Walking With Christ

1 Kings 19:4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”(ESV)

A little context on this. Elijah was a prophet. That was proven time and again. He had seen a great number of miracles. He had predicted a drought. It happened. He predicted rain. It happened. He started a fight with the prophets of Baal and Asherah.

I love the bit in 1 Kings 18:27 where Elijah mocks them.

1 Kings 18:27 And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”(ESV)

He openly made fun of them and their god (little “g”). Then he upped the ante by having them pour four large jars of water on the his alter three times. Elijah prayed to God and holy fire burned the offering, the wood the offering was set on, the stone the altar was made of, the dust all around, and even took the water that had been poured out.

That story always makes me laugh just a bit. What happens next is the real meat of the story, so to speak.

Ahab told Jezebel what Elijah had done. Obviously, Jezebel didn’t take it too well. She sent a message to Elijah saying that she was going to have him killed. Elijah got scared and ran.

He ran into the wilderness and begged the Lord to end his life. He falls asleep and the angel of the Lord (Jesus) made him a snack and told him to take a nap. After eating for the second time, Elijah went for forty days and nights on the journey to Mount Horeb.

Moral: Never underestimate the power of a snack and a nap.

I speak from experience when I say that the enemy can distort your perceptions and cloud your mind when you are tired. Enemies become friends and friends become enemies. Nothing makes sense at times like that. The enemy wants us tired, beaten down, exhausted.

The enemy might not realize that those times when we are tired, beaten down, and exhausted are the times when we are the most dangerous to him. Those are the times when we truly reach out for the Lord with the manic desperation that only comes when we find the end of our own abilities. When we are exhausted from doing it our way or doing it on our own and we finally turn to the Lord for help is when things can change. When we stop relying on our own strength to get things done and, instead, call on Jesus to guide us and support us is when we are truly growing.

We have to nurture the habit of calling on the Lord in all things. He doesn’t give us a list of things that we should do for ourselves. No, Proverbs 3:6 tells us “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”(ESV) ALL your ways. The bible repeats this notion many times and in many ways. Anything we try to do on our own will be limited. Anything we do that is in the will of God will be successful. It’s that simple.

Elijah was tired and forgot who he worked for.

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?(ESV)