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There
had been significant progress for a potential revival of worshiping and serving the One and only true God in the Northern Kingdom;
Baalism had been exposed for what it was – a fraud and a sham on Mt Carmel. The
people felt duped and rightly so; those flip-floppers deserved it really. The people had made
bad choices and went with the Baal flow that carried them away from Yahweh, but
they proclaimed on Mt Carmel, “The LORD, He is God!” For the first time in 3.5
years, dark clouds were forming over the Great Sea (the Mediterranean).
In
Jezreel Elijah is feeling pretty good about himself; a great victory had been
won up there on Mt Carmel. It’s during those times when we are doing great
things for God that we are perhaps the most vulnerable to temptation, and Satan
is allowed a counter-offensive and goes into attack mode in retaliation, and we
have a kneejerk reaction and wind up in a place we don’t belong. Thankfully,
because God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, faithful, and
trustworthy, the LORD will not allow anything coming our way to be beyond our
ability, strength, or power to deal with it; He knows our frame and will provide
us with the ability, strength, or power to endure as a way of escape.
The
news would spread that with each drop of rain was a message – “Yahweh was God
alone!” Jezebel had a message of her own for the man who upset the apple cart,
“You are dead meat, 24 hours tops!” The topic of discussion coming out of
Jezreel quickly spread, “Has anyone seen Elijah?” Jezebel was on the warpath
and that would not fare well for those who acknowledged Yahweh over Baal and
participated in the death of her precious prophets at the brook of Kishon. The
spiritual calculus had changed once again.
It
was not Elijah’s intent to get out of town anytime soon. There was so much work
that needed to be done in repairing the extensive spiritual damage over the
years from idolatry. It would require boots on the ground to lead the Northern
Kingdom in the right direction spiritually, but he was nowhere to be found.
Idolatry was a parasite that tenaciously clung to its Samarian host. 130 years
after Elijah was translated into heaven (ca. 852 B.C.), Yahweh would allow the
northern tribes to be taken captive by the cruel Assyrians in 722 B.C. (2 Kgs
17:5, 6) due to unbelief (2 Kgs 17:14) and turning to idols (2 Kgs 17:7, 12,
15, 16) with its attendant sins.
I
have already speculated that Elijah had taken his eyes off the LORD before the personal threat was
delivered. It is quite obvious; if we are running in the opposite direction of
His will our back is to the LORD, figuratively speaking. So, was it because of
the threat itself that triggered the flight, or did it reveal a pre-existing
spiritual condition? We know that God uses the circumstances of life to mold
and shape us for spiritual development. Since nothing enters our life without
Yahweh allowing or orchestrating it, we simply cannot dismiss those things that
enter our life as inconsequential or without purpose. It is crucial we are more
responsible in dealing with a situation that shows up on our radar. Obviously,
if someone is swinging a sword at us, we wouldn’t stop to consider, “What is the Lord
trying to teach me in all of this? Do I evade or let the swordsman hack me to
death?” Self-preservation would kick in automatically, yes.
Many
times, however, a situation has entered into our life, and we easily dismiss it
as insignificant or don’t give it much thought, unless it is a life or death
situation. The circumstances of life either make us better or turn us bitter,
and we see the fruit of that in the twilight years or earlier. The sum total of
all our attitudes and actions in the experiences of life will find us either
sweet or sour. It would be wiser for us to stay positive and move forward than
wither away over the negative and withdraw into a shell. God wants for us
to trust Him at all times, no matter where His will leads us (Prov 3:5-6). We
cannot know which path to take unless we do! Therefore, we can say Elijah
fleeing was a trust issue – “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Speaking
of trust, it appears that Elijah’s trust was based on Yahweh protecting him
from harm because he considered himself the last remaining prophet of the
LORD God of Hosts. He experienced the protection of God at wadi Cherith,
Zarephath, and Mt Carmel; no harm ever came to him. He may have felt that
God needed him which gave him a sense of invincibility and emboldened him;
there’s no faith in that nonsense. God is indebted to no one or accountable to
any man.
Elijah’s
faith was going to be put to the ultimate test – Was he willing to die for the
LORD like the others (1 Kgs 18:13a)? Might his zeal come into question here
which will be part of his defense on Horeb? In light of what we know of no
physical death in Elijah’s future, this situation is ironic. There is so much
focus on Elijah’s flight that we miss the significance of this situation with
the message. What brought this out in the open was when he got the message of
his impending demise. “This can’t be; Yahweh needs me! There must be some mistake!?”
His trust was in
Yahweh’s need of him rather than Yahweh Himself. Elijah loved God and His ways;
there was no mistaking that, and God loved Elijah. But this event turned him on
a dime. Shaken, confused, and fearful for his life, he folded and fled. It all
makes sense for it is part of his complaint, “I alone am left; and they seek to
take my life.” How strange, a man confronted with the possibility of death, but
God’s will was for him to be translated into heaven! Had Yahweh told him before
going into Samaria, might his reaction to the threat be different? Of course, it
would; there’s no faith in knowing ahead of time!
Remember
how God made an elevation drop in Elijah’s mind when he came off of Mt Carmel
with “The LORD, He is God” attitude up on Mt Carmel to “Oh, my God!” in
Jezreel. God can’t or won’t protect me from Jezebel! Do you think if Elijah
believed “The LORD, He is God” in Jezreel, he would have left? God is immutable
so location or situations have no bearing on God's character and ability to do a
thing. Those who benchmark God’s love solely on the basis of “What have You
done for me lately” are scheduled for a wake-up call; I guarantee it!
Do
we love the LORD and trust Him because of what He does for us, or is it because
of who He is? The words of Oswald Chambers are something to ponder,
"If you see only what He has done for you, your God is not big enough."
"If you see only what He has done for you, your God is not big enough."
Was
that not true in Jezreel for Elijah!
And
why is that important? In William Hendricks's words,
"The
size of your God determines the size of everything."
When
we take our eyes off the LORD, His size reduces, and the circumstance magnifies (cf. Mal 3:6)!
Is
there something prior to all of that stuff that might have played a role in
taking his eyes off the LORD? In Elijah’s case we saw that his trust was out of
alignment, but could there be something feeding into that which laid the
groundwork for the decision to catch the next flight back south? I believe that
there truly was.
Again,
let me remind the reader of something. You can read the account and know when I
am reading between the lines. Everything or most of everything
I am suggesting could have very well taken place because it fits the narrative
in my humble estimation. Even if you think I am full of bologna by now, or worse, a
heretic, for the love of God, never forget this spiritual reality – if you ever
take your eyes off Yahweh, you will wind up in a place where you don’t
belong, serving no purpose! I’ve been there and done that and so has Elijah, and so have you. It’s
not the place to be at all.
You
know; I really wanted to avoid entering and getting pinned in with a
psychological complexity in all of this, but it’s difficult to steer clear.
Sure, we can say this and that and that and this happened and that happened, but we all know
there was something behind all of the facts revealed in the Scriptures, something far deeper than just saying, “Elijah sinned.
We’ll pick up some more of my
homegrown speculations in Part 13 and finally divulge the real
reason why we take our eyes off the LORD. You just might agree with me; I hope so! We need
to stay in the purpose that God has called us to do by looking unto Jesus!
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