1 Kings 19:1-21
Q.1. Why was Elijah downhearted? How did God deal with the prophet when he was down? – (1 Kgs.19:1-8)
It may be hard to believe that the bold prophet was actually afraid (1 Kgs.19:3). However, Obadiah had reported – Jezebel destroyed the prophets of the Lord (c.f. 1 Kgs.18:4) … Elijah had good reason to believe that she would carry out her threats against him (1 Kgs.19:1-2). Unlike previously, when God directed the prophet to hide himself from harm’s way (c.f. 1 Kgs.17:3), this time Elijah just ran for his life, without waiting to be told. (1Kgs.19:3). He was so deflated, that he indulged in self-pity under a Juniper tree in the wilderness – and said, ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my (fore) fathers’ (1 Kgs.19:4). Such discouragement often beset the servants of the Lord, from David to Paul. How would God respond to this self-absorbed prophet? It is encouraging to read that God sent His angel to give him supernatural food – 7 The angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 8 So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God (1 Kgs.19:7-8). The angel comforted the depressed prophet, and the food gave him sustenance for forty days and nights. As with the forty-year wilderness journey, and Christ’s own time of temptation, forty often speaks of trials – i.e. a long time from a human standpoint. God does not, for no reason, make life harder for us when we are down. Nonetheless, because His ways are so much greater than our ways, sometimes our days can be shrouded in darkness when we are tested (Isa.55:8-9). cave (1 Kgs.19:11-13). The prophet had to learn that even at his best, he was still only partly right.
Q.2. What did depression do to the prophet’s view of God? How did God renew Elijah’s spirits? – (1 Kgs.19:9-18)
As long as Elijah focused on his earthly trials, he continued to have a distorted view of God. He complained – I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away (1 Kgs.19:10). He magnified his own troubles in his thinking and diminished the power and grace of God. God reminded Elijah – Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him (1 Kgs.19:18 c.f. Rom.11:2-4). Elijah had seen God work dramatically when He sent fire from Heaven (1 Kgs.18:38). Here he also needed to experience the gentleness of God. The Lord directed Elijah – 11 … ‘Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.’ And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the
Q.3. How did the Lord provide for the faithful prophet, to stop him from drowning in despair? – (1 Kgs.19:15-21)
God re-commissioned Elijah and gave him a fresh assignment. He was to have a dynamic influence on the raising up of Hazael, King of Aram, whom God would use to punish King Ahab (1 Kgs.19:17). Best of all, the Lord gave the ageing prophet a faithful companion to serve alongside him, and to whom to pass the baton on – Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place (1 Kgs.19:16). The closing part of the chapter recorded the flesh and blood blessing that God gave. It recorded that – Elisha arose and followed Elijah AND MINISTERED TO HIM (1 Kgs.19:21). God will never overlook the plight of His faithful servants (c.f. 2 Chron.16:9; Heb.6:10-11).