In the Word

Guest (Male): Hello and welcome to In the Word with Michele Telfer. Thank you for joining us for this in-depth study of God's Word, the Bible. For more of Michele's free resources, visit her website at intheword.com. And now, Michele.

Michele Telfer: Father God, I pray that I'd not get in the way of what you plan to say today, but that you would speak and that you would lead us in all truth. It is in Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen.

In previous lessons, we've seen how God prepared Elijah during a time of isolation at the Brook of Cherith and also while he lived at the widow's house in Zarephath. In both of those places, God taught Elijah about his faithful provision through ravens that brought him food at the brook and through the miraculous multiplication of the widow's food.

And he taught Elijah about his incredible power. He helped Elijah understand what the apostle Paul wrote centuries later, that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us.

God allowed Elijah to experience that power firsthand when he raised the widow's beloved son from the dead. Nothing like that had ever happened before in all of scripture, but God was teaching his prophet that nothing was too difficult for him. The circumstances that Elijah faced at Cherith and at Zarephath were certainly not easy, but God's faithfulness in the midst of them prepared him for what lay ahead, enabling him to trust God so deeply that he was able to stand his ground in the difficult situations that were to follow.

Guest (Male): For years, the people of Israel had wavered between worshiping the living God and worshiping worthless idols, but all that changed when God commanded Elijah to call the prophets of the false god Baal to a contest on Mount Carmel. Elijah stood before the nation of Israel and boldly demanded that they choose whom they would serve: the God of their fathers or the false god of the wicked King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.

The contest was set: two burnt offerings would be prepared, but no fire would be lit under either. The different representatives would each pray to their god, and the one who answered with fire was the God the people should worship. The false prophets cried out to Baal all day. They even shed their own blood to get his attention, but they were met with utter silence.

The God who did answer with fire that day on top of the mountain was the God of Elijah, and when he did, the people fell down proclaiming, "The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!"

Guest (Female): But that was not the end of the story. 1 Kings chapter 18, verse 40 reveals, "Then Elijah commanded them, 'Seize the prophets of Baal. Don't let any get away.' They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there." Once the land had been rid of their evil influence, Elijah said to Ahab, "Go eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain."

Guest (Male): So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. "Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant, and he went up and looked. "There's nothing there," he cried. Seven times Elijah said, "Go back." The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea."

So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.'" While Ahab left to refresh himself, Elijah climbed to the top of the mountain, bowed himself in humble prayer, and waited for God to fulfill his word.

Guest (Male): Six times Elijah sent his servant to scan the sky to the west, and six times he returned reporting that there was no sign of coming rain. Undeterred, Elijah continued to pray, and on the seventh occasion, his servant reported a small cloud far out to sea. Though it may have seemed insignificant and far away, Elijah knew that God had answered, and I love Elijah's faith here.

Michele Telfer: Before the storm clouds reached them, he sent his servant to tell Ahab to hitch up his chariot and head back to the palace in Jezreel while he still could. We don't know if Ahab's chariot got bogged down in the rain and mud, but the text tells us that the spirit of the Lord came upon Elijah and he outran the chariot, actually arriving in Jezreel even before the king.

Guest (Male): Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me be it ever so severely if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them."

Invoking the false gods she worshiped to empower her threat, she vowed to kill Elijah just as he had killed her evil servants. Don't you wonder about Ahab at this point? I mean, after witnessing all that happened on Mount Carmel and the obvious power of the God of Israel, Ahab did nothing to stop his wife. Was he afraid? Or was he simply weak? Or did he just not know what to do in the face of such evil?

You know, we might do well to think about how we respond to the things we face today. Are we as passive as Ahab was?

Guest (Male): What was Elijah's reaction to her threats? Verse three tells us, "Elijah was afraid and ran for his life." Notice this time Elijah was not responding to the word of the Lord as he'd done before. No, when he ran for his life, it was out of fear. This man who had faced hundreds of false prophets only hours before, who had seen God work in so many miraculous ways, ran for his life.

But before we question his actions here, we need to remember Elijah was a person just like us. I'm sure after the spectacular success on Mount Carmel, after seeing the nation of Israel bow down and worship God, Elijah must have thought Jezebel had finally been defeated, that her power and hold over the people was now broken.

Perhaps he even dared to believe that she too would repent of her wicked ways and accept the truth that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was the true and living God. But the news of the Mount Carmel contest only seemed to strengthen her commitment to her false god and to her previous course of action. Things had not worked out at all as Elijah had hoped. His faith was shaken, and so he fled.

And he chose to go on alone. Look at verse three: "When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. 'I've had enough, Lord,' he said. 'Take my life. I am no better than my ancestors.'"

