Elijah - Decreed to Die

Pray with me, would you please? Father, we thank you for tonight, a chance to spend a brief moment in your word. As we understand the life and times of Elijah, the great prophet of God, we ask that you'd encourage all of us as we begin to understand more about this man's life, his ministry, how you used him, Lord, to teach us about how we should live our lives this very day. The word of God is living and abiding and powerful than any sharp two-edged sword. And we just ask that, Lord, you would cut to the depths of all of our souls tonight, that we might be able to know the great truths of your word.

In Jesus name, amen. First Kings chapter 19, first Kings chapter 19 is where we're at. We have spent the last three and a half years, really eight weeks. But for Elijah, it's been three and a half years looking at his life. And, uh, those three and a half years have built up to one monumental event on top of Mount Carmel where he would challenge the 450 prophets of Baal. He would call fire down from heaven. He would pray and there would rain. And for the first time in three and a half years, rain would come and everything about his life built up this one monumental opportunity on Mount Carmel.

Now, when it all began, Elijah did not know all the events that were going to take place. He followed the Lord every step of the way. When God said move, he moved. When God said stay, he stayed. He did exactly what God had told him to do. And at each place, whether it was at, uh, the Brook Careth or whether it was in Zarephath, he would learn the lessons that God had taught him to prepare him for that one opportunity on Mount Carmel. God was using every event, every day, every opportunity in his life to prepare him for this one monumental opportunity where he would declare his God, the Lord God of Israel as the God that is to be worshiped in Israel.

And all Israel saw that it was the Lord God of Israel who should be exalted. And those prophets of Baal were executed and Elijah began to pray for rain and it rained and boy, did the rain come down. He told Ahab he needed to get to where he was going because it was going to rain. And Elijah, he followed Ahab, then passed up Ahab because he ran on foot and beat him to Jezreel. And that's where the story ended last week. And now we come to first Kings chapter 19.

Now the battle that Elijah faced was a huge battle, but the war was not yet over. And it's a reminder that, that evil is relentless. Evil never stops. It always seeks to dethrone the truth. And so Elijah's battles just really began. On Mount Carmel and they would continue through the rest of his life. And it's a good reminder to all of us that, you know what the battle, there's always a new battle every day because the war is lifelong until the Lord calls us home to be with him. And so when you come to first Kings chapter 19, the devil has been defeated and the Lord God has been publicly displayed before all to see and the prophets of Baal have been disposed of and humiliated.

So you come to first Kings chapter 19 and this is how the story goes. Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods do to me. And even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time, and he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah and left his servant there, but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree.

And he requested for himself that he might die and said, it is enough now, oh Lord, take my life for I am not better than my father's. He lay down and slept under a juniper tree and behold, there was an angel touching him. He said to him, arise, eat. Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. 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.

So he arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. There is so much in these eight verses to help you understand Elijah and the decree Jezebel gives that he is now to die. When look, first of all, Elijah's persecution, all right, Elijah's persecution.

He's come off of a incredible day and presumably it's the next day and Ahab is going to relay to Jezebel all that's taken place, except he distorts the truth. He doesn't talk about the God of Israel. Doesn't talk about how the prophets of Baal were unable to accomplish what they had set out to do. He doesn't talk about how the people exalted Elijah's God. Doesn't talk about how they were involved in the process of bringing the prophets down to the Brook Kishon to, to be slain. He just gives a brief part of the story and tells her that Elijah slayed the prophets.

And so he doesn't give the whole truth. Now this was, this was Ahab's opportunity. This was his, his one opportunity to, to direct Jezebel in the right direction. Remember Ahab's the king of Israel, right? He's married to, to Jezebel. And maybe the reason why, why Elijah was to run by Ahab's chariot as we saw last week was because Ahab had to go home to Jezebel and maybe he wasn't too excited about going back and relaying to her all that's taken place. He's thinking about the story he has to, he has to tell her.

And of course, Elijah just breezes by him. Of course, it was the hand of the Lord that moved him. But now he has to tell Jezebel. You think he'd go home and say, babe, you got to know that we're wrong. That the Lord God of Israel is the true God. We've blown it. I witnessed the miracle of God on the Mount Carmel and I've seen what God can do. And I, and I saw the people bow to his leadership. And I saw that when Elijah prayed for rain, the rain came, everything happened just like Elijah said, but he didn't.

He didn't. He was blinded to the truth. In spite of the overwhelming evidence before him, he could not see the obvious. And his heart was so hard, so hardened to him that he was unable to see the reality of God. What a horrible place to be in. And the Bible tells us these words in the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 28, verse number 14, how blessed is the man who fears always, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity. And Ahab's going to fall into a huge calamity. He's going to end up dying and spend eternity in hell.

