Nothing is Wasted

I signed up for everything I am living right now.  It is not that big a deal.  Not one of the things that annoy me is a real trial--just a steady drip of annoyances.  

But so often my reactions are out of proportion to the irritation and my attitude reflects a loss of eternal perspective.
  
Heaven help me if I am ever asked to do the really big stuff--like suffer persecution or go without food or lose one of my beloveds.  

The funny thing is the way God flicked me on the ear to remind me of that reality tonight during family devotions.  

We read 1 Kings 19 this evening. In the previous chapter, (which we read yesterday) Elijah had just pulled off his fantastic performance around the alter with the priests of Baal.  

There were the dramatic preparations, the dancing and self-mutilation by the false prophets, the cleverly sarcastic comments from Elijah, the ultimate humiliation of the false god, the powerful prayer to the God of Israel, and then--the fireworks!! Gorgeous victory.  Dramatic demonstration of the power of God.  

So that was last night's reading.  

But somehow tonight we found Elijah sitting under a broom tree, praying for his own death.  (1 Kings 19:4)  

What happened to the mighty mocking warrior of God from the last chapter?  

Well, he was faced with the reality that, although God often pulls off the dramatic rescue, He is not required to.

Sometimes the hard, ugly ending has to be borne to accomplish a hidden purpose--and that is a heavy knowledge.  

The other men of God in Israel--hundreds of them--had presumably been faithful servants too.  And they had been driven into hiding by the army of Ahab, who hunted them like animals, and slaughtered them one by one by one.  

And now Jezebel had just given Elijah a very personal death threat.  And that burden was too great for his strength. 

It's hard explain why that was a comfort, and why I felt it was a message to me.  Elijah's reaction to his circumstances was not the one that any of us would wish to have, but it is the one we sometimes DO have, even in the face of much lesser trials.  

And what does God do when he finds his servant lying under a tree, praying for death?  Berate Elijah for his lack of faith? Fire him? Smite him down? (Another reason everyone can be glad I am not God; I'm a smiter at my core.)

No.  God tenderly feeds Elijah, allows him rest, encourages him ("the journey is too much for you") and then shows Him his might in hopes that Elijah would gain strength and perspective.
  
1 Kings 19:11-13

¹¹ The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. 

After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.  

¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. 

And after the fire came a gentle whisper.  

¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Before that dramatic revelation of Himself, the Lord had come to Elijah and asked him, "What are you doing here"? (verse 9) 

 Elijah's answer sounds to me like a bunch of self pity, mixed with some bragging and a dollop of accusation.  

(verse 10)  "I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.  The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword.  I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."  Sniff.  (I added that)

So, in response to Elijah's lack of faith, God shows His presence.  He pulls out all the stops!  

"Look, Elijah!  Can Jezebel match this power?  Are you not safe with me?"

And then afterward, God asks Elijah the same question! 

"What are you doing here"?
 
I can almost sense (forgive me if I am reading into this) an expectation there--like maybe He is hoping for a different answer from his servant.  

A renewed sense of the bigger picture perhaps?  A strengthening of the backbone?  A re-igniting of the passion?  

Surely He wasn't asking because he had forgotten Elijah's first response!  

Which makes Elijah's response both funny and sad at the same time because he gives the same exact answer.  

Almost as if he was so focused on himself that he can't break out of the loop. 

How many times, as a parent, have I had one of my brilliant soliloquies fall flat like this. (No fire or broken mountains, but still--pretty convincing.)

You love your kids, you identify a need, you hand them the key, they stare at their naval and hand you the same line they started with.  

And at those times, even in my disappointment, it hits me between the eyes. The picture has two levels.  Me with my child.  God with me.  Brilliant!

In the same way, I LOVE what happens next in this story (this is where I got my flick).  When we read tonight, there just happened to be a long pause between verse 14 and 15. (I think our little reader lost his place:)  

Anyway, there was silence in the space between where Elijah gives God his "pre-recorded" answer and God's final response to him.  In that quietness, Elijah's petulant words just hit the ground in our living room.   

It was almost like I could picture God just staring at Elijah, in love and frustration and pity, waiting--hoping he would sense the power, get the message, catch the vision. 

But Elijah didn't.  At least not at that moment.

And so God started talking again.  

Did He bake Elijah some more bread, maybe rub his feet a little, bring him a drink?  

Did He try again to wow Elijah with wind and pyrotechnics? 

Did He let him live a while longer in his pity party?

Nope.  God came out with marching orders.  Go here.  Then do that.  Anoint him and him and him.  Take this road.  This is your part and this is what will come after you are gone.  

Do it.

As if to say, "Get your eyes back on Me and do it, Elijah.  I'm sorry you ignored My power and missed the lesson.  It was good, and I would have liked for you to catch it,  but at least millions of future followers will be moved by the retelling of what you missed."

"And no matter how you feel, you still need to do your job."

But even then, God ends with tender encouragement for his servant.  "Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel--all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him." verse 18

Yes, Elijah-child.  You can't see it, but there are seven thousand souls in my sight, whom I will preserve.  I know them each intimately.  The risks they have taken for my sake, the purity they have maintained.

They are mine.  You are too.  

And so, Elijah, do your job.  I am with you.  They are with you.  

And you are not alone.