Truth Unites - How to Overcome Discouragement (A Sermon on I Kings 19)

Episode Date: February 19, 2024

In this video Gavin Ortlund preaches a sermon on I Kings 19 about how God's perspective enables us to overcome discouragement.  Truth Unites exists to promote gospel assurance through theological depth. Gavin Ortlund (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is President of Truth Unites and Theologian-in-Residence at Immanuel Nashville. SUPPORT: Tax Deductible Support: https://truthunites.org/donate/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/truthunites FOLLOW: Twitter: https://twitter.com/gavinortlund Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TruthUnitesPage/ Website: https://truthunites.org/

This video is going to be a sermon on how to overcome discouragement. As a Christian, we're going to look at First Kings 19. Let me just explain. For those watching the video, people just listening to the audio will miss this. But there's a desk behind me. My daughter made, this is our library. She made herself the librarian. And I don't know if you can see there's...

She made herself a fake computer. I guess you can't read this sign, but it made me happy. No electronics. That made me happy. She's got all kinds of cute things like that, and then she made me a library card. So I'm not about to take that. And then she makes us checkout books. And we're just like, okay, we'll play along with this, so it's too much fun.

So I wasn't about to take that down before filming because I don't want to mess with, you know, healthy imagination. But that's completely irrelevant to the sermon. Let me start off in this way, talking about something that also will seem a little random, and that's, I was watching a documentary about Taylor Swift on Netflix. It's a couple years old now. It's a good documentary. And people make fun of me for talking about Taylor Swift. I think she's fascinating.

I think it's fascinating. She's very talented. She works very hard. When I lived in Ohio, I'd see celebrities now and again. I learned a little bit just to have compassion for celebrities. Their life is, there's unique forms of suffering when you lose anonymity and all the things that you go through like that. But anyway, it's interesting.

her career unfold and how she responds to that, it's interesting. But the reason I'm mentioning this is there was one particular moment where it was very poignant because she achieved this great success. I think it was after the second time that she won album of the year. And by the way, I'm coming over a cold. Sorry if my voice sounds off. She won an album of the year at the Grammy's second time. Now she's won it like, I don't know, four times, something like that. But after this time, she was talking about it and she was like, now what? Her words, that was it. My life had never been better. That was all you wanted. That was all you focused on. You get to the mountaintop and you look around and you're like, what now? Those were her words. Boy, that really touched my heart. I don't know

if anyone out there can relate to those feelings. I can relate to that. I love to set goals over the last several years, I've set various different goals and a lot of the goals I've met. And sometimes you have that feeling of, well, now what? And it's kind of this, it's actually a very painful, empty and dark kind of feeling to have. At several moments in my life, I've had that. When I turned in my doctoral dissertation, I felt great. It was a Sunday afternoon. I felt great the rest of that day, felt great that evening. That Monday morning, I woke up and I was really down for about a month. That one took a long time to recover from. Those of us who are very driven and, goal-oriented sometimes experience this, where after you've accomplished something, there's this

anticlimactic feeling, and you're asking deeper questions, like, well, what was that for? All that striving? What did it result in? Over the last several years, I've had several goals like that, and so I can relate to this question. I wonder if you can relate to that. Here's the thing that is so poignant about that for me, and that kind of sets up the problem that this sermon will hopefully then speak into is this feeling of discouragement can come.

It certainly can come after failure. We all know what it's like to be discouraged after failure, but there's another kind of discouragement that comes after success, where you're asking these deeper questions like, what now? What is it that makes you say, now what? Sometimes it's failure when you're so discouraged that you're saying, you know, what do I do now? I don't know how to go on, but sometimes it's success when things are going well in your life. in both seasons of life. We can have that sense of emptiness asking, now what?

There's a great passage in the screw tape letters. One of the demons tempting another demon, or excuse me, coaching another demon on how to tempt human being, says our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring but still intending to do our enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken and still obeys. I love that quote.

those moments will come, you know, where it looks like everything has fallen apart, where you're basically asking, now what? In other words, how do I move forward? I wonder if you feel that more in success or in failure. I feel it more in success. I'm being really honest, really vulnerable here, but that is one of the darkest feelings to ever wonder. When you get to what you think will deliver the ultimate, and then you're saying, what's

the next thing, you know? And of course we know in our minds that the answer to that is God, because God is infinite, but it's a lesson we keep learning. I think that's what's going on. Something like this is going on in First Kings 19 with the prophet Elijah. He's asking, now what? A few weeks back, I did a sermon on First Kings 17, where God is providing for Elijah through Ravens.

