If not for Chapter 18, we probably we wouldn't even question Elijah's response to a death threat. God has defeated 450 prophets of Baal and shown up before Elijah's very eyes in great faithfulness and might. He made a public display of the people's gods that were not gods. Elijah brought the prophets down to the brook Kishon and "slew them there." Then, if that weren't enough, he stood on top of Carmel and prayed and watched a three year drought end in a heavy shower. And if that weren't enough to shock the reader - the hand of the LORD was on him, and he outran Ahab to Jezreel. Ahab by chariot - Elijah on foot. 20 miles. Smoked him!
So we question why Elijah would run in fear over Jezebel's death threat. Don't those experiences with God merit unabashed trust?
Sure they do. God is always worthy of our whole trust even when He doesn't show up with fire and rain. So what's up with this guy? From fire to flood to flight.
I was led to this passage of Scripture because in recent months I “ran” and found myself stuck. I asked God to give me an example of someone feeling the same way, someone similar in personality or maybe circumstance. 1 Kings 19’s Elijah was His answer. Frankly, I was hoping for Mary or John the Apostle. [grin] To a much simpler degree, I faced (in concept) some of what Elijah went through. He delivered “OUCH” messages to hard-hearted authorities. Some of his language and behavior might have seemed questionable to those who witnessed it. (ex. 1 Kings 17:21, 18:27) He wasn’t a popular friend and spent a lot of time in isolation. God used him to miff people and to even bring misery. Ahab hated to see him coming. For his obedience, Elijah was dubbed “Troubler”, and handed a death threat from a wild woman.
I wonder how he felt? I felt rejected, despised, and insecure. I felt what God had asked of me was too much for me because my obedience touched on my biggest fears. I was so certain in the beginning that I had clearly heard God’s voice. I was cautious and prayerful. In the middle of it, I felt empowered by Him, emboldened and anxious all at once. But when I had finished what God asked, there came doubt, fear, and self-loathing. My obedience seemed only to stir up the matter, rather than resolve it. I seemed to be the conduit for strife and pain. How could obedience result in such things? I was perceived a “troubler”.
Elijah does exactly what I would do. He reacts with the same drama that I sometimes do - privately before God. (I’ve never hidden the fact that I can be a spiritual brat.) He despairs. Gets fed up. "It is enough", he says. The Hebrew actually says "It's too much!" There it is... ever feel like it's just too much... whatever "it" is? “It” is different for everyone. Huge or minute, we can still end up at the juniper tree begging for relief, although maybe not to the point of death.
Why fear after such faith? Expectations. I did a God-thing. I expected God would, and then they would, and that God wouldn’t allow me to be rejected or hurt or shamed. Instead, my obedience seemed to stir things up, caused more strife, brought more pain, I was marked a “troubler”. So I ran. The Hebrew word for trouble is akar. It means “to roil”. Not a word we use often. According to Webster, to roil is “to make cloudy or muddy by stirring up; to rile”. It’s what we might call “making waves”. Apparently, obedience can cause one to be a roil pain. Or be in roil pain. [Oh, don’t groan. You should have anticipated it from someone who loves puns.]
I wonder if Elijah had expectations. “Maybe once the Baal worshipers are gone, God will let it rain. If it rains, maybe Ahab and Jezebel will repent, or at least they’ll leave me be for awhile. If not, maybe God’ll just get ‘em. I don’t know. Somehow I don’t think he expected a “wanted dead or dead” decree. When God doesn’t behave,¦ we get afraid. Somewhere in our service to God, we forget obedience is not about us. We forget that to obey is simply to say “Thy will be done.” Not â “Thy will be done if” or “Thy will be done and then Thou wilt”. Jesus’ example of obedience was impeccable. He only did what He saw the Father doing. He did nothing of His own initiative. The gospel of John repeats that over and over again. We discover there is but one thing that Jesus did of His own initiative, that was to die. You and I can do nothing apart from Jesus who knows how to obey. It is in Him that we find “Thy will be done.” Period.
Elijah ran to Jezreel in the strength of the Lord. He journeyed to the juniper tree under his own power. “It’s too much!” It’s always too much when, like me, we are equally full of self-loathing and self-importance. Instead of dying to myself, emptying myself and being full in the strength of the Lord, I’m often full of myself and running on empty to the broom tree.
But you know, God didn’t lean over the edge of heaven and say, “OH NO!! SHE RAN!!” Instead, He waited on me to arrive and, like Elijah, He let me have a much needed rest. I call that a holy “shoosh”, a “calm down, child. We’ll talk later.”
What’s the answer for someone sleeping under the broom tree… how do we move on? Shoosh, we’ll talk later.
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