Spiritual Roller Coaster
1 Kings 19:1-8
1 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 as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.”
3 Then he was
afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs
to Judah, and left his servant there.
4 But he
himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a
broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord,
take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
5 And he lay
down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to
him, “Arise and eat.”
6 And he
looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar
of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.
7 And the angel
of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat,
for the journey is too great for you.”
8 And he arose
and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty
nights to Horeb, the mount of God.
After
two weeks of attending to my family, it is time to regroup and pick up the
devotional task yet again. Elijah has waited patiently for us to finish his
story, so today we take up his overwhelming terror and flight from Jezebel.
After
some incredible spiritual events (the battle with Jezebel’s prophets, the
conversion back to faith in Yahweh of hundreds who had gone astray, and the
breaking of the drought), Elijah has now been threatened by Queen Jezebel. She
promises to end his life if he is still in Jezreel 24 hours later. She has the
power and the will to follow through on that threat. So, Elijah gathers up his
robe and runs – almost 90 miles to Beersheba in the southern part of Judah.
(see map on the link below)
After
God has shown how mighty He is, oddly, Elijah loses hope and runs. Finally, he heads
into the wilderness alone and falls beneath a broom tree in despair.
He is so
tired and so scared that he asks God to let him die and then he falls asleep. Miraculously, he is awakened by an angel who provides
bread and water for him and then he falls back asleep. Later, he is again
awakened by the angel with more food and water. Clearly, God is not going to
simply let him die. His work is not yet finished and God has a far more noble
ending for Elijah’s life than simply wasting way under a broom tree in the
desert. (Let me just say “fiery chariot” as a teaser for how Elijah leaves the
earth – that will be for another day.) What God provides for Elijah is rest in
safety. The angel was clearly there to provide for Elijah’s needs and to
provide a safety zone for Elijah as he regroups and recovers.
As I read this story again
today, I was reminded of Psalm 34, especially verse 7.
6 This
poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those
who fear him, and delivers them.
8 Oh,
taste and see that the Lord is good!
Just imagine the angel there
with Elijah, “camping out” under that broom tree, allowing him rest and a sense
of security when that had been so severely challenged by Jezebel’s threats.
While it seems obvious and cliché, we possess that same security. When our
lives are shaken that protection from the very hand of God is there for us. I’ve
never had a loaf of bread baked by the hand of an angel on a hot rock, but I
know that the times I have been protected (from myself and from evil) are too
numerous to count. Reading stories like these reminds me that God does
indeed provide these things not only for Elijah but also for me. There is
always comfort found in these truths.
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