1 Kings 19 (Part 1) Bible Study (Elijah Flees Jezebel) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

First Kings Chapter 19. We are cracking open a fresh

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

chapter in our study of kings, and once you arrive there, we're

going to read together and the framework of our study is going

to be the first 8 verses of First Kings 19.

Are you there with me? Let's read beginning in verse

one. Ahab told Jezebel all that

Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the

sword. 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. 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.

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, Oh

Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my father's.

And he lay down and slept under a broom tree.

And behold an Angel touched him, and said to him, Arise and eat.

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. 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.

And you arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that

food. 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

Lord, as we sang, we now pray. May the spirit of holiness

descend upon us. And we ask, Lord, that these

truths that we will study together would genuinely

experientially fortify our faith and that we would sense a wisdom

imparted, a joy erupting. Lord, that we would leave here,

as we've prayed already, a changed people, so may the

hammer of the Word, may the fire of the Word, may the water of

the Word do what only the Word can do in our lives.

Or we even give what may be a stubborn heart tonight.

And we ask that you deal with it accordingly.

Lord, we need Your help and we know that our help is in Your

Word. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Let me remind you of what James told us in the 5th chapter of

his epistle concerning this man who's been the object of our

study the past few weeks. We were told there in James 5/17

that Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and we may be

grateful for a commentary about such a superb servant of God.

It grounds him, does it not, to know that he was human, because

it doesn't seem human. And though that is an anchoring

statement about this man, you can still be a person who fails

to relate to him, especially after carefully studying him

like we have been in the past few weeks.

Why? Because up to this point, what

we've discovered about Elijah that he almost has like this

flawless track record and his obedience and his servants

service and his faith and his courage almost feels like it

towers in comparison to what may be fragmented and inconsistent

on our part concerning our devotion to the Lord.

But listen, anytime you encounter any person of the

Scripture, especially if they're exemplary in their faith, that

is not meant to discourage you. That is not meant to cause you

to feel deflated. It's the opposite.

God preserves such testimonies to invigorate you and to inspire

you and to cause you to see that God has provided us real people

to show us. Yes, they might be unique in

terms of where they are placed in redemptive history and their

gifting and their callings, but that the general reality of

faithfulness is possible. So if it's possible for them,

surely it's possible for me. I can pursue and secure greater

holiness and godliness and joy and witness and devotion to the

Lord. But from time to time, you know

also the Bible does you know it very well because your students

with the word of God, the Holy Spirit will give us a more

complete profile of some of these champions of the faith.

And what I mean by that is you get a more honest look into who

they are. And it really testifies to the

validity of the authorship of this of this book.

So we come to certain people, including Elijah in this

chapter, and you get really this humbling snapshot of a certain

season of their life. Because what you're not going to

discover, as we already read, is that the same man who stood

before false prophets and an unbelieving nation and

adversities and trials that would make any average person

crumble within seconds of being placed in such a circumstance,

in such a short sequence, is going to be overcome by

paralyzing fear and surprising disorientation, and with it,

devastating discouragement. You're almost going to, as you

study this, feel like this can't be the same Elijah of chapter 18

and 17, but it is, it is. And the encouragement there is

that what we're going to see with this man at this point is

that even the greatest in the Kingdom of God are susceptible

to being ensnared by the same spiritual traps that you and I

try to dodge every single day. And we look here together and

realize that a purpose, major purpose for a text like this is

not to give you permission to fail or to remain in a state of

defeat, but to be merciful to those who are and to be equipped

to avoid the same ensnarements that are capable of capturing

the most unlikely, like Elijah. So that's really going to be the

core truth of our study today. We're going to look at a man who

experienced despondency, heaviness of heart.

You can call it different things.

A common phrase is spiritual depression.

And there are going to be orbiting truths around that core

truth that are going to supplement our teaching today.

And that includes what we read in verse one.

Let's look at it again. Ahab told Jezebel all that

Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the

sword. I hope you're attentive at Bible

study tonight because I'm going to ask you a question right at

verse one. What stands out to you about

Ahab's report to his wife Jezebel concerning the events

that took place on Mount Carmel? Let me give you a hint.

Something is omitted. Very good.

Notice again that he says Ahab told Jezebel all that who had

done Elijah. Where's God in this?

He's not there. Is that typical of Ahab?

Oh yes, it is very typical of Ahab.

The same man who did not include the Lord and his doing and his

work on that mountaintop is the same man who failed to see God

behind the three-year drought and pointed a finger at a man

like him in terms of nature and said, you're the troubler of

Israel. Remember, we looked at that, not

maybe putting into the equation that God was the one who was

suspending rain. And so this is a man who had the

inability to realize and to acknowledge God as he deserved.

And even in his testimonial to his wife, he doesn't include

God. He doesn't mention God even

though it's raining right outside of their palace.

