SERMON: “GOD CALLING: ELIJAH” Kathy Hobson, Warrensburg UMC, 03 November 2013 1 Kings 19:1-18 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen. Have you ever had one of THOSE days? Have you ever been in a situation where no matter what you did, nothing seemed to work? Just yesterday, I was out doing errands. I had stopped at a Christian bookstore in Grandview, and my next stop was Target at Lennox Center. Now, I could have gone up Grandview Avenue, but there are a lot of stoplights on Grandview Avenue. So I decided that I would skip that and go down to River Road and travel that way. Little did I know that the River Road was under construction. In fact, I didn’t realize it until I got to the turn and realized that I couldn’t do it. So I went through the Post Office parking lot, thinking that I might be able to get past the construction. But NO, I could only go back the way I came. So I said to myself, “Well, I’ll just go down to Neil Avenue.” And that’s what I did. Only, Neil Avenue was also UNDER CONSTRUCTION. In fact, they are putting down tar. Now, I didn’t want to get tar on my car, so I turned onto the side street, and then made a left at the next side street. Now, I was totally lost, but I kept going and finally came back out onto Neil Avenue (ahead of the tar truck!) after going round Robin’s barn. So then, I thought, I’ll just turn on Goodale Avenue. Two cars ahead of me had made the turn. But when I tried to make the turn—I became aware that there was oncoming traffic coming at me, and I stopped and waited until a long line of cars went by. I got onto Goodale Avenue and turned onto the onramp of 315 N. Great, I thought! One exit and I’m home-free! No such luck. The four-lane road was blocked off to just one lane! And the going was a slow as cold molasses running uphill. And I had a sinking feeling that my exit was going to be closed—that’s the way this trip was going! But the exit was open! And I got off and got to Target with no further trouble. It only took me about four times as long as if I had gone up Grandview Avenue in the first place! Have you ever had anything like that happen? I’m not going to compare my situation to Elijah’s, but I can imagine what he must have felt in our story today. A generation has past. Last week, we met Solomon at the peak of his glory, when he dedicated the huge, ornate Temple as the house of God. But Solomon is dead now, and his kingdom did not last long after he died. His sons fought over the Kingship and how the Kingdom is split into the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms. The King of the Northern Kingdom, Ahaz, and his wife, Jezebel: well, they weren’t the nicest of people. They introduced the religion of Ba’al in the Northern Kingdom and pulled the people away from worshipping the Lord God—the one true God. Elijah was a prophet in the Northern Kingdom and he tried to prevent this. To no avail Finally, it comes down to a contest between Elijah and the prophets of Ba’al—to see whose God is more powerful. A sacrifice is put on an altar of wood, and the prophets of Ba’al pray to have Ba’al set fire to the wood. Nothing happens. Then, Elijah ups the ante; he asks that the wood be doused, not once but three times with water. Then he prays to the God of Israel; you probably remember what happened next. The wood catches fire, and Elijah is victorious. It’s probably the high point of his career as a prophet. And that’s where we come into the story…..[Read 1 Kings 19:1-18] Elijah was victorious, but it was short-lived. Queen Jezebel was not a woman to be crossed and she was plenty mad. She promised to kill Elijah within 24 hours. So when we meet up with Elijah now, he is running for his life. And when we meet up with him, he is about as far away from anything as one could possibly be. He’s in the wilderness. He stops at a broom tree, lies down, and says, “God, just let me die. Just take me out of my misery.” But God provides food and drink for Elijah—enough so that he can travel 40 days to Mt. Horeb (which is also called Mt. Sinai). There Elijah settles into the cave that Moses had used. And God comes to Elijah, as he did to Moses. Well, in not quite the same way. God came to Moses with smoke and fire and lightning—so much so that the people were afraid. But God did not come to Elijah in the wind, or in the earthquake, or in the fire. God came to Elijah in the sound of sheer silence. And God asks Elijah: “Elijah, what are you doing HERE?” “What are you doing….HERE?” And Elijah replies, “I’ve done the very best I could. I’ve tried everything. And still, the people have abandoned you. They’ve torn down your altars and killed your prophets. And I alone am left.” And God replies: “Elijah, it’s not about YOU. It’s about the future that I AM preparing. I have things for you to do.” I’m pretty sure God didn’t say it exactly like this, but this is the essence. “Elijah, get up off your fanny and get going! You’re in the WRONG place. I need you to go and anoint a new King in place of Ahab. And there will be a new prophet who will take over from you. And what’s more: YOU are NOT the only one left. There are 7,000 faithful Israelite left who neither kissed Ba’al nor bowed down to him.” Elijah is a saint of sorts. His was not always an easy life—he did not live on the mountaintop all the time. Saints have their ups and downs. But think about where God meets Elijah. God meets Elijah at his very lowest point. When everything Elijah has tried, everything he has accomplished seems to have been for naught. God meets Elijah at the point where Elijah just wants to give it all up. He just wants to die. God meets Elijah at his lowest point. But God does NOT LEAVE HIM THERE. God has a plan, and Elijah is part of it. God has promised to meet us at our lowest point—when we feel that we’re all that’s left. When we’ve done all that we could, but nothing has worked. When we just want to give up; Individuals sometimes feel that way. Churches sometimes feel that way. God has promised to meet us in those deep, dark times and God does. But God does NOT LEAVE US THERE. No, God has a plan and we’re part of it. God says, “Get up. Get going. You’re in the WRONG place. You’re not the only one left.” God invites us into the future that God is preparing according to God’s plan. And for that, we can give thanks to God. Amen.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 21:58:34 +0000
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