Text: 1 Kings 19:9-18; and Matthew 14:22-33
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Way, way back in early 1970’s there was a singing group known as the Raspberries. One of the members of that group was a fellow by the name of Eric Carmen. He went solo in 1976 and wrote a song, the chorus of which, could have very well been sung by the main character in today’s OT lesson.
Now most of you here remember the 1970’s, but most of you probably don’t remember the Raspberries and I’m sure that you’ve never even heard of Eric Carmen. Perhaps you’ve heard of Celine Dion. She sang this song for a semi-popular movie back in 1995, “Clueless.”
Still don’t have a clue?
Well, the title of the song was “All by Myself”, and the chorus went like this:
All by myself, don’t wanna be
All by myself, don’t wanna live
All by myself anymore.
This was how Elijah the prophet was feeling when he was encountered, hunkered down in a cave, by the Lord God Almighty.
This morning, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we’ll discover why Elijah was in that cave, why he was feeling the way he did, and most importantly, what the final words from God have to say to Elijah and to us.
For those of you who have been attending the Wednesday evening Bible class, or who have been following along with the readings, some of this may be a little review, as we just finished studying the book of 1 Kings. But this is such as fascinating story and Elijah is such an intriguing character of the OT, it would be a shame to pass over this opportunity to talk about and learn from him.
Let’s go back a little ways and find out what in the heck Elijah is doing in this cave.
We’re introduced to Elijah in the 17th Chapter of the book of 1st Kings and the little confrontation we read about here pretty well sets the stage for Elijah’s time on this earth as God’s prophet.
Ahab is the current King of Israel. That’s the northern portion of the Promised Land. And Ahab is not a good king. This was what was written about him: “Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him.”
What made him particularly evil, was the fact that he had married a woman by the name of Jezebel and had started to, not only worship her god, Baal, but to establish altars and serve this false god.
So Elijah is given the task, by God, to go tell him this: "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word."
God then instructs Elijah to leave. Probably a good idea, because at that point he became an enemy of the king.
The drought came and all of the people of Israel suffered. But Elijah was taken care of. Each morning and evening, ravens brought him bread and meat and he drank from a brook, the very brook that God had led him to.
It’s a little more than ironic when you compare Elijah to the people of Israel…no, not the one’s that were starving now….but the ones that Yahweh had delivered from Egypt. The ones that God had provided for as they wandered in the desert for 40 years, feeding them with manna from heaven and sustaining them with water from a rock. The ones that had not relied on themselves, but had put themselves in God’s loving hands and depended on His grace for their survival.
Time went by and the brook dried up. Some might ask, “is this when he went to the cave?”
No, there was more work to be done for the Lord.
Elijah was then sent north to the area known as Sidon. The drought and the famine are still ongoing in the land of Israel.
And I must tell you, my friends, that what we see happen next in the life of Elijah is one of the great acts of faith recorded in the Scriptures. And it has nothing to do with Elijah.
Elijah encounters a woman. God had told him that she would be there. But God didn’t necessarily give Elijah the details. He just said that this woman would supply him with food.
The woman happens to be widow with a one young son. When Elijah meets her he asks for a drink and something to eat. She explains to him that she has only enough left to eat for one meal….one meal for herself and her son. They’re going to eat it together and then die.
Elijah then uses words that, if you are familiar with Scripture, should be very recognizable. He says; “Don’t be afraid.” He tells her that she should go home and make her bread and give some to him first and then she and her son should eat. He tells her that the Lord will not allow her supplies to run out. God will provide.
If you remember last weeks Gospel lesson, it was about the feeding of the 5000, you’ll recall that when Jesus asks the disciples if there’s any food available, they say, “Well, yeah…but it’s only two fishies and some loaves of bread.” They are standing in front of Jesus, a man who has healed the sick, cured lepers, driven out demons, and they are wondering if he has the ability, the power to feed people.
This woman showed no doubt.
She went home and did exactly what Elijah told her to do. Not based on Elijah’s good looks. Not based on promises of future rewards like wealth or fame.
Not with a feeling of resignation of “Well, might as well, I’m going to die anyway.” She did this based on faith in God. She trusted the word of God as spoken by His prophet that she would be sustained.
And she was!
So now did he go to the cave? Not yet.
There are a couple of other incidents that happen at the end of chapter 17 and the beginning of 18, and I encourage you to go back and read about these wonderful acts of God.
But, I want to get to what got Elijah into the cave.
It seems that God figured it was a good time to confront king Ahab and prove to him and all of Israel, who was the one True God. So he sent Elijah.
Listen to how happy Ahab was to see him. He greeted him with these words: "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"
To which Elijah replied: "I have not made trouble for Israel, but you and your father’s family have.”
Elijah then orders Ahab to gather up all the prophets of Baal and meet him on top of Mt. Carmel.
In the scene that plays out, we see both the power of God and a little of God’s sense of humor.
Elijah issues a challenge to the people. In essence he says that it is decision time. They are either going to worship God or they are going to worship Baal.
This doesn’t get much of a response, so he challenges the prophets of Baal.
He has two bulls brought to the site and tells them to build and altar to Baal and to choose a bull to be sacrificed, to prepare it and set it upon the altar. When all is ready, they are to call upon their god to light the fire for the sacrifice.
So they do. They start dancing and singing and carrying on. No fire. So the dances get a little wilder and the singing a little louder. No fire.
About noon, Elijah is sitting watching this spectacle and he begins to taunt them. Sing a little louder. Dance some more. Maybe your god is busy. Maybe he didn’t hear you. Or maybe he’s on vacation.