It it doesn't even dawn on him to mention how God was the one

who answered by fire. God was the one who provided

this supernatural grace. And right here, 1/2's

perspective shows us as a reminder that there are so many

listen that you know that I know that are unwilling to

acknowledge the Lord and to include him in their

interpretation of life's events, of life itself.

And men of the flesh are as such.

They, like Ahab, prone to comment on life, describe life,

define aspects of life void of God's authorship, fingerprint

and sovereignty. And so it's about Elijah, and

it's about how he killed these prophets.

And notice that Ahab, no matter what God did to Ahab, no matter

what God did for Ahab, what do we see here?

He is highly capable of dismissing him so that he can

remain in his state of unbelief. So what did God do to Ahab

before he did something for Ahab?

He shriveled up the land and caused the people to suffer a

famine. Did he repent?

Then? No.

And what does he do for Ahab? He gives rain when he doesn't

deserve it. Instead of setting fire on him

and all the flimsy Israelites, he consumes a sacrifice.

And on top of that, through that act of judgement and act of

mercy follows. And what does Ahab do as we are

introduced to him again in this chapter?

Does he repent? No.

He's trying to instigate and stir up his wife into action and

not repent of action. By the way, what does that teach

us? Again, a truth that you see over

and over again, whether God disciplines a man or blesses

that man. Man in their sinful nature are

highly capable and very willing to dismiss the Lord so that they

can remain in their darkness. Ahab is no different.

And this is a sad testimony that many imitate.

And if Ahab's poor response isn't bad enough, now we come to

his wife's reaction. Rageful reaction, may I add.

What does she do here? She acts as the true ruler of

Israel. Ahab is just the puppet.

Is it possible for people to be in high positions really as

puppets when there's fingers working in the background?

I won't say more than that. No different here.

What does she do? She issues a death warrant for

this man of God. And when we look at this, you

think this is strange. Why?

Because we learned in the last verse of chapter 18 of the

whereabouts of Elijah, where is Elijah?

He's at the entrance of Jezreel, where the palace of this

notorious couple abides. Elijah is just really a few feet

away. You can say he's not too far at

least. And so here's this woman who is

venting and expressing and even puts it as a mandate that Elijah

is going to be killed within 24 hours.

You know why I find that interesting?

If she wanted to kill him, why forward a messenger and inform

the one that you're trying to kill Jezebel?

If you really want to destroy the man, why don't you send a

platoon instead? Why don't you?

Why don't you designate at least 200 of your remaining prophets

to finish the job? That's not what we see.

She warns Elijah. She gives him a heads up.

Is this, is this strange? OK, is this an empty threat?

Maybe some would say so. I don't think this is an empty

threat. Can I tell you why?

Let me remind you, go to 1st Kings 18 and look at verse 13.

Notice what is said here about Jezebel's history has not been

told. My Lord, what I did when Jezebel

killed the prophets of the Lord. How I hid 100 men of the Lord's

prophets by 50s in a cave and fed them with bread and water.

I'm no detective, OK, but if someone has a resume of killing

the prophets of the Lord, and she tells you, a prophet of the

Lord, that she's planning to kill you, high chances that she

really means it. So this is not just her blowing

smoke. This is not her just using

words. This is her saying exactly what

she is going to do because she's done it before.

And yet you would think again that a murderer would not give

their prey a heads up lest they evade the situation or they

prepare for the attack. You would think they would just

go for it. So there is no doubt that

Jezebel is doing this for a particular reason.

And I think there are two reasons for it.

The 1st is from a human standpoint, the the 2nd is a

divine standpoint. Do you think Jezebel was happy

when she heard that her prophets were killed by Elijah?

Think she was indifferent? No, I believe that even what we

see here in verse two is just a glimpse of the unhinged fury.

I know she was human, but I wonder if there's smoke that

came out of her nose and ears. This this woman is obviously

enraged and so enraged she says she's willing to and she's

convinced to murdering a true messenger of God even after

displaying indisputable power from on high.

And you look at this woman, you think, OK, but what is she?

Why is she doing this? Because unfettered temper makes

us foolish. You've probably seen that

growing up in the family that you were in somebody who was

enslaved by rage. When somebody lives with anger

and does not subdue it by the power of the Holy Spirit, they

think foolishly and they act foolishly.

Do they not? Do they blow things out of

proportion? Do they run to solutions that

really end up doing more harm? There's a verse in Proverbs 1429

and the last part of it says this.

It says but he who has hasty temper exalts folly.

He who hasn't. This is how the ESP puts it.

He who has hasty a hasty temper exalts folly.

You magnify foolishness, stupidity, when you are a slave

to temper. Here's this woman who evidently

does not bear any fruit of the Holy Spirit.

And what we see here is evidence of the consequences of sin, even

if that sin is an attitude problem, a failure to be able to

control yourself and to register what's taking place and to think

critically and logically and calmly.

