You Are Not Alone

1 Kings 19:1-18

Have you ever heard of the phrase “mountaintop experience?” The idea is that there are some experiences that take us to the mountaintop. These are the best experiences of life, and when they are over, you just don’t want to go back to your everyday life. Church camp was often, for me, a mountaintop experience. I would go to camp every summer and by the end of camp, I was on fire! I was ready to win my entire school for Christ. There’s a problem with the mountaintop experience, however, and that is simply that we don’t live on the mountaintop. At some point, we have to come back down.

In scripture, one notable mountaintop experience was when Jesus went up on the mountain with Peter, James, and John, and was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and he was joined there by Elijah and Moses! Peter, maybe even recognizing the amazing experience, suggested that they build shelters, one each for Jesus, Elijah, and Moses. But Jesus rebuked him and Jesus, along with Peter, James, and John, all came down from the mountain, where they encountered a man whose son was plagued by a demon, and the rest of the disciples couldn’t do anything about it.

Down from the mountain is a difficult place. You’ve been somewhere great, but now you’re back to the daily routine, and it’s difficult. In fact, now it has become even more difficult than it had been before. The Monday after an amazing Sunday is the hardest day for pastors. I have seen many polls about how many pastors want to quit, and while I don’t dispute their results, I wonder how many of those polls were taken on Monday?

Today’s scripture comes immediately on the heels of Elijah’s amazing victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. In that contest, God was shown as the One True God. Elijah was vindicated. His prayers were answered. I didn’t read all of the chapter in 1 Kings 18, but at the end, all of the prophets of Baal were slaughtered, and so, as we pick up the scripture again, we see King Ahab and his evil wife, Jezebel, having a conversation.  (1 Kings 19:1-2)

Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”

What a lovely conversation. Now, I’ve gotten some “notes” after church services and some of them have been pretty unpleasant and even upsetting. I once got one that said, “I’ll never be back; my backside can’t handle sitting through another one of your sermons.” I’ve had other complaints, but so far, none of them have ever threatened to kill me. The worst thing about this is that Jezebel not only had the power to do it, but she also had the temperament.

So Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”  Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

We can look from our unattached, safe position and shake our heads at Elijah. Didn’t God just show Himself to be powerful and mighty? Hasn’t God consistently answered his prayers and provided for him and protected him? And didn’t God just send fire on his sacrifice? But the reality is, many of us have been there. Things have gone really well, but now we’re off the mountain, and all of the difficulties come pouring down. He takes off, even leaving his servant and going an additional day’s journey into the wilderness, where he’s depressed enough that he is ready to die. Before you get to bashing Elijah for his attitude, know that depression is real and its effects are numerous. Don’t tell someone who is depressed to “suck it up” because they likely can’t. Depression can be chemical, ongoing, or situational. Elijah’s seems to be situational. He has just won an amazing victory for God, yet instead of getting some positive attention, his very life is at stake. I wonder again what’s going through his heart. How discouraging this must be.

Though I don’t think most of us have received death threats for our work for Christ, I know I’m not the only one who has been discouraged. We’ve given our best for the church and suddenly we’re attacked. We’ve stretched out our necks to serve the least and the lost and to give them Jesus Christ, and suddenly we’re reminded that in the flock of God, sometimes the sheep have teeth. Or sometimes that our neighbors don’t approve. And life becomes much more confusing and hard.

So I love what happens next to Elijah. (1 Kings 19:5b-8) All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”  So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 

I love the forty day and forty nights of travel (those numbers should be familiar – it rained on Noah’s ark forty day and forty nights and Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted for forty days and nights. Even the number of years Moses led the Israelites in the wilderness was forty…), but these couple of verses are illuminating in several ways. First of all, in the pit of his despair, Elijah is not alone. Here he is, wishing he was dead, and “all at once” an angel touched him and encouraged him and pointed him along his way.

One direction I could have gone with this sermon and this passage in particular was in care for people with mental illness, as depression is definitely at work here. I don’t have the time to go into this fully, but I want to say two things. First, mental illness should never be a stigma in the church. We don’t say to someone who has diabetes “if you’d pray harder, you would be able to eat whatever you want,” and neither should we say to someone suffering with depression, “if you’d pray more, your depression will lift.” Likewise, notice what the angel did and didn’t say and do. The angel didn’t tell Elijah to “fake it ‘til you make it.” He didn’t tell him to plaster a smile on his face. What the angel did in fact do was this:

First the angel ministered simply by presence. The angel touched Elijah. When our friends are depressed, be there for them. Secondly the angel ministered by service. Elijah found food there. When you’re going through a tough time, sometimes the last thing you think about is making sure your physical needs are met. So the angel brought food. The angel didn’t even talk until the third step, when we find the angel encouraging Elijah to take care of himself and to continue his work. Sometimes those who are depressed just need someone to come alongside them to encourage them to go about their daily routine. Sometimes in the midst of depression, a person doesn’t have the energy to get up, but the best thing for them is often to get up and get out.

But aside from all of that, the destination was important. The angel directed Elijah to go to God’s mountain. Elijah just had a mountaintop experience and now he’s in the valley again, and the angel directs him to the only place where he can get what he needs… he has to go to where God is.

Let’s continue with 1 Kings 19:9- 11

There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

There’s the complaint. Plain and simple. When you’re talking to God, you can be brutally honest. God already knows what’s going on, and He knows how you feel, but He also knows what you need most.

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 

When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

It’s important to know, especially after a mountaintop experience and the subsequent deep valley experience, that God is there. You’re not alone. Sometimes we expect the majestic. We want to see God in the wind and the earthquake and the fire, but God is there in the whisper. You’re not alone.

Sometimes you have to listen hard for that whisper, but as you listen, you will hear. In John 10:14, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me…” and in John 10:27-28 he goes on to say, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Remember that you’re not alone and that there is no place you can go where God hasn’t been there first. But if you’re as busy as most of us are 24/7, you won’t hear God speaking at all. Honestly, it is hard to slow down, to quiet yourself. Even when you’re not in the midst of moving, it is hard. But it is absolutely essential. Do you build time into your life when you are quiet enough to hear a gentle whisper? I’ve never heard God speak in an audible voice, and I honestly can be skeptical when people say that God spoke to them, but I know God speaks. And if we are listening, He doesn’t have to use the Holy 2x4 method to get our attention.

When Elijah finally heard God, speaking in a gentle whisper, this is what he heard. (1 Kings 19:14-18) Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.  Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

God got pretty specific with Elijah here, and we will get to Elisha next week. But the final sentence is the one I want to focus on as I finish up. Elijah was afraid for his life and was feeling utterly alone in his work. Taking a stand for God can be hard. It can be alienating work. But God tells Elijah that he’s not alone. God has 7000 more in reserve.

I love that encouragement. You are not alone. Sometimes we get so caught up in the “what’s everyone else going to say if I…” and we think of every eye on us. But you aren’t alone. I remember a beautiful moment when, at the end of the service, Sharon heard God telling her to invite the church to the altar to pray. She had to have the courage or gumption or whatever it took to obey, and while we were up here praying, Joan asked for prayer and anointing on behalf of her sister. She never would have done that had Sharon not paved the way. So remember, in your obedience, you are probably not only making the difference you think you’re making, but you are probably doing much more than you ever imagined. So if you’re on the right path, even if you’re discouraged, keep up the good work. If you are discouraged, I want to pray for you today before you leave. And remember, you are never alone.