We talked about wilderness seasons of life. The cool thing about that is it leads him to this incredible spirit. breakthrough in 1st Kings 18 at Mount Carmel. So you go from the ravens and God's modest provision in chapter 17 right afterwards, fire falls from heaven. It's unbelievable. It's like revival at the Super Bowl. I always compare First Kings 18 if during the halftime show at the Super Bowl, revival broke out. That's like what happens with Elijah. Public vindication of the true God. It's unbelievable. And you'd think that he would be happy, but instead he's asking, now what? the deepest spiritual success in his life.

You know, and he falls, you'll see there's this like psychological disintegration in Elijah. And a lot of the commentators are trying to figure out what is going on inside of him. What I want to do in this sermon is try to get God's perspective on Elijah's situation and his discouragement in First Kings 19 and see how that can speak into our lives. This is a deep, deep topic. It's going to go down. into some deep places, maybe in our hearts. It did for me as I was preparing it. And then we get God's perspective on Elijah. Hopefully that can help you and me. So we'll just go through in three stages. We'll walk through the story. We'll look at Elijah's fear and then Elijah's flight and then

Elijah's fate. First Elijah's fear. Let me just read how the story starts off. Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Okay, that's the success. That's the mountain top experience. That's First King's 18. Verse two. 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. Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But 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, oh Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.

Just hear those words, it is enough. Does that feel poignant? Oh, he's saying, now what? But he's saying it in a very deep way. Now, let's try to understand. What is this fear? Why is he afraid? It's kind of puzzling. Think of it like this. I use this illustration when I taught this to a youth group many years ago. Imagine that your school is attacked by terrorists and everyone is hurted into the gymnasium, but in front of the entire school, you stand up and single-handedly disarm the terrorists, and you save everybody, and the police arrive, and you're the hero, and it's in all the papers, and it's public vindication. And then the next morning, the principal of the school threatens to expel you, and you're terrified, and you run away. Kind of a silly illustration, but it maybe can

help state the problem here for us. What is going on with Elijah, where why would you be afraid of one person sending a secret message when you've just had public vindication over 450 people? You just face this huge threat. Why are you afraid from a small threat? And especially because, if you noticed in verse 2, Jezebel invokes her deities, so may the gods do to me. So this is another contest between Bail and the Lord. Jezebel has been one of the chief promoters of Baalism of idolatry in the nation. She's been persecuting the prophets of the Lord. She's invoking her deities.

This is another power contest. Elijah should know more than anybody who is going to win that contest. So why would he be afraid? He just saw God's incredible vindication in chapter 18. The Hebrew of verse 3 is very stark. It just says he feared, he rose, he ran. And you get this sense of this. immediacy, like he just bolts out of the room. And then he goes for a long way, according to verse

three, all the way down to Beersheba, that's in the far south, about 120 miles, ordinarily a six-day journey. He leaves his servant there, and then he goes off all alone. So several of the things going on here are puzzling, and they're making you wonder, why is Elijah seemingly overreacting like this? He seems to be acting kind of impulsively here. A lot of people go for a psychological explanation, they basically say, well, he's burnt out. After an extraordinary exertion, you're more emotionally vulnerable. So Elijah is responding from his depletion and his exhaustion and so forth. There's probably some truth to that, but it's more than just that. It's not just a psychological crisis. It's a theological crisis that Elijah is going through here. And we can see

that from what he says. A lot of times, by the way, this is a little tip that's sometimes helpful. when you're reading Hebrew narrative, it's very sparse. It doesn't tell you what's going on, what people are feeling. But the words people speak give you a sense of what is going on inside them. And what Elijah says here in verse four helps us understand. And it shows us he's not just being a coward here because he actually wants to die. So it's not like, oh, no, Jezebel's threatening me. I might die. You know, he's experiencing some kind of fear. We're going to call it discouragement. I'm using that. that word, maybe the word despair would be a better word than discouragement. This is a deep sermon in the sense of addressing a really deep and tough topic. So hang with me through it because the good application point actually won't get till the end. But I've got three application points, all of which I hope encourage you, because we're all going to go through this. In fact, that's the first application point.