But there's a divine element to this, and I believe it's God's

Providence working in favor for his servants, because it could

have been where Elijah being in that vulnerable place where he

was surrounded within seconds, within minutes, but God allowed

for Jezebel to disclose and expose herself to give his

servant a heads up. Do you not see that in different

parts of the Scripture? When something evil is being

planned against the righteous, God makes it known.

I won't take time to talk about that because we have a lot to

cover, but as terrifying as it might be to learn that a queen

has called for your head, you would think that Elijah would

feel some gratitude and relief knowing this has been made known

to me. Now I can deal with it

accordingly. Thank you, God, for

providentially working in my favor.

Is that how Elijah responds to this news?

Look at it again in verse two and three.

And Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods

do to me, and more also if I did not make your life as the life

of one of them by this time tomorrow.

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. You're talking about a man who

was in the northern tribes and descended and went and migrated

all the way to the southern Kingdom.

That's a long journey. That's a long journey on foot.

And so you and I have to take something into consideration,

right? Because of the average person

who learned that in the neighborhood you're in, that

somebody with the authority, as the queen did, is calling for

your death. What what do you do if you learn

somebody's trying to kill you by it's not really deep, is it?

I'm out of here. So some would be hesitant to

criticize Elijah. But here's the thing, when we

study this man who we we have been studying this man, we've

seen a pattern of how his steps have been directed and we have

to take that into consideration. What did we see with Elijah when

we were first introduced him in our study altogether?

Look at First Kings 17 once more where he confronts Ahab and we

see this in verse two, First Kings 17.

And the word of the Lord came to him.

That's it right there. And the word of the Lord came to

him and told him what? Depart from here and turn

eastward, and hide yourself by the by the brook Kareth, which

is east of the Jordan. And this is not an isolated

place where Elijah has been instructed by the word of the

Lord for his next step. Now we know it was in every

step, but for critical steps he received direct guidance from

the mouth of God. And when we we look at that

pattern, we should be able to now look here and think, is

there something being broken here?

Is Elijah stepping outside of what he once knew?

And I am under the persuasion that he is.

He did not give time for the word of the Lord to come to him,

nor did he show anything, at least at this point of desperate

inquiry to know what God would have him do.

Think about it this way. We ended our study last time

that after the incident in Mark Carmel, he tells Ahab to go to

Jezreel and the hand of the Lord comes upon Elijah and he runs

ahead, beats Ahab, runs before the chariot and it comes here.

So even the hand of the Lord enabled Elijah to arrive at this

very spot. This threat comes and he goes,

I'm out of here. But where is the divine

permission? Where is the the voice of the

Lord telling him to do such a thing?

It's absent all together. And this seems to be so out of

character for this man because it is teaching us that listen,

this is this is the main point of the study.

Now any of us can succumb to a despair that will drive you to

dangerous places. Now.

Now we've come to the main element of our study.

Elijah here for the rest of this chapter, I want us, through the

elements provided here, consider the very things that will make a

true follower of Jesus Christ vulnerable, as Elijah was here

with his faith. And it's all found in the verses

that we read together. More specifically, I want to

speak to you about four ingredients.

Four ingredients that will weaken us, that will encourage

us to surrender our stabilizing peace, and ultimately will cause

us to walk away from what the Lord has prepared for us due to

despair. Due to despair.

And be mindful that you don't need all four of these failures

to come to that place. You only need one.

So the four things that we're going to mention here, all you

need is one. One of these things is heavy

enough to cause you to act like Elijah is acting in this place.

But in Elijah's case, he was overcome by all these things.

So be ready to be equipped now if you want to know longevity,

if you want to know how to overcome what Elijah experience,

what Elijah experience. By the way, after great victory

came intense attack. And that's a pattern you see in

the Bible as well. So he brings about a great

victory for God's name before a nation.

And right away there was the vomiting of a belching from the

very mouth of hell through one of Hell's favorite servants of

this time, Jezebel. Let's consider four things

again. Four things that will cause

despondency, spiritual depression, debilitation.

Call it what you will, that which will have you living in

fear, living in a state of gloominess that will paralyze

your walk with the Lord, that will cause you to eject from

your ministry, that will cause you to dim your witness, that

will cause you to, well, let's see what happens.

The first thing that you and I have to be mindful of if we want

to evade the terrible place that Elijah was in, do not lose sight

of who God is. Do not lose sight of who God is.

That that seems to be quite obvious as a general principle,

but it's further confirmed in Elijah's case when you compare

him as a prophet dealing with royal rebellion and hostility

with another prophet who also had to deal with his own case of

a rageful royal individual that was after him.

There are many prophets in the Bible, but this is one of the

prominent ones. Anybody guess which one I'm

thinking of? I didn't give much evidence to

work with, but let's ask anyway. Any other prophet that you can

think of who had to deal with a ruler that threatened him,

endangered him. Jeremiah is a good one, but

that's not the one I'm Speaking of.

