Preek over 1 Kon



ELIJAH FLEEING AWAY

1 Kings 19: 1 – 8

Sermon by:

Rev. B. de Graaf

Published by the

PUBILCATIONS COMMITTEE

OF THE

FREE REFORMED CHURCHES OF NORTH AMERICA.

(July 2003)

LITURGY:

Votum

Psalter 349

Confession of Faith

Psalter 187: 1, 2

Scripture: 1 Kings 19: 1 – 8

Text: 1 Kings 19: 1 – 8

Congregational Prayer

Offerings

Psalter 344

Sermon

Psalter 53: 1, 3, 5

Thanksgiving Prayer

Psalter 421: 3, 4

Benediction

Doxology: Psalter 394: 1, 2

The theme of our sermon is: Elijah fleeing away

1. The cause is very small

2. The consequences are large

3. God’s answer is surprising

First, the cause is very small. Would you have ever thought this about Elijah? He is fleeing away. He is doing so after seeing such a great victory. In the previous chapter, we see him on Mount Carmel. There he stood alone against 450 prophets of Baal. There God used him to conquer the idolaters. The people of Israel rallied solidly behind him. They made the good choice for the Lord. They shouted out: “The Lord is God, the Lord is God.” What a strong man of God this Elijah was. He was a real hero of faith. When we read chapter 18, we admire this man. Elijah on Mount Carmel shows that it is true that a man who trusts in the Lord can attain anything.

And now – nearly a day after that great event – nothing seems to be left of this hero of faith. Isn’t this a disfiguring chapter in the book of his life? Wouldn’t it be better to set this chapter aside?

Yet, I am so happy that this very chapter is also in the Word of God. Do you know why? Because I recognize myself in this fleeing powerless man. He goes from the top of the mountain of faith into the valley of little faith. He becomes afraid. The one moment he is a hero of faith and the next moment he is a fearful refugee. Today he is strongly witnessing of God and tomorrow all his courage is gone. I am not saying that this is good behaviour for a child of God. Elijah will soon discover that, when God starts speaking. But I mean this: when I sometimes have the same feelings as Elijah, I may be comforted. I may be comforted because these feelings are not always a sign that I am a hypocrite or that I am missing true faith. No, even Elijah suffered from them.

At the same time, the cause of his discouragement is very small. Jezebel, King Ahab’s wife threatened him. She was very angry, when she heard from her husband about what had happened on Mount Carmel. She heard that Elijah had slain the prophets of Baal and now she sent a message to him: “So let the gods do unto me and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” Simply said: “Tomorrow I will kill you!” Jezebel proves to be a bad looser.

All the people of Israel have made their choice for the Lord and also for Elijah. They have fallen on their faces and cried: “The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.” But now Elijah’s faith declines, or better said, collapses! His heroic courage of the previous day is gone. Instead of continuing to trust in the Lord, he flees away.

I hear you say in your mind: “Doesn’t he realize, then, that he has such a mighty Lord? Has he forgotten the victory God gave him yesterday?” How could this happen? Maybe, it is a very human thing to do. After a very great achievement, there is often a failure. For example in sports, after a top-achievement, a day comes in which you fail. The bow cannot always be bent. You may have experienced that in your own life situation. You were so very strong in the time that your husband died. The day of the funeral, you could even comfort other people. And now suddenly you feel so weak, so afraid. “O, where is my hope, my courage now?” you ask. These questions continue: “Yes, where is God now? Has the Lord forsaken me? Has He forgotten me?” You feel yourself sliding down. It feels as if you cannot believe any more.

Also spiritually this is a common experience. Sometimes, like Elijah, I have a high point of experience in my relationship with God. During the Lord’s Supper I was so very close to the Lord. I could believe so very firmly. With Thomas I could say: “My Lord and my God.” I could bear all the troubles of life during the days after the Supper. It seemed as if the Lord was carrying me. And then, suddenly, spiritual darkness came. Many concerns arose. You fear the smallest things and you think: “Did I loose faith?” The cause that brings about these fears often seems such a peanut and yet the fears are so real. That is our experience. After a high point comes a low point because we are only people. We remain weak and sinful people, also after our conversion.

In this account there is an important spiritual lesson. God is the great Pedagogue, or Teacher. Reading about Elijah on Mount Carmel we might think that this man, Elijah, is a sort of demi-god. But God wants to show us that Elijah is a man, like we are. We should not admire and adore him because every man – even the most holy man – is weak in himself. By means of our passage, the Lord keeps us from expecting too much from people.

