Elijah: The Education of a Prophet
Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 19:1-18
Text: "After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, ’What are you doing here, Elijah?’" (1 Kings 19:12-13 NIV).
Introduction
Like a comet that lights up the whole horizon for a moment then sinks beyond the rim of the sky and is gone, Elijah the Tishbite flashed across the darkest pages of Hebrew history.
Elijah entered Israel’s history like a tempest and went out in a whirlwind.
So great was his fame, so dramatic his person during his own lifetime, that the idea persisted that he was caught up into the air by the Spirit of God and carried to and fro at will (1 Kings 18:9-15).
Elijah served God well.
He was God’s surgical knife, cutting the sore of Israel’s idolatry.
Elijah was the rod in God’s hand, chastening Israel for its disobedience.
Elijah was God’s mouthpiece, pronouncing judgment of drought on the land. Elijah was God’s priest, offering a sacrifice for the sins of the people that brought down fire from heaven.
At the mere mention of his name, we think of earthquake, storm, and fire; the scourge of evil kings and the prophet of doom.
But there was another side to Elijah’s character and career.
God used Eli¬jah to anoint prophets and kings, among them the great prophet Elisha, who was to take up his mantle.
God used Elijah to organise schools of prophets who lived on after him. He also used Elijah to call princes and kings back to God.
Perhaps he was the most colourful, amazing, and important man alive to serve the Lord in his generation.
How did he come by all this?
Only through a long and severe period of schooling in what we could call "God’s school of faith."
By means of one experience after another, God taught his prophet.
In the small fragments of Elijah’s career given in the Scriptures, we can find the outline for the education of this prophet. In five simple lessons:
the lesson of provision
the lesson of patience.
the lesson of power
the lesson of preservation
the lesson of God’s presence
Friends, listen closely, for every child of God needs the lessons this prophet learned.
I. Elijah learned the lesson of provision.
Faithful as God’s spokesman, Elijah had pronounced God’s judgment of drought (1 Kings 17:1), but how was he supposed to eat?
In essence God said, "I’ll feed you. Drink the water of the brook, and I’ll send ravens to feed you" (17:4).
But the brook was drying up.
Elijah had to depend on God to provide.
He had to! Elijah’s part was to be faithful because God had said he would provide.
Even though Elijah saw the brook drying up every day, he was determined to remain until God sent him on.
And God provided for his prophet. When Elijah moved on, he was not deterred by the small amount of flour left in the widow’s jar nor by the little oil remaining in her jug.
He knew they would not fail. He had already learned his lesson that God would provide, and he taught this lesson in turn to the widow.
Oh, that we could learn this lesson! Abraham learned it (Gen. 22:8). Paul learned it (Phil. 4:19). Our congregational forefathers learned it. But some never learn this lesson. Why? They lack Elijah’s faith.
II. Elijah learned the lesson of patience.
In the widow’s home Elijah was secure but secluded, away from the scene of action, Israel. His appearance in Ahab’s court had been a dangerous mission.
He had said, "Listen, Ahab, God will judge his people. So Baal is the god of fertility and good crops, is he? I am a prophet of Jeho¬vah. And he challenges Baal to war."
Elijah had warned Ahab, "There will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word" (1 Kings 17:1).
That was dangerous, blood-tingling business, and no doubt Elijah had loved every minute of it. But now he was cut out of the action, cooling his heels, day after day, week after week, month after month for three whole years, while he longed to be in Israel "preaching every Sabbath."
Imagine this restless, energetic thunderbolt of a man cooling his heels in idleness for three years. But God had to teach Elijah patience, and this was the only way he could do it.
Some have no energy for God’s work, no concern about it, no zeal for Jehovah. When things at church don’t go right, they take it in stride—not because they have learned God’s lesson of patience, but because they don’t care whether God’s work goes on or not.
But God has this lesson for us—patience, the grace to wait until God is ready. God is saying to us, as he said to Elijah, "You obey me! Do what I ask you to do! Then wait for my time!"
During those three years when Elijah was idle, God was busy. With one hand he held back the rain and with the other he hurled his sunshine on the land until the nation was broken and contrite.
III. Elijah learned the lesson of power.
On Mount Carmel Elijah learned the lesson of the power of God in answer to prayer. The test by fire was for Elijah a venture of faith.
He was willing to risk everything on God’s willingness to answer, and God did answer.
Elijah prayed.
The fire fell (18:36-38).
He prayed again.
The rain came in torrents (w. 41-45).
Elijah had faith to believe that fire would descend and rain would fall, and his faith was vindicated by the power of God.
That power is still available.
God will still answer by fire—the fire of his Holy Spirit—when his people have the faith to stake everything on the answer.
Elijah was not a celestial being, nor was he a creature from another world. James tells us, "Elijah was a man just like us" (5:17).
The question is, "Are we people of faith like Elijah?
Are we willing to pray for God’s power to fall, believing so strongly that it will, that we stake our very lives on the result?
We will never learned what God’s power can do if we do not pray in faith.
IV. Elijah learned the lesson of preservation.
One person in Israel who was not impressed by either Elijah’s prayers or God’s answers of fire and rain was Jezebel.
Her threat could hardly be mis¬understood (1 Kings 19:2).
Had Elijah stayed close to God, he might have accepted the challenge and dared this lioness in her den, but he didn’t.
Instead, he got up and ran for his life.
But God was patient with Elijah, knowing that he was just a man and that temptations often follow triumphs. God provided food and drink for Elijah’s journey of forty days and assured him that his life was not in danger and that he would be preserved.
What Christian has not learned that bad days follow good? Or that the greatest times of weakness often follow the greatest thrills of power? How could we go on if God did not preserve us in times of weakness and defeat?
V. Elijah learned the lesson of God’s presence.
Elijah had run away from Jezebel but not from God.
A voice asked, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (19:9).
Elijah laid all the cards on the table (v. 10), for there was no point in trying to hide his feelings from God.
When God told him, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD," (V. 11), he was shown an awesome display of power (w. 11-12).
But God’s essential presence was not in them. Elijah was familiar with earthquakes, storms, and fires, but this "gentle whisper" was a new experience, the real presence of God.
There are times when God does feed us by ravens and answer by fire, but at other times he must lock us in a cave for a time in order for us to hear his still small voice and learn the wonder of his presence.
Conclusion
Friends do we want to go to God’s school of faith?
These lessons are for us as his servants, his children.
