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What are you doing here? Part II

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The story of Elijah’s interaction with God needs a Part II blog. There’s just too much going on here. When we finished Part I, Elijah was hiding in a cave. He had forgotten how powerful God was and how faithful God had been to him. Now, I want to focus on how God responds to Elijah. His response says much about God’s character. God is powerful. He is patient, and He is faithful.  Here is the interaction between Elijah and God in 1Kings 19:9-17

9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.

Then the Lord spoke his word to Elijah. He asked, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

10 He answered, “Lord God of Armies, I have eagerly served you. The Israelites have abandoned your promises,[a] torn down your altars, and executed your prophets. I’m the only one left, and they’re trying to take my life.”

11 God said, “Go out and stand in front of the Lord on the mountain.”

As the Lord was passing by, a fierce wind tore mountains and shattered rocks ahead of the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake. But the Lord wasn’t in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake there was a fire. But the Lord wasn’t in the fire. And after the fire there was a quiet, whispering voice. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his coat, went out, and stood at the entrance of the cave.

Then the voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

14 He answered, “Lord God of Armies, I have eagerly served you. The Israelites have abandoned your promises, torn down your altars, and executed your prophets. I’m the only one left, and they’re trying to take my life.”

15 The Lord told him, “Go back to the wilderness near Damascus, the same way you came. When you get there, anoint Hazael as king of Aram. 16 Anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, as king of Israel. And anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat, from Abel Meholah as prophet to take your place. 17 If anyone escapes from Hazael’s sword, Jehu will kill him. And if anyone escapes from Jehu’s sword, Elisha will kill him. 18

So, God asks Elijah the rhetorical question, “What are you doing here?”, but Elijah doesn’t get it. He tells God that the situation is hopeless and that his people area trying to kill him. Then God shows him the fierce wind, the earthquake, and the fire. He shows Elijah these things not to scare him, but to remind Elijah about his power. He is basically letting Elijah know that he’s God, and He’s in control.

Then God asks Elijah the question again. What are you doing here? He could have asked it in the fierce wind, or in the earthquake, or in the fire. However, he didn’t want to scare Elijah. So, he asked him in a quiet, whispering voice. Nevertheless, Elijah still doesn’t get it. Look at how patient God has been with Elijah. God could have given up on Elijah before the cave incident. He had already shown Elijah His power before now. He could have given up on Elijah when He asked him the rhetorical question the first time. He could have given up on Elijah after He showed him the wind, the earthquake, and the fire. He could have given up on Elijah after He asked him the question a second time, but God was patient and gentle with Elijah.

In addition to being patient and gentle, God was faithful as well. Elijah never “got it”. Even though he never understood that God was in control and that he didn’t need to be hiding, God still faithfully provided a plan and direction. When Elijah left that cave, God gave him instructions that included a new king for Israel and a successor for Elijah. And Elijah was never harmed.

I’m ending all my posts with an invitation to accept Jesus. If you would like to accept Jesus, simply pray the following prayer or one like it: “Dear Lord, I’m a sinner. I acknowledge that You sent Your son, Jesus, to die for my sins. I humbly accept Your son, Jesus, and I now further acknowledge that I am forgiven of my past sins, my present sins, and my future sins.” If you prayed that simple prayer, you are saved. Now, you need to follow Jesus. Start reading your Bible. I would suggest starting with Matthew, reading all of the New Testament, then reading the Old Testament. Also, find a good church. Christianity was never meant to be done alone. You need to be in community with other believers.

 

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What are you doing here? Part 1

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There he went into a cave and spent the night. Then the Lord spoke his word to Elijah. He asked, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1 Kings 19:9

We see in the preceding verse that Elijah is basically hiding in a cave, and God asks him, “What are you doing here?” It’s somewhat of a rhetorical question, but we need to understand why Elijah is hiding. Earlier in 1 Kings, Elijah is a boss, a rock star prophet of God. He challenges Ahab and Jezebel, who rule Israel at the time, to bring the prophets of the false gods to Mount Carmel. There, he challenges the false prophets. He tells them to sacrifice a bull and call on their gods to answer with fire. As the false prophets are failing, Elijah makes fun of them. He says, “Shout louder, since he is a god. Maybe he’s thinking, relieving himself, or traveling! Maybe he’s sleeping, and you have to wake him!”

After making fun, Elijah made an altar with stones. Then he placed his bull on the wood. Then he poured water on it three times. He finally asked God to answer him. God sent down a fire that consumed not only the bull, but also the wood and the altar. Then, with the help of the people in attendance, he slaughtered 850 false prophets. It must have looked like something out of a Marvel comic movie…..except it really happened.

After the slaughter, Ahab ran away and told wife, Jezebel, because he didn’t have enough courage to deal with Elijah on his own. Jezebel sent a message to Elijah saying, “May the gods strike me dead if by this time tomorrow I don’t take your life the way you took the lives of Baal’s prophets.”. And amazingly, it worked. Elijah got scared, ran away, and we now find him hiding in a cave.

So, what happened? One minute Elijah is poking fun at 850 false prophets, prophets who would probably torture and kill him cheerfully. The next minute he is hiding in a cave because of the idle threat of one person. How could he forget how powerful God had been and how faithful God had been to him?

