What Are You Doing Here?

Well, no. That’s where we pick up today in chapter 19. Ahab told Jezebel all that had happened. Jezebel (who still professed her allegiance to and faith in Baal) sent a message to Elijah. Elijah ran for his life, hid under a broom tree, and there he prayed the prayer of burnout… “O Lord, enough is enough! I am done.”

He’d delivered God’s messages. He’d been the agent through which God performed miracles. Acts of Elijah’s faith and devotion had turned the people of Israel’s hearts back toward God. And what had he gotten? Another death threat. Another season of life on the run. And Elijah was done.

I’ve been there. Have you? Have you been at that place in your discipleship (in your journey with Christ) where you just feel like you can’t do it any longer? The place where you feel like you’re proclaiming a message of love, forgiveness and grace to stones that just don’t care? The place where you feel like you are the ONLY one doing the work of God? Have you been to that place where you crawl under the proverbial broom tree, pledge to give up your ministry and wait to die.

Have you been like Elijah? You’re out of energy. Your passion for the Lord is waning. You’re tired. And you declare that you… are… done.

Yep, most of us have. It’s the natural cycle of things. There are times we serve with energy, passion, imagination and love. And then there are times when we serve not out of desire and want, but because we feel we HAVE to. There are times we’re on fire for the Lord. And then there are times when we wonder if the Lord is even paying attention. There are mountain top experiences, and walks through the valley of the shadow of death. There are times where you don’t feel you can do enough. And there are times when enough is enough!

Elijah, he’s in a season of enough is enough and he’s ready to walk away from the Lord.

But God wasn’t yet finished. God heard Elijah’s cries from under the broom tree, and God answered Elijah’s burnout prayer, much in the same way God answers our burnout prayers, by saying, “You may THINK you’re done. But I, the Lord God, am not finished! And I’m not finished using you.”

And then God did for Elijah what God does for us. He allowed Elijah to rest. He provided nourishment. And he gave Elijah some space.

The scriptures don’t tell us how long Elijah slept under that tree. We don’t know if his season of rest was a night or a week or even longer. But we know that God sent an angel to minister to Elijah during this time of respite. And it was the second time the angel brought food to Elijah, that Elijah ate it and then arose and traveled… where? To the mountain of God.

Notice, God did not make Elijah return to work before Elijah was ready. God allowed Elijah ample time to rest and rejuvenate. God allowed Elijah space enough to examine his life and his calling. And God even allowed Elijah to make the choice to where he would travel.

And Elijah, frustrated and scared as he was, burned out on ministry as he was, chose by his own volition to travel in the strength of the Lord to the place where God was waiting for him. Elijah could have picked himself up from under that broom tree and gone ANYWHERE! And he chose to go closer to God.