 First Kings chapter 19 We're gonna be looking at the first 18 verses of this chapter and tonight's message I've entitled it the great escape the great escape You're gonna see in a moment as we go through this text why I called this the great escape But we're gonna be looking at the first 18 verses here of first Kings chapter 19. I'm gonna read Pretty much probably I'm just gonna read up to verse 10 even though we're gonna go beyond that But just to kind of introduce the text Chapter 19 of first Kings it says an ahab told Jezebel that Elijah What Elijah had done? Also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying so let the gods do to me And more also if I do not make your life as the life of the one of one of them by tomorrow about this time And when he saw that he arose and ran for his life and went to Bersheba Which belongs to Judah and left his servant there But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree And he prayed that he might die and said it is enough Now Lord take my life for I am no better than my father's Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree suddenly an angel touched him and said to him arise and eat Then he looked and there by his head was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water So he ate and drank and lay down again And the angel of the Lord came back the second time and touched him and said arise and eat because the journey is too great for you So he arose and ate and drank and he went in the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights as far as Horrib the mountain of God and there he went into a cave and spent the night in that place And behold the word of the Lord came to him and said to him. What are you doing here Elijah? So he said I have been very zealous for the Lord the God of hosts for the children of Israel Have forsaken your covenant torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword I am I alone am left and they seek to take my life. I Heard of a Christian woman who who said my favorite verse in the Bible is the one where it says and it came to pass Now when she told people that they asked her how could that be your favorite verse? Well, she responded and said because I know that no matter what happens even as bad as it gets it hasn't come to stay It has come to pass Let me ask you a question. What's your feeling about your future? What's your feeling about the future? You know that one survey showed that most American adults are facing their future without and fear not with a feeling of Invincibility, but with a feeling of vulnerability Life on this side of heaven can be a bummer at times, right? I mean it stinks sometimes, you know that I mean if you read the book of Ecclesiastes, you're gonna come out depressed after that, right? Because Solomon's all about negative things and how the life is under the Sun and all that But on this side of heaven, we will have moments of fear moments of discouragement That will cause us to feel discouraged about the future and It's interesting because one of the things that Billy Graham said and I want to quote what he said He said this the Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes and say oh God forgive me or help me Billy Graham. It's like really Billy you have prayers like that Well, it's interesting because we all love mountaintop experiences when it comes to God, right? For those of you are wondering, what do you mean mountaintop experience? Do you mean Mount Baldy? No, no, I'm not talking about that. This is a cliche Christian thing We'd say you know Moses on the mountaintop a mountaintop experience is that experience where everything is falling into place for you Your relationship with Jesus is like right there. It's like you could call down from fire from heaven You're like I know I'm gonna get it if I do that. I mean it's you're so close You're walking like man. This is God has just been just pouring out his love pouring out his grace. It's a mountaintop experience and There are moments like that But if you've been a Christian for a long time, you know that you're gonna come down from that mountain eventually, right? You know that I mean, I would love to stay up on a mountaintop experience I would love to just be up there and stay there. I mean in fact right now this week I'm having one of those. I mean I walked on what now I didn't do that But but but but I'm having one of those moments where God's like oh man Lord, this is amazing. This is so cool But in the back of my mind, I'm like I got to come down from this soon And if you remember when Moses came down from his mountaintop experience with God, what did he find? The children of Israel engrossed in some nasty stuff, right? They were in sin That discouraged Moses that got him upset When he saw the things that were going on How do you think he felt about the future and the future of God's people Lord? I'm not gonna continue with these guys. Look what they're doing. There's no future here with you know I mean these guys are going nowhere. Look what they're into right now How could I see a future as your leader God with people who are doing this stuff? I mean his future must have been pretty sad but what we're looking at here, it's interesting because we're gonna look at a Story about a man and it's not just a man. We're talking about a man of faith In fact more than just a man of faith I'm talking about a man of bold faith a man of confidence in his walk with God. I Mean when you look at the Bible and you read the book the Old Testament the New Testament He's popular in the Bible. I mean he's mentioned in scripture the things that God did through his life In fact in the New Testament there were these brothers. They try to copy what he what he did James and John remember when Jesus was walking through the Samaritan village and they rejected Jesus. What did James and John wanted to do Call fire down from heaven to barbecue those people that rejected Jesus. Remember that Lord. Let us get you know Let's just crispy them up, you know crispy cream right here. Let's do it right What did Jesus say? Hey listen your attitudes are bad. I didn't come here to destroy life I came here to save lives stop that guys Who were they mimicking? Who were they want to imitate Elijah? And this is the person that we're gonna be looking at