Pastor Jeff Anders continues Elijah — God’s Praying Prophet on Sunday morning. Elijah is still in 1 Kings 19, but now the prophet got up. Pastor Anders again asked why God let His praying prophet get so low. He reviewed what Elijah received under the juniper tree, the rest, provision, strength, and touch of God, and then added two more: the voice of God and the direction of God. He closed with three more people God let get low before sending them in a new direction: Jonah, Peter, and Joseph. The text is 1 Kings 19:1–21, with John 21.
When He Got to Praying, the Prophet Got Up
Every time Elijah got to praying, everything started looking up.
- The rain dried up (1 Kings 17).
- The provision showed up — by the brook Cherith and at the widow’s house.
- The dead rose up — the widow of Zarephath’s son.
- The sacrifice burned up — one simple little prayer on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18).
- The clouds opened up — the three and a half year drought was broken.
Now in chapter 19, when he got to praying, the prophet got up, and God got to talking to him. If he got up, he must have been down, and boy was he ever down. He went a day’s journey into the wilderness, sat under a juniper tree, and prayed to die: it is enough; take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers (1 Kings 19:4). Maybe you know something about that point: I’ve had all I can take.
How He Got So Low
Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, and she sent him a message: by this time tomorrow you will be as dead as the prophets you slew (1 Kings 19:1–2). Pastor Anders imagined Elijah’s phone going off with a text from Jezebel, or maybe a post on his Facebook page. Elijah had looked fearless on Mount Carmel. Now he was afraid and full of anxiety, and he ran for his life to Beersheba in Judah, out of Israel’s territory, and left his servant there (1 Kings 19:3). He was exhausted, hungry, disappointed, fearful, anxious, and lonely, convinced he was the only one left and that she was trying to kill him (1 Kings 19:10).
Why Did God Let It Happen?
We understand how he got into that frame of mind. The question is why God allowed it. God would take care of Jezebel later; the dogs would see to that. He could have stopped it at any time. But God was doing a work in this man’s life.
- The rest of God — beginning in verse 5, God let him sleep. Sometimes God lets us go through experiences like this so we learn to rest in Him, the rest of faith and trust.
- The provision of God — God’s own food, exactly what he needed. Sometimes God brings us really low because there is something He wants to give us that we wouldn’t receive any other time.
- The strength of God — the angel came a second time and said the journey was too great for him, and he went in the strength of that food (1 Kings 19:7–8). God was about to move him in a new direction and strengthened him for the task. Sometimes God lets you get down so He can strengthen you.
- The touch of God — the angel touched him, and then touched him a second time (1 Kings 19:7). In any other position, he might not have experienced that touch. All of us need the touch of God, and sometimes God has to position us to receive it.
The Voice of God (1 Kings 19:9–14)
God also allowed all of this so Elijah could experience the voice of God. After forty days and forty nights on that food, which Pastor Anders said is nothing like anything he has ever eaten, Elijah came to Horeb and lodged in a cave (1 Kings 19:8–9).
The Question God Asked
Behold, the word of the Lord came to him: What doest thou here, Elijah? (1 Kings 19:9). In other words, what are you doing hiding in a cave? Elijah answered that he had been very jealous for the Lord, that Israel had killed the prophets, and that he alone was left and they were seeking his life (1 Kings 19:10). God asked again later, and Elijah repeated the same answer (1 Kings 19:13–14).
God knows everything. When He asks a question, it is not for information. It is for revelation. He is trying to show us something. Maybe God would ask us the same thing: Why are you hiding? Why are you so fearful and timid? Why are you holding back? Why are you where you are?
The Lesson God Taught
God told Elijah to go stand on the mount before the Lord. Then the Lord passed by (1 Kings 19:11).
- A great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces, a ferocious, tornado-like roar with things flying everywhere. But the Lord was not in the wind (1 Kings 19:11).
- An earthquake shook it up. But the Lord was not in the earthquake.
- A fire burned it up, like the fire on Mount Carmel. But the Lord was not in the fire (1 Kings 19:12).
- And after the fire, a still small voice (1 Kings 19:12).
God blew it up, shook it up, and burned it up, and there was no word from God in any of it. When Elijah heard the still small voice, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave (1 Kings 19:13).
Think of everything Elijah had seen: the drought, the ravens, the meal and oil, a boy raised from the dead, fire falling on Carmel, and a storm that broke the drought. He was used to the big and mighty things. Now God had positioned him to learn to hear His whisper. He was desperate to hear from God, and he was learning how to listen.
We may wish God would send fire down like He did on Mount Carmel, and He might. But that may not be how God is speaking. It may be that God lets us get down so we learn to listen to His whisper and to what He is saying to our hearts. God taught Elijah to be sensitive to His still small voice.
The Direction of God (1 Kings 19:15–21)
God also allowed all of this so Elijah could experience the direction of God. All the while Elijah was praying, “I’m the only one left, I can’t take any more, please take me home,” God had a brand-new direction for his ministry: new things to do. Now that he was listening to the still small voice, God could tell him.
New Leaders to Anoint
God told him to return on his way to the wilderness of Damascus and anoint Hazael to be king over Syria (1 Kings 19:15). There was a new king to anoint over Israel too, and a new prophet to anoint in Elijah’s place (1 Kings 19:16). God had brought this prophet down and taught him to listen so He could send him to anoint new leaders.
