If you only knew this particular episode in the prophet’s life, then you would imagine Elijah must have had a pretty lousy run to get so far down in the dumps. But it is really just the opposite.
Before this chapter, Elijah had just come off the greatest success imaginable. It’s one of the highlights of the Old Testament, in fact. Israel has been in a drought for three years. King Ahab would, of course, love to see the drought end because it’s eating away at his approval ratings. But Ahab has another problem too, which involves his wife – Queen Jezebel. She is not an Israelite. When she married Ahab and came to Israel she brought her gods with her – the Baals, as they are called. Baal is not a proper name, but a title, like lord. The Baals are idols of other cultures, and we know from the scriptures that the people of Israel were prone to dabbling in Baal worship. You know how it is; sometimes when you need a little extra boost of luck you look at what other people are doing and you say, “What the heck. It might help. And it can’t hurt, right?
But the scriptures suggest again and again that, yes, it can actually hurt. When it involves turning away from God. Ahab was drawn into Baal worship. He led the people of Israel into Baal worship. It got really out of hand.
Ahab, the scriptures say, did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all the kings who came before him, and that was a lot of evil. As if it wasn’t enough for them to overpower the nation with the worship of false idols, Jezebel and Ahab began a process of killing off the prophets of the Lord God. Much like an attempted genocide. These were the problems that Elijah faced. But, without question, Elijah was up to the challenge.
During the third year of the drought, Elijah went to Ahab to tell him that God would send the long-awaited rains to Israel. On his way he encountered one of Ahab’s head servants, who literally fell on his face at the sight of Elijah, in fear and trembling. He knew he was on the wrong side.
When Elijah arrived, Ahab came out to meet him, saying, “Is that you, you old troubler of Israel?” Elijah, though, was not troubling Israel so much as troubling Ahab and Jezebel. He told the king, prepare for a showdown. Get the prophets of Baal and Asherah, the gods and goddesses that Jezebel adores; get all 850 of them out to Mount Carmel and we will see how they measure up against the God of Israel.
So Ahab said, alright, here we go, and he sent the full complement of Baal and Asherah prophets to Mount Carmel. All the people of Israel came out to watch the show. Elijah stood alone against all the king’s prophets. He directed that two bulls be provided. Let the prophets of Baal choose one and prepare it for sacrifice, but light no fire. Let them call on Baal to produce the fire to burn the sacrifice. So the prophets selected a bull, cut it up and laid it on their altar. Then they called on the name of Baal to answer them, to bring fire to the sacrifice. They limped around the altar all day long, crying out until their voices were hoarse. Nothing happened. They even slashed their own flesh with their swords, drawing their own blood, as was apparently the custom in Baal worship. Still nothing.
Then Elijah took the stage. He repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn apart by the Baal worshipers. He set the bull upon the altar, thoroughly drenched it with water. Then Elijah began to pray. “O Lord, I am your servant; I have done all these things at your bidding. Now answer me, Lord, that all these people may know that you are God.” And suddenly the soaking wet offering was in flames, and the fire consumed all the water surrounding the altar as well. The people fell down and said, “The Lord is God; the Lord is indeed God.” They rounded up the false prophets who were then executed.
After that, the rains came.
It was a powerful show for Elijah. But now he had kindled the wrath of Jezebel, which was nothing to shake a stick at. She sent word to Elijah that he was a dead man, and Elijah took her at her word. He was afraid, and he fled for his life.
Maybe he shouldn’t have been so afraid, though. The Lord had seen him through so much already. The Lord had shown great power in many ways. Before the showdown on Mount Carmel, there was the time he stayed with the widow of Zarephath, when a handful of meal and a little oil managed to feed her household for many days; when her son fell ill and died, but Elijah was able to revive him; all this by the power of God.
I wonder why Elijah did not have faith that the Lord would see him through this episode with Jezebel, just as God has carried him through so many other times. And maybe when he looked back on it later, Elijah saw it that way too; that he should have known that the Lord who had overwhelmed all the prophets of Baal, who had used the birds of the air and a poor widow of Zarephath to feed him, would protect him against Jezebel. But at this particular moment, Elijah was just too exhausted to think that through.
What Elijah needed was some down time and a little TLC.
I think because he knew that Jezebel had been going after the prophets of the Lord, Elijah really thought he was the only one left. He thought he was utterly alone against a fierce and vicious enemy. And even though he had triumphed in the battle that day, he feared he was losing the war.
It has been said that the words of Psalm 42 could have been written by Elijah, because they so well articulate the way he probably felt at this point in his life. Forgotten. Alone. Without hope.
And I wonder if some of us feel like Elijah at times. We look at the world around us, and we see too much violence. Too much hatred. We see evil seeming to hold the upper hand. I have heard too many people lately using the word hopeless to describe how they feel – particularly in the context of gun violence in our nation.
We see the efforts of men and women to make some constructive changes lead to nothing, again and again. And so we lose hope in our institutions and in our leaders. But it is when we have reached our human limits that we know, once again, that our hope does not reside in institutions, our hope is in God.
Elijah fell down in despair and lamented that he was all alone and without hope. But as it turned out there was hope for Elijah. Once again, God fed him and gave him rest. Take and eat, the angel said to Elijah, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.
Strengthened with food, water, and rest, Elijah journeyed on to the place where God had sent him – the Mount of Horeb. This is the place where God had spoken with Moses centuries earlier. Here Elijah tucked himself into a cave in the side of the mountain and waited there for the Lord.
A great wind came along, but the Lord was not in the wind. Then an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. At this point there was the sound of silence. And Elijah came out of the cave to greet the silence.
And in the silence, there was the voice of the Lord.
Now Elijah was ready to carry on with the work of his ministry for the Lord. And, as the Lord would tell him, he was not alone as he thought. There were thousands working on the Lord’s side with him.
In the work of ministry, of which we all are a part, there are intense highs and there are utterly abysmal lows. The Lord will carry us through it all.
The Lord will give us rest. We know from the gospels that Jesus stole away to a quiet place to pray when he needed it. And he told his disciples, “Come to me all you who are weary…”
The Lord will give us nourishment. We have only to remember the many times Jesus broke bread with others, and with us every time we gather at the table; feeding us in body and in spirit.
The Lord will give us hope. In truth, it is only in the Lord that we will find hope. So when we feel hopeless, in despair, fearing that nothing will ever change, let us turn to the Lord and receive rest…
And nourishment…
And hope to live and fight another day.
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Photo by Hillie Chan on Unsplash