Well, Elijah forgot the same way I forget sometimes. At one time, I suffered with anxiety. There’s no other way to say it, but God has given me victory over anxiety for over 10 years now. However, every now and then, I can feel those anxious thoughts trying to creep back into my mind. And just the other day, I heard God say, “It’s been 10 years. Remember the 850 prophets? We’ve conquered this over and over. What are you doing here?” In other words, he was telling me to remember how powerful He is AND how faithful He has been to me.

I’m ending all my posts with an invitation to accept Jesus. If you would like to accept Jesus, simply pray the following prayer or one like it: “Dear Lord, I’m a sinner. I acknowledge that You sent Your son, Jesus, to die for my sins. I humbly accept Your son, Jesus, and I now further acknowledge that I am forgiven of my past sins, my present sins, and my future sins.” If you prayed that simple prayer, you are saved. Now, you need to follow Jesus. Start reading your Bible. I would suggest starting with Matthew, reading all of the New Testament, then reading the Old Testament. Also, find a good church. Christianity was never meant to be done alone. You need to be in community with other believers.

 

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….after God’s own Heart

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  1. The king became so jealous of him that he lived as fugitive for several years.
  2. He committed adultery with his friend’s wife, whom he impregnated. When his cover-up plan failed, he arranged for his friend’s murder.
  3. One of his sons committed rape and incest. Another son killed that son, and temporarily overthrew his father.
  4. He sinned so greatly that God sent a plague that killed many of his people.
  5. God told him that he could not build his temple because he had too much blood on his hands.

Believe it or not, I’m talking about King David. David’s life reads like the raunchiest of soap operas. The prior king, Saul, became so jealous of David that he relentlessly hunted David trying to kill him. After David became king, his friend and supporter, Uriah, was fighting wars on David’s behalf. David rewarded Uriah by impregnating his wife. Then David tried to get Uriah to sleep with his wife so that Uriah would believe that the child was his, instead of David’s. When his plan failed, he sent Uriah to the front lines of  battles, where he was sure that Uriah would be killed. Amnon, David’s eldest son, raped his half-sister, and David failed to punish him. His failure to punish may have led to Absalom’s (another of David’s children) murder of Amnon. Absalom also overthrew his father for a short time was subsequently also murdered. Additionally, David took a census of Israel, which doesn’t sound that offensive. However, in God’s eyes, he was relying on his own strength instead of God’s strength. Although his advisors were against it, he conducted the census anyway. God then sent a plague that ravaged David’s kingdom. Furthermore, when David wanted to build a temple for God, God told him that he had too much blood on his hands, and some Bible translations say that David was a man of blood.

Now David did some good stuff too. He defeated Goliath. He had chances to kill King Saul, but he wouldn’t because he said that Saul was God’s anointed king. He also united the tribes of Israel and Judah. However, do David’s successes outweigh his failures? My worldly, sin-stained judgment says probably not. Luckily, God judges us differently. In fact, God gave David what I consider to be the greatest compliment ever. God said that David was “a man after God’s own heart”.

What made David “a man after God’s own heart”? Every time he screwed up (which he did regularly), he admitted it. Then he genuinely tried to change his ways. It’s a good lesson. We don’t have to be perfect to be a man or a woman after God’s own heart.

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God’s Will and God’s will

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What is God’s will for my life? Books, series, and seminars abound on the topic of God’s will. I once thought that God’s will for my life was some kind of elusive prize. I thought that God’s will was very specific and particular, and it’s easy to get carried away with that logic. For example, is it God’s will that I work at a particular job? Is it God’s will that my kids go to a particular school? Is it God’s will that I eat lunch at McDonald’s today?

I think maybe that I’m viewing God’s will somewhat selfishly. I’m too much concerned with God’s will for my life and not concerned enough with God’s Will in general. Now, the following is just a country boy’s way of understanding God’s Will and God’s will. It works for me; it may or may not work for you. I separate God’s wills into two categories. Category 1 is God’s Will with a capital “W”, and Category 2 is God’s will with a lowercase “w”. God’s Will is the big stuff, God’s Will on a grand scale. Ideas such as mercy, grace, forgiveness, justice, redemption, faith, hope, and love, fall into God’s Will. God’s plan for my life falls into God’s will (emphasis on the lowercase ”w”). I’m not saying that God’s will for my life isn’t important. Jeremiah 29:11  says: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. So, God definitely has a plan for my life, but I think it would be selfish on my part to get so caught up in seeking God’s will for my life that I miss seeking God’s Will.

I once read an interesting connection between God’s Will and God’s will, although the author didn’t divide it into two categories like I did.  He said that God’s will for my life becomes apparent when I consistently follow and obey God’s Will.

I’m ending all my posts with an invitation to accept Jesus. If you would like to accept Jesus, simply pray the following prayer or one like it: “Dear Lord, I’m a sinner. I acknowledge that You sent Your son, Jesus, to die for my sins. I humbly accept Your son, Jesus, and I now further acknowledge that I am forgiven of my past sins, my present sins, and my future sins.” If you prayed that simple prayer, you are saved. Now, you need to follow Jesus. Start reading your Bible. I would suggest starting with Matthew, reading all of the New Testament, then reading the Old Testament. Also, find a good church. Christianity was never meant to be done alone. You need to be in community with other believers.

 

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