But nonetheless, the point is Elijah is afraid, not that he might die, but he's afraid. that his life has never meant anything to begin with. It's a fear that makes you want to die. It's the fear of discouragement. It's the fear of asking, now what? What's it all for? What is everything I've been doing? The way we know that is because of his language here.

Okay? So he references his fathers. Now, throughout First and Second Kings, I'll put up some examples. Prophets and their disciples are often depicted in the father-son language. So Elijah's probably not talking about his biological parents here, but he's talking about those who preceded him in the prophetic office. And he's saying something like, kill me God, for I've done no better than all those prophets who came before me. Jezebel's threat affects Elijah so deeply because it represents a larger

message of failure to him. It's like he's saying, look, even after the greatest victory of my life, the royal house is still corrupt. We've had a popular level grassroots revival, but it's not resulted in any kind of permanent institutional change. Mount Carmel came and went and changed nothing. It's like I pulled out a weed and I came back the next day and the weed is still there. In other words, the greatest victory of my life didn't make a dent. I've accomplished nothing more than, he probably want, he probably expected and hoped that after the incredible miracle of First Kings 18, that it would result in an institutional change at the level of leadership. And it In fact, that really is true that First Kings chapter 20, Ahab is still very active. He has many military victories.

Judgment doesn't come for him until chapter 21 when Ahab and Jezebel murder Naboth and steal his vineyard, if you know that story. And even then, it's delayed because Ahab humbles himself. So the victory over the royal house that Elijah is expecting doesn't happen. and he's driven to this deep fear of discouragement or despair, a crushed spirit. The lonely moments after the revival you've been praying for your entire life comes, and then you wake up on a Monday morning and you realize the problems are still out there and you're wondering, now what? I wonder if you've ever felt something like that.

That is a terrible voice. Oh, boy, I have nothing but compassion. If you like me can relate to that, where after success, you feel the most vulnerable. And you're saying, am I really making any difference? I love movies, so I thought of a couple,

three different movie scenes that helped me emotionally relate to Elijah at this moment in the story. Maybe they can help you. Number one, Bruce Wayne in the Dark Night, 2008 movie, after Rachel Dawes dies. And he's questioning everything. He's utterly crushed.

He's disillusioned. He's just sitting there. And Alfred is trying to come him and he basic, one of the things he says, I meant to inspire good, not madness. That's the deep fear of discouragement of wondering, am I doing anything good at all? Second thing I thought of is Enigo Montoya in the Princess Bride, when he gives up his pursuit to find the six-fingered man. Remember this scene? His spirit has crushed. His friend Fezik has to nurse him back to health. He's just completely disillusioned. He wants to give up. That's Elijah.

That is where Elijah is at. The third scene I thought of is in the great movie Toy Story, when the character Buzz Lightyear realizes he is just a toy. And his whole worldview is shattered. And he sings a song that has these lyrics, and I'm not going to sing it for you. I already know, I already feel my voice is off. Sorry. My head is kind of congested, so hopefully I'll have mental clarity to finish this.

But the song has these lyrics. I mean, I have no shame at all. in quoting pop culture and children's movies because there's a lot of deep stuff in them and a lot of philosophy in them. But these words, all the things I thought I'd be, all the brave things I'd done vanished like a snowflake with the rising of the sun. Now, if you think about what he's saying, that's Elijah, or that feeling we can all relate to when Taylor Swift is saying, well, this was the mountaintop experience. Now what? Buzz Lighty, you're saying, you know, all of that. Everything is turned upside down now. And even though it's a children's movie, that's a real emotion.

