READ: I Kings 18-19: “Fresh encounter and new purpose”.
Verses chosen for meditation: I Kings 19:12, 15-16.
12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the
sound of a low whisper.
15 And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way
to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint
Hazael to be king over Syria. 16 And
Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha
the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your
place.
REFLECT
The above verses were instructions from God to Elijah, after two
major events that took place in the showdown between Yahweh God and the
Canaanite storm god, Baal. Firstly, Elijah defeated and mocked Baal in
front of 450 Baal’s prophets and 400 prophets of Asherah, (I Kings 18:20-40) at
Mount Carmel. The miraculous burning of the sacrifice to Yahweh serves a double
purpose. It turned Israel’s hearts back to Himself and results in the death of
450 prophets of Baal.
Next, was Elijah’s victory through his faithful and earnest prayers (vv. 41-46)
against the nation’s drought. After three years of drought (I Kings 18:1), Elijah
interceded to Yahweh and God answered his prayers.
As a result, the cruel queen, Jezebel has vowed to kill Elijah because she learnt
that Elijah has killed all her prophets. Escaping in fear from Jezebel, he ran some
200 km plus a day’s journey (v.4 - a marathon runner indeed!) from Mount Carmel
to Beersheba. Hiding in a cave at Beersheba, Elijah ended in a quiet encounter
with the Lord.
RELATE
Contrasting to
Elijah’s past victories, self-pity, fear and depression seemed to have crippled
his life. One strong possibility for this
dejected prophet's setback could be the message from Jezebel that said, "By tomorrow
morning (in 24 hours), I will have your life.” Often, unexpected turn of events has caused us to lose faith.
We may be afraid to face what is in front of us. It could a personal serious
illness or failure to handle a relationship. Here perhaps, Elijah was afraid to
face his own failure - not being able to turn Ahab and Jezebel to the one true God.
Yet, notice that the one thing that Jesus
says over and over again to His disciples in the New Testament is, “Fear not, fear not”. Can we then
boldly say we need not fear at all times? Fear does indicate we have ceased trusting
God and started trusting in ourselves. Elijah, this mighty man and great faith;
the heroic prophet had stopped his trust in a living God and had begun to trust
in his feeble self. As a result of the death threat, fear gripped his heart and
he fled into the desert. For though Elijah achieved such tremendous heights of
greatness in his faith, nevertheless, he was a man very much like us.
Finally, it was “a low whisper” (v.13, Hebrew calls, the gentle voice of
stillness
- absolute silence) that God has
restored Elijah. It is quite wrong for us to assume that whenever God is
at work, there must be blood and fire, or noise and smoke or power. No, God
works when things apparently seem to be at a standstill. In the same manner, it
is comforting to see that God (not in theophany) engaged Elijah in a tender
conversation (similar experience by Jonah, Jonah 4:3-10). While Elijah was despairing
of the future, God was planning for it. The Lord has looked beyond Elijah’s
failures but granted this dejected man acceptance and restoration to be used by Him. Does this not remind us of disciple Peter's similar setback? Thus,
God issued a new purpose to Elijah; his new role was to pave the way for these “others”
(vv. 15-16) to align and fulfil Yahweh’s plans.
Invigorated
with renewed purpose, Elijah found and mentored his successor, Elisha. Later, 2 Kings 2 accounted that not only God did not forsake Elijah but treated him with privilege. He was caught up to be with God in heaven without dying. Friends, do your setback threaten to consume you? It is not too late; be restored and rise to His new calling.
REST
Thank You Lord that You are always gracious, slow to anger and willing to look
beyond our failures. Refresh me through Your small still voice of the Holy Spirit. Allow me to be restored
and renewed by You in every setback. For His sake, Amen.
Like to share this song and its Bridge - “It is done”: https://youtu.be/cRFMQtswLJA
Bridge: “Every sickness, every weakness, every fear, and doubt and
shame. Every burden, every hurt is overcome in Jesus’ name”.
Vincent
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