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*Sunday, November 22, 2009*
1Kings 19:1-18
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Subject: Despair
Theme: Overcoming despair
Proposition: We can all overcome despair
T.S.
We can all overcome despair when we remember Elijah’s stops along his journey of despair.
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OPENER:
(TRANS)
BACKGROUND:
Idolatrous leaders
Idolatrous people
Called by God to a task (prophet)
Resume’: fed by ravens; raised the dead; Drought (and associated food shortage);
Mt.
Carmel
Seeds of revival
(TRANS) Elijah’s journey is typical of the path many walk in times of despair.
Let’s travel this path with him, feel his struggles, listen to his complaints, and see how God brings him out of it.
In your bulletin is a map where you can log what you learn from him.
Ready for the trip?
Mountaintop experiences often signal a transition in our lives.
And so often after we descend the mountain we are faced with a new test – a test of whether we will continue to trust God with a new challenge or opportunity.
(TRANS) Elijah had this same experience.
Having just come down from the mountaintop experience on Mt.
Carmel he is confronted with a threat – Jezebel.
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*A JEZEBEL*
Look at 1Kings 19:1-4
*1Kings 19:1-4*
1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them."
3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.
When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,
4 while he himself went a day's journey into the desert.
On your map we’ve represented this with a Wanted Poster.
/(Cross out “Alive”)/
Jezabel wanted Elijah dead.
Now, you would think that death threats wouldn’t rattle Elijah.
After all, he has been hunted by Ahab & Jezebel before, and for 3.5yrs God kept him safe from them.
He had just experienced God’s fire from heaven at Mt. Carmel, the people had declared their allegiance to God, Baal’s prophets were dead, and he had just outrun Ahab’s chariot.
What more proof do you need of God’s power?
It seems like the people who have so long given their hearts to idolatry are finally turning back to God.
You would think this would be the perfect time for Elijah to rise up and give leadership, but he runs away.
The fiery prophet of ch.18 seems to have withered.
Did he think Jezebel could actually kill him?
Or did he think he had somehow failed in his calling as a prophet?
We are not told directly why Elijah’s courage crumbled, but he clearly fell apart.
Elijah seems to have missed a prime opportunity b~/c he focused on a threat.
(APP) How often do we miss an opportunity b~/c our focus is on our opposition?
Have you ever walked thru a valley like Elijah’s?
Maybe yours looked a little different.
Your face may not have been on a wanted poster, but
- have you ever felt like someone was out to assassinate your reputation?
- Have you felt like circumstances were conspiring to drain your bank accounts?
- Or maybe you felt like you came so close to achieving the goal God set before you, only to have some ugly obstacle stand right in your path.
(TRANS) How did you respond when your personal Jezebel threatened you?
We see how Elijah responded: He ran.
(TRANS) Any time you take a trip you need fuel to keep you going.
On this first leg of the journey Elijah’s tanks were filled with Panic.
FUEL: Panic.
(Self-focus; short-sighted)
(TRANS) Fear is effective in the short-term, but it doesn’t give you the energy to last for the long haul.
As we’ll see, Elijah burned out pretty quickly.
Let’s pick up the story in v.4.
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*A JUNIPER*
* *
*1Kings 19:4-9*
4 while he himself went a day's journey into the desert.
He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die.
"I have had enough, LORD," he said.
"Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors."
5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.
All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat."
6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water.
He ate and drank and then lay down again.
7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you."
8 So he got up and ate and drank.
Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
He started out in Jezreel, on the northern edge of Israel.
He made it to Beersheeba, on the southern tip of the country.
He traveled one more day into the desert, then… Elijah crashed hard.
He stopped at a broom tree, or some translations call it a juniper.
Beneath the broom he was in total collapse.
It was his lowest point.
Alone.
Exhausted.
Feeling like a total failure.
He preferred death rather than to go thru more hardship.
Ever been beneath the broom tree?
Have you ever been so exhausted, so tired of fighting, that you would rather die than keep on going?
You are in good company.
There is a verse in the NT about Elijah that should be a great encouragement.
*James 5:17-18*
17 Elijah was a man just like us.
He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
The context is prayer, but that doesn’t change the truth of those first few words: “Elijah was a man just like us.”
He too was frail and subject to discouragement.
(TRANS) But even when Elijah’s humanness rises to the top, God’s kindness is still at work.
*FUEL*: Provision from God (Bread & Jug of Water)
On a journey God didn’t command, fueled by fear of a mere person, God still tenderly provides for his servant.
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