1 Kings 19:9b-18 – When Saints Sing the Blues
I love the story about the mom & dad with a son who was a freshman in college. He blew off his freshman year. He wasn’t very responsible, didn’t make good grades, squandered his money, & finally came back home. His parents told him, “If you go back to school you’ll have to pay your own way.”
So he had to work that summer & not go on the family vacation. That was part of his punishment. The family went to Greece that year & the mom sent him a postcard, “Dear Son,” she wrote. “Today we stood on the mountains where ancient Spartan women sacrificed their defective children. Wish you were here.”
Defective children. Flawed. Those of us with kids have felt that way from time to time. And certainly God our Father has felt that way too. Today we will continue our journey through Elijah’s life, and see how God dealt with His defective child. Now, it’s not that Elijah’s whole life was defective. He had done tremendous things for God, his life was upright, and his prayer life was strong. Still, God wanted to work on him just a little more. That’s where we find Elijah in 1 Kings 19:9-18 – in need of God’s correcting. Let’s read.
This is one of the more familiar stories of the Bible. The “still small voice” of v12 is a recognizable phrase from the scriptures. That’s because people have found encouragement from it over the centuries. The truth of this passage can comfort and encourage you in dark times, as it was meant to do with Elijah back then. So what was Elijah’s problem? What did God want to correct? What wrong thinking of Elijah’s did God feel the need to rebuke lovingly? The problem was this: Elijah was a man prone to loneliness.
Let’s look back at his life. Elijah came from the area or tribe of Tishbe, but we know nothing of his family. Perhaps it’s because Elijah never spent any time with them. Then he brought this message to King Ahab, all alone, and then fled. He hid out all by himself, with no-one around. Finally, when the river ran dry because of the drought, God told him to go find the widow and her son, miles away, in a foreign country. You see that? God had to tell Elijah to go be with people.
The battle on Mt. Carmel was no different. Elijah chose to stand alone. Granted, he didn’t think there was anybody else to stand with him, but still, he was alone. He ran back to Jezreel, and fled there when Queen Jezebel swore he would die. He went with his servant into Beersheba, and left him there to go off into the wilderness by himself.
From there Elijah moped to Mt. Sinai, or Mt. Horeb. I don’t know if his servant followed him, or got left back in Beersheba – the scriptures don’t seem to suggest either one. But it is likely that by the time God spoke to him, Elijah was alone again. This man knew what it was to work alone, and to feel it. This man knew what being alone was, and it finally caught up with him to the point of loneliness.
Lee Strobel writes: “People today will admit any problem - drugs, divorce, alcoholism - but there’s one admission that people are loathe to make, whether they’re a star on television or someone who fixes televisions in a repair shop. It’s just too embarrassing. It penetrates too deeply to the core of who they are. People don’t want to admit that they are (sometimes) lonely. Loneliness is such a humiliating malady that it ought to have its own politically correct euphemism: ’relationally challenged.’ Or its own telethon. Anything to make it safer to confess. Because right now it’s a taboo, an affliction of losers and misfits. And - to be honest - of respectable people like you and me."
Even though Elijah was one of Israel’s most famous prophets, certainly the best-known one of his day, he felt loneliness. Even Albert Einstein said this: “It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.” Fame has nothing to do with having friends. Nor with being lonely. And even Mark Twain, who was certainly skeptical of religion, said this: “Be good and you will be lonely.” Elijah knew loneliness.
I say this because of Elijah’s speech, repeated word for word in v10 and v14: READ. He said, “I am the only one left.” There is no one else. I am all by myself. It’s one thing to work alone, but it’s another to be alone. And the truth is, we have all felt it. Poet Thomas Wolfe wrote these words: “The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, far from being a rare and curious phenomenon, peculiar to myself and a few other solitary men, is the central and inevitable fact of human existence.”
So how God dealt with Elijah in his loneliness might give us a clue as to how He wants to deal with us in ours. When we feel as if no one understands us or likes us. When we feel as if we really don’t fit in with others. When we feel that everyone else knows something that we don’t or has something that we don’t or is something that we aren’t. And sometimes these feelings overwhelm us and cripple us, to the point of not being able to serve the Lord as we should. Well, even if loneliness is normal, when it reaches the point that we are ineffective to God, He wants to change us.