And probably, you know, I have to say to do some application. So here's the first most brutal point of application that I think we need to hear that actually is encouraging. If we can, well, I hope it's encouraging. And that is, we should make peace up front with the fact that we may have moments like that, where we are asking, now what? In fact, if you're a follower of Jesus. Some of you I know watch my videos, God bless you and you're not a Christian. Maybe you're interested. I'm so honored by that. I hope my videos are helpful for you. Those of you who are followers of Christ, I got to say this, and I think this is actually helpful for us to know, following Jesus is really, really hard. Sometimes people don't

shoot straight about that. It's not easy to follow Christ. It's hard, just to be a Christian. is hard. And there will be times. I mean, look at the book of Psalms. Look at the Psalms of Lament. There will be times where we feel that way, where we feel those emotions. Now what? You know, where you feel like those three characters I just mentioned or Elijah in this passage where you feel forsaken? Let me put up that C.S. Lewis quote again. Look at these words. A universe from which every trace of God seems to have vanished? I think that happens sometimes. Just because as you're a Christian doesn't mean you never struggle with doubts. Doesn't mean it never goes deep down into your heart, these deep fears, these deep anxieties, these deep questions, or these times

where you're questioning is what I'm doing really making a difference. I think it helps to know at the outset that when those moments come, you know, make peace upfront with the fact that those moments will come. And we can know that we don't need to lose heart when they come because they even happened to Christ. Now, I'm not saying it was the exact same for Christ, but he went, whatever that dark fear of First Kings 19.3 is. Jesus faced the pinnacle expression of discouragement and darkness. in the Garden of Gassimony, on the way to the cross, and then in his final choking hours. He faced that terrible experience to the extreme, and we know how his story turned out. God rose him from the dead.

He took that very event and made it into the greatest good. Therefore, we can trust him when we're there, too, but I'm just saying right now it helps to expect it. And just, you know, make peace upfront with the fact. There will be times where you can't understand what God is doing, and you'll be discouraged at times. and that's just, it kind of helped, I think it's encouraging because it normalizes it, and you're like, okay, I'm not crazy. You know, following Jesus, we'll have these times where you're asking those deep questions, and that's a normal Christian experience. It doesn't mean you're like a fake Christian or a bad Christian. Okay, but obviously we need more than that, so let's keep going. Let's see how God meets Elijah.

Now God is going to start to respond to him in this passage first during this flight that he makes. So just a brief, this point is, this second point of the A sermon's more parenthetical brief one. In just a second, we're going to get to the substance of it, and Elijah is about to have the conversation of his life. But it's so significant that it doesn't go straight to that. God doesn't start there. He starts by sending an angel to care for Elijah's basic physical needs.

I can't remember if I read these verses yet. I'll just put them up, and you can read. Basically, an angel comes to him, and there's two. meals and he sleeps before he goes on this long journey, 40 days, 40 nights to Horeb. I think you see God's kindness in that, but I think you also see God's wisdom. Before Elijah, before God does anything else with Elijah, he says, get some sleep and eat some food. And, you know, the reason that stands out to me is sometimes when we are discouraged, we over-spiritualize the situation, and we assume there must be some spiritual cause,

and we just overlook our basic physical and emotional and other human needs. I'm going to speak to this because I actually think this is a big problem, especially for people in ministry. There's another passage in the screw tape letters where the one devil counsels the other. Keep your man in a condition of false spirituality. Never let him notice the medical aspect. Keep him wondering what pride or lack of faith has delivered him into your hands. when a simple inquiry into what he has been eating or drinking for the last 24 hours would show him once your ammunition comes.

Lots of wisdom in that. One of the things I've discovered, and the reason I'm going to just pause to speak to this, is I think Christians often neglect self-care. And especially like a holistic approach to self-care, looking at your exercise, your sleep, your Sabbath rest, taking a break from social media. You know, so many people don't organize their life wisely in these areas. a pastor friend of mine told me that he was thinking about leaving the ministry, but he took a sabbatical, and he felt so much better after his sabbatical that he realized, I thought I needed to leave the ministry, I actually just needed a vacation. And it's a reminder for me of take care of your basic needs. God takes that seriously. He took it seriously with Elijah in this passage. I had a friend in

Pasadena, a wonderful man. He'd always tell me, we'd be coffee, we'd be parting ways, he'd say, remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint, because he knew I tend to work and work and work. And I always think of those words. It's so true, it's a marathon, not a sprint. If you feel guilty for taking personal time off, for seeing a counselor, for spending money on a vacation, things like this, remember these verses. You know, that angel that brought the food was not a waste. that angel wasn't thinking, oh, this is all I have to do, you know, Elijah needed some food. He needed some sleep. And we need those things too, and it's okay to acknowledge our humanity in those ways.