Yes, Daniel is a very good one as well, but that's not the one

I'm thinking about. You're not wrong in these

answers, but Moses, Moses, Moshe, go to Hebrews 11 with me.

Hebrews 11. I want you to look at verse 26,

because in this are you and I going to find the insight I

believe into Elijah's fault. Hebrews 11/26.

This is a New Testament commentary about the faith of

this man Moses. It says here he considered the

reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of

Egypt, for he was looking to the reward, put the brakes on.

Yeah. Do you see that?

He considered their reproach of Christ.

What does that tell you? It tells you that based on the

Scripture, Moses had a revelation of Christ.

Even back in the Exodus, Moses had a revelation of Christ

because Hebrews tells us that he did not consider the reproach of

Christ. But notice that he was able to

reject the worldly promises and pleasures of Egypt for one

simple reason, because he was looking to the reward.

So this man not only had a revelation of Christ, but he had

an eternal perspective. And that gave him the strength

to be able to bulldoze through all the transient trinkets that

were shining before him to the degree that he was willing to

embrace suffering for righteousness.

I mean, he had everything going for him.

He was adopted into the royal family.

The education that Acts tells us he had the opportunities that he

had the security, the comfort, the luxury, and he was willing

to say, I want none of that because I know God's called me

to this and if it's going to come a reproach, so be it

because my eyes are looking to a reward beyond this life.

But that's not the only thing that his eyes were set on.

Look at verse 27. By faith, he left Egypt not

being afraid of the anger of the king.

Was Elijah afraid of the anger of the queen?

Yes, Elijah was. Moses wasn't not afraid of the

anger of the king. Why?

What was the secret? The next part?

For he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

So not only did this man have a eternal perspective in terms of

reward, he had a perspective in terms of sovereignty.

The one who I can't see visibly, the one who I know of, the one

who's revealed himself to me, is greater than Pharaoh.

And he is so much greater than them that I am not afraid of

those threats that he presents to me that he makes towards me.

That was what Elijah was missing.

And here's what that teaches us. Because Elijah just moments ago

experienced fire coming down from heaven, him praying and God

answering it him. Not just that, his testimony

goes deeper than that. So why is it that when Jezebel

threatened him, he acted in this way?

Because you and I have to every moment of our day be conscience

of who God is, every moment of our day.

And when we fail in that discipline and that meditation

and that contemplation, praying without ceasing, remaining in an

attitude of prayer, communion with God at all times, fear is

right there waiting to overtake you and master you and determine

your steps. Even with the fear of the Lord.

There's a proverb that says fear the Lord, always implying that

it's possible to fear the Lord sometimes.

So Elijah, yeah, he had a history with not, he had

experience with God. But you can't afford to just

rely on that in this very moment as I'm about to have this

appointment, as I'm waiting for this phone call, as I'm about to

deal with this, whatever the case may be, I must be God

conscience. And Moses had that grace and he

had that discipline. And if we do not, then do not be

surprised if fear is a frequent visitor.

And more than that, if it abides in your heart, losing sight of

the sovereignty of God, the promises of God, you know, if

Elijah understood who God was and he kept his word ever before

him, it didn't matter what Jezebel said.

But that's not the only thing that caused this despondency.

This thing is subtle. The next one, number two, I hope

you remember these things. Losing sight of God will lead

you to that kind of trouble #2 separating ourselves from

community. Look back at first Kings 19

verse three with me. And look at the last part, this

interesting detail that the Spirit offers us.

It says he was afraid he arose and ran for his life.

But notice this, he came to Beersheba, which belongs to

Judah, and left his servant there.

Why is that in there? Like is it important for us to

know that Elijah abandoned his servant and went in isolation?

No. Every detail is important in the

Bible. And if we're not aware of that,

then we miss out on points that can save us from much.

So he abandons his servant there, and you would think that

this isn't important. It is important.

But here's a question I want to ask you.

Is this the first time we're introduced to Elijah's servant?

Is it prove it, Prove it, Yes, very good.

Go back to chapter 18 and this is when Elijah was praying for

rain. And notice in verse 43 what is

mentioned. It's as though the the spirit

wants to inform us that Elijah separating himself from his

servant shouldn't have happened. Look at first Kings 1843 and he

said to his servant, go up now look toward the sea.

And he went up and looked and said there is nothing.

And he said, go again seven times.

And at the 7th time he said, behold, a little cloud, like a

man's hand is rising from the sea.

And he said, go up, say to Ahab, prepare your chariot and go

down, lest he rain, lest the rain stop you.

So there's little mention about the serpent.

We don't even know his name. He kind of like just appears on

Mount Carmel. But evidently he was there the

whole time. And the little that we know

about him is enough to inform us that he was a man of faith.

Can I tell you why? Was it a smart thing, humanly

speaking, to be associated with Elijah at this time?