and we're gonna be looking at what I'm calling Elijah's great escape And we're gonna apply this to our lives because I believe this is a very powerful portion of scripture Elijah who was a man of great faith all of a sudden collapsed because of fear and discouragement a man of faith He wanted to call it quits He wanted to just just throw in the towel and maybe there's some of you here tonight That you're you're ready to just quit right now You're just you're on the verge of calling it quits. You're saying I'm about to quit after this service, man I'm gonna quit. Well, let me see. Don't do it yet. Okay. I want to encourage you God is gonna change all that up for you today But I'm sure there are a few of you here that have thought about quitting because life gets so hard But let's look at the first three verses of chapter 19. Let's look at the problem here What is the problem with this big man of faith? Why did he leave? Why did it run away? Well, listen? Look what it says It says ahab Told Jezebel all that Elijah had done also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword now Abraham or I'm sorry. Ahab comes to his wife To report some news to her Now who is Jezebel? I mean, you don't really run into people by that name, right? I can't wait my first kid Jezebel and if it's a boy Judas, could you imagine that? That's weird, huh? I honestly expect the Antichrist to have babies like that, right? He's gonna be naming them Jezebel and Judas anyways, that's probably not true, but Who is Jezebel? Jezebel is one of the most intriguing women in the Bible and evil yet strong will creep That's right creep She was the model of what a contentious woman is For example Proverbs 21 9 Solomon said better to dwell in the corner of a house top than in a house shared with a contentious woman You know Solomon knew what's up, right? Because he probably had a lot of contentious women among those thousands, right? So so he's an expert you can't let out. You don't know you've never been married. Yes a thousand times, buddy, you know so he knows Well Jezebel was the wicked witch of the West or the wicked witch of Israel She was so bad. She was a Phoenician princess who worshipped bow the pagan god of fertility She married King Ahab of the northern tribe of Israel And she persuaded him to tolerate her paganism and that's how it seeped into the Tribe there the northern tribe and all of a sudden they began to worship this God and I find it interesting because she Persuaded her husband to do this here is a man who was supposed to represent God and then here's a woman who wasn't representing God Doesn't the Bible warn us about being unequally yoke? Right well why God? I mean he's cute He does come to church with me. I know he doesn't open his Bible, but but still He's willing to come. Hey, listen you take a chance and you missionary date. It doesn't always work And if you go into that and you're gonna get thrashed Spiritually because you're gonna compromise Ahab had no backbone She took that role and she basically when she married Ahab she emerges as the power behind a throne So Jezebel who hated the worship of Yahweh worship of God she introduced this bow worship now What is this bow worship? Well bow worship was the worst sin against God similar to today's Christians embracing Satan It's like if a Christian embraces Satanism right they're like wow that's bad Well, that's exactly what bail worship was among the children of Israel It was that that was not a good thing and the worst thing is that King Ahab began to protect this worship He began to protect it and he began to encourage the tribe to go and worship bow So what happened well? God got a little upset and got inflicted a three-year drought in the land He says you won't get no rain now your crops are gonna die. You will have no food Here's where Elijah comes in Elijah is fed up with the children of Israel's Nonsense their sinful ways in fact in chapter 18 of first Kings verse 21 If you turn there real quickly, look at look at look what he did He basically came to settle the question of who is supreme God or bail And this is what he says in verse 21 of chapter 18. How long will you people falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God follow him, but it's bow is God follow him, but the people answered him not a word The Prophet Elijah devices a contest on Mount Carmel to prove who's the real God is it bow or is it God and Whichever deity can set a fire and destroy the sacrificial bow that they're gonna put on this altar by divine intervention Will be acknowledged as the true God. That was that was the the actual Test the challenge that he had It reminds me of what Joshua did when Joshua led the children of Israel into the Promised Land And he came to the the last chapter of Joshua 24 Joshua who was renewing the covenant Reminding all the children of Israel say hey, don't forget what God had done in your life Don't don't forget what he did how we got here and then he says this to them very bold of a good leader He said this if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord choose for yourself this day whom you will serve Whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the river or the gods of the Amorites in Whose land you dwell but as for me and my house. We will serve the Lord pretty cool, huh? I hope you've made that choice in your house to say, you know what? I don't care How many people are unstable in this house? We are gonna serve God here. I Don't care what we have neighbors that come in this house that don't know Jesus or relatives or whatnot You know what this house is a house serving God, and they'll know it I don't have to put away my Bibles because somebody's coming over Listen, this is a house that serves the Lord you make that choice So Ahab comes to his wife Once this all happened. I mean God proved himself to be the true God Fire came down consumed the sacrifice and all of a sudden the people were like, okay You're God. You're God. You're God, you know if we believe you're the one and then 400 and some prophets were killed So now here comes Ahab with some good news and some bad news So he comes honey. Yes. I got some good news and bad news. Okay. What's up? What's what's the good news? It's raining it rained the droughts over. Okay. What's the bad news? Your