In my observation, Christians often neglect. Two of our basic needs that we often tend to neglect and over-spiritualize are friends and hobbies. A lot of Christians are lonely, especially young men. You know, if you don't have someone to share your heart with and how you're doing, that's a problem. hobbies, life-giving things that are fun to give your heart to. All right, that's kind of an aside, but it's important, and it's, I think it's right here in the text. But here's the main thing. Third point, this is where Elijah's fate ultimately ends up, and this is after he arrives at Mount Horeb. Now, here's where it gets interesting. I'm going to shuffle my feet so that you might hear the dust scrape here. Mount Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai, where Moses encountered God and receive the law, and there's all kinds of parallels, clear parallels between Elijah and First

Kings 19 on this mountain and Moses in Exodus 33 and Exodus 34 in the same exact mountain, same time frame, the 40-day and 40-night journey. That's how long Moses was up on the mountain, that's how long Elijah journeys. And then the similar activity of what we call a theophani or an appearance of God, where the person is sort of hidden from it in a cave or a cleft in the rock. Moses, it's a cleft in the rock. He's hidden. Elijah is in a cave and God passes by. Then both those two figures, both of those events seem to be connected to the transfiguration. Both Moses and Elijah, same thing, on a mountain appearance of God, so forth. So First Kings 19 is this profound passage that has all these larger connections to the biblical story.

but Elijah's experience is so tragic and so different than Moses's. Verse 9, then he came to a cave and lodged in it, and behold, the word of the Lord came to him. Now that's the first time in the whole chapter. You hear the word of the Lord mentioned. Earlier in chapter 17 and chapter 18, Elijah has constantly been responding to the word of the Lord. It's been absent up till now, which suggests that perhaps Elijah has been acting on his own up until now. And the word of Lord said to him, what are you doing here, Elijah? He said, now listen to these words.

God is sort of gently confronting him. And Elijah responds, and this response shows he's lost perspective somewhat. There's some truth here, but there's a lot of spin. One commentator says that of the six claims made, five of them are questionable. Elijah says, I've been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the people of Israel, have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, killed, your prophets with the sword, and I even I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away. Now, God is confronting him here. God isn't asking him this question because God is uncertain of

something. It's kind of like God asking, where are you in Genesis 3.9 to Adam? There's a gentle confrontation here happening, and Elijah's response really puts the focus on his own righteousness, his own mistreatment. There's a sense of woundedness and self-pity. He has kind of a remnant mentality. Oh, woe is me. It's all up to me. Everybody else has fallen away, but I alone am standing, you know, this way of thinking. And so God responds to Elijah once again with great gentleness. He doesn't directly deny his words. He gives the manifestation of his presence, and then he's going to ask him the same question. We're going to see what happens. But the manifestation of his presence is fascinating. Verse 11, 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. Now there, Elijah responds, and when he heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Very dramatic story, right? What's interesting here is that God sends the wind, the earthquake, and the fire, and each time it says, but the Lord was not in it, then God sends the low whisper, or the, in the King James, still small voice, but this time the corresponding explanatory phrase, but the Lord was not in it, is missing. And the implication seems to be God is manifesting himself to Elijah specifically through this least climactic event, this gentle whisper. And it's only then that Elijah responds, and goes out to stand on the mount. Now, the meaning of this is disputed a little bit,

but many of the commentaries are basically saying what I think is probably right, and that's they're detecting an association between these louder natural disasters and Elijah's ministry experiences and expectations from Mount Carmel. Here's one older commentary, really good one. The design of the vision was to show to the fiery zeal of the prophet, who wanted to reform everything by means of the tempest, the gentle way, which God pursues and to proclaim the long-suffering and mildness of his nature. In other words, God is saying to Elijah, Elijah, I don't just work through the fire from heaven in First Kings 18, this national revival. I also work in the gentle whisper of First Kings

19, like preserving a remnant. What we'll see God is about to say. In a moment we're going to talk about this is like in our lives, basically try to think. of the question for this sermon, you know, in the First King 17th sermon, I said, do you look for the ravens? We can almost ask here, can you hear God in the whisper? Unfortunately, Elijah seems to not hear, not get the memo. God asks him the same question. He gives the exact same answer word for word. Note to the wise out there. If God ever asks you a question and you answer the question and then God does a theophani, it asks you the same question. Think twice before just given the exact same answer.

