Wednesday: Elijah: The Problem of Rushing
The showdown on top of Mount Carmel had ended (1 Kings 18:1-46). Fire had come out of heaven, all the people had acknowledged the true God, and the false prophets had been put to death. God had been vindicated. You would have thought that Elijah had been growing in spiritual strength as the day went on, but suddenly he heard something that terrified him so much that he wanted to die.
Image © Lars Justinen at Goodsalt.com
Read the rest of the story in 1 Kings 19:1-9. The last words in the verses are worrisome: “And the word of the LORD came to him: ’What are you doing here, Elijah?’” (1 Kings 19:9, NIV). Evidently, Elijah’s fear caused him to run and find himself in the wrong place.
After such a powerful intervention by the Lord on Mount Carmel, Elijah should have been full of faith and trust; instead, he runs in fear for his life. What lesson can we learn from this bad example?
This story illustrates something important: when we rush, we can very easily find ourselves in the wrong place. In Elijah’s case, it was his fear that caused him to be overwhelmed and rush into the desert, wishing that he had never been born. But there are other things that cause us to rush outside of God’s plan for us.
Read the following verses. Genesis 16:1-3; Numbers 20:10-12; Judges 14:1-3; Matthew 20:20-21; Luke 9:52-56; Acts 9:1. What things caused the characters depicted here to rush outside of God’s will?
How easy to let such things as ambition, anger, passion, lack of faith, or a supposed “zeal” for the Lord cause us to rush ahead to where we shouldn’t be. No one is immune to this danger. The key is to cultivate a trusting faith in the goodness and mercy of God, who we know loves us and wants what’s best for us. This doesn’t happen automatically. Faith might be a gift, but it’s a gift that needs to be cultivated, nurtured, and jealously guarded.
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Elijah had several highs and lows in his spiritual journey. He had fronted up at the court of Ahab and announced the coming of a great drought. Then he disappeared into the wilderness to be fed by Ravens, and latter supported by the widow woman and her son. Suddenly he reappears and announces a God contest on Mount Carmel. His God was the clear winner but in doing so he aroused the wrath of that woman Jezebel. That scared him and he ran off into the desert again.
Interestingly, when Elijah had eventually run out of steam, God demonstrated that he was not in the big drama events, but in the quiet little things of life. He pointed out for example that there 7000 folk who had not bowed down to Baal. While all this was going on, there were 7000 God-worshiping faithful folk out there that Elijah did not even know about.
Moments of euphoria followed by the crucible of despondence and doubt are part of life. More for some people than others. Carmel, my wife has higher highs than I do, and also has lower lows. On the other hand I tend to be, in Carmel's words, "Much more boring!" That does not make one of us better than the other. I appreciate Carmel's spiritual excitement and she appreciates that I bring her down to earth from time to time.
The big picture message I got from reading Elijah's story is the importance of community. When Elijah was going through his Mount Carmel/Horeb Desert experience "alone", he lost sight of the great community of believers out there who were on his (God's) side. Spiritual loneliness can be a crucible of our own making. And that brings me to the point that we believers need to function as a community, supporting one another through our crucibles of aloneness.
I am afraid I don't agree with how today's lesson has unpacked what was happening with Elijah. It doesn't match up. Rather, I find that Elijah was a man of great faith who appears to have trusted deeply in and relied heavily upon God. Thus I do not find or believe that he "let such things as ambition, anger, passion, lack of faith, or a supposed “zeal” for the Lord cause... (himself)... to rush ahead to where... (he)... shouldn’t be." There are three reasons I say this:
1) Elijah's recorded history is one of self-sacrifice and integrity.
2) God does not point out any 'fault' in Elijah but instead compassionately listens to and hears Elijah's expression of great distress and responds gently to bring physical, emotional and spiritual healing and restoration to Elijah.
