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Some of those false prophets of Baal put
to death at the Brook Kishon (1 Kgs 18:40) could have been personal friends of
Jezebel which would only serve to ratchet up her hatred for Elijah. For Elijah
to abort his post generates empathy as well as criticism. His actions are
incongruent with his spiritual stature and spiritual successes, but James
reminds us that Elijah was “a man with a nature like ours” (Jas 5:17a),
possessing a sinful nature. Elijah prayed for no dew or rain (1
Kgs 17:1) and prayed for its return (1 Kgs 18:41-42; Jas 5:18).
The predominant question that has been
bugging me in this series is “Why in the world did he not pray for
protection and stay put?” Was he in that big a hurry that he was unable to
pray? Were the would-be killers en route? So much was riding on his presence
there in the Northern Kingdom as a prophet of Yahweh; one would think that praying would have been a first priority. When
we take our eyes off the LORD, praying takes a nosedive, yes? I guess I could have
asked myself a similar question many times on why I chose to slip into the
moment that “God was not on the throne.” Elijah’s nature was like mine, and
mine was just like his – heart to heart (cf. Jer 17:9).
Let’s face it; we have all experienced
a “God is not on the throne” moment. If the truth is known, countless times,
ranging from the trite to the terrible of circumstances in life. Was not God on
the throne when Elijah abandoned his post? It was officially established for
the locals that Yahweh was God, not Baal; so why did he run away from a
believer in a false god? Could not Yahweh protect him from Queen Jezebel? He
helped us to see the error of our ways; why did he abandon us to the likes of
Jezebel? Does this mean Yahweh cannot protect us either? Does this mean Baal
worship will be forced upon us? Their faith would be put to the test in the future. A
myriad of questions could be asked. It’s easy to question someone’s actions
when we are playing armchair spiritual generals, but we have had our moments,
too.
But those questions are good questions that needed an answer. With
position comes great responsibility. Elijah’s flight generated a lot of
questions and concerns from the people he turned from Baal to Yahweh. He
created a spiritual vacuum with his sudden departure, and Ahab and Jezebel were
waiting in the wings like vultures to refill it with Baalism with his death; his absence was
akin to death. Jezebel didn’t get her revenge, but his flight produced the same
results – Elijah was gone.
In fairness to Elijah, he had been in
the thick of some very dangerous people with a kingdom known to be spiritually
mercurial and hostile or ambivalent toward the worship of Yahweh; support was
predicated on which way the wind blew. There were many people on the wrong side
of the fence and plenty who straddled the fence and none, in Elijah’s opinion,
on the right side of the fence but him, “I alone am left” (1 Kgs 18:22; 19:10,
14). He was purely basing that on his observations and experiences, not facts
(we’ve never done that); it’s understandable why he thought that way.
The undecided voters were softened by
the grievous famine and persuaded that Yahweh was God up on Mt Carmel. The rain
returned, and the whole nation would quickly be at a spiritual tipping point
because the rain of salvation was associated with Yahweh and not Baal who did
nothing to bring even a drop of relief in the last 3.5 years. Idolatry in the
Northern Kingdom was not in its infancy impacting a small group of people; Baal
worship was at its zenith in Israel under Ahab and Jezebel. This lovely couple
had principal interests in Baal, Inc. succeeding; Elijah posed a threat to
their interests; the resurgence of Yahweh worship in the Northern Kingdom would
undermine and conflict with all of their various enterprises orbiting around
Baal worship. It had become the national religion rivaling the worship of
Yahweh. Jezy was determined after learning of the disaster on Mt Carmel from
Ahab to cut the head of the snake off – Elijah. The message from Jezebel
was unmistakable, “You touch me; I touch you,” tit for tat. It had a
profound effect on Yahweh’s prophet.
Elijah had an incredible opportunity
to tip the balance for a revival for Yahweh, but he took off instead. We could
argue that God foreknew all of this; He did, but Yahweh’s overtures were
genuine. Is an offer of salvation genuine or fake though God knows the decision
already? I can only speak for myself, but from what I know about and of the God of the
Bible, the answer is a resounding, “Yes!” A God of integrity just doesn’t put
John 3:16, 17 out there for everyone to read leading us to believe His love
extends to all when in reality it only applies to some. He sent His Son; He
died a horrific death; and “whoever” (equates to all) “believes in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life.” I confess that I am dumb enough
to believe it, but I also believe that God’s love no longer applies if a person
leaves this world in unbelief (Jn 3:18). Universal salvation is foreign to the
Scriptures.