There seems to be perhaps some stubbornness or at least a lack of responsiveness and understanding in Elijah here. And so he is effectively demoted. I've had some people challenge that, but I think that's true. Look at verse 15. Basically, I'll put these verses up. You can read them. I'll summarize the import of them.

Elijah, God is saying three basic things. Number one, Elijah, you are fired. I think it's at the end of verse 17, or end of verse 16, you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. So it looks like Elijah is being replaced with Elijah, even though it doesn't take place right away. Eventually happens. So the first thing is, Elijah, you're relieved of duty. The second thing is, God is saying, the sky is not falling. I still have a plan to execute judgment and to root out the idolatry.

and then the third thing God says is Elijah you're not alone the remnant mentality is actually wrong and it's it's distorted you're missing things you're missing context and there's this beautiful statement I have 7,000 others all the needs it's like God is boasting in these people you know oh this is so relevant to our world right now to think about this what do we learn from this story just to finish off here as I think about the state of our world right now. I'm deeply concerned. I just heard the other day, Esther and I were talking about another pastor friend of ours. Another, another, who's disqualified himself. He's out of ministry. It's just like, we, it was so, it's at a point now. It's like, it feels like people are dropping like flies, and I have to believe there's just

dark powers at work right now. There's darkness in the world. And there's pain and there's despair, and there's so much discouragement. That's why I'm doing these sermons, actually. I'm drawing from own ministry experiences and these stories which have frankly these two stories first king 17 first kings 19 have sustained me in my ministry and so to some to in light of the suffering of the world for what what does this story give us i would just say it reminds us to when we are discouraged to simply keep trusting god even when it seems like god's purpose has failed we should never think that the sky is falling god is at work in ways that we don't know about fully In his bitterness, Elijah falls into this remnant mentality and he loses sight of God's broader purposes.

And he assumes that he understands things more than he actually does. But the fact is, God is still faithful to his people in 1st Kings 19. He is still judging evil. He is still preserving a remnant. He is still fulfilling his promises. The story is still moving forward. But here's the problem. Elijah's ministry expectations are too narrow.

They don't allow for the broad. range of strategies that God employs, not just the revival and the fire from heaven, but the gentle whisper. And I think we need that right now. In a time of so much destruction, we need to be, you know, for example, we in the modern West, we Western Christians, we American Christians can fall into a remnant mentality very easily. We see, oh, the church is suffering here, therefore we think the church is just suffering. Well, no, it may be suffering here, but actually in the Southern hemisphere, many places. The gospel is just surging forward, even in certain context in the United States that are less visible to us. God is doing, you know, there's certain parts. I remember a city

in the northeast learning about how certain kinds of churches that are filled with immigrants are just booming, even while like the established churches are struggling. But a lot of those established churches, we may not always be aware of all that God is doing. It's just a reminder to be humble and to recognize the broad ways that God is working. You know, Tim Keller in a sermon on this passage talks about the humbling multiplicity of God. And that is referring to the fact that God uses a range of different strategies

to accomplish his purposes. It's a happy thought that God is strategic. To accomplish the goals of his kingdom, God is resourceful. He uses revival. He uses, but he also, uses remnants. He sends fire from heaven, but he also speaks through a gentle whisper. When do we need to remember that? Well, a couple examples to finish. Number one, when our ministry or our Christian life

looks different than we expect, and we have too narrow a range of focus. You know, for me, I'll give an example. I pray, I think all the time, and pray all the time for a revival. I want to give my life to renewal in the church. I would love there to be a third great awakening. It's desperately needed. I almost sometimes feel like, well, what are we going to do without that? Because it feels like American evangelicalism is like imploding in many ways. And so you say, okay, that's kind of, you know, you could be tempted to the First King's 19 feeling. But then you say, God is resourceful. And you say, the sky is not falling. And you pray for, what, you know, I pray for like First King's 18 type revival, but I have to remember also,