3) While fear can facilitate a sense of overwhelmed, so can exhaustion. When we are exhausted and 'spent', our physiology and associated neurobiology goes into an altered state of functioning - survival and conserve mode. This is designed to preserve the limited resources we have left in that state. For example, our subconscious brain perceives/evaluates things in an exaggeratedly more threatening manner designed to increase our motivation to avoid engaging in that which would risk further draining our already dangerously low level of reserves. This avoidance will lead us to physically or otherwise 'flee' such things. Thus, rather than fear essentially being the cause of becoming overwhelmed, it situations like Elijah's, exhaustion is the root cause than then puts us in a more fearful, survival-driven mode. And this motivates us to flee/disengage that which would otherwise risk bring us further undone. I believe this is one of the reasons even Jesus, in His humanity, would guard and manage carefully how much time He spent ministering to people and how much time He would 'step aside' and recharge and replenish with God.
Thus, I believe that Elijah's experience illustrates the even those with great faith and trust in God are still at risk (under the sin-fallen reality that we are temporarily within for now) of experiencing situations where physical and emotional exhaustion will unfortunately occur. This wasn't because Elijah wasn't managing himself correctly, but rather that the situation needed to be attended to. In response, Elijah needed time apart with God to heal and recover in order to subsequently resume his ministering once again. And God compassionately facilitated this for Elijah - and will for you also.
According to what I read, the author did not write that Elijah " "let such things as ambition, anger, passion, lack of faith, or a supposed “zeal” for the Lord cause... (himself)... to rush ahead to where... (he)... shouldn’t be."
He did write that it was "his fear that caused him to be overwhelmed." And that's not far from your conclusion:
You mention that "exhaustion" can also facilitate a sense of being overwhelmed.
May I suggest that Elijah was exhausted, and that that exhaustion actually generated the fear that caused him to be overwhelmed?
You rightly say that "Elijah needed time apart with God to heal and recover in order to subsequently resume his ministering once again. And God compassionately facilitated this for Elijah - and will for you also."
Elijah could have rested in God's protection without running away. He could have waited for God's direction. I believe the author's point is well taken - that rushing away in fear was not the best option. The wonder is that God did not blame Elijah but ministered to Him. What a great and compassionate God we serve!
In the same way, we can wait on the Lord (the point of our lesson) and His direction and need not be afraid and run away in order to have Him minister to us in our greatest need.
Thank so much. I surely agreed with your comments because sometimes when we are in the crowd (among each other in fellowship), we tend to get spiritually discharged.)For some of us, it’s not anger, ambition, nor even passion. It just that we loose track as human and we find ourselves in the lowest lows. Gracefully, our GOD is always looking for us. Just like he provided for Helija, he definitely has plan to strengthen us from our crucible.
God's question to Elijah "what are YOU doing HERE?" might not be seen by some as condemnation, but the answer certainly was. God had not told Elijah to go anywhere. Before this, Elijah faithfully went wherever God directed Him. That's what servants do. Right?
Elijah's story is similar to the story in John 8 of the woman taken in adultery, whom Jesus also did not condemn, yet her own actions/guilt and the Law did condemn her. Jesus didn't come to condemn, only to save us from the certain self-condemnation of the Law and our sin. Jesus bid the woman to "go, and sin no more". To Elijah He said the same thing, only He used different words. To those who are listening today, He speaks the same command; "Go, and do My will", because sin is doing our will in the place of God's will. Don't you find those words from the Lord encouraging?!
Like Peter sinking beneath the stormy waves, Elijah briefly forgot Whom he had just been walking with. Sometimes we do that when the tempest gets rough, but the Lord is quick to remind us that He is still very close.
It is interesting that when Elijah fled into the wilderness south of Judah, the Angel of the Lord met him to strengthen him for the journey to Horeb (Sinai), the Mountain of the Lord, in Midian. This was a journey of about 500 km and it took 40 days.
When Elijah fled in fear from Jezebel, God led him to his presence in Horeb. When Moses fled in fear from Pharoah, God led him to his presence in Horeb (after 40 years of tending Jethro’s sheep). Both Elijah and Moses received direction from the Lord at Horeb.
Ideally, when situations and persons strike fear in our hearts, we should wait on the Lord where we are. Jesus did that in Gethsemane. But if we are fleeing in fear, the presence of God is a good destination to hear his voice and to wait for his direction.