A Prophet to Discover
Elijah found Elisha the son of Shaphat. Elisha was a farmer, plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by and cast his mantle upon him (1 Kings 19:19). It was the same mantle he had wrapped his face in at the cave, and it was a symbol that Elisha was the one God had chosen to follow Elijah, be trained, and become the next prophet. God was shifting gears with Elijah. Instead of praying down fire, he would establish new leadership.
Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and asked to go kiss his father and mother first. Pastor Anders paraphrased Elijah’s answer as: go ahead, go back, tell them goodbye (1 Kings 19:20). Elisha took the oxen, boiled their flesh using the plow and yoke as firewood, gave it to the people, and then went after Elijah and served alongside him (1 Kings 19:21). He would become the next great prophet of God.
Seven Thousand to Encourage
And God had news for the man who thought he was the only one: Yet I have left Me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him (1 Kings 19:18). Elijah was not alone at all.
So there were leaders to anoint, a prophet to discover, and seven thousand to encourage. That is why God let His man go through what he went through: so he could move in a brand-new direction.
It’s Not Unusual for God to Do This
God has done to others what He did to Elijah.
Jonah: How Low Can You Go?
God had a brand-new direction for Jonah, a ministry he had never done before: go to Nineveh, the Assyrian enemy capital, and tell them that unless they repented, God would destroy them in short order. Jonah didn’t want to go. He got on a boat headed the opposite way, to Tarshish. God sent such a storm that the sailors were afraid. Jonah admitted, “It’s all my fault; I’m running from the Lord,” and they threw him overboard. As he sank lower and lower into the depths, God’s mercy showed up in the form of a great fish. Pastor Anders said that if you want to give that fish a name, just name him Mercy. Everybody thought Jonah was a goner, but they didn’t know mercy was on its way to swallow him up, save his life, and straighten him out. When that fish spit him out, he was headed in a brand-new direction and didn’t stop until he got there. Nineveh repented, and the king took off his royal robes, put on sackcloth, and fasted and sought God. God let Jonah get low so he could hear the voice of God down in the belly of that fish.
Peter: Broken, Then Sent
This is the same Peter who told Jesus, “Not so, Lord,” when Jesus said He must go to Jerusalem, be killed, and rise the third day. He pulled out his sword in the garden and cut off a man’s ear. Yet a little servant girl intimidated him, and he denied knowing the Lord not once, not twice, but three times. The rooster crowed just as Jesus had said, and Peter saw the Lord looking at him. Those eyes spoke loudly.
Why would God let this great man of God get so broken? The Lord even told Peter it was coming: Satan had desired to sift him as wheat, but Jesus had prayed for him, and when he was converted, he was to strengthen his brethren. Jonah had a fish’s belly; Peter had a fishing boat. In John 21, Peter and six or seven others fished all night and caught nothing, totally wasted time. Peter knew how miserably he had failed. But the Lord met with him there and restored him for the ministry ahead.
Joseph: From the Pit to the Palace
God had His hand on Joseph and chose him for a special ministry. Even as a young man he had visions and dreams, and his brothers became so jealous that they threw him into a pit with nothing to drink, then sold him to merchant men going down to Egypt. God let him be thrown into prison and linger there a long time. All the while, God was shaping him for the palace. You wouldn’t have known it watching him hauled away. But God was preparing him to sit near a throne and lead. Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and saved the world from starvation.
Are You Listening?
God may let you get low so He can speak to you and show you what direction He wants you to go, what He wants you to do, and how He wants you to operate. So, Pastor Anders asked, are you listening to Him?
He imagined Elijah testifying: “I thought it was all over. Jezebel had put the hit out on me. But in the end, God just wanted to speak to me and give me some direction. He was doing something new. There were leaders that needed to be anointed, a prophet that needed to be discovered, and seven thousand that needed to be encouraged. So He allowed me to get to that point, so I would listen to Him and walk with Him.”
He closed by praying that God would speak loudly to the church and help everyone tune out all the other stuff and start listening to Him.
Take-Homes
- When Elijah prayed, things looked up. In chapter 19, the prophet himself got up (1 Kings 17–19).
- Even God’s praying prophet hit bottom: threatened, exhausted, afraid, anxious, and lonely (1 Kings 19:1–4; 1 Kings 19:10).
- God allowed it so Elijah would receive His rest, provision, strength, and touch (1 Kings 19:5–8).
- “What doest thou here?” God’s questions are for revelation, not information (1 Kings 19:9; 1 Kings 19:13).
- The Lord was not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but in a still small voice. Learn to listen for His whisper (1 Kings 19:11–12).
- God had a new direction for Elijah: leaders to anoint, a prophet to discover, and seven thousand to encourage (1 Kings 19:15–21; 1 Kings 19:18).
- You are never as alone as you feel (1 Kings 19:18).
- Jonah sank low, and mercy swallowed him and sent him to Nineveh.
- Peter was broken by his denial and restored for ministry (John 21).
- Joseph went from the pit and the prison to the palace.
- God may let you get low so you will hear Him and follow His direction. Are you listening?