In certain circles converted people are highly adored. They are lifted on a pedestal. That is a great danger. In evangelical circles we see the same. People who can give an extraordinary witness and who sometimes speak in tongues are adored. They become so important that people almost expect more from these people than from God. But from time to time God pushes them from their pedestal. Remember that. Only the Lord is God and we should expect everything from Him alone.

In this way we are saved from the error to expect everything from ourselves. Sometimes we think that we are not allowed to be weak in faith. Sometimes we think that we should be able to bear anything and everything that happens to us. Sometimes we think that we should be able to manage with all sorts of difficult situations, that we should always be able to be a strong witness of the Lord, and that a believer should be able to deal with all the tensions within his or her family.

Now there are times in which you can deal with these things. By faith, you walk on the water, like Peter. These are great times. But sooner of later we find that we are so very weak and that we cannot believe in the way that we should. Then we realize that in ourselves there is no strength at all. But He, the Lord, gives me strength. He carries me through the difficulties.

Are you downcast or downhearted at this moment? Do you feel so weak, so unable to serve the Lord? Do you feel that you are missing so much? Well, do not be afraid. The Lord is the great Teacher. He is teaching you that the mystery of salvation is not in your faith, in your prayers, or in your sanctification, but in Him alone. I am and will be a poor sinner all my life, but God has given His Son, the Saviour. God has provided a rich Christ for such a poor sinner. Look then unto the Lord. In Him is strength.

Let us now return to Elijah and see in the second place that The consequences of his flight are large.

Elijah, the hero of faith on Mount Carmel, flees away. Where? In the direction of the desert, where God had revealed Himself to Israel in ancient times. Later on in this story, we see the prophet near Mount Sinai. Probably he had this place in mind from the very beginning of is flight.

In any case, he wants to be far away from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel…and also far away from the people of Israel. He has become convinced that the people are no longer supporting him in his struggle for the true service of God. In verse 10 he says: “and I, even only I, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away”. For this reason he also flees away from all the people that have disappointed him.

Perhaps, some of us will recognize this. When you feel so lost in relation to God and men, you do not want to see anybody. You think that there is no one left whom you may trust and with whom you are safe. You think everybody is against you and hates you. That is why you say: “Let me alone please. Let me flee into the silence of the desert. Perhaps, perhaps, God will reveal Himself there. Perhaps God will speak a word to me or give me a sign.” My brother or sister, my boy or girl, are you feeling that way today?

Beersheba is the first place on Elijah’s journey. There he leaves his servant behind, just like Abraham did in Genesis 22. Then he continues his journey all alone into the lonely desert. After one day, he is totally exhausted physically, psychologically, and also spiritually. He finds it impossible to continue on any longer. Mount Horeb is still so far away but when he discovers a juniper tree, he lays down. Just like Ishmael lay, waiting for death, after Hagar cast him “under one of the shrubs” in the barren desert, so Elijah lays there under the juniper tree. He wants to die.

He thinks: “It’s enough!” No, he does not have enough of God and God’s service, but he has enough of his heavy task to fight against Baal, to warn against sin, to be misunderstood by men. He has enough of men becoming angry with him. “Now, O Lord, take away my life,” he prays. “Let me die here, in the desert, ‘For I am not better than my fathers’,” he continues. With these last words, he probably means that he is not up to the heavy task of being a prophet. Today we might say that his self-esteem has sunk very low. “It is enough. I have failed as a prophet. I cannot do this work. I can not do anything for the glory of God.” Then he goes to sleep, hoping that God will take away his life.

A prophet or an office-bearer can be despondent in a similar way. A father and a mother can also be without hope because they do not manage to bring their children to faith. Some people have a task to work among the youth at school or within the congregation and sometimes they think: “my work is in vain.” Today, many young people are fleeing away from life. They say: “nobody loves me. Nobody understands me.” Sometimes they think: “even praying is in vain. Does the Lord really answer in my difficulties? Well, life has lost every sense for me. I could better die. It is enough.”

Is it enough for Elijah? How does God respond? God’s answer is surprising. That is our third point.

God disagrees strongly with His servant. He does not take Elijah’s life away. Neither does He discharge Elijah from his office as prophet. It even seems that God still has some important tasks for His weak servant.

