What Are You Doing Here?

Elijah, through God, won the trial and humiliated Baal’s prophets to death… literally.

As often happens, the success he experienced created even more headaches.  After the trial, he received a death threat from the queen.  As a lover of Baal, she was humiliated in the Lord’s victory.  Elijah’s original thought was to approach her directly.  He quickly realized, though, that she would certainly loathe his presence.

He must have also considered whether he could live uncomfortably under the radar in her territory.

Instead of these options, he ran with his servant out of the city into a neighboring land where he wouldn’t be found.  Elijah, though, wanted to go deeper under cover, so he left his servant behind and ran deep into the wilderness.  What we don’t know is how long the servant stayed behind before giving up on Elijah.  What happened to that servant while Elijah was out?

Picking up the story here, Elijah finally comes to a broom tree.  The fact that he is near this plant that grows in rugged, rocky and dry terrain tells us how far Elijah has run.  He is wiped out.  Exhausted. He sleeps under that tree, but not before asking the Lord to take his life.  He literally declares that he has had enough and asks the Lord to end it all for him.  Interestingly, he could have allowed the queen or any number of the humiliated people in his wake to take his life.  Instead, struggling to wander a day into desert land, he wants God to finish him off.

Laying under the broom tree, he loses consciousness.  As his cognition fades, he likely assumes God is taking him from the earth.  Surprisingly, though, he awakens because somebody touches him.  Being a day into the wilderness, it is very strange to be touched.  He also hears a voice, saying “arise and eat”.

Whoa.

He’s in the wilderness with nobody else and he is touched.  He is nowhere near food, but there’s a cake right by him.  Did his servant track him down? No, obviously, he found God. Rather, God found him.  Elijah eats enough to eat and drink that he was able to lay back down.  Again, the Lord fed him.

Elijah is led for another forty days to Mount Horeb.  It is here where Moses famously received the Ten Commandments.  It is here where Moses showed God’s power by producing water from a rock.  It is here that God, again, shows his power to a human.  It is here where Elijah finds a cave and sleeps, only to be awakened by God.

“What are you doing here, Elijah?”  How would anybody answer that question?  The omniscient, all-powerful and all-knowing God is asking you what you’re doing here?

The only possible answer is the honest answer that God already knows. I’m running for my life because I’ve been diligently working for you and the people are rejecting you and me.  Being near you was my only hope.  This is a place I know you’ve shown yourself to humans and I really want to be near you.  It is an honest, genuine and touching answer.  It underscores what we already know about Elijah- he genuinely wants to do God’s will and please Him.

God’s response?  “Go out of the cave onto the mountain.”  I want to you see me.  Instantly complying with this command, a strong wind sucker punches Elijah.  This is no tornado or a hurricane.  It’s even more powerful.  It breaks rocks off the mountain and shatters them onto the ground below.  This must be the Lord!

Nope.  The Lord is not in the unnaturally powerful wind.

Then, an earthquake hits, also sending rocks into the ground and cratering portions of the mountain.  That must be the Lord telling me something, right?

No, the Lord was not in the earthquake either.

Then a fire ravages the mountainside.  At this point, it seems obvious that the Lord is speaking, right?

No, the Lord was not in the fire, either.

But after the savage wind, the destabilizing earthquake and the consuming fire, a still, small voice comes over Elijah.  The Lord’s voice.

“What are you doing here, Elijah?”

The only possible answer was the honest answer.  Consistent with his last answer, Elijah shares with the Lord his fear.  Everyone wants me dead and they all reject you.  I don’t.  I want to be near you and seek your guidance.  Here you are, what do I do?

We sometimes run out of fear.  Sometimes we fear reputational harm and sometimes we fear physical harm.  We sometimes hit a fork in the road: one path leads to the things we fear and the other leads to a helpful and loving God.

What we learn from Elijah’s story is that he “finds God” after showing his intense desire to be with God.  More specifically, he clearly hears God after witnessing several uncontrollable and destructive forces that were not from God.

After what some would view as a major victory over Baal, Elijah realized that the people would perceive him to be gloating over a victory.  Instead of running into the city after the victory, he runs to the Victor for comfort.  The Victor, in fact, meets Elijah and reveals His plan – where His peace is found.

Bene-action: Whether we are currently experiencing a fiery fear or smoldering anxiety, let’s write down one or two ways we know our fatigue stems from running toward God as opposed to hiding among the enemy.

From I Kings 19.