Guest (Male): We're not told why Elijah separated from his only companion. Perhaps he felt that he was putting the man in danger by remaining together, or perhaps, as is so often the case, Elijah was choosing to separate himself because of his own depression. Clearly, he was struggling with feelings of great failure and disappointment. Elijah had faithfully followed God's call, even at great risk to himself.

He had experienced God feeding the hungry and raising the dead. He had the faith to believe God would answer with fire on Mount Carmel, and he had the faith to believe God would send rain despite the wait. But when he started focusing on his problems rather than on his God, he seemed to lose all hope and even prayed that he might die.

I think it's really important for us to understand that even those who are mightily used of God can struggle with fear, and at times, feelings of failure or discouragement can close in on them. There may even be times where they're actually considering quitting. I think that Elijah's exhaustion factored into his situation. It led to his skewed perception.

We can't forget that after an all-day contest with the prophets of Baal on top of Mount Carmel, Elijah had run a distance of approximately 20 miles to Jezreel before taking off immediately for an additional 90 miles to Beersheba. He was exhausted. He was hungry, and more than that, he was frustrated. Nothing had worked out the way he'd hoped, and in this weakened condition, all he could think about was his failure.

Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. But God was not done with his prophet. The verse continues, "All at once an angel touched him and said, 'Get up and eat.' He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, 'Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.' So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God, where he went into a cave and spent the night."

Guest (Male): I want you to notice that God first addressed Elijah's physical needs. He let him sleep. Twice he sent an angel to wake him and give him something to eat and drink. I don't know about you, but I do find that so encouraging. When we are struggling with depression and feelings of failure, it's not only okay, it's imperative to take care of any physical needs we may have.

Fatigue, dehydration, a lack of sleep can affect the way that we perceive things and the strength we have to deal with them. It's okay to heed the angel's words that sometimes the journey is just too much for you. You have God's permission to take care of yourself physically. But I want you to notice that Elijah's needs were far more than just physical.

He had emotional and spiritual needs as well, and so God led Elijah to a very specific place where those needs could be met. He sent Elijah to a cave on Mount Horeb, which is another name for Mount Sinai. This was the same cave where God had shown Moses his glory by passing by as Moses stood in the cleft of the rock.

That special encounter with the Lord had refreshed Moses for the ministry to which God had called him, and it would be here that Elijah would also encounter the Lord in a similar way that would refresh him as well.

Michele Telfer: There he went into a cave and spent the night, and the word of the Lord came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

Guest (Male): As much as he had needed rest and recuperation, those things alone were not enough to restore Elijah fully. He needed to hear the word of the Lord and encounter God's presence once again. And it's no different for you and me. God began by asking his servant, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

Now, can I just point out that God is omniscient? In other words, he knows everything. He already knows why Elijah has come, and yet he asks the question to engage Elijah and to get his prophet thinking. Look at Elijah's response there in verse 10.

Guest (Male): He replied, "I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn 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."

Michele Telfer: As in Zarephath when praying for the widow's son, Elijah is very honest with God and tells the Lord his concerns. He believes that despite his zeal, he's been totally unsuccessful in his mission. But there's something here that we cannot miss. Elijah was focusing on the wrong thing.

Guest (Male): There were many prophets of the Old Testament, and like Elijah, many of them were ignored. People paid no heed to the message they preached. They'd been mocked and some had even been killed. But the success of the prophet was not ever measured by whether or not the people responded. No, the success of the prophet was only ever measured by whether or not they did what God had told them to do.

The same is true for you and me. Our success should only ever be measured by our obedience to the word of the Lord, not by the outcome.

Michele Telfer: Truthfully, like Elijah, I think we sometimes have unrealistic expectations. We look for self-worth or affirmation in all the wrong places. We feel successful when others respond to us as we'd hoped, and we feel devastated when they don't. In reality, our self-worth or our sense of success should be firmly planted in Christ. It's his opinion of us that really counts, and obeying him should be our greatest concern.

Let's think of it in a more personal way for an example. Sometimes we have a desire that our family should look a certain way. We begin to follow the commands of God and yet others in our family group may choose not to cooperate. Our self-worth cannot be tied to having the perfect family life because we can't control other people or their responses any more than Elijah could control Jezebel's reaction.

Each individual is able to make their own choices. The only thing within my control is me, and I must choose whether or not I'm going to be who God wants me to be in that situation.

Guest (Male): To this point in his life, Elijah had done what God had told him to do, and though circumstances had been difficult, he had experienced God's faithfulness and blessing. But because certain people, particularly King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, had not responded as he had hoped, he apparently felt like a failure. And according to verse 10, he also felt alone.