Proverbs 29, one says a man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy. So the Bible gives plenty of warnings about making sure that you don't harden your heart. Because if you do as, as Pharaoh did in Exodus chapter eight, he hardened his heart to the God of Israel, God hardened his heart. And if God hardened your heart, it's impossible for you to repent. It's impossible for you to turn because the Lord God of Israel has hardened your heart. But Baal was a false God.

He was non-existent. And in spite of overwhelming evidence, Ahab went back to Jezebel and explained to her only partial truths. The Bible tells us in the book of Matthew, the 13th chapter about hardness of heart. The Lord God had given Israel a chance to respond and they refused. So he begins to speak to Israel in parables. The disciples want to know why he's doing that. He says in verse 11 of Matthew 13, to you has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, it has not been granted.

Whoever has to him more shall be given and he will have an abundance, but whoever does not have even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore, I speak to them that is Israel in parables, because while seeing, they do not see. And while hearing, they do not hear, nor do they understand. That was Ahab. While seeing, he did not see. While hearing, he did not hear. He could not understand what was happening. In their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, you will keep on hearing, but will not understand.

You will keep on seeing, but will not receive for the heart of this people has become dull. With their ears, they scarcely hear and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears and understand with their heart and return and I would heal them. But blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear. Ahab was unable to see or hear because he had hardened his heart so much to the truth of God. So in spite of the overwhelming evidence of Mount Carmel, he would not respond.

And on top of that, he hated, he hated Elijah. First Kings 22 tells us, as he speaks to the prophet Micaiah, that he hated Elijah.

He couldn't stand him. Instead of honoring Elijah, instead of lifting Elijah up because of what he stood for, Ahab couldn't stand Elijah because he was hardened to the truth. And he did not want to even be around him. So he hated him. And he goes and tells Jezebel that Elijah had killed the prophets with a sword. Now, you'd think she'd ask the question, well, how did he do that? How does one man kill 450 prophets? How does one man stand against all these men and slay them all? How does that happen?

Give me more details. Explain to me what went on. But she doesn't. Then Jezebel sent a message to Elijah saying, so may the gods do to me. And even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. You've got 24 hours, Elijah, and you're going to die. I'm coming after you. It's just amazing. She doesn't ask any questions, but she is, she's hot. She is so angry. She is so mad. Now, remember, Ahab is the king of Israel. But Ahab makes no decree for Elijah to die.

It's like, listen, it's like Ahab married his mother. OK, somebody that would coddle him and take care of him and watch out for him and protect him. He comes back and says, oh, babe, Elijah killed the prophets. Oh, poor baby. Come here. How did he do that? You know what? I'm going to protect you. I'm going to protect the nation. I'm going to kill him. He's going to die. You know, that's what she does with Naboth's vineyard. Ahab wants Naboth's vineyard. He can't get it. So she says, come here, honey.

I'll take care of Naboth for you. I'll kill him so you can have his vineyard. I'll protect you, baby. It's like he married his mother. You know, he didn't stand strong. He didn't lead his wife. She was the one in charge. She dominated everything. And so she hears the story. She's furious. She's hot. So she makes a decree. And Ahab didn't say, wait a minute, baby. You can't do that because I've seen Elijah pray. And I've seen fire come down from heaven. You don't want to put a decree out against Elijah.

You don't want to do that, dear. Nope. I'm telling you, I was there. It's not going to work. No, he didn't say anything. Because he's henpecked. He's dominated by a domineering wife. And so he just kind of goes with the flow, hides behind her skirt, hoping that she is going to be right and things are going to turn out okay. And she is hopping mad. Now she never dreamed that Elijah would run or maybe she did. Maybe she thought if she threatened him, he would run, but she never really dreamed that he would run from this decree, that she would kill him.

But his running would only help her because you see, if he dies, he becomes a martyr that's been slain for the truth. If he lives, if he runs and hides, in essence, Jezebel still wins because, you know, Elijah goes to the wilderness and now there's no more stress. There's no more mess. We're going to be okay. And so in essence, she, she, she's going to end up winning, but she doesn't send an executioner. She sends a messenger. Does she really want him dead? Why not just send the executioner to kill him right on the spot?

Why send a messenger? Maybe she wants to send a message. Maybe she hopes he does run. Bible didn't tell us exactly why, but she sends a messenger and says in 24 hours, you will be dead. You know, the Bible tells us in the book of Proverbs, the 29th chapter, the 27th verse, that he who is upright in the way is abominable to the wicked. And Jezebel, like Ahab, hated Elijah. That's why when Ahab saw him, he called him the troubler of Israel, but he wasn't. He was the one who spoke the truth. But those who are committed to wickedness hate those who speak the truth.