Probably not. Even King Ahab made the

neighboring rulers make give a vow that they didn't know about

the whereabouts of this Elijah. And here you have the servant

willing to stand by this man who is Public Enemy #1 So there's

something about him in terms of conviction, obviously.

And based on what we read, even those couple of verses, he was a

genuine servant. He helped Elijah to some degree.

So while Elijah was praying, here's his servant watching and

looking for the answer. And when Elijah had to get Ahab

going, he sends his servant to go.

So this is a profitable person. This is somebody who played an

important role, at least in this chapter of Elijah's life.

But when you come to this moment, this critical moment of

Elijah's ministry, you get the sense that there's a partnership

with this servant. And yet, triggered by fear, he

runs away. And the fear was so overwhelming

that he leaves this man and he isolates himself according to

verse four. Look at verse four.

But he himself, he himself went a day's journey into the

wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree.

And what happened? He asked that he might die.

You went from fear to now wanting to be put to death.

You know what thought ran through my mind today when I was

meditating on this servant? It makes me wonder if Elijah

would have arrived at different conclusions if he had someone

who served with him and witness what he witnessed with God and

about God to sober him up, to remind him, to console him, to

instruct him, and to redirect his misguided thoughts.

But you know what he does instead?

He cuts himself off from that opportunity.

And Christians, when they are troubled and isolate themselves

in order to medicate their troubles.

Though isolation in some regard is helpful, we need to know how

to be alone in some ways and to unburden our souls before God

instead of man. That is important.

But to isolate yourself to the degree where you distance your

heart, your mind, your temptations, your trials from

those whom God has designed with the purpose of alleviating and

strengthening you, The Bible considers that foolishness.

Proverbs 18 One he who isolates himself seeks his own desire.

Check this out. He breaks out against all sound

judgement. He who isolates himself for

whatever reason does not have continual relationships with the

faithful. Listen to this language.

Some translations and the original would say he rages

against all sound wisdom like you're fighting against it for

the audience reasons, right? Isolation will invite harm

because you cut yourself off from the blessings of God.

Check this out that are exclusively reserved in the

realm of relationships with others.

When a Christian goes through a bad time or they're battling sin

or whatever the case may be, one of my go to advice is as they

open their hearts about that is whatever you do, don't stop

coming to church. Even if you have to pick your

heavy legs off your bed and drag yourself to the meeting.

Wherever God's people are meeting, get there.

You can't afford to isolate yourself now.

And you would think that it only hurts the person who isn't

hurting. No, it also hurts others.

You know what I thought about here?

What happened to the servant who was left by himself?

You know what some people believe about this servant

tradition says that people believe that this servant was

the widow's son from Zarephath. I think that's an interesting

thought, don't you? That after raising from the dead

and developing a relationship, he's like, all right, we're

going to go to Mount Carmel, come with me.

Whether that's true or not doesn't make a difference.

But you have to also think about him.

He abandoned him to what? For who?

So agree with this, please, that Elijah's decision risked

affecting the one that he walked away from.

And if we're members of of the same body and a a member of that

body, a part of that body decides to disconnect.

The whole body feels it for many reasons.

Is it painful? And one of those reasons is

we've been given the gifts and the wisdom and the charge to

help those who are weak. Weakness is not an excuse for us

to walk away. It's all the more the reason

that we should throw ourselves at one another's feet.

And so it's painful for everybody.

Isolation is devastating to the witness to the Spirit of God

moving in the midst of the people who are called to be

conjoined together together in all seasons of life.

Elijah says, see you later. This boy is left to himself.

He's left himself. So do you want to increase the

chances of spiritual depression? Walk this walk alone.

Don't take your membership of the local church seriously.

Keep it all inside and don't have one or two.

Trust the people that you know love you so you can open your

heart and be delivered from that despondency.

Do it. That's not the only thing,

though. Here's a third ingredient that

we have to keep in mind. And again, these things can be

standalone problems and thorns if we're not careful.

Being pessimistic. What is pessimism?

It's a person who has a tendency to making the most negative

conclusion or belief of the worst outcome out of a scenario.

That's a pessimistic person. You've probably met some such

such people where no matter what problem arises, even if it's a

good thing, they're like, oh, well, this can happen and I can

happen and Oh no, what's going to happen?

And it's just like we need to relax pessimism, magnifying the

negative like as though it's a gift of the Spirit and

dismissing what God is doing in terms of the good and the

fruitfulness of that same situation that you might be

complaining about and woeing about and losing sleep about.

Is Elijah showing signs of pessimism?

Yes, he is. Look at verse 4 again.

But he himself went a days journey into the wilderness and

came and sat under a broom tree and he asked that he might die,

saying it is enough now. Oh Lord, take away my life, for

I am no better than my father's. You see it, for I am no better

than my father's. Some debate about what he meant

exactly by that, but I think it's pretty plain.

This is the language of performance.

I'm no better. So he's self reflecting and

evaluating and he feels as though in comparison, he's not

being effective, he's not being fruitful.