There is another aspect to why Elijah ran for his life. I doubt that it was fear ( Phil, agree to what you wrote).
I think the emotional intensity which he had experienced after the miracle took place, Elijah must have had enough- as we nowadays say he had a burnout. Actually he could have sought refuge at the neighboring Judah, king Jehoshafat would have welcomed him. So why should he travel 50 miles and then some additional 40 miles plus a day journey to Beersheba? I see his frustration, disappointment and self pity as a result of the assumption, that nothing would change in the current state of the Jewish nation.
All prophets experience rejection and disappointment, think of Jonah, Jeremia and Samuel. Even Jesus did too.
So God in His mercy allowed the despondent Elijah to rest and be refreshed without reprimanding him, prescribing a new therapy „time to go back to work“!
I have often wondered over this great change in Elijah; from the euphoria of the Carmel experience to retreat and suicidal thoughts. I don’t believe that it was merely fear of Jezebel that caused this. He had boldly confronted Ahab before with no fear of death. Elijah had been a participant in the awesome miracles of God – the predicted famine and its end at God’s appointment, the miraculous supply of food and healing of a child, and the fire from heaven that consumed the offering, wood, and even water. Surely, Elijah who had been so courageous in the face of death didn’t all of a sudden tremble in fear because Jezebel flexed her muscles. Something else must be at play here.
The Bible does not tell us directly, but as I pondered over this again today, I think there are some clues in 1 Kings 19 about what might be at play in Elijah’s mind. It came to me that maybe what caused Elijah’s inexplicable loss of faith was his disappointment at the outcome. I am sure Elijah had been praying and believing that God was doing all this so that Israel would turn back to Him. Elijah believed the Carmel experience would be the climax to this story of the return to Jehovah, but what he got was an anti-climax that threw his faith. Elijah had done everything God asked him, but little had changed. After all that God had done, there is no great revival. Elijah feels all he has done has been for nothing. He had failed to bring back the people to God just as his fathers before him had failed. “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” Israel has not returned to God. Elijah laments, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, ... I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” What a disappointment! What had all this been for?
It is a terrible crucible when God does not meet our expectations are not met, especially when these expectations are godly. Nothing shakes you like when you feel you have had misplaced faith in God. I experienced this first hand. Some years ago, I prayed earnestly over a challenge and God answered me with peace and a miracle. I praised God and even shared my testimony about it broadly. I declared to all the goodness of God with the strength of faith that came from my communion with him and a belief that he had acted on my behalf. I cannot tell you how it rocked my faith when the miracle later disappeared in a haze of mist. Had I imagined God speaking to me? Was the peace he gave a mirage? What would I say to all those who I had declared to the goodness of God in this situation? It took me a long time to recover. I don’t know if I fully recovered. I became more fearful and hesitant in my faith, worried it might be presumption.
I thank God that he didn’t give up on me. As he did for Elijah, God came looking for me and kept speaking to me to pull me out of my despondency. He looks for me still and asks me to keep believing and trusting. He shows me time and time again that my faith in him is not misplaced. He asks me to keep trusting even through the crucible of disappointment. I pray for the faith to listen to his still, small voice.
Jocelyn, you wrote:
It seems that this is a very common human experience: A high on the mountaintop often seems to be followed by a valley of depression. It actually helps to know that and look out for that. In the time of depression, we need to remind ourselves that God is still the same in the valley as He was on the mountaintop, even though we may not feel it. Then we need to take life one day at a time, doing what we can to overcome the depression, until the depression lifts. (The "one day at a time" is crucial during depression, as I know from personal experience.)
While the Bible says, "Elijah was afraid and ran for his life," (1 Kings 19:3 NIV) we are blessed to have some extra insight recorded in Patriarchs and Prophets:
There is more that sheds light on the situation in Chapter 12 of Prophets and Kings, entitled, "From Jezreel to Horeb," including suggestions similar to some of the comments above.
[I linked to the mobile EGWWritings site above because the main site seems to be down. If you want to be sure you always have the book handy, you can get your own digital copy for less than $1 at Amazon as I did. I like having it on my phone to read.]