Please understand: loneliness is normal. It’s part of God’s plan for us sometimes. Bernard Martin said this: “To most people loneliness is a doom. Yet loneliness is the very thing which God has chosen to be one of the schools of training for His very own. It is the fire that sheds the dross and reveals the gold.” When it becomes a problem is the moment we stop doing what we should because we are too lonely in it. That’s when God wants to shed our dross and reveal our gold, as He did with Elijah. How did He do it then?
1) Elijah was taught to sense God’s presence. Let’s look at this story a little more closely. Elijah was hiding in a cave. God’s voice spoke. Elijah recognized it as God’s and gave God his little spiel. God said, “Alright, here’s what I will do. I am going to pass by this mountain. I’m going to show myself real to you once again.”
And God brought and earthquake, a wind and a fire. But Elijah did not sense God’s presence in any of those. It was as if these things were happening around him, but yet he was still alone. Then a gentle whisper came. A still small voice. And Elijah recognized it. It was God.
It’s one thing to hear God in the loud excitable worship experiences, in the special meetings, in the revival services, in the camp meetings. But how about in the secret and quiet places? Do you hear God whisper when there’s no other sound to be heard? You know, it’s possible to find God in your valleys as well as your mountains. God is not just in the big and impressive but the small and insignificant. In fact, God’s greatest message to humanity, most people missed because it was so quiet. God uses loudness, yes, but His greatest message came in the form of a soft voice – Jesus.
When the music fades, when the people go home, when everyone else is asleep, that’s when the loneliness strikes. And that’s when we need to know that God is still available. That’s when God will speak to us, if we are ready to listen. Folks, obedience will sometimes lead us into difficult times, as it did for Elijah. But when it does, will you allow your loneliness to drive you to God?
Well, the 2nd thing that God revealed to Elijah was this: Elijah was taught to see beyond his own perspective. This goes back to the correction-of-the-Lord thing. Elijah spilled his guts, word for word, twice to God. The 1st time, God revealed His presence in a still small voice. The 2nd time, God also whispered something to Elijah; He said, “You’re wrong.” Wow. Words we do not want to hear from God. We love His affirmation, but we argue with His rebukes. What? How could it be that I am wrong? That’s not possible. I’m right!
Well, some of you hate being told you’re wrong. In fact, that’s why a lot of people quit church or change churches. Because they can’t stand the truth. In this case, the truth was, “Elijah, you are not alone.” God let Elijah wander away in the delusion for awhile, but the time came when He revealed the truth: v18. Elijah’s perspective had been: I am all alone. The truth was, Elijah was certainly NOT alone. Others had suffered too, at the hands of the evil queen. That didn’t make the difficult situation any less difficult, really. Knowing others go through difficulties doesn’t change your situation, but it can breathe a new perspective into it. Suzanne Moarny said this: "In our extreme youth, in our most humiliating sorrow, we think we are alone. When we are older we find that others have suffered too.” You see? Loneliness and suffering are not exclusive to you.
In fact, the book of 1 Peter, written to Christians scattered all about the Roman Empire because of their faith, families torn in 2 because of their trust in Jesus, has a great deal to tell us about loneliness and difficulties: 4:12 - Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. Than Peter goes on to say in v13 –
You see? It’s not that God can’t fix problems – He certainly can. It’s well within His abilities to relieve you of your burdens. But He often chooses not to because your burdens make you grow, if you let them. In fact, like Elijah, sometimes doing the right thing seems to make things worse. The great Christian thinker, Oswald Chambers, said this: "Faith for my deliverance is not faith in God. Faith means, whether I am visibly delivered or not, I will stick to my belief that God is love."
And that’s it. His love. His love that speaks comfort to your soul when you feel insecure. His love that whispers peace when you don’t know how to hold on. His love that remained true to you till death. The message of God speaking to Elijah on Mt. Horeb is the same message to you as well: “Elijah, your perception of reality is wrong. You only see things the way you see them, not how I see them. I understand your problems, but your days of moping are over. Get up, move on, deal with it – such is life. But remember, I am still with you. Not just in the loud and visible times, but in the quiet and lonely times too. If you take time to be with Me, and yearn for My presence, I will show Myself real to you. That’s My love for you.”
Friends, You are never really alone…God is with you, and others are with you too. Hold on. Don’t stop doing good. And if you keep asking, and keep trusting, and keep listening, God will speak to you in a still small voice that is undeniably for you. God is big enough to handle your complaints; are you big enough to handle His response?