prophets are dead. What? Yeah, your prophets are dead. Look what she says verse 2 She sent a messenger to Elijah And she said this So let the gods do to me and more also if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time The news did not sit well with Jezebel she got furious that her prophets were killed basically God won she lost She was mad Anytime you go against God you're gonna lose Okay, you want to write that down want to tattoo it whatever any time you go against God you're gonna lose ask Jonah Ask Judas right you read Judas. He went against Jesus. He lost Jonah thought he can hide from the presence of the Lord. He lost and There's other stories in scripture that show that you cannot Win you're done well Jezebel lost and Elijah now has a choice and Notice in verse 3 what he chose to do When he saw that he rose he ran for his life and went to brashiba which belongs to Judah and left his servant there I mean he says see ya. Hey, buddy. I'll be back. You could stay back. He left his servant behind What baffles me is this God had just done an amazing work in chapter 18, right? I mean he saw the spectacular God Proving himself to be the only true God by consuming that sacrifice He saw an amazing work of the Lord and all of a sudden he collapses by fear over this creep right Jezebel What's going on here? well What happened is this he's Elijah took his eyes off the Lord and he put them on his circumstances Because if you notice what it says when Elijah saw Anytime you and I take our eyes off of God and we put them on our circumstances. We're gonna sink We're not gonna make it because sometimes our circumstances are so huge You remember Peter what happened to Peter when Peter said to Jesus if that's you Lord when he was in the boat You know have me come to you. She says sure come and Peter made it clear. He says on the water Jesus says come what did you start walking on water, right? And he's walking and I guarantee you he was staring at Jesus is walking I would I'd be like I'm gonna look at you right and he's walking on water And he's walking walking step-by-step and all of a sudden his eyes go to where the wind and the waves And then when he saw the winds in the waves the Bible says he began to sink That's what happens The waves and the winds of life when they hit us if you start looking at those winds and waves You're gonna go sink just like Peter a praise God. You can call out to God and bring you back up This is what happened. It's what happened to Elijah Elijah he was at the highest point in his life with God The enemy stepped in and knocked them off the path and that's what will happen When we are at our highest point in our life with God the enemy will want to come in and knock you off that path Now I'm not saying that that's the only time Satan attacks you is when you're up in that mountaintop experience He'll attack people across the board if you're a backslider. He's attacking you because he's trying to keep you there But when you are at the highest point in your life with God the enemy Hates it and he will try to knock you off that path Remember even our own Jesus Before he started his public ministry. He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. Guess who showed up? The Satan to tempt him to knock him off his course, but it didn't work, right? God won The Satan was no match and it's important for us to understand this because this is something that we have to understand As Christians is that the enemies after you daily First Peter 5a be sober be vigilant Why because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour Not push not slap you in the back of the head. He wants to chew you up. He wants to kill you Because he hates Christians and anytime you begin to develop that relationship with Jesus in a wonderful way And it becomes very strong the enemy says I don't like that I want to bring them back to the way they were. I don't want them to get their Bibles at anymore This is this is ridiculous and This is what happened to poor Elijah Elijah saw the spectacular display of God's mighty power and you would think that that experience Would have made him bold and confident to laugh at Jezebel's You know threat, right? I'm gonna burn you up, too, you know But it didn't happen that way and and we see here instead. He became discouraged Afraid because he was looking at his circumstances. You know, what's interesting is that Elijah was a man of God He was a man of God and yet he still struggled with fear and he began to run away from the situation there And some people will look at a man like this and and they'll say well Wait a minute. Isn't he supposed to be a man of God our man of God men of God perfect? Aren't you a leader at a church? You're dealing with fear. Maybe you're not saved. No, it's not true. We're human We still go through discouragement Because we're all in it together the difference between you and me appears that I'm up here. You're down there They were all human beings where you all get hit with the same trials sometimes and Elijah is no different in the Bible Even says that listen to James 5 17. I love this Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. It's not cool and He prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months Elijah was used by God in a powerful way But he is just like you and me a fallen human being with weaknesses You see it's Christians that put pastors and leaders on pedestals It's not the pastor and leader that puts them on a pedestal. They don't put themselves It's the people that will put them up on that pedestal and then when they fall you're like, whoa, what's going on? You're supposed to be a pastor. You're supposed to be a leader you listen People have weaknesses and struggles. You just don't know and and even Billy Graham I shared that that that scripture with you or that quote. I mean even he has his struggles. I mean, we're all human beings Of course, I'm not saying this is to give us a license to sin and do what no I'm not saying that I'm talking about reality here that Elijah was a man just like you and me Just a human being and yet he struggled with fear discouragement and that just sent them over the edge Elijah's problem notice when he went in there He went to Brasheba But but but Elijah Who is just a man like you and me and I