But it's very important to understand that neither of those two thoughts were true. I think the thing we can learn from this is that when we've been stretched to our limits, it is possible for us to focus on the wrong thing and to imagine our situation is far worse than it really is. How does God respond, though? Let's pick up the story in verse 11.

"Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountain apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire came a gentle whisper.

Michele Telfer: Now, if you ask me, I would think God might have come in power in the wind or the earthquake or the fire. But God is proving to Elijah and to us that things are not always going to look the way that we thought they would. Sometimes we look for the dramatic, the cataclysmic move of God, and God often shows himself in that way, as he did on top of Mount Carmel.

But if he doesn't, if things don't happen as we thought they would, we're not to be discouraged, for God is still at work and sometimes his voice is very quiet. Look at verse 13.

Guest (Male): 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?" He replied, "I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn 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."

Michele Telfer: Often, God chooses to speak in a breath, a whisper. Why? Because we have to be listening really carefully to hear him. Elijah not only recognized the gentle whisper, but he responded to it. He goes out to him. However, being used by God, seeing his power, even recognizing God's whisper and being obedient to God's command doesn't immediately change the way that Elijah is feeling.

Even standing in the Lord's presence, he still feels exactly the same way that he did before. But a whisper of change is coming.

Guest (Male): The Lord said to him, "Go back the way you came and go to the desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve 7,000 in Israel all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him."

Michele Telfer: Now, we'll be looking at this in more depth next time together, but I find it interesting that Elijah is told to go back the way you came. In other words, the prophet is to go back to where he had been. He was to go back to the work God had called him to do. There was more yet to be done. Notice how God has responded to Elijah's need. He had given him rest, he'd fed him, and he'd even met with him.

And now, he gives Elijah renewed purpose, telling him to go and anoint two future kings and a future prophet. He's to anoint Hazael as king over Aram or Syria, and Jehu as the king over Israel to replace Ahab. He's also to anoint Elisha, the son of Shaphat, who will become a friend and a ministry partner before becoming the next prophet of God after Elijah.

Essentially, God is giving Elijah hope for the future. Cleansing is coming to the land, and the enemies of God will be destroyed. Ahab and Jezebel's house will fall, if not by a literal sword, then by the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And then God tells Elijah that he is not alone. Despite what Elijah thought, there were others like him.

Remember, for example, the 100 prophets Obadiah had sheltered and cared for. But there were others. God said he'd reserved 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees had not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths had not kissed him. Elijah was not alone. He had never been alone, even when he felt so isolated. God always has his people and he is always at work in the world.

Once again we see that though Elijah was an incredible servant of God, he was also a person just like us. He too struggled with feelings of failure and depression from time to time. And when we face similar circumstances in our own lives, we need to remember to do what he did: take care of our physical needs and get alone with God, being truthful with him about how we're feeling.

We also need to remember that God is still at work and that just as trials often follow triumphs, the opposite is also true. Discouragement and yes, even depression are sometimes a prelude to times of victory and great blessing.

Charles Spurgeon, a pastor in England in the 1800s, was one of the greatest preachers in history. In fact, he was known as the prince of preachers. He noted that often a time of discouragement came before an outpouring of God's blessing on his life. It was his experience that depression often came upon him as the Lord was preparing a larger blessing for his ministry, and he commented that the cloud is black before it breaks and overshadows before it yields its deluge of mercy.

As Christ followers, we know that the extremes of life teach us to trust him. They draw us closer to him and they conform us to his likeness. Elijah shows us what to do when those dark moments happen in our lives. God is never going to forget us. In fact, the Lord often uses those valleys to take us on to higher places if only we will put our trust in him and obey his word.

To find out what those higher places looked like in Elijah's life, you'll have to join us next time. May God bless you. Let's pray. Father, we just thank you so much that even when we turn away, even when we yield to fear, you pursue us. You have a word for us and you will speak.

Lord, we thank you so much for everything that we learn through Elijah about making sure that our physical needs are addressed, but also about spending time alone with you, being honest with you, and pouring out our complaint to you alone. Lord, thank you that you did not hold any of that against him, but you gave him hope for the future and called him back to the work he had not completed. May it be so for us also, in Jesus' precious name. Amen.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to In the Word with Michele Telfer. Join us next week as we continue our study from God's Word, the Bible. Michele's teachings are available on all major podcast platforms, also on her website at intheword.com and through the In the Word by Michele Telfer app. Please consider supporting this ministry with a donation through the app or at intheword.com, helping us reach more people with the truth of Jesus Christ.