And so she set out to make sure that he would not live. Elijah's persecution leads to Elijah's pessimism. Look what it says. And he was afraid. Now stop right there for a second.

We've been studying this man for eight weeks and for three and a half years, we've seen nothing but greatness from this man. Nothing but boldness from this man. Nothing but courage from this man. Nothing but a willingness to submit to the leadership of God in this man. We've seen nothing but the kind of character we want our children to emulate. We want our lives to emulate because this man has been the kind of man we want to be. But now all of a sudden he's afraid. He's never been afraid before.

When he stood before 450 prophets of Baal, he wasn't afraid. When there was a young son dying in Zarephath and he did die, he wasn't afraid. He prayed and the widow's son was raised from the dead. He would never back down from a conflict. He never backed down from difficulty. He went to Ahab, Ahab called him the troubler of Israel. He said, no, you are, and you have led the nation astray. It's you who have forsaken the commandments of God. It's you have led the nation away from God. He stood strong and bold and courageous.

But Jezebel makes this decree and all of a sudden he's afraid. And it makes you scratch your head. It makes you wonder why. It's like, man, what is wrong with you? How is it you come off of Mount Carmel? How is it you pray for rain? How is it you pray for fire? How is it that God has used you in such a magnificent way? And you've seen the hand of God move in your life. All of a sudden now you're afraid because some woman makes a decree that you're going to die tomorrow. How does that happen? So he's so afraid.

The Bible says he runs to Beersheba, which is a hundred miles away, a hundred miles away. He's going to go. He's going to end up on Mount Horeb, which is another two hundred miles away. OK, that's three hundred miles from Jezreel. And so he runs. He runs and it makes you scratch your head. Why is he can stand before the prophets of Baal? Why is he can stand before Ahab, the king of Israel? But he can't stand before his wife. Why is it all of a sudden he looks extremely weak? Why is it this man who experienced such great victory just the day before?

Or maybe it's still the same day. And now all of a sudden he's afraid. Well, you know, he is not the first person who ended up in despair in Scripture.

John the Baptist. The greatest prophet of the greatest man ever born of a woman, according to the words of Jesus, ended up in despair in a prison, wondering what had happened. Peter, the great apostle, same way. Jonah, another great prophet of God, same way. Moses despaired and wanted to give up his life as well. So it's not like that Elijah is the only guy in the situation. There were other great men who found themselves despondent. There were other great men who who began to to wonder and worry about what was going to happen to their lives.

Even Paul said in second Corinthians chapter chapter one, I believe it is that he despaired for his life.

So it wasn't like Elijah is the first guy to do this because it could happen to anybody. And what is it that happened to Elijah that would cause him to be afraid? Let me give you some ideas, OK?

The first two, one's physical, one's emotional, but the next two are more internal. First of all, there was physical weariness and distress.

Think about this. He had just ran 20 miles from Mount Carmel to Jezreel. He was worn out. We don't know whether or not he ate at all during the day because the Bible didn't tell us. He told Ahab, he commanded him go and eat, but he went up to the mountain to pray. So physically, he was exhausted. And there are times when physical exhaustion plays into your mental state. That does happen. And we know that he ran 20 miles. So we know that he's not exactly in, you know, he's not an athlete. And I know the hand of God moved him along, but still 20 miles is still 20 miles.

And so there was physical exhaustion and there was the emotional distress of the day. Think about this. He had spent his whole life waiting on God to direct him and move him. He had spent his whole life anticipating the day in which God would use him to call rain down from heaven. He had spent his whole life looking forward to this ministry over the last three and a half years to a confrontation with Ahab and the prophets of Baal. And now it's happened, okay? Now it's happened. And it's over with.

And that emotional stress, that emotional high can lead to something of an emotional distress. Because of, this was what his life was about. What next? What to do next? I've given my life to this and now the prophets of Baal have been destroyed. The people have cried and exalted the Lord God Jehovah. And now it's been decreed that I'm going to die. This is my reward for being faithful to God? And now emotionally he's under the weather. But there's more than that. And the Bible gives us a hint as to what's going on in his life.

It says, he went a day's journey into the wilderness, came and sat down under a juniper tree. He left his servant there. So he went to Beersheba, left his servant there. And then went another day into the wilderness, okay? So he's all by himself. And he requested he may die and said, It is enough now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my father's. That little phrase, I am not better than my father's. Did Elijah think he was better than his father's? Was there a time in Elijah's life that he really did think that he was the best there was?

