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Hey, church family. If you got your Bible, we're going to be back in First Kings again in our Devo time.
And we're going to just pick it up with this event with Elijah. In case you missed yesterday,
Elijah faces down 850 prophets bail. They dance around like crazy people and cut themselves
and passionately worship this false God. And the false God never shows up because he's a false God.
And that's what false gods do. They make promises they can't keep. And when you cry out to them,
they let you down.
And we're not talking about something three or four thousand years ago.
We're talking about something that happens three or four times a week in our own lives.
And so after Elijah calls down fire and God shows up in a mighty way and all of Israel bows down and worships God.
Elijah tells Ahab, King Ahab, all right, you need to go back and tell everybody what just happened.
And then this crazy thing happens.
Elijah turns the rain back on.
that's kind of cool because there'd have been a drought for three years.
And then he tells Ahab, get in your chariot,
you better take off and go fast lest you get bogged down in the rain.
Again, it hasn't rained for three years, but this is what he claims.
And then Ahab gets in his chariot and takes off, and the Bible says, I love this.
He says, in the hand of the Lord was on Elijah,
and he gathered up his garment and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezrael.
So imagine this in your mind.
There's Ahab.
He just seen all of his 850 prophets get wiped out by.
Elijah and the Lord, and now he's on his chariot, and he's heading back to town,
and then here comes like roadrunner Elijah with his robe hiked up,
just outrunning him all the way.
So we're going to pick it up in verse 19.
That's a little context where we are.
It says, and Ahab told Jezebel, that's his wife, all that Elijah has done.
And wouldn't you think in this moment that Elijah is feeling like he is on top of the world?
I mean, his faith must be bigger than anything.
He just called down fire from heaven, and it burnt up this bull offering.
It burnt up the stones.
It burned up the wood, and it burned up all the water that was there.
Out of nothing, Elijah, by faith, called on God, and God showed up in a way that is unbelievable.
And I hope you have those kind of moments in your life.
I do.
I hope there's some church experiences.
I hope maybe you're going on a mission trip or maybe in a prayer time with your disciple group,
or maybe it's that saturated where you, like, I mean, the presence of the Lord just falls down on you like fire,
and there is no doubt that the Lord is God in your life.
I would think that's what Elijah is feeling right now.
It says, Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
And then 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.
So Jezebel, the queen, sends a message to Elijah.
Elijah, I'm going to kill you.
Now, if I didn't know what the Bible said here,
I would think Elijah would say, well, bring it on, Jezebel.
I mean, who are you?
You false God worshiping and how are you even going to worship your gods anymore?
I killed all your prophets.
and you're not even the king.
I mean, what are you going to do to me?
I am Elijah, God's man.
And yet that is not what he does.
It says, then he was afraid.
Afraid.
Help me understand how you can face down 850 prophets
make these audacious claims
like God's going to send fire.
out of heaven. And then the next day, the first lady says, we're going to get you for that.
And then fear overtakes you. Fear is a crazy thing, isn't it? It's not logical. It's not.
It doesn't make much sense here. Sometimes many of you are afraid of things and other people
are trying to convince you that you should not be afraid of them. And it helps almost none,
does it? You see, the Bible tells us we know in 2 Timothy that God did not give us a spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and of self-discipline or self-control. Did you hear that?
That God didn't give us a spirit of fear. The fear is not just a feeling. Fear is not just
personality type. That fear is a spirit that does not come from God. And fear begins to twist the way
Elijah sees everything.
You see, fear is paralyzing.
Fear can cause us to lose all sense.
Fear can make us obsess over the, really,
some things that we should not be obsessed over.
The other thing fear does is, man,
fear projects like crazy.
Sometimes when we struggle with fear,
what we begin to do is to play the like, what if game.
And that is not a good game.
to play. The what if this happens? What if this happens to my child? And what if this happens to my marriage?
And what if these events line up and I don't have enough money and I don't have food to eat and nobody
likes me anymore? And what if and what if and what if? And maybe this is why Jesus says, don't be
anxious about tomorrow because tomorrow's got enough worries of its own, right? The Bible also says
that new mercies are given to us every morning. And I think sometimes the way fear paralyzes us is that
God has given you the mercies that you need to make it through today,
but he hasn't given you the mercies that you need to make it through tomorrow yet.
He will give them to you tomorrow.
And so you are worrying about things tomorrow that he has not given you mercies
to make it through yet.
Fear is paralyzing.
Fear is polarizing.
Fear makes us believe things that are not true.
Fear makes us doubt our beliefs and believe our doubts.
And he was afraid.
and he rose and he ran for his life and he came to Bershiba which belongs to Judah
and he left his servant there but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and he came
and he sat down under a broom tree and he asked that he might die you see this is why I believe
that fear is a spirit and not just a feeling just like the spirit of fear is whispering lies into your
brain. Listen, the enemy, if you have ever had any kind of like suicidal ideation or think that
because of the circumstances in your life that your best option is to not live life anymore,
there is something talking to you and that is not the spirit of God. It is the enemy who wants
to kill still and destroy you. First and foremost, if you've ever struggled with that, any kind of
depression, look, there's no shame or condemnation there. You need help. You need to raise your hand. You need to
tell somebody. You need to call us at the church. You need prayers. You need people, and you may need pills.
God sends all of those things to help. And this is what Elijah is thinking, that it would be better if he just dies.
He says, it is enough now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers. And he lay down and he slept under a broom tree.
