Dear Friends,
We hope this week's devotional will encourage you in your spiritual walk. We give thanks to Rev. Pam Reed, Registrar and Student Support Tutor, for writing this devotional.
You are welcome to share this and include it in your church newsletters if you wish; we just ask that you please give credit to NTC and the author. Thank you!
1 Kings 19: 1-15a
19 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3 Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”
5 Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. He ate and drank and lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.”
8 He got up and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. 9 At that place he came to a cave and spent the night there.
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”
11 He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking 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 sound of sheer silence. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” 15 Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.
Devotional
He should have been elated! He’d just been victorious in a great challenge with the Prophets of Baal; and the people of Israel had fallen to their knees recognizing that they couldn’t combine worship of God with a bit of Baal worship on the side (1 Kings 18:20-40). But instead of excitement and heightened faith, there is depression and despair as Elijah’s faith evaporates. Yes, Jezebel has threatened to kill Elijah – but he’s been threatened before and not lost his faith. Why now?
Isn’t it interesting how a mountaintop experience of faith (literally or figuratively) can be followed by dark times in the valley of despair? In such times we can lose all sense of reality. We feel all alone; abandoned by God and friends. In the Psalm reading for today (42 & 43) the psalmist longs for God yet fears that God will not come.
Elijah’s response to fear and despair is to run (3). But even as he flees, he cannot outrun God. God provides food, and rest, and strength for Elijah to continue his amazing journey. His journey ends at the mountain where Moses received instruction from God (Mt Horeb – also known as Mt Sinai).
It’s here in the wilderness that God meets with Elijah. But instead of berating him for his lack of faith, instead of reminding him that there are many prophets who are faithful (18:7-14), God deals with Elijah quietly, tenderly, gently, as a loving parent would. Elijah has failed, but God still has more work for him to do (19:15-16).
Our God is the same with us. We fail, but God accepts us and loves us. Our God chooses to use us to work in the kingdom. Elijah went on to more work for God after failure. We also can start again when we have failed. Our God is the God of second chances, of third chances, of fourth chances….
Prayer
God you are so much bigger than we can ever understand. And yet you are interested in each of us, and care for us. Thank you that when we fail, you are the God who forgives and lifts us up to equip us for new tasks. Help us to remember that you are with us every day – even when we can’t sense your presence – because you will never abandon us. Amen.
Blessings,
Rev. Pam Reed (Registrar and Student Support Tutor)