Our text for today is a day in the life of Elijah. As we review Elijah’s life do not be surprised if you begin thinking to yourself, “I know how he feels.” Yes, Elijah was a great prophet and a great man of God. He was a man of great faith and yet, he too had his ups and downs. Our text for today brings us to an Elijah who has become tired by the struggles of this world. He has turned to the only place he knows to turn, the only place he feels there is left to turn, he turns to the Lord who in turn gives him the strength he needs to continue. Before we get to our text we want to spend a moment putting it into its context. The book of first Kings relates the history of Elijah and how Elijah was simply obeying the Lord and doing and speaking as the Lord told him. None of this is Elijah’s doing by himself, but all that Elijah was doing was from the Lord. So, the book of first Kings relates how Elijah pronounced a drought upon the land. How he was fed by ravens by the creek. How he multiplied the flour and oil for the widow at Zaraphath. And how he raised the widow’s son from death.
In the chapter before our text we read of his challenge and defeat of the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Maybe you remember the account of how the prophets of Baal prayed and prayed for Baal to set fire to their sacrifice and nothing happened, except for Elijah’s making fun of them. And when it was his turn, Elijah had his sacrifice doused with water until it was overflowing. Then, when he prayed to the Lord, the Lord sucked it all up, the whole sacrifice and the water in the trenches, with one big “woosh,” showing the He is God Almighty. However, immediately following his victory Queen Jezebel threatens to have him killed for killing all her prophets.
As we get to our text we have an Elijah on the run, running for his life. We begin at verse one, “1Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’ 3Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. 4But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.’ 5And he lay down and slept under a broom tree” (v. 1-5a).
Please do not misunderstand the text. Elijah is running away, but not because he is afraid of Jezebel or her threats. He is running away because he is just tired of fighting the good fight. He is at the end of his rope so to speak. Today we might say he is suffering from burnout. He has done all that the Lord has asked him to do and yet he does not think it has made any difference. “Why bother?” is probably what he is thinking. He runs away into the hot desert until he gets to a broom tree where he sits down and prays to die. And that is even what he asks of the Lord, to simply take him to heaven.
Elijah felt alone like many of the prophets before him. He felt like he was the only one fighting for the Lord. In the verses following our text we hear Elijah’s response to the Lord’s question. Picking up at the last part of verse nine, “9b‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ 10He said, ‘I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away’” (1 Kings 19:9b-10). Here again we see that Elijah felt alone and helpless.
Elijah was at the point where he wanted to die. He did not want to commit suicide. He did not want a to visit Dr. Kevorkian. He acknowledged the Lord’s presence, His grace and His sovereignty, yet He wanted the Lord to take him. He was ready to go to heaven, and have it all over and done with.
Our text continues with God’s answer. We pick up at the second part of verse five, “And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Arise and eat.’ 6And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. 7And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, ‘Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.’ 8And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God” (5b-8).
The Lord’s answer is not to take Elijah, in essence we can say that this is one instance where we know the Lord answered Elijah’s prayer and His answer was “no.” However, the Lord sends an angel, not simply to speak to Elijah, but to touch him. (Someone once asked if this was the original “Touched by an Angel”?) The angel touched Elijah and told him to get up and eat. The angel had prepared a cake of bread and a jug of water. And I cannot resist here either, yes, Elijah ate real “angel food cake.” The Lord did not provide Elijah with just a little to eat. Twice He provided food for his physical nourishment.
The Lord supplied Elijah with the nourishment he would need for the journey he was about to take. After Elijah had eaten he was taken on a 40 day trip to Horeb. Horeb was the source of divine food. Horeb was where the Lord revealed Himself to Elijah’s ancestors, to Abraham as well as to Moses. Horeb is where the Lord made His covenant with His people.
As we look at our text for today we might ask ourselves, how do we relate? And we might answer, let us count the ways. And we will do that, but we must also ask the question which relates to the reason for our being here. We must ask the question, “Where is Jesus in our text?” The simple answer to that question is that Jesus is there as God. He is one person of the trinity, so He is there directing the events that are taking place. But I think there is more to it than that and we will get back to “where is Jesus?” in a moment.
Getting back to the first question, “how do we relate to this text?” Do we not often feel alone in this world? We live in an affluent, fast paced, technologically advanced, competitive world. The measure of a person, their success or failure, their worth, their intrinsic value, their contribution to society and on and on are all based on standards set by our society. We often feel like we are on our own and it is us against the world. Quite frankly, it is enough to make a person want to give up.
Added to our already, seeming, insurmountable struggles is the fact that as Christians we face even more obstacles. As Christians we have a different view of the world than our society as a whole. As Christians we know that there are absolutes, that there is a God who is loving, but who is also just. As Christians we know that there is right and wrong. As Christians we know that there is a God to whom we are ultimately accountable. As individuals we struggle through this life and as Christians we often feel like we cannot take it any more.
The answer the world gives us is to reach deep down inside ourselves or to simply look inside ourselves. Radio, TV and movies, news papers, magazines and books, self-help and pop psychologist tells us that our help comes from within. We have to look deep down inside ourselves to find the answers for which we are looking. Our Lord reminds us in His Holy Word that all we will find within ourselves is sinful human beings. We cannot help ourselves. We cannot find the answers within ourselves. All we will find within ourselves is more questions, more problems, and more struggles.
Fortunately for us, God shows us a better way. Our Lord shows us that our help comes from outside of us. In Divine Service Setting Three we confess, “Our help is in the name of the Lord. Who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 124:8). In the explanation of the third article of the Apostles’ Creed we confess, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason our strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”
As I said, our Lord shows us a better way. Our Lord’s better way is where we meet Jesus. We are unable to save ourselves, that is why Jesus came, to live, die and rise for us. Jesus came to hit bottom for us. Jesus knows how we feel, He knows what we feel. He knows what we go through. Everything that we experience, all the pains, struggles and hardships of this life, Jesus has experienced. Jesus was stricken, smitten and afflicted. He was despised and reject for us. He was a man of sorrows. By His stripes we are healed. Where is Jesus? He is seen in life of Elijah, yet, He actually gave His life for ours.
Our text for this week brings us to our usual conclusion, God gives and we are given to. We live in a sin filled world. We live in a world which is at enmity with the Lord. As Christians we struggle. We feel alone like Elijah. We feel like there is no reason to continue on. We may even ask that the Lord would take us from this vale of tears to be with Himself in heaven. Our Lord does hear our prayers, just as He heard Elijah’s prayer. And our Lord answers our prayers, often in the same way He answered Elijah. And His answer is the same as His answer to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in your weakness” (1 Cor. 12:9). The Lord answers our prayer by giving us the forgiveness, faith and strength to continue on.
In our text the Lord sent His angel to deliver physical food to sustain Elijah. Today our Lord provides spiritual food for our nourishment. Today the Lord comes to us to give, strengthen and keep us in faith through His means of grace, through His Word and through His Sacraments. The reason we as Christians desire, more than anything else, to be in divine service, to be in Bible Class, to remember our baptism, to confess our sins and hear His words of absolution, to hear His Word read and proclaimed in divine service and to eat His body and drink His blood in His Holy Sacrament, is because this is where He comes to us to give to us, to strengthen us.
Our Lord never promised that life would be easy. As a matter of fact, His promise to His disciples was that they would die for Him. Our Lord does promise to be with us. He promises that He will give us all that we need in this life. He promises to hear our prayer and to be near to us and He does and He is. Our Lord promised to save us and He did, through the blood of His Son, Jesus on the cross. Our Lord comes to us, from outside of us, through His means of grace, to give us all His good gifts and blessing and to that we say, to God be the glory. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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