Why are you Here?
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 37 viewsNotes
Transcript
Finding the Voice in the Valley
Introduction:
It is 1945. War rages in Europe. The Axis powers led by Hitler are desperately trying to halt the advance of allied troops into Nazi territory. Day after day after day allied troops push through the lines of Nazi troops liberating city after city after city. Poland one of the first to be conquered by the hopeful German empire is set to be liberated in the winter of 1944. Allied troops continue pushing through northern Europe and they arrive at what resembles a prison yard with many people dying of the winter cold and starvation. It is at this moment that the reality of the horrific deeds of the Nazi regime come to light. The allies free the captives in total of 7,000
Our of these 7,000 came a man who would give an in-detail recollection of all the atrocities that occurred at this camp. He would write a book that inspire the formation of new approach to life and suffering. His name was Victor Frankel. He as a holocaust survivor, shortly after his release begins working on a book that would record not only the factual events of the Holocaust but also his mindset during it. He would say, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” A commentator in a book review said That the book. reveals that hope, meaning, and purpose in life are essential if a person is going to have a livable worldview. The most well-known title for this book is, “Mans search for meaning.”
Mankind has always been looking for something that can provide meaning to its existence. It looks for its entertainment, drugs, religion, relationships, money, power, and fame. Our world relegates life to the highlights. Social media in a way is a highlight reel of life but yet many use it as a way of scrubbing away the hurt. All the airbrushing, filtering, cute captions, are only a mascaraed to the reality of life. Even though these things are a mask we end up holding ourselves to this unreachable standard and even though we might be conscious of this fact we still stand with our arm outstretched hoping to latch on to something to give us meaning.
Elijah in our text finds himself in a similar predicament his caught in an age that can only be won over by the highlights. He as a prophet operates in the miraculous. He has seen the dead raised, good provided out of nowhere, and the heavens being shut and opened for rain, It is this gift that Elijah relies on to call the people of Israel back to God.
Point 1: The Highlight
Elijah in 1 Kings 18 is met by King Ahab a ruller that has led Israel into idolatry by following the God known as Baal. King Ahab says what brings you here troubler of Israel. Elijah had prophesied that no rain would fall on Israel until the nations heart be returned to God. Elijah was called a troubler by the King of the world but it was through this troubling that revival would begin. God’s blessings may not come in the form of rain or harvest but they might come in the form of a dry drought. Because it is when things are dry that they catch fire.
Elijah challenges King Ahab to a meeting between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on top of Mt. Carmel. It is here where the prophets of Baal pour everything they have for a god that cannot answer them. And Elijah prays a simple prayer. 1 Kings 18:
36 And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. 37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”
38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”[1]
Because of a prayer God answers in a miraculous event. He pours fire down from heaven and it consumes the whole altar. Not only the sacrifice but the stones the wood and the water around it were soaked up. God was not only interested in the sacrifice but also removing the hardness from the hearts of Israel. The stones that got in the way of revival had to be removed by God.
After this encounter Elijah orders the death of the priests of Baal. A dramatic victory was one for the Lord that day. God had totally destroyed Israel’s faith in Baal, those who proclaimed Baal as God, and had responded in dramatic fashion by fire from heaven. This sounds to me like a ministry highlight for Elijah. Look what God did in church today. Healings, Miracles, Wonders, and Signs all over this house today. Mighty God. I bet this is something Elijah might have told everyone about. “Oh you should come to our church the fire of God falls and we will just have a shout it down kind of service its goanna be powerful.” However Elijah does not get such an opportunity.
Elijah as soon as his work is done he receives a message from an old enemy threatening to kill him.
Losing Momentum:
Jezebel sends word to Elijah that his life is in jeopardy. No matter how saved or sanctified we might become there is an enemy on the prowl. The hotter the fire the larger the water hose the devil is going to bring to bare. But I don’t care how large the devil might make himself to look like I serve a God that is higher than any angel or any devil. Ephesians says that we are given a shield of faith that faith is put in an almighty, omnipotent, omnipresent, all powerful God that cannot be overcome. And as long as I am standing in the shadow of the almighty there is nothing that man, beast or devil can do too me.
This mindset however seems to escape Elijah. Elijah after he hears the voice of the enemy he runs into the wilderness and cries out to God to smite him down. Rather than crying out to God he begins to believe the report of the enemy and asks God to perform the dirty work before the enemy can make it there. What Elijah didn’t realize in the moment was that the enemy of our souls is a liar. Jesus called him the Father of lies. Whatever the enemy or your flesh or circumstance might say don’t believe IT IS A LIE. Rather than listening to the voice of this world that has pronounced a cure of death we need to be Intune to a voice that proclaims life. John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Sometimes we are not hearing from God because we have already made up our mind who’s side we are on. My Dad has a saying, “God votes for you and the devil votes against you and you break the tie.”
God does not deliver a word to Elijah right out of the gate. God sends an Angel to provide Elijah with food and water. When it may seem like your spiritually starving or thirsty just start drinking and eating what’s laid across this pulpit. Elijah almost convinced himself out of eating and drinking because he wanted to die. The secrete to overcoming a mindset of death is to start developing a hunger and a thirst for the things of God. The angel encourages him to eat and to drink because there is a journey ahead of him. Elijah has found himself in a valley and begins to look for another mountain top.
The Remedy
Elijah begins to make a journey back to a mountain familiar to the children of Israel. It was at this mountain that God had spoken directly to Moses and had given the 10 Commandments. Mt. Sinai was a place that in Elijah’s mind God could definitely be accessed. He was familiar with the mountain top. The mountain top was a place that God responded the clearest every time.
Elijah resides in a cave and the Lord comes too him. And he says stand before me on the mountain. 1 Kings 19:11-13
11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces 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; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”[2]
The Lord passed by Elijah and the fire, the wind, and earthquake were all results of God’s presence but they were not him. Elijah in desperation had tried to flee to a place where he believed God would answer like he had on Mt. Carmel. He looked for him in the dramatic events of the wind, fire, and earthquake but God was not to be found. How many times do we find ourselves where Elijah did. We try to jump from high to high service to service, Mountain top to Mountain top? And when we fall into the valley words of death are the only thing that can escape our lips. Psalm 23 however states that, “Ye though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for YOU are with me.” God does not just speak on Mountain tops but he walks with us in the valley. The mountain top might be where God often speaks and shows demonstrations of his power but it’s in the valley that he walks with us. God is not only the God of the mountain top but also of the valley.
Conclusion
The final thing that went before Elijah on the mountain top was a soft breeze and in the breeze was a still small voice. That said, “Why are you here Elijah?” This question feels like there is a tint of disappointment. Elijah more than anyone should of known that God was as accessible in the valley as he was on a mountain. All Elijah needed to find God was to seek his voice.
Psalm 23 talks about God being our shepherd. A shepherd talks to his sheep for them to recognize his voice. Because without the voice they can be led astray by other voices. Those other voices can often lead us into the valleys of the shadow of death but the voice of the shepherd is there walking right beside us saying you can make it. The secrete to maintaining the momentum of the mountain top is finding the voice in the valley.
[1] The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), 1 Ki 18:36–39.
[2] The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), 1 Ki 19:11–13.