love this part what Paul says in first Corinthians if you guys actually turn there with me first Corinthians 126 there's something here that I want to add to the the the frailness or the the imperfection that leaders Have and dwell with and in first Corinthians chapter 1 even God himself knows That there are no super saints in the kingdom of God and no one is perfect And no one has the ability to walk on water without God's power, of course But first chat first Corinthians 2 26 you guys are probably familiar with this But this is this is what it says in first Corinthians chapter 1 verse 26 For you see you're calling brethren that not many wise according to the flesh not many mighty or Not many noble are called but God has chosen what the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and The base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen and the things which are not To bring to nothing the things that are and then he says that no flesh should glory in his presence Isn't that amazing? If you get offended by that, I'm sorry, then you're not fit to be a leader in the church like wait a minute I'm not I'm somebody you know well, but stay where you're at You know you're gonna get puffed up and you're gonna fall But we see here that Elijah was was a man a human being like you and I and where does he go? He goes to brashiva. You know how far brashivas he actually went about a hundred miles way south into empty deserts He just took off. He just booked and went out into the desert Was probably wasn't even thinking or maybe he knew where he was going But he went to know he went to no man's land. He went to the boonies. I guess if you will But Elijah's problem was not that he arose and ran or went down to the desert to hide It was that he did it without God's direction. He did it without God as his primary shelter You don't see Elijah here praying say God, what do I do? Which way do I go? What do you want me to do? What's your will in this Lord? Jezebel wants to kill me. So what do you I'm gonna do now? He didn't consult God. He just took off. He just left and He sought shelter in a barren desert That tells you how discouraged she was You know the Proverbs says that the Lord is this is a strong tower, right? The righteous run into it and they are what safe Well, Elijah didn't think about that. He thought the desert was safety and you're gonna see where he goes to get comfort But as the Elijah takes off in verse 3 he arose went to brashiva, which belongs to Judah left his servant there We see that the first three verses deal with his problem. Now we get to see God's grace verse 4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat under a broom tree And he prayed that he might die and said it is enough Now Lord take my life for I am no better than my father's He says it is enough. He thought it was all over He was tired of traveling. His mind was concerned about his life. His future looked very bleak He was a hopeless man and he found a broom tree and they say broom trees are desert bush They grew to a height about of about ten feet. I have a picture of one if you guys pull it That's a broom tree. It's in my backyard. I'm joking. It's not This is a this is actual broom tree in Israel There isn't much shelter under there And this desert it probably was hot But he kind of somehow went underneath that bush and he just tried to see comfort in a broom tree Your bios might say juniper trees the same thing but we see that Elijah goes to this tree and Why is Elijah there? Let me tell you why Elijah misinterpreted his circumstances You see Elijah expected Jezebel to surrender After seeing this spectacular display of God's power Elijah probably thought you know what she is going to surrender right now watch She's gonna melt Instead she went against them. She opposed them And he's like, okay, this is not good So he misinterpreted his circumstances and that led him to this desert and it's interesting because as he Interpreted this difficult situation in his life. He figured that this means it's time to end my life My ministry is over. I there's nothing for me to do. I'm worse than my father's so therefore I must just die Listen, we can do the same thing We can misinterpret our circumstances too You know for example, maybe you're having a hard time at work with your boss maybe you're having a hard time with your co-worker and That difficult situation that you're you're having at work. You're misinterpreting it. You're thinking God is telling you to quit And guys not telling you to quit You know another example is marriages marriages that go through difficult times They misinterpret that that difficult time at that season of difficulty and then they look at it and says, okay I think God is telling us to divorce and a lot of marriages today are broken up because of these Squabbles within the marriage and they misinterpret that just that circumstance in a marriage that situation that hard Difficulty that they think it's well. This means that we're done How do you know that? You don't know that Listen life is full of disappointments. Amen. I'm serious. I'm not here to kind of give you a gloom and doom kind of thing All right, but I'm being real here life has its disappointments If we are not careful those disappointments can derail us spiritually keep that in mind Those disappointments in life can derail us spiritually There is nothing wrong with hoping for the best. I'm one of those guys No, but it's gonna be great. You know, it's gonna be good There's nothing wrong with that But when things don't go the way you want them to go you have to somehow bear it and do it as a soldier of Christ Hope for the best Maybe you're waiting for that job. They called you up twice. Hope for the best, but if you don't get it Don't sink Don't be like forget it. There is no God now. You know what I mean? Bear with it endure it as a soldier of Christ and move on Elijah here misinterpreted his circumstances. He figured Isabel one or just about nice about just about wants to kill me Therefore, I need to get out of here. I'm done. God kill me Our circumstances can end up when we misinterpret our circumstances Sometimes we can end up in places that we shouldn't be at and that's exactly what happened to Elijah Verse four notice what he said take my life He's asking