Yahweh was there for the receiving by
Israel, and His man succumbed to an unanticipated pressure and skipped town.
Unless you think I am being overly harsh with Elijah, I could have easily left
town if I was in his sandals. I would like to believe I would have stood my
ground, but honestly, I can’t say that I would. We should probably pray to God
that we would stand our ground for God and for the benefit of others in the
crucible.
With the way this old world is turning for the worse, it might not be
a bad idea. If you look at Elijah’s spiritual resume, the only blemish is the
flight narrative. God reengaged him which is the answer to all our flights from
the will of God – re-engagement by the grace of God. My spiritual resume is like Swiss cheese, riddled with holes. Though Elijah has a nature just like us, he was and is a
great man of God when all is said and done. I have the utmost respect and
admiration for him, and I am humbled by his spiritual stature.
You and I can be in the right place
and spiritually out of place (Mt 15:8), but we cannot be in the wrong place
and be spiritually aligned with God (1 Kgs 19:9); something is out of whack in
either case. It is not as if Elijah accidentally made a wrong turn by accident
and wound up at the wrong destination. Thought precedes behavior. There were
other spiritual issues feeding into the river of a decision like streams and
tributaries to get as far away from Jezy as humanly possible. Water always takes
the path of least resistance, which is the nature of flight out of the will of
God. When we take our eyes off the LORD, we will take the path of least resistance.
Such a decision resulted in
neutralizing his effectiveness for the LORD, being at a place that served no
purpose. We have all heard heartbreaking
stories of homeless people who were very successful and influential in life but
something personally devastating occurred, and they bailed out of society for the streets,
winding up destitute and alcoholic or addicted to drugs. Elijah was on Mt Carmel not long ago experiencing an
incredible victory over the Baal religion and within a short time things got
all twisted and confused, and he bailed out from where God was using him
greatly for a remote location in the desert, and we saw him sitting under a
broom bush in the wilderness desiring to end it all, drunk on self, guilt-ridden – “I am no better than my fathers.” In his eyes, he was a complete
failure. God saw something else. When we take our eyes off the LORD, guilt will play havoc with us and plague our souls.
I'll bet you that those demons, who had paraded
themselves as Baal and Asherah and abandoned their enterprise of deceit during the
Carmel crisis, were having a field day knowing Elijah was having a pity party
down south. As far as the demons were concerned, Elijah was a pain in their
Baal, and good riddance! When we take our eyes off the LORD, we forget that we
are engaged in a great spiritual war, one not of flesh and blood; everything
turns physical…
Since we are here in the cave visiting with
Elijah, in Part 10 we might as well probe a little deeper for clues in the streams and
tributaries feeding that river of thought to flee rather than to fight for
God’s will in the circumstances. Keep in mind we read of no repentance on
Elijah’s part, not that it didn’t come, but it is unrecorded. His re-engagement
may suggest some type of confession for God cannot use any of us with unconfessed
sin, even on a reassigned mission. Elijah confesses to nothing other than that
he was no more successful in ridding idol worship among the people than his
predecessors.
If we are engaged in willful sin,
it is a no-brainer we are in a place where we don’t belong if we are reading the Scriptures correctly and responsibly. With
that said, I don’t think Elijah even thinks he is out of God’s will (1 Kgs 19:10, 14); he believes circumstances
drove him to where he was (I suggest reading that last part again because
it is so us!). He saw himself as ineffective due to the circumstances not
because of choice; this is the result of taking our eyes off the LORD, that
horizontal attitude in our viewfinder. The choice, not the circumstances, takes us to a place where we don’t belong. God is still on the throne, and we are living on His footstool
(Acts 7:49). He allows nothing to enter our lives unless He approves of it. When we take our eyes off the LORD we choose self over
sovereignty in dealing with the circumstances of life. How is that working for you, Elijah? How is that working for us?
This series has been bringing to the
surface warning signs of possibly being out of God’s will or in a place we
don’t belong even though we may think we are where we need to be. Usually, this is a result of being ignorant of the Scriptures but not always – Elijah, for
instance. Some signs are more readily apparent; some are more subtle and
elusive. This series has already proven to be a gold mine; I hope that I
haven’t lost you and that you are up to searching for clues about the promoters
behind the indicators. I’ll do all the work prospecting the narrative; all you
have to do is hang out with me and mine the Scriptures if it is so or not. May the
Holy Spirit illumine our path. <><
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