God is at work in ways I can't see, and I should never narrow my expectation of what success looks like for God's kingdom. I've got to be open. Listen for the gentle whisper you can barely hear. And the prayer is a humbling one, but it's hard to pray, but it's good to pray. Lord, help me to be open, not only to what you want to do, but to how you want to do it. Another time I think we need this, I'm speaking personally here again. Maybe you can relate is when God's kingdom appears to experience another significant loss. How many scandals? I mean, I've had times like this where I've said,

I don't think we can take any more scandals in the church. And those are understandable feelings, but we still have to remember God is never thwarted by that. God's plan is inexorable. And so, yes, we should grieve because they cause damage, but we should never panic and say, you know, everything is lost, all is lost. That's falling into Elijah's mentality in 1st Kings 19 that the Lord is confronting him in.

A third time we need this, I think, is just when we doubt the goodness of God personally. And here's what I'll leave you with. Oh, this is so happy. Don't click off just yet. If you made it this far, make it two more minutes because this is a happy ending. God is patient with Elijah throughout this process. God is not knee-jerk. God is not, you know, oh, one strike you're out.

He's caring for Elijah. He's engaging with Elijah. you know, even after his formal removal from ministry, God does not abandon him. God doesn't leave his soldiers on the battlefield. God is caring for Elijah here, but here's what's so wonderful. At the end of his life, Second Kings 2.11, I'll put it up, and I'll put up a picture if I can find a good one. Elijah is transported to heaven in, don't miss the irony, a chariot of fire and a whirlwind. Elijah's dreams for fire and glory come true.

probably in some ways more wonderfully than he could have ever guessed. Do you see God's kindness in that? I can't believe that's just an accident. It's almost like Elijah, that fire and that wind, you get it after all. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this. I think I can say this as a minister of the gospel. I think I can say this based upon the gospel in your seasons of discouragement. This is the divine perspective that you need.

God can be trusted. You can trust God. he is looking out for you, not just in this big way if he's going to accomplish his purposes, but he's going to care for you. And just as Elijah, when he was being transported miraculously to heaven, didn't look back on his life and say, oh, yeah, you know, that wasn't worth it. I wish I had never been a prophet. No, no, no, no. When you and I get to heaven, we will look back and we will say, God, you were worthy of my trust. Every minute I spent trusting you was a good one. and you might say, well, how do I really know that God is worthy of my trust in the light of, you know, I'm facing deep discouragement. I'm facing real problems. I can't see how it's all going to work out. I would just point us again to the cross. There is, I'm not minimizing the pain and suffering we feel. There is real pain, but a God who was willing to die for us as we have in the gospel, as we have at the cross of Christ, is a God we can control.

trust because the happy ending will somehow come about, though we can't see it now. My final comment to leave you with, I mentioned Taylor Swift and that scene in the documentary. So after that, I mentioned to my wife, I was talking to her about all this, and she said, oh, you know the crazy thing? That documentary is already several years old. Since then, her career has continued to shoot forward. She's accomplished new things beyond that. And that made me happy for some reason, because it's like a hundred hundred people.

her moment she was asking, now what? Well, there was a lot more that she was coming. Now, that's just pop music. Think about this for the kingdom of God and for your life. When we ask the question, I'll say it this boldly, hoping I'm not overstepping. When you ask the question, now what? The proper answer in the gospel of Jesus Christ is, the best is yet to come. Keep going. Keep trusting God. I think a Christian can say that. In the gospel, the best is always yet to come for the follower of Jesus, and that's you and me if we've put our faith in him. So when you're feeling the discouragement, keep trusting the Lord. I hope First Kings 19 gives you some perspective about that. All right, thanks for watching, everybody. If you would like to support Truth Unites, do so only,

only if it is a source of joy for you in your heart. But you can do that on the website or through Patreon. Website is the way to do it in a tax-deductible way. I'm trying to gain support for my ministry this year as I move forward and steward the ministry God's given to me. So, but thanks for watching everybody. May the Lord bless you and may he give you a perspective through all this that gives you encouragement and join me in praying for revival. That's what I want Truth Unites to be about, is catalyzing something healthy because there's a lot of destruction right now. Spiritual destruction and disintegration right now. Thanks for watching everybody. We'll see you next time.