Lessons from Elijah

Good Morning All,

For the past two Sundays we have met up with the Hebrew prophet Elijah. Elijah’s encounters with God remind me so much of Peter and his conversations with Jesus. Both Elijah and Peter are not exactly what one might call, “conventional.” Their actions and even their attitudes might indicate that they have all but one toe in the acceptable cultural practices of the day, but that one unaccounted for toe causes them to think and act in ways that get them into some sort of difficulty from time to time. As with most of us, their intentions and maybe even their hearts are in the right place, but when they say or do certain things they end up, as the saying goes, “opening their mouth only to change feet!” Sound familiar? :)

This accounts for Peter and his anxious desire to honor and preserve the gathering of Jesus, Moses and Elijah on top of the Mount of Transfiguration; or when his back was up against the wall and it was time to declare his allegiance to Jesus and all he could say was, “…I do not know him…”

And Elijah, while attempting to be a good and faithful prophet who only serves the one, true God of Israel, managed on more than one occasion to disregard God’s advice, let alone God’s direction. Last Sunday we learned in I Kings 18 that his trust in God allowed him to defeat the prophets of the pagan god, Baal, on the top of Mt. Carmel . And while he gets an A+ from God, in turn, he has really made King Ahab & Queen Jezebel angry beyond belief for killing off all of Baal’s 450+ prophets, whom they held in such high regard!

So much for the reward of serving God…His life is on the line and he heads for the hills and hides out in a cave, hoping for God to kill him before Jezebel does. God doesn’t seem to pay much attention to Elijah’s whining and carrying on. It’s as if God is asking him if he wants “some cheese with that whine!” And instead, God redirects Elijah’s laments and ends up giving him a new attitude--a new purpose in life; a new sense of direction for the future.

It’s evident that God never gave up on Elijah; God heard his cries of desperation, allowed him to wallow around in self-pity and to even wish he were dead and yet, through it all, God remained faithful. God believed in Elijah; God desired the very best for him and gave him all he needed to be faithful and to serve God in return.
And God promises you and me the same as well…As a good friend, Tex Evans used to say, “That’s the truth if I ever told it!” Blessings, Joanne