God to take his life God never answered his prayer, you know, why he lied you never died Could you imagine if God answered his prayer and he's in heaven? It's like, you know what Elijah you asked to die I killed you. Okay, you're here with me, but you know that I actually ordained your life to never die. Are you serious God? What I would I would have done that right? I'm like really it's like saying, you know You're telling God kill me. He's like, you know what I was gonna involve you in the rapture Bomber I wanted to I want to experience the rapture. Well, you asked for to die and I okay. I answered your prayer Listen, I am glad that God doesn't answer all of our prayers. Aren't you? Seriously, I mean we throw some crazy stuff and then later on you're like, oh, I'm so glad he didn't answer that Right. We all been there, right? Elijah's asking for something and little did he know God was not gonna Have him taste death He was gonna be taken up in this cherry and it was gonna be an amazing experience for him But there are prayers that we ask God for and we plead with him and he doesn't answer and that's okay And maybe you've prayed that way Maybe you've been in a situation in your life where you're just so down and you probably did say Lord, you can take me home You can take me home. That's okay I'm just so depressed. I'm so down right now Lord. If you just take me home right now It's it's done. I think a lot of us have prayed that and You're thankful that God doesn't answer that prayer because let's say later on you as if you're an older person Let's say you experienced the birth of your grandchildren And you're like, I'm so glad God never answered that prayer. Look how beautiful my grandchildren are Or maybe you're a couple and you're just you know, you're gonna have children And now you have a son or a daughter and you remember God reminds you remember you asked me to kill you Look what you have now. It's a beautiful baby. And you're like, yes, Lord I'm thank you that you didn't answer my prayer because I have my my son my daughter We can get very depressed. We can get very down and we can have prayers like this Elijah but you know that this reaction this prayer That people are asking forgot to take them home or take them, you know to kill them was a common occurrence in the Bible Did you know that by some big men of faith? Let me give an example. Job prayed the same way Forgot to take his life. Now, you're like, I would have done the same thing. Look what he went through Then also we have Moses. Moses did the same thing He prayed the same take my life Lord Jeremiah See all these guys were in ministry. It tells you that people in ministry are suicidal Choke in here But you know what I mean, it could be kind of hectic sometimes, you know, I passed her a church for ten years There are some days I'm like Where's the rapture, you know but we see here though that Elijah is so down so down so dark that even said I'm no better than my father's His the fathers of Israel allowed the nation to fall into the condition that it was in When he was there, this is the whole struggle is that this nation that they struggle with idolatry And he's saying I'm worse than them. It's like wow relax be easy on yourself. No, you're not You're a man of God. Do you have weaknesses Elijah? But notice he provides God provides for Elijah verse 5 Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree Suddenly an angel touched them and said to him arise and eat Then he looked and there by his head was a cake a cake baked on coals and a jar of water So he ate and drank and lay down. I love this You know why he's because see the Lord Understood that Elijah was a frail man He needed food And not only that but we see that God provides for him because he was exhausted He was depressed and discouraged and God is saying I'm gonna take care of this man He's my boy, right and I'm gonna feed him. He needs some strength here God understands that you're frail. Listen when you're tired. Don't think you're being unspiritual Take a nap. God understands. I got a doom in his drag I don't care, you know Sometimes, you know when I'm studying for a Bible study when it's really late at night and my brain is like done, you know I don't I don't think it's like, oh, I'm such an unspiritual man. I got to keep going till 2 a.m It's like I'm done Lord. Good night, you know, that's okay. God understands. We need our sleep We need our rest we need our nourishment and God is taking care of him right here And he's given him some interesting things and he sends an angel to him Elijah wake up Right God sent ravens to feed you before Birds Now he's bringing, you know angels to you and he's giving them angel food cake here. You know what I mean So this says there angel it was a cake Right And some water, you know, you guys have any angel food cake and water, you know that just it takes good, right? But here he is and the angel is giving him food I'd be like Wow I mean at that time I'm like Lord. I mean you used Birds to feed me and now you're sending an angel to feed me. This is pretty radical And see little by little God began to kind of counsel Elijah little by little He began to kind of wake him up kind of wake him up from his spiritual darkness And he is here and here the angel touches him And God was gentle with Elijah God did not go in there and smack him around Get up you man of God. You're a Christian. You shouldn't be doing this, you know, no God says you're weak. I know you are. Let me feed you Let me give you some strength physically before I deal with you spiritually And this is what he's doing Jesus is gentle, isn't he? Isn't he gentle? I mean he is a gentle person God will never come to you even when you fumble even when you mess up The holy spirit will never come to you and say you jerk. What kind of christian are you? You know what? That's called condemnation The difference between condemnation and conviction condemnation says you I can't believe you did that What kind of person are you? You say you're a christian. That's condemnation satan Conviction is Don't do this again repent I love you God draws you back the bible says it's the goodness of god that leads people to what? repentance not the harshness of god Not the heavy hand of god Can he smack us around? Absolutely But he