We’ve all seen this image: the triumphant warrior or superhero standing on a high place, striking some pose that is sure to be photographed and made into posters, and hung in city squares, offices and bedrooms all over the world.
Read 1 Kings 17-19
“Here he comes to save the day!” is the cry of the crowd as they see Superman approach. But this is not the stereotype of the Lord’s hero. I am brought to silence, both literally and in my thoughts…as I consider Elijah, and all that happens in these chapters. Think of it:
A man who loves and serves the Lord, doing only what God has commanded him to do, having never worshipped any false idol or strayed from his faith in any way. This man speaks a harsh word to the king (Ahab was king in the North, remember. And was currently involved heavily in worshiping Asherah and Baal) and then goes into hiding. For a long time…I’m thinking a year or so…he drinks nothing but water, and eats nothing but what the birds carry in to him. During the beginning of this famine, food would still be plentiful, or at least present somewhere. Elijah is reduced to bread and water almost ahead of the rest of the people. Wow. Thanks for speaking up for God, Elijah. Look where that got you, hiding in a cave eating scraps while people slowly begin to starve. Well, at least God has provided food….let’s be thankful for that.
Then the stream dries up.
Now Elijah is sent to widow to tell her to give him the last bit of food she has. He lives in hiding with her, with just barely enough to eat…until her son gets sick and dies. I resonate with her cry before God. “Why did you come here? Was it just to point out my sins and punish me for them by taking my son away?” Remember, this woman is a widow, and her son is the only means of support she will have in her old age. The death of her son is tragic, but doubly so when you consider that she is now doomed to begging herself.
Rabbit trail: How old would a widow be with a young son? My mental image of the widow at Zarephath was of an elderly woman…grandma, barely able to move around, doing what she could to gather some sticks and cook a meal… But Elijah “takes the child from her arms and carries him upstairs”. This is a very young boy… that means the widow was a young mother. God sent Elijah to the home of a young single mom to help her through a famine. I don’t think Elijah was married….I wonder how much age difference there was between them. He had to be much older, because this happens just before he anoints Elisha to be his “second”.
Anyway, Elijah doesn’t resemble the superhero at all. He has no clever uniform, he is in hiding and eating just enough to stay alive. Elijah looks more like a survivor than a conqueror.
Then we are taken to the “show down” where Elijah has his “superhero” moment. This contest is simply to show the people that Baal and Asherah are simply “made up” gods. They are nothing, the images and designs of some person who created them long ago. God wants to show his people that these false gods have no power whatsoever. Who does he use to demonstrate this? The raggedy, thin prophet Elijah. Elijah speaks to the crowd with an uncommon boldness. He defies the prophets of the king, even while the king is present. If this doesn’t work, Elijah is a dead man. But God does answer, and in spectacular fashion. The whole crowd now looks to Elijah, and recognizes that God has just spoken through him. With one voice they ask this scrap of a person “what should we do”? and Elijah doesn’t fail in the moment. All the prophets of Baal are taken down off the mountain and killed. The king is sent on his way home (why isn’t he killed? he started this whole thing) and all the people return to their homes. I imagine they were smiling, and left the mountain with a new resolve to serve the Lord.
And just like that, less than 24 hours, it’s over. Years of preparation, years of hunger, hiding and discomfort…and in one brief day, it’s over. The mountain grows quiet….no one left but the prophet and his servant. Elijah begins to pray. Everyone else is home and beginning their normal routine again. Within a couple of days most of them will have moved on and forgotten the significance of the day. But not the prophet.
He calls down rain from heaven, and runs faster than a deer to the city…beating the kings chariot…which is galloping at full speed. This is incredible stuff. Surely we are close to the mountaintop pose of the superhero. Surely the old men and young girls will be talking about Elijah in their homes tonight, while Elijah gets some well deserved rest. Surely Elijah is feeling confident and confirmed in his calling and ministry. Right?
But at the end of the day, no one is more aware of their humanness than the prophet. The one who comes into contact with the Holy is always most acutely aware of their imperfections, and unworthiness. This is Elijah. He is simply one of us, a man who is willing to allow God to direct him, and who is willing to allow God to put him into any circumstance that God feels is necessary. There is no mountaintop pose, no humble brag, no credit to be given…..because this was always about God, not Elijah. Elijah is one of us, a reed swayed by the wind. (John the Baptist said the same about himself).
I wonder why the famine and dry spell was so long? Was it to prove to Ahab that he had no power above God? Was it to prepare the hearts of the people to celebrate God’s provision when it finally rained again? Was it to prepare Elijah for his role, teaching him to trust for everyday food and drink, and helping him to learn that God provides? I wonder.
As I sit here this morning I am filled with wonder, and humility at what God accomplishes through people. Simply, ordinary, raggedy people. No special skills or talents or pedigrees required. Just a heart that says “I am willing to be whatever you want me to be”.
That’s the picture of the man who collapsed under a broom tree and begged God to take him home. Just a regular guy who was tired. Interestingly, Elijah had a few very important tasks yet to accomplish. He wasn’t anywhere near to being finished…he was just tired. So God refreshed his spirit with a visit at Mount Sinai, gave him another mission and sent him back on his way.
Thinking of that, I wonder where Elisha was when the prophets of Baal were failing? I’ll bet God was preparing his heart for ministry even as Elijah was thinking “Jezebel is going to kill me, I’m finished”. When Elijah placed his cloak on Elisha, I wonder if Elisha would have reacted the same way, if the contest on the mountain hadn’t happened? In that one moment, God gives this simple man credibility and honor. Elijah has only been obedient, he hasn’t really done much other than to respond to what God has told him to do. And in three or four years, it’s basically all been about 24 hours of activity. But in that time, with the man whose heart is fully devoted, God has turned the nation back to himself.
Incredible.
Faithfully,
PR