He's not really much different than those in the past who have

failed. You know why I find that so

interesting? Because a man like Elijah is

confessing it. Elijah would be, and it still is

known as one of the most effective, incredible,

remarkable prophets in all of redemptive history.

And yet this man believes us about himself.

Do you know why? If you consider the context,

then you understand why he believed this.

Because Jezebel and Ahab did not believe.

After so much was done in the God that Elijah represented and

served, that's all it took. It took the rejection, the

strong rejection of one woman to spiral this man into a place in

which he thought, I'm a no good prophet.

Oh, never mind the whole nation getting on their face and saying

the Lord he is God. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no one

woman saying I'm going to kill you, which is not a code, but I

don't want you or your God. It's pretty simple, right?

And that that's what he's focusing on.

That's that's what's gripped him, not the miracles of the

past, not God's faithfulness in the past, not again thinking

about the widow who says you're the real deal.

You are a man of God. You are truly a prophet, not

that one woman who didn't show up to the meeting.

And listen, if you are constantly focused on those who

are not getting saved, on those who don't appreciate your

ministry, on those, again, who don't show their faithfulness

and the thing that you're passionate about.

You are setting yourself up for short lived service to the Lord.

Instead, look to what the Lord is doing.

Look to what God has done. Consider those who are being

blessed. That has to be a discipline that

you and I develop lest we position ourselves to being

prisoners of self pity. So ask God to deliver you from

being pessimistic. But before you and I move on to

our final point, I want you to consider something that is good

about Elijah in this verse. There's a lot that he doesn't do

right, but there's one thing that we can applaud him for.

What does he do in verse four? He does want to die, but how is

he expressing that? He's praying?

He's praying, he's praying and he is again, I'm burdening his

soul before the Lord. And I can't help but include

this in the pile of truths that you and I have accumulated about

Elijah's prayer life and his praying.

Because James says, hey, look to this man who prayed in the way

that he prayed. So let's rewind.

When this man of prayer prayed for fire, what happened?

God gave fire. When this man of prayer prayed

for rain, what happened? It rained.

When this man of prayer prayed that God would kill him, what

happened? God didn't answer.

And here's the thing. What's so fascinating?

Mentioned this before. Not only did he not answer, he

did the exact opposite. Elijah would never die.

He would never enter into the grave.

He'd be transported into the heavenlies in a very unique

fashion and so add that to your insights about Elijah's praying.

We talked about Elijah praying for fire came immediately was

miraculous. God could do miraculous things.

You can instantaneously even before you finish saying Amen,

bring the fruit. And we look at the prayer life

of Elijah in the rain where he prayed more than once and the

answer did not come immediately. That is true of our prayer lives

and our experience of answered prayer doesn't happen right away

can happen in a sequence of things.

Here's another insight of prayer.

You have many people as genuine people out of place of

disappointment, even frustration.

Why doesn't God answer my prayers?

Can I tell you something? Here's my one of my favorite

answers to that. There are different reasons for

it, but have you ever factored this in?

That one of the greatest blessings that God can do for

your prayers is not answer them, Is not give you what you've been

asking for. No matter how passionate you

are, no matter how certain you are in that moment.

One of the greatest things that God can do for your prayers is

not give you what you're praying for.

You have to believe that. And maybe only when we stand

before the throne, what we realize oh so thankful that you

didn't answer that prayer. I realize that in this life.

So we see that another inside of this man's prayers that we

should consider and put in the vault of our hearts.

But there's one more thing that we have to look at concerning an

ingredient for despondency, depression, spiritual

depression, at least negligence of the need of our bodies,

negligence of the needs for our bodies.

Look, look, look at verse five again with me.

And he laid down and slept until under a broom tree.

And behold, an Angel touched him and set him arise and eat.

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. And the Angel of the Lord came

again a second time and touched them and said, arise and eat,

for the journey is too great for you.

I'm so happy that this is in the Bible.

I am so thankful that the Lord included this in Holy Writ.

You know what's so amazing about the verses that are the focus of

our study tonight? It's not the end of the chapter.

You have verse nine. And I have to flip my page to

realize that it goes down to verse 21.

Before we go to chapter 20. You know what's happening

between verse nine and verse 21, A dialogue between God and

Elijah, a conversation between the master, the king of heaven,

and one of his faithful servants.

And in that conversation, God gives insight and instruction to

this man of God. But before God draws him away so

that he can meet with him in a very spectacular fashion, he

sees it necessary to feed him and to let him have a couple of

naps. You want to know the mind of

God? Here's the mind of God.

How many believers do you think associate spiritual depression

with bodily deprivation? The Lord taking care of Elijah's

physical state was unnecessary, non negotiable way of providing

the remedy that he needed to be where he was supposed to be.

I know, doesn't sound spiritual. Doesn't sound very impressive,

does it? But it's in the scriptures.