chooses not to because he loves you. He loves me. He's gentle with us. Let me prove it to you Matthew chapter 11 verse 30. Jesus said this For my yoke is what easy and my burden is You see how gentle jesus is Elijah Definitely had a burden on his heart and the lord right now is comforting him He's comforting him verse 8 He gave him enough strength for 40 days and 40 nights Now I find this interesting because It says there When he says to him Verse 6 he looked and thereby his side was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water So he ate and drank and lay down verse 7 and the angel the lord came back the second time touched him and said arise eat before Because the journey is too too great for you So it says in verse 8 So he arose he ate and drank and he went in the strength of that 40 of that food 40 days and 40 nights As far as horib the mountain of god mount sinai that's that mountain where god gave the commandments But I want you to understand one thing He says that he gave him enough food for 40 days from the broom tree to mount horib was about an about an eight-day travel 40 days, you know what that tells you he was wandering for a while And it's interesting because it echoes what the children of israel did right? They were wandering around right? I mean they could have been in that promise in a long time But the bible says they were actually circling around there was just circling around And sometimes you feel like that in life you're just kind of circling like I have no direction god And it's like well, what's going on that's the sit down. Let's talk about it. Maybe there's some sin in your life Maybe there's something that's off in your life And elijah could have been there in eight days it took him 40 days But god understood that he knew he says i'm going to give you no strength for those 40 days Instead of saying i'm only giving you strength for eight days and for the rest of you know You will die then But he didn't do that got to care of his needs And it says there in verses 9 through 10 As he says that he went from the broom tree Lord is to a cave And there he went into a cave he went into a darker place And he spent the night in that place and behold the word of the lord came to him and said to him What are you doing here elijah? Now god gets more personal He goes from a broom tree with a little shade To a place of darkness And isn't that kind of what happens when Life kind of kicks you in the teeth You know what i mean You become very discouraged Scared so so discouraged that you go from from from a place that's not as dark to a darker place You get so down You know as i say you know people like that suffer from spiritual myopia Spiritual myopias is basically the the the condition that you cannot see past your circumstances It's like all you see in front of you are your circumstances all the stuff that's going on That's all you can see you don't see beyond that You're stuck and elijah was stuck And it says here that elijah Was in the wrong place notice what god says. What are you doing here elijah? God always shows up In those discouraging times You see sometimes we think that god doesn't show up when we're going through a dark time in our life We think that god is out somewhere else in left field doing his thing and he's left us alone But listen even in those discouraging moments in your life even when you're scared Depressed that's when god shows up And we see here. This is a great example Elijah was in a place That he probably never thought he would be And it's important that He understood that god was there But he was in the wrong place And i always say that it's important to be where god wants you to be It's always important to be in that place that you know god has called you to be You know when moses was leading the children of israel one of my favorite verses in that whole journey of moses is exodus 33 15 he he was real with god and he said this If your presence does not go with us do not bring us up from there That's pretty cool, right? Have you prayed that before lord if you're not in this, please don't open this door I remember saying that before i moved to new york in 98 I remember walking Yeah, I was I was I remember I used to go jogging now in aliyah school when they came up at that school And I would go on the track and jog and I remember Months before we left to new york the planet church. I used to say to the lord I remember walking saying lord if I am making a mistake if you're not going with us don't let us go Please I don't want to move across the states and find out that you never came with us Not and i'm speaking in a human in a human way. I'm not saying that god is Away from us. He's with us all the time, but what i'm saying is as far as his will for us to be in a certain place And moses said lord if you're not going with us if your presence not going with us. I don't want to go Elijah was in a place That god did not call him to be at And god will ask you the same question What are you doing here? He'll ask you the same question. What are you doing here? Maybe it's a relationship that you're in right now and god says what are you doing in this relationship? It's not honoring me anymore It's causing you to stumble What are you doing here? Or maybe It's a different location. Maybe you're in a different place and god is saying i've never called you to this place Or maybe you're in a discouraged time right now in life and god is telling you what are you doing here? Why you discouraged? You know, maybe you thought you were doing the right thing But now you find yourself in a place of discouragement and fear But the cool thing is that god is there with you That's the cool thing. He's not going to leave you alone because you're his child And he loves you God wasn't done with elijah He was not done with elijah elijah may have thought that That it was over But god didn't want him to be afraid of jezebel God did not want him to run away into the desert and end up in a dark cave God did not call elijah to live in a cave but to stand up for the lord That's what he wanted to stand up for god Christians shouldn't live a defeated life We shouldn't live a life of defeat The bible states that we are more than conquerors, right? But there are a lot of christians today living in defeat And god is saying