But is this a wise decision? Does the Lord want to go further with such a man, who says: “It is enough, take my life away”? Does the Lord approve of such people in His kingdom? No, He does not approve. He does not approve you, who are listening this [morning] like an Elijah, lying desperately under a tree. You are missing everything. Maybe you say: “I am still unconverted and I have no true faith.” But the Lord wants you to serve Him. You, sinner, do not see any value in your own life, but the Lord sees a value in you!

Look what is going to happen now with Elijah. An angel comes down from heaven and touches him. God sends another servant to awake him from this desperate sleep and to put him on his feet. Many times this is the way in which God works. He sends somebody in my life, who touches me and who awakes me from my feelings of hopelessness. He sends me one of the children, one of my friends, or even a stranger, with whom I have a conversation. Sometimes He uses only one question or one word. Even when I flee away into the desert, God will not forget me. He sends people to me. Often they do not know anything about my situation and yet God uses them to address my situation.

“Arise and eat,” the angel says. Notice that the angel does not begin with spiritual talk. He does not to begin by discussing with the prophet how this can happen in his life and whether he forgot that God called him to be a prophet. No, the angel simply says: “arise and eat.” The prophet has to stand up and eat. When I have been downhearted and depressed for a time, it usually involves me neglecting other things, such as my body. My health becomes a part of the problem. Body and soul are interrelated. That is why the angel says: “Get up.” Very often healing begins with physical refreshment. Afterwards God also gives spiritual food for the downcast soul. That is how it goes with Elijah in this account.

When Elijah looks behind him, there is “a cake baken on the coals and a cruse of water at his head.” Elijah is to eat and drink. God puts these things down before him as the first means for him to get stronger again in body and soul. The food is ready to eat, just like the time when he dwelt by the brook Cherith. Then he had water in the brook and God sent the ravens to bring him bread and meat. It also reminds us of the time he was with the widow in Zarephath. There God commanded a widow to give him food to eat day by day. And now, in the desert, an angel is the one who prepares a meal. What a message is conveyed in this meal: Elijah, the Lord knows them that are His! (1 Timothy 2:19) Even when they flee away, even when they pray a wrong prayer, saying: “Take my life away,” even then He knows them. In this physical meal lies a spiritual message of rich comfort.

But the prophet does not read this message. He is insensible to it. He eats and drinks, without thinking about the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of this meal. Then he lies back down to sleep again. Oh, even a child of God can be so senseless and such a desperate person. The desire to die still prevails in his heart.

And again the angel touches him. For the second time, the angel says: “Arise and eat.” What patience, what an endless patience the Lord has! “For He knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14). Again the voice sounds: “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you”.

God has a journey in mind for us. It is the way of following after Him or the way of conversion and faith. Only by listening to the Lord and by eating the food He gives us, we can continue on in that way.

Maybe some people will say: “when it pleases God to give me new strength, I will not need any means. He is a very mighty God. ‘For He spoke and it was done; he commanded and it stood fast’” (Psalm 33:9). Therefore, they neglect all devices given to them. They do not go to church to hear the Word of God. They do not read it by themselves. They do not want to listen to children of God, who have been in the same situation. Neither do they accept help and medicine from the doctor because they reason that this would show a lack of expectation in God alone. Such a person once told me: “my psychiatrist is in heaven.” But the Lord works also by means. That cake baken on the coals and a cruse of water at Elijah’s head were the means which God made use of. He did and does not need those means. He could also renew Elijah immediately, but it pleases Him to use them. And if God uses the means, will we reject them?

“The journey is too great for you.” Do you believe that? Or do you believe that a true believer should be able to make this journey in his own strength? That is impossible! I need the means, which God is giving. I need the Word to be lifted up. I need His Holy Spirit. Those are the means by which He calls into His service and by which He helps you to continue in His way. If you are in the desert at this moment, His call comes to you: “Arise and eat.” If God has made you alive, then there is also that special means of the Lords Supper. For whom? Even for Elijah’s who pray: “Take away my life!”

In the next portion of this chapter we read of how the prophet arises, eats, and drinks. In the strength of that meat he goes forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the Mount of God. But I am not going to speak on these verses.

The question is: will I stand up and eat from the Word of God? Will you do that, despairing child of God, who is in the middle of the desert? Do not search for strength within your own heart. In the Lord is your strength. Will you, who are still unconverted, also do that? Many things have happened in your life. Your life seems to be so senseless and empty. Well, listen! Isaiah says: “Behold your God!” “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31). Looking unto Him, and waiting upon Him, I will no longer say: “Take my life away,” but

Take my life and let it be

Consecrated, Lord to thee.

Take my moments and my days,

Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Amen

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