Verse 29 of chapter 18 reads: “Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.”
Well, you know what’s coming. But Elijah even goes one step beyond. He has the people dig a trench around the altar he constructs and then has them pour water over the bull and the altar until everything is covered and the trenches are filled.
Then in contrast to the “happy-clappy” singing and dancing, Elijah reverently prays to his God. "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."
And God rained fire down and consumed the sacrifice and the wood and the stones and water in the trench.
But Elijah wasn’t done. He rounded up all the prophets of Baal and slaughtered them according to Mosaic Law.
Now, if you think about it, don’t you think that God, through Elijah, has made his point?
But the reaction of Jezebel (and we see later in the chapter that she really wears the pants in this family) is one of pure hatred toward Elijah.
She says: "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life (Elijah’s) like that of one of them (the prophets of Baal)."
In other words, she’s going to kill him.
So now did he go to the cave? Yep…and in a hurry. He ran for his life.
But he didn’t go straight there. First he stopped and felt sorry for himself under a broom tree. We read: He sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors."
God had other ideas, however, and after 40 days and 40 nights, (sound familiar, a little like the wandering of the Israelites in the desert), Elijah found himself at Mt. Horeb, another name for Mt. Sinai. Amazingly, the same place where Moses and the Israelites went.
It seems that when all is lost, when we reach our darkest hour, when life seems like it’s just not worth living, we return to our core. We go back to the one who created us. We journey back searching for the source that we know will give us comfort.
That’s what Elijah did. He went back to Mt. Sinai because he was afraid.
And that brings us to today’s lesson where we hear God ask: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Have you ever asked somebody a simple question …you know called them on the phone and said, “hi…how are you?”….and the next thing you know they go on and on and on and on…..
Elijah says: "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."
So the Lord says, go stand outside for a minute because the Lord is about to pass by.
This is so cool. Here we have this great prophet of God who is used to seeing God work in spectacular ways….reigning down fire from heaven is pretty awesome….and so when Elijah goes out the first thing he sees is this great wind. A wind so strong that it’s tearing the mountain apart….but NO GOD. Then there’s a powerful earthquake…Elijah’s out there bouncing around expecting to see God….but NO GOD. Then here comes the fire. If I were Elijah I’d be thinking, “Okay, God…talk to me.”….but NO GOD.
Our text says this is followed by a gentle whisper. I think you could almost say the “sound of silence.” And this gentle whisper asks Elijah the same question: “What are you doing here?”
Here’s frustration for you. Elijah doesn’t get it.
It reminds us of the Gospel lesson for today. Jesus has just fed 5000 people. This miracle was witnessed by all of the disciples and then Jesus sends them back across the lake.
While they are out there, a terrible storm comes up and they are all afraid they are going to die and suddenly they look over and see Jesus walking by….walking on the water. But do they recognize him? No. They thought he was a ghost.
Surely this couldn’t be Jesus. How could HE do that?
So, Jesus in turn saves Peter, calms the storm and miraculously deposits the boat on the opposite shore.
In the same way, God has shown Elijah time and time again that He is in control. But Elijah has suddenly got it stuck in his head that this whole thing with God is an abysmal failure. That he is the only one left and he’s giving up.
God says, not so fast. I want you to go back and do some more work. I want you to anoint Hazeal king of Aram, Jehu king of Israel, and Elisha as your successor.
See Elijah, I’m in charge. I’m taking care of the Kingdom of the Left, the politics of the world, that’s Aram. I’m taking care of the Kingdom of the Right, the believers in the one True God, that’s Jehu in Israel. And finally, I’m taking care of the spiritual needs of the people through your successor, Elisha.
And by the way, there are 7000 that I have chosen that have not bowed down to Baal and they will be my remnant.
What does all of this mean to us?
We have a tendency to be like Elijah and the disciples. When things are going well, it’s easy to trust in God. It’s easy to sing His praises and worship Him. But when things start to get a little rough…when waves begin to toss our lives about. When we start to get that feeling that we are all by ourselves….we want to give up. We want to seek shelter in the nearest, closest source.
Sometimes when people get really scared, they run back to God.
One month from today, will be the anniversary of the tragedy that befell our nation at the hands of terrorists. Remember how the churches were packed the following Sunday.
People came to hear words of comfort, words of grace. Some wanted to hear words of retribution. Some wanted to hear the word of God called down in vengeance upon the perpetrators. Some wanted hurricane winds and earthquakes and fire.
When they heard the gentle whisper of grace and peace and forgiveness, they didn’t recognize the sound of God’s voice.
But my friends, God is still in charge. He rules this universe and this planet.
It is time for us to listen to that gentle whisper. That voice that whispers to us that freedom and salvation are still ours.
No matter how bad this world may seem. No matter how far the sun spews its gases toward our planet, no matter how many lunatic leaders make threats of violence and war, no matter how rocky our personal lives may seem.
God is in charge. He has sent His Son to die for us. Through Him we have forgiveness of sins and the promise of life everlasting.
That, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is the gentle whisper of the Gospel. From the darkness that covered the earth, from the earthquake that shook the world, from the curtain of the temple ripped in two, from the cry from Calvary, “It is finished”, we hear now that gentle whisper, Jesus died for you.
He will never leave you.
You never have to mouth those words: “All by Myself.” You carry with you the promise he made before his ascension into heaven to sit at the right hand of God. “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
To Him be glory now and forever. Amen.