i'm not i haven't called you from that You need to live in victory christ look at my son. Look what he did for you and we are more than conquerors the bible says We shouldn't fear man. We should fear the lord, right? elijah feared man the woman jezebel So what does elijah do verse 10 he answers god notice he says to the lord Well, i've been very zealous for the lord the god of hosts for the children of israel have forsaken your covenant Torred down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and they seek to take my life well elijah answers the lord, but he gives him the wrong answer God isn't asking him for all of this elijah is saying that there's no one else to maintain your cause god Everybody's dead. I'm the only one and there's no way I can take this anymore elijah forgot about god sovereignty That god is not dependent on no one He's not dependent on no one even though he chooses us individuals to do his work. He's not dependent on people He can use angels. He was using an angel right there with elijah He could have sent his servant to look for elijah to say hey go tap him on the shoulder and give him some food No, god says i'm going to provide an angel for him. I don't need man I don't need people to be used, but but he gives us that privilege to be used And we see that elijah is answering to god and he's just basically Oblivious to the sovereignty of god and at that time, of course, he's so in darkness that he doesn't understand or see beyond that So what does the lord do? but once the lord Talks to him in a personal way now god moves in even in an even A powerful way verse 11 notice what god does. He reveals himself to elijah he says this elijah Go out and stand on the mountain before the lord And behold the lord passed by in a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks and pieces before the lord The lord was not in the wind and after the wind and earthquake But the lord was not in the earthquake And after the earthquake a fire But the lord was not in the fire and after the fire a still small voice This is one of my favorite sections in scripture. What is going on here? I don't know nampchuk. I do know When you look at something like this, you're like wow three phenomena wind earthquake and fire Elijah listen elijah was used to seeing the spectacular. He saw fire come down from heaven He was used to seeing god his presence come in these spectacular ways fire from heaven And god revealed himself through strong wind the bible says even in the old testament He revealed himself through earthquakes when the people at the base of the mountain were looking up and moses was up there There was thunder and lightning and a great earthquake basically the mountain shook the bible says So god's presence was seen through these amazing Phenomenons And you're like wow, this is crazy, but god says i was not in the wind Was not in the earthquake It was not in the fire notice what he says i was there in that small steel voice god Revealed himself to elijah in a faint whispering Voice what does that mean to elijah? Here's the lesson That the almighty god was quietly sometimes Unnoticeably doing his work in israel god did not have to show himself in the spectacular to prove to elijah That he was still there you get it And it's interesting because a lot of times as christians when we want god to speak to us We're waiting for a thunder don't aren't we or a trumpet blast god if you could just You know cause lightning to fall upon my house you know whatever you know what i mean something. Yeah, probably maybe that's not a good one But you know what i mean If i hear this in chino champion, you know i'm like all these people's houses, you know i'm like whoa um But but elijah was used to seeing all this but as christians sometimes we want to see the spectacular But listen god will speak to us in that small steel voice and you know where that is found in the bible You just open up the bible And as you read a verse God speaks to you right there right The bible doesn't levitate up and go Whoa, okay, you're speaking. Yep. That's it lord. Okay, put it down. You know He doesn't do that You're having your quiet time cup of coffee. You know it's quiet Everybody's still asleep. You're downstairs or upstairs whatever you're doing outside And you're reading the scriptures and all of a sudden A verse hits you hard in the in the heart and you're like, oh, this is amazing lord Thank you. That was god's small steel voice speaking to you, but he's still powerful, isn't it? hebrew's chapter four tells us that the word of god is active. It's alive. It's powerful And even though you didn't receive it in fire in wind or in an earthquake listen It is the same powerful impact that god spoke to you as if it was through those different things Elijah didn't see god manifest himself in the realm of the spectacular But that didn't mean that god wasn't working in israel god was fully aware of jezebel's wickedness and in fact He did deal with her he ended up destroying her But don't get discouraged If you don't see god Doing a work in your unsafe family that you've been praying for for 20 years It doesn't mean he's not working in there He is Maybe you're one of those uh that that that you know people said man, I prayed for you so many times And I just thought god wasn't doing anything. You know what he was he was convicted me every time you said somebody jesus man I just almost threw up, you know, it's like I was getting convicted See god was doing something you just didn't see it And as christians we get discouraged like man, you know, it's just I don't see god doing something in this life. Listen He is trust me, but but don't misinterpret that To think he's not because they look at you with a straight face when you're talking about jesus God is doing something in there. So what happened with saul in acts chapter nine The verse actually chapter seven and eight when he saw the death of steven Something was happening in saul's heart because in chapter nine we see him saved, right? And all the christians at that time said saul is basically the hitler of the christianity at that time He hates us. He wants to kill us And then he gets saved and people didn't even believe it. Remember in anias. Uh lord, you know who that is He want me to go to he doesn't like me So go