And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, arise.
and eat. Listen, one of the things sometimes we need, when we are overwhelmed by this world,
when we are overwhelmed by fear and doubt and depression and anxiety and worry,
sometimes you know what you need, sometimes you need to take a nap and you need something
to eat. And I am not kidding at all. Sometimes when you can't get your like heartbeat in control
and you feel these anxious thoughts, sometimes,
it's that your whole life is out of rhythm.
Are you sleeping enough and are you eating okay?
This is what Elijah does.
He takes a nap and he gets up and he gets something to eat.
And notice, though, notice.
His last thoughts before he goes to bed is God, take me out of here.
And behold, an angel touched him and said to him.
No word angels, messenger.
God sends a messenger and says arise and eat.
What I want you to know is no matter where you are mentally,
and even in your mental health, God meets us right where we are.
Elijah does not have to get up and pull himself up by his bootstraps and dust himself off
and clean his thought life up and then show up to church.
No, no, no.
God pursues him right where he is and God is pursuing you right where you are.
And he says, arise and eat.
And he looked and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones
and a jar of water, and he ate and he drank, and he lay down again,
and the angel of the Lord came again a second time,
and he touched him and said, arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.
And he arose, and he ate and drank, and he went in the strength of that food,
40 days and 40 nights to Horeb, the Mount of God.
It's a pretty good food.
It got him going for 40 days and nights.
And there he came to a cave, and he lodged in it,
and behold, the word of the Lord, came to him and said,
what are you doing here, Elijah?
So when the Lord pursued Elijah, Elijah got up and ran further away from the Lord and noticed what the Lord does.
The Lord does not say, well, I gave you a chance, but the Lord continuously pursues his rebellious children.
The Lord continuously pursues his rebellious children.
There is no too far gone.
You can't outrun God.
You can't out sin his grace.
You can't screw up so bad that he doesn't want you anymore.
He knew what he was getting when he adopted you, when he chose you, when he predestined you.
He knew all of you, and he gave all of himself to save all of you.
And he chases you down right where you are and says, what are you doing here?
And he 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.
Elijah, he basically starts to have a pity party for himself.
He says, God, this isn't fair.
This isn't fair.
I did my part for you.
I spoke your word.
I'm a prophet.
And now look where I am.
People want to kill me.
And he said, go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.
And behold, the Lord passed by.
And a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broken pieces,
the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.
And after the wind, an 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, the sound of a low whisper. I think the King James says, a still small voice. And when Elijah heard it,
he wrapped his face in his cloak and he went out and he stood at the interest of the cave. And behold,
there came a voice to him and said, what are you doing here, Elijah? And he says, I have been very
jealous for the Lord. They just redo the whole thing all over again. What are you doing here, Elijah?
He 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 a sword, and I, even I only am
left, and they seek my life to take it away. And the Lord said to him, go return on your way to the
wilderness of Damascus. Here's what happens. Elijah comes off this high, holy moment of calling down fire
out of heaven and facing down 850 prophets of Bales, and he the hero, then fear begins to creep
in his life, and he gets to a place where he is in utter desperation. And he runs away from God,
he runs away from the ministry, runs away from his family, he runs away from his responsibility.
Ultimately, he's trying to run away from his life. The Lord chases him down in that place,
wakes him up, gives him something to eat. Says, come on, let's go. We got work to do. We got work to
do. He runs farther. The Lord chases him even further. And then the place that Elijah hears the Lord's
voice most clearly is not in the grand event of the earthquake and the hurricane and the firestorm.
But the place that he hears the Lord's voice most clearly is just in his still small voice.
let me tell you one of the ways that the Lord wants to speak to you.
In your depression, in your anxiety, in your worry, in your crazy circumstances,
one of the ways the Lord wants to speak to you is through the still small voice of His Word.
I would encourage you.
I would encourage you.
While the grandiose events are awesome, you know, saturated and beach baptism and an Easter service,
things are awesome, man. It's awesome when God's people get together and make much of a Lord.
But another thing that's awesome is when the believer, even when their circumstances are shaky,
especially when their circumstances are shaky, especially when they want to run and hide and cover
their face. And yet, they quiet themselves, they get along with God's word and the word of God
is spoken in that still small voice right in here.
And the Lord says to him, go, return on your way.
In other words, sometimes the best way forward is you've got to turn around and go back to what you were running from.
And basically, the next things, the next little section of what God calls Elijah to do is nothing compared to facing down 850 false prophets.
You're going to anoint some people and you're going to pick a successor.
In other words, God just speaks to his soul and says, come on, come back to your prophet world.
We've got some prophet stuff for you to do and not the grandiose stuff.
They're just kind of day by day by day by day stuff.
And this is a pivotal moment in the life of Elijah, a pivotal moment in the life of Elijah.
Because he does not let his fear overrule him and overrun him and overwhelm him.
somehow by faith he chooses to get up and to just take one step and follow after God day by day.
And I hope you will too.
God, we know that fear is a liar.
That fear wants us to believe things about you that are not true.
Fear wants us to doubt your word.
Fear wants us to doubt your will towards us.
Fear wants us to doubt your work on the cross on behalf of us.
but God, faith,
faith gives us eyes to see
and a heart to believe
that you are a good father
that sent your son
that paid the price
even for us.
And so God, we pray
that we will continuously
be the people
that can hear
that still small voice of faith
that you speak to us
through your word
by the blood of Jesus Christ.
We love you.
And we thank you
that we can love you
because you love us first.
We pray it in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Thank you.