Here's a biblical reference that stands as an everlasting

reminder to you and I that to be careless with your body is a

sure way of promising hindrance to your devotion to the Lord.

For some, listen what's needed to overcome sadness and no

greater longevity in your joyful walk with Christ.

You know what it is? It's not another sermon, a

better sleep schedule. Yeah, for those who are battling

gloomy thoughts and they think they need prophetic pastoral

counsel, counsel is good, it's important.

But in some cases, you know what?

You need a better diet. You know, if you deal with

counselors, one of the go to things that counselors will tell

you, secular and non secular, maybe you've experienced this.

If you deal with anxiety or this or that, these patterns that are

detrimental to your overall well-being, especially in your

faith, this is what they'll ask you.

Do you regularly exercise? Wow, right.

No, no, no, that's not the way it's supposed to be.

You're supposed to tell me something like mystical, and

you're supposed to just maybe do something where it just kind of

evaporates from my life. God can do that.

But what does God do for a servant here?

Does he wake him up and give him this discourse about faith?

And does he, does he sprinkle something supernatural on him?

No, he says get up and eat, eat and drink.

And he let him fall asleep and he came back and says OK, you

don't understand how much you're actually needing this and you

don't understand what's coming. You're going to need to eat and

drink again. I know you want to be spiritual.

I know, I know we all want to be spiritual.

Never forget because you can't afford to forget that no matter

how spiritual you want to be, you are confined to a body and

that body is subject to natural laws and it requires stewardship

for you to be careful in your nurturing and and how you treat

it and what you feed it. Because no matter how spiritual

you are, if you don't honor that component of your existence,

it's going to affect a measure of your in look and your

outlook, even in the lane of your spirituality.

So we come here and we realize that the Lord is prescribing

something that we wouldn't consider in our fight against

things that would weigh us down, things that are avoidable.

And personally, when I have one of those days, if I can be

vulnerable with you, not too vulnerable, I make a mental

checklist, 'cause I'm aware of spiritual warfare, I'm aware

that the enemy can whisper things in my mind.

You can whisper things in your mind, but one of my go to

primary reflections when I have those days.

How has my sleep been this week? What's my diet been like the

past full of handful days? Did I did I put my muscles to

work? I know it like you're like, this

is Bible study. Oh, it's so practical, right?

OK, you won't take my word for it.

So let me give you the words of the Prince of preacher.

How about that? Here's Charles Spurgeon in one

of his teachings in the lecture to my students.

Quote, to sit long in one posture, poring over a book or

driving a quill is in itself a taxing of nature.

But add to this a badly ventilated chamber, a body which

has long been without muscular exercise and a heart burdened

with many cares, and we have all the elements for preparing a

seething cauldron of despair. End Quote.

So you don't want to listen to me, Listen to Charles Spurgeon.

Yeah, I agree with him. This is not off base.

This is not some fringe thing. This is biblical are those are

those who take extremities with their bodies and do so at the

expense of their spirituality. 100%.

You can idolize your body and I'll tell you this, no matter

how well you eat, no matter what kind of pills you take, we're

all terminal. So you can go overboard and you

can over obsessed. We're not talking about that.

This is basic food. This is a cake and this is water

and a good sleep. Some of your parents know what

happens to your children when they don't get good sleep,

right, Little children? We think that changes as we grow

up. So counselors, Christian friends

who love others and want to be with those in the battle against

the flesh and sin and Satan, have you ever included that in

your counsel? Have you ever asked somebody

who's been in a perpetual state of weird thinking and pessimism,

hey, do you sleep well? Like you can't go to bed every

night at 3:00 AM with Cheeto stained fingers and think that

you're going to be at your best. It's not going to happen.

So we see here that these four elements are not exhaustive, but

they are helpful. Maybe we have overlooked them,

especially the last one, but let me remind you of them in closing

that we are to never forget to keep the sovereignty of God, the

goodness of God, the power of God, whatever characteristic or

attribute, all of them, rather ever before you.

You're also with that to not disconnect from those that God

has placed in your life because they are there for your safety

and they are there for your joy and they are there for your

help. You're also supposed to come to

a place in which you realize that you have a choice.

And yes, it might take some time to shake it off and to develop a

better pattern, but choose to look at what the Lord is doing,

the blessings, a spirit of gratitude.

If you're not there, you are going to be more prone to being

like Elijah. And lastly, consider the

component of your body, not just your soul.

And if you want to be better with your soul, you're going to

be better with your body. May God give us wisdom in that.

I don't want to end there though.

There are many ways to end this. But I want to end on this

thought. Look at how God treats his

servant. This is where we're landing

tonight. So you have this man who had

seen so much and yet he acts in such unbelief and he even makes

these crazy, self-destructive, God dishonouring request to be

put to death. That's not up to you, Elijah.