lay hands on him. He's blind Okay, and they find out he got saved So don't ever think that because you don't see any visible change in your unsafe family That god is not working in them. He is And this is what's happening with elijah elijah See here's god's voice not in the the spectacular he has before but in that small still voice So verse 13 God after that comes to elijah once again And says When he heard it That he wrapped His face in his mantle as reverence, of course He just covered him covered himself went out and stood in the end at the entrance of the cave Suddenly a voice came to him and said again, what are you doing here elijah? Don't you love the lord? He doesn't give up on us, huh? What are you doing here? All right, what are you doing here? You know seriously God is so awesome Elijah is asked by the lord again So what does the lord do? He recommissions elijah basically elijah. I'm not done with you I'm not done with you, dude. It's time to go back and look at verse 15 what it says Then the lord Said to him Go return on your way to the wilderness of damaskas And when you arrive anoint haziel as king over syria Also, you shall anoint jehu the son of nimshi and king over as king over israel and elijah the son of shapat Of abel mehola. You shall anoint as prophet in your place It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of haziel Jehu will kill and whoever escapes the sword of jehu elijah will kill Wow You do have more work for me lord. That's cool But he says and by the way elijah You don't have when you said that you're the only one. Well, let me let me give you a little revelation Notice what it says in verse 18. I have reserved 7,000 in israel All whose knees have not bowed to bow and every mouth that has not kissed them. Oh So I am not the only one lord. This is great Uh-huh I'm doing a work elijah. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean I'm not working Okay, and guys be careful seriously be very careful just because you don't see anything visible doesn't mean God is not working even in your own life Maybe you're thinking like I just don't feel like God is doing anything in my life. I just don't feel listen. Don't go by feelings Christian faith is in a it's an objective faith not a subject. It's not based on feelings The bible says in philippians 1 6 he who began a good work in you. What well complete. It's a promise That means that God is working right now in your life In your life. He's working right now as i'm talking to you. He's doing a work in you right now And just because you don't feel something doesn't mean he's not working in your life He's promised that he is and he's going to complete whatever he's doing in your life To the day of christ jesus that's the promise that we have And this is what god is teaching teaching elijah God comes to elijah asks him the same thing and then he recommissions him to go back These three men mentioned here were involved in the destruction of bow worship showing that god was at work And was going to take care of the wickedness in israel God used them and elijah Took his place elijah took over the ministry of elijah And we see here that god even said anoint elijah who's going to take your place So yeah, your ministry is coming to an end elijah And elijah will take over that minister. So i know him because you need to prepare for him I want to close with a few things here as we come to a conclusion Elijah's struggles show us that even men of great faith Go through seasons of discouragement and disappointments But it also shows that for us there are times that the craziness of life Can push us to want to quit Can push us to want to run away from our situation Like i said, maybe it's work. Maybe you you want to run away from your job right now You're like i cannot stand this place anymore. I want to run Maybe it's a relationship. You feel like you know what? I need to leave them. This is not good Or maybe you feel all alone in your relationship with jesus all your friends went back to the world and you're like god I'm the only one here serving you now Maybe you feel like elijah You feel like lord. I am done take me You know once one person said this that life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it And i find that true elijah reacted rather than responding to god you see This could happen to us And the way we it could happen to us is that we sometimes often react rather than respond by faith in what god is doing We reacted run God wants to encourage us tonight that he's here for you He's here for you And wherever you're out in life right now, whether you are in a cave if you will Or under a broom tree where there's a little light God is there with you asking the same question. What are you doing here? And i find this very important and very interesting for us because elijah who had a truly mountaintop experience with god in the past But yet he was not prepared for the valleys that always follow He was used to the spectacular He wasn't used to the valleys and you got to be ready for those valleys don't ever Turn your eyes or a blind eye to valleys because they do come unfortunately But there's a promise when you're going through your valley Psalm 234 though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i will fear no evil why For you are with me That's why your rod and your staff they comfort me isn't it awesome that in my valley and your valley god is there with you He doesn't leave you alone. He's like oh you're on your own. No i'm right there with you That means that god is found not just in victories, which is awesome when he's found in victories, but he's also found in our valleys discouragement depression And disappointments. He's there. He's found in those states of minds and in those places in life I love what david said in psalm 42 11 Why are you downcast though my soul? Why are you disquieted within me hoping god? For I shall praise him and the help of my countenance and my god the help of my countenance and my god So god is asking you that question tonight. What are you doing here? Maybe your life is not where it should be tonight And you know it Or maybe you didn't know it and tonight you're like i'm in the wrong place. What am I doing here? What got me here? God is calling you to go back To go back to where you started