The big lesson here seems to be that we lose much by not trusting God in our times of trial, even though God graciously comforts us nevertheless.
I support Phil’s points that Elijah was exhausted and weary; he needed rest. Why do we who believe the Truth wholeheartedly and are engaged in the service of the Lord often come to a point of weariness about our choice to live in His service? I think it has to do with us taking our eyes off who is actually doing the work! Our joy in the Lord - unreservedly and always, rejoicing in all circumstances - could be ours when understanding this better!
Yes, we lend the members of our body to work on behalf of the Spirit of Truth and Light of God, expressing His spiritually based Truth through practical applications of His Spirit of Truth and Light, but it is He who is doing the convicting of the heart in response to His Truth. Physical signs are for our 'need to 'know’, a spiritually changed heart and mind are the signs that the spirit of the Father has established His home in His children.
I find Jocelyn’s comment and account of her experience a good example of the invisible, blurred line existing between ‘I’ doing the work in the physical realm as ‘God’ is working at the same time to convict the spirit of man to believe His spiritual Truth. Physical and spiritual acts go hand in hand; expressed faith - 'acts of faith' -, accepted by the free will of man into his/her heart, are the spirit’s vehicle to enter the heart and mind of man to convict him/her of God's Love for man.
The responsibility we have to ourselves is to remember that the 'true' effect of God’s work is taking place in the spiritual realm, not necessarily observable to our perception when looking for it in the physical realm; it becomes our daily exercise of faith through meekness and humbleness, waiting upon the Lord and trusting Him explicitly that His spirit is working on behalf of those who seek to come to Him when we walk in His Path of His Righteousness.
I agree wholeheartedly with Phil's concluding paragraph. Even Jesus, before he could become too ‘entangled’ with the work of ‘doing’ as the spirit led Him, needed to retreat to the solitude of the communion with the Father to restore the balance between the 'doing and the receiving’.
I think of his delivery of the bad news to God perhaps of WHY he'd been afraid and had come to this place: "I alone am left". Is there any room for the thought that all that has been said being reasonable, there is room for the idea that Elijah was jealous for God. If indeed, Jezebel would be successful, God would have no one to speak for Him (neither idea correct, but feasible to an exhausted prophet). In the case that his time on earth was done, he did not want a pagan woman to take him down and tarnish God's name. He'd rather God lay him to sleep as he had slept under the broom tree.
We can learn from Elijah and yes, he shouldn't have ran, but it seems a little harsh to call him a "bad example". Elijah went through many, many hardships and was faithful to God, much more consistently faithful than most of us ever have been. And despite his failing, God still saw fit to take him directly to Heaven without dying.
I agree with Jocelyn that there is more going on than just fear. Elijah's life had been threatened before and he had not fled. Based on Elijah's comments later about being the only one left, I think he was very disappointed that the revival he felt would come did not come. It is indeed ironic that he fled from Jezebel and then said he wanted to die.
There was a comment that it is a wonder God did not blame Elijah but ministered to him. I think if we truly understand what God is like, it's not a wonder. God is gentle and compassionate with His people even when they fail. I think the problem is that we see Him as harsh and run away from Him.
I believe the last paragraph on Wednesday's lesson enumerating emotions that can bring us to rush ahead of God was mainly in response to all the example texts in the Bible where His people rushed ahead to find solutions to what they thought were impossible situations. Abram and Sarai (Lack of Faith), Moses and Aaron's rash striking of the rock for water (Anger), Samson (Passion), James and John's Mother asking Jesus for the two highest position in the Heavenly Kingdom (Ambition), James and John wanting to destroy the Samaritans (Zeal for the Lord), and Saul (Anger Ambition, and Zeal for God). I have thoroughly enjoyed everyone's insights on today's message about Elijah. How great is our God! We need to learn to trust Him no matter what happens to us who live before He comes back to save us from those who seek to hurt or get rid of us! God does not lie and He never fails those who serve Him! He remembers that we are dust. He understands our frailness under trying circumstances.