Scripture: Psalm 42 and I Kings 19:1-15a

Our lesson today comes from a book we may have seldom read – I Kings. The chapters that precede today’s reading tells us that King Ahab had married Jezebel, who has brought into Israel a large number of the prophets of these idols and supports them with state funds. Jezebel wants to make the worship of Baal the sole religion in Israel and encourages persecution of the prophets of Yahweh. So Elijah engages in a contest with the prophets of the idols and with Jezebel. They both call on their gods to send down fire from heaven to consume their offering. Elijah prepares his offering, soaks it in water and prays to Yaweh. God’s fire consumes the offering, and the rain comes. Convinced by this victory and the ending of the drought, the people cry out that Yaweh indeed is God.
Enter Jezebel, who swears to get revenge on Elijah. Elijah flees for his life.

When Elijah was fighting off all evil, he seemed to exude confidence and resolve – nothing would stop him.  He showed no hint of fear or doubt. But fast forward the time frame and our prophet Elijah seems to come unhinged. “Afraid for his life after hearing of Jezebel’s desire to eliminate him, Elijah flees to the wilderness and asks to die rather than face her wrath.” (New Interpreter’s Bible). He takes shelter under a solitary desert bush (called a broom tree).

Huddled in his cave, convinced of his unique status as the last remaining person of faith, and completely exhausted, Elijah cries out, presumably to the Lord, “Too much.”
“I have had enough, Lord.” “It is enough!” Have any of you said that recently? I have had enough! And he asks to die because he thinks his life is no better than his dead ancestors. Or it could also mean those prophets who have gone before him – like Moses, who also complained to the Lord in the wilderness that his burden was too heavy to bear alone, and so he too asked the Lord to let him die (though he was not willing to let Jezebel kill him.)
He is angry because he feels left by himself to do God’s work.  

After his first day in the wilderness an angel ministers to Elijah and strengthens him by giving him some food. This angel provides Elijah with a cake baked on hot coals and a jug of water, hardly things one should expect to find in the desert, but good nutritious food. He is told to get up and eat a second time. He eats, drinks and goes back to sleep. The man is tired!  He does it all again a third time.

God tells him to get up and eat so he has strength for the journey. Later, Elijah is told to go out and stand on the mountain, for the Lord is about to pass by. Elijah is looking for the Lord in the wind, fire, and the earthquake, as in the past, but he doesn’t see him. The symbols that were thought to indicate God’s presence in Moses’ time are no longer indicative of God’s presence in the world in Elijah’s time. Afterwards, there is an eerie calm, literally “a sound of fine silence” or a hushed sound as translated in the Hebrew. The New Revised Standard Version takes it to be “a sound of sheer silence” or the end of a storm. Other versions translate “a still small voice” or “gentle whisper”. In contrast to the thundering presence of the storm god Baal, Israel’s God is now present in “a sound of silence” and yet, Elijah is able to hear something (vs. 13). It is in this stillness that Elijah somehow encounters the Lord.

He hears another sound, this time a personal voice, “What are you doing here?” (which may imply “Why aren’t you back in Israel where you should be?”) The Lord speaks to Elijah a third time, telling him to Go, return to your way.” So the first two times God asks Elijah what he’s doing in the cave. The third time God tells Elijah to go to Damascus and anoint a new king. In other words, God tells Elijah to go back to work.

Thus the story sets the stage for the downfall of Ahab’s house. Both Jezebel and Ahab will be eliminated and if you read further in chapter 19 you will see the transfer of prophetic power from Elijah to Elisha.

Now some of you may be thinking that this man Elijah spends much of this passage whining. As one author says “He is alternately self-righteous (the only faithful person in Israel) and full of self-pity (no better than his ancestors, ready to die.) Elijah in this story is the kind of person to whom we might say, “Stop complaining and get over it; there are other people worse off than you.” (New Interpreter’s Bible)

The narrator tells us that God does not respond to Elijah this way, and God’s action is our focus. For perhaps that is how we can learn something about ourselves and our relationship to God.

Today’s text is an invitation to experience God’s unexpected encouragement for perseverance in the daily mazes of our lives, whether we are facing abundance, adversity, or as one person calls it “dulling routine.”

How many mazes are you running around in these days? Elijah escaped the maze by running into the wilderness. And there an angel fed him – twice! Where do you run to escape pressures? A hectic schedule? A continual search for work or job? A lonely life? Where is God when we feel needy? What cave do you go to when you need to hide out?  Elijah certainly expected to find God in the normal noises of everyday life, but God was not there.

Elijah was also second guessing himself. He wondered, was I even on the right track when I was fighting off all those idols? Do you ever ask that – am I on the right path? Am I doing the right thing? But we are a people who like to know what to expect; what’s next, we ask? What’s the plan? Is the agenda ready? What do you want me to do, God? Just tell me! Now! And yet God is often silent.

Notice the long process that Elijah trudged through so slowly. He was exhausted but wanted God to speak. God doesn’t talk. God feeds him. Elijah sleeps and gets his rest. Then God feeds him some more. He needed a hot meal and water. Not junk food.  

What are you doing? Are you getting your rest or are you running around in your maze? What would happen if we reframed our maze-minded expectations and persevered to the next level? Now for some of you, that next level might be to slow down sufficiently and rest, refresh, gain back your strength, eat and sleep. It may be your well-deserved time to put your tired feet up and soak in the sun and warm breezes and water with a good book. And I say, Do It! You deserve it. You need your rest. Enough! Because you can’t serve God or others when you’re tired and exasperated.  Trust me, I know. You need to refuel, re-nourish, refocus.

During this time of renewal, you take your own spiritual journey, like Elijah did. Maybe not for 40 days and 40 nights, but seeking the time you need. E.B. White once wrote, “When I wake up in the morning, I can’t decide whether to enjoy the world or improve the world; that makes it difficult to plan the day.” Then when you are centered again,
you can move ahead to your next goal, your next role as Christians in this world. We don’t have to remain huddled in the cave afraid to come out. We don’t have to think that we must go it alone, that “it’s all up to me.” One theologian has said “this illusion presents itself to us when our concepts of reality do not include the dynamic presence of God, which empower us to trust in the resources of divine grace – which specializes in making the impossible possible.”  (New Interpreter’s Bible)

That there is a future for Elijah beyond the cave – and for Israel after Elijah – is not obvious to him. And perhaps it’s just not obvious to us. Sometimes our insights are not clear, when we weigh our immediate circumstances.  Sometimes the most we can do is poke our head out of our cave to see what’s really out there – if anything. But we can’t stay there. Once we’re rested and have a bit of faith back, it’s time to get back to work. Or maybe we’ll hear that voice say to us, “What are you doing here?”

Elijah waited for God to pass by, to give the message. But the message was not in loud words or actions, nothing obvious. Just “What are you doing here?” Elijah says, but I did everything right; I was zealous and followed orders and now I’m alone and they’re going to kill me. And the Lord said to Elijah – Go back and get other people to follow and continue what you’ve started. Make sure your successors are ready to take over the work you’ve begun. You can’t give up. You still have work to do.

When we have a really big project, and working for justice, it doesn’t get done overnight, does it? It takes time and effort and lots of people helping, when we work together for a cause somewhere. You are a significant player in this game called Life. And the clarity for us as we come out of our caves is to keep working. What are you doing? Keep working.

What’s the “rest of the story?” Elijah goes back to Damascus and eventually anoints Elisha as king. And later in history, the third king that reigns finally disposes of Jezebel who had threatened Elijah.

The journey that we’re on asks us to listen, to seek, to wrestle, to get clarity and to keep working. That’s our job. What are you doing here?     Amen.