my sister” “truly I tell you, as you have done it unto the least of these my brothers, you have done it unto Me”
That’s just a sampling.
I want to take a minute to read a passage where Paul says some things about Christian living that certainly can’t be done from hiding. Romans 12:9-21 (Read)
This passage of scripture alone, makes it evident to us that God’s call to Himself is perpetual.
Calling us to service, to fellowship in Him, to growth, to spiritual fulfillment as we do His will and enjoy His presence with us as we do it.
I don’t know exactly how I, or anyone here, will leave this world. But this I know, believer; whirlwinds don’t happen in caves!
God will come near...to call us out. But He won’t lodge there with us. There is work to be done.
He drew Elijah out, then sent him on his way with the glorious mission of anointing a new King over Israel, and with a promise that he, Elijah, was not as alone as he thought, for God still had seven thousand in Israel that had not bowed the knee to Baal.
Christian, don’t be afraid to step out and do His bidding. You’re not alone. The God Who calls you out goes with you, and His rewards of service are glorious and eternal.
Amen