In fact, you're, you're only getting started here in

ministry. You have so much still ahead of

you. And this is what you're going to

ask God to do. And you would think that for God

to show up and confront Elijah that he would have a different

kind of approach. But instead he sends an Angel

and this Angel makes him some food and takes care of him.

And here's what's so fascinating.

Don't you think that's such a menial task for an Angel to do?

What a lowly job for this heavenly creature to leave the

throne room of heaven to enter into this world and to deal with

a sporadic, at least at this point, servant of God.

What are we to make of this? This is the grace of God, and

the grace only becomes more beautiful when you realize that

this Angel is distinguished. So we read that he's an Angel.

Look at verse seven. Maybe you missed it, and the

Angel of the Lord and the Angel of the Lord came again a second

time and touched them. It's no ordinary Angel, not just

one of the myriad of angels that occupy heaven.

We're talking about the Angel of the Lord, and we've done past

studies to realize and learn that this Angel of the Lord is

not an Angel. The way you envision it and the

way cartoons have displayed it, Angel simply means messenger.

And the Angel of the Lord is in fact God Himself, more

specifically the second person of the Godhead, namely the

person of Jesus Christ. That changed the scenario for

you. Now you know what you have here.

You have a theophany. You have the pre Incarnate

Christ personally attending to a weak vessel known as Elijah.

Jesus Christ himself coming to the aid of this man and doing

what? Preparing a meal for him,

allowing him to rest and to return and to help him again.

You know that verse says Jesus is the same yesterday, today,

and tell me he's the same forever.

My mind goes to another servant of God who was impatient, filled

with guilt and shame, and thought to himself after serving

with and for the Lord during a three-year period, said, I'm

going back to fish. And he convinces several others

of those core disciples to join him.

And while he's in that place of unbelief, while he's on that

place of despondency, Jesus Christ, the same one who came to

the help of Elijah, shows up on the shore of that beach.

And what does he have prepared for Peter?

Breakfast. Have you ever thought about

that? God making breakfast for one of

his own creatures? For what purpose?

To fellowship with Peter and to restore him.

What do we have here? You have Jesus not beating on

Elijah, not stomping on him for his lack of faith and

consistency, but ever so gently and patiently building him back

up. And you see the same heart with

another servant in the New Testament, among many others.

You might be even here, and you've barely made it.

You might watch this later because you just stumbled upon

it, but you are barely making it in your faith.

In fact, you might be hanging by one last thread before you say

I'm I'm done. I'm going to indefinitely

separate myself from ministry, from the church, from even from

my Bible, and I'm just going to figure something out.

You know what Christ's heart for you is in this moment?

What you see here, especially if you're a true servant of God.

I'm not talking about those who don't have true faith and think

they can just waltz in this life and rebellion without the Lord

doing something about it. If you profess His name at

least. I'm talking about those like

Elijah. You lived your life for God.

You serve Him, you adore Him, but just ensnared by weakness.

Christ's heart is for you, and He's eager and ready to restore

you. Surrender yourself into that

revelation. Melt in that kind of a truth.

You have many people who find themselves in such a state of

mind, and what keeps them there even more is because they

imagined God frowning from heaven, saying, after all these

Bible studies and sermons, this is what you've come to.

And with a cold shoulder he turns his back and waits for you

to get it together before he turns his face back.

That's not the heart of Christ. Here you have a man in the

wilderness who isolated himself and who comes to meet him in his

isolation, The Lord. And it's given to us in this

word for you and I to take courage that yes, in this place

where your faith is not the most impressive, in fact, it might be

insulting. Insulting to others and

insulting to the Lord. Christ is there, He's ready.

I hope you see him that way. If you do, you've made a giant

leap towards being free from the very plague that arrested

Elijah. In this chapter, let's pray

together. Lord, we do look to you with

gratitude in our hearts that you seek to equip us in areas that

we might even realize we need equipping in.

And Lord, we ask that You give us the ability to uncover what

may have been a blind spot. Lord, if we if we do fail to see

you and to set you before us at all times, help us do that.

If if we don't value the community of God, help us change

in our perspective. If we are prone to pessimism and

we've excused it with our personality or our past traumas.

Or may all those excuses die tonight.

And Lord, if we have, if we are those who in our even pursuit of

spirituality have neglected the stewardship of our bodies, give

us the proper frame of mind and the wisdom to know how to take

care of all of who you've made us to be.

And Lord, lastly, we thank you that you shine your heart toward

us even in our weakest points. Thank you for the tender mercies

of Jesus Christ that you even tucked in this chapter.

So Lord, even as we close tonight and we worship you, may

that be ever before us. Realizing that you are you're a

caring God, you're willing to stoop down and do what you need

to do to help us. And Lord, you invite us to pour

out our hearts to you, even when it's the most embarrassing times

of our faith. Lord, strengthen our loins

tonight. That's our prayer.

We, we want the extra grace to go the extra mile in Jesus name,

Amen. Amen.

Let's stand and worship the Lord together.