It could be. He makes a statement that he's not better than his father's. As if to say that there was a time where he thought he maybe was better than his father's. That he was a prophet called by God. He was a prophet that turned the nation back to God. He was a prophet that would call fire down from heaven. He was a prophet that would say, Listen, upon my word it shall not rain. There will be no dew. And there was great success in his life because of that. But now he realizes, Maybe I'm not better than my father's.

Maybe I'm just like they are. And with that, you begin to sense maybe a little bit of fleshly pride in the life of Elijah. You don't see it up to now.

But maybe this is it. Maybe all this time he's thinking, I'm the man. I'm the prophet. I'm all alone in Israel. There's nobody who stands by me. I'm the only guy. And now I stand before four to fifty prophets of Baal. I defeat them. There's been a success. Yes, he cried out to God. Yes, he gave God the glory. But there was that little bit of hint of, You know what? Maybe I'm better than everybody else. And that's why the Bible says over in Proverbs 24, 33, A man's pride will bring him low.

Will bring him down to despair. And maybe this was part and parcel. Not just the physical exhaustion. Not just the emotional turmoil upon his life. But the fleshly pride that said, You know what? I'm really pretty good at this. Look how fast I can run. Look how much I can pray. And God do great things. There's that little bit of, Little tinge of, You know what? Maybe I'm better than everybody else. Only to realize, That he's not. But there's more than that. And maybe that's true and maybe that's not.

But by his own words, You might seem to think that that was the case. But, The major problem, Was the distorted vision. His perception was wrong. He, Could only, See and hear, One thing. Jezebel. Instead of being focused, Upon the Lord God, Of Israel. And sometimes when you are physically exhausted, And emotionally spent, You can begin to lose perspective. And your vision for life, Begins to change. He took his eyes, Off of the Lord. And put them on, His circumstances. And you know, When you do that, You do tend to think a little bit more, Highly of yourself, Than you want to think.

As Paul says in Romans 12 verse number 3. When you do that, You begin to see the circumstances as bigger, Than they really are. And all of a sudden, Everything around you seems huge. And this decree from Jezebel, Overwhelms him. Simply because, He had seen, And heard, What she said, Instead of keeping his eyes focused above. And that's why Paul says over, In the book of Colossians, That we are to set our affections on, On things above, Not on things below. Not on things of this earth. He says, Keep seeking the things above where Christ is.

Seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above. Not on the things that are on the earth. For you have died, And your life is sitting with Christ in God. When Christ, Who is our life, Is revealed, Then you will also be revealed with Him in glory. But keep setting your affections on things above. Hebrews 12, Fix your eyes on Jesus, The author and finisher of your faith. Who was able to endure, Great difficulty, Because he had the joy, That was set before him, In his vision. Elijah lost his vision.

He allowed the circumstances, To overwhelm him. A lot like Peter. Remember when Peter was, Asked to walk on the water? Remember, The disciples were sitting out to a boat, And it was a great storm, And Jesus comes walking to them. And they don't expect Jesus to show up, But he does. And when they finally recognize it's Jesus, He says, Take courage in his eyes, And do not be afraid.

And Peter said to him, Lord, if it is you, Command me to come to you on the water. Peter wants to walk on the water. Pretty cool. And he said, Come. And Peter got out of the boat, And walked on the water, And came toward Jesus. This was the highlight of Peter's life. He's walking on the water, Toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, He became frightened, And beginning to sink, He cried out, Lord, save me. Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, And took hold of him, And said to him, You of little faith, Why did you doubt?

But when he took his eyes off of Jesus, And put them on the boisterous wave, He began to sink. Peter would see the boisterous wave. Elijah saw the belligerent woman. And when he saw only her, And not the Lord of the universe, He was afraid. Just like Peter was afraid. Your perception, Your focus, Throughout the day, Will determine your mood that day. Who you see, What you view, How you understand the Christ involved in your life, Will always determine the direction you take. In this brief instance, After this humongous victory, That which Elijah is known for in Judaism, The slaying of the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, After this tremendous high note in his life, He becomes afraid, Despondent.

Instead of being optimistic, Instead of saying, I'm going to stay, And I'm going to dwell under the shelter of the Most High God, And I'm going to stand strong in the Lord my God, And drop to his knees and begin to pray, And ask God to do a mighty work, He runs. He runs away. A hundred miles away. And then another day he's journeying to the wilderness. And on top of that, He prays, That he dies. Now does he really mean that? If you want to die, stay in Jezreel, Jezebel will kill you. Why go to the wilderness?

Why waste your energy, And run a hundred miles away, To die in the wilderness, When let Jezebel kill you. And if she does, You'll be a martyr for the glory of God, And everybody will rally around you. Does he really want to die? He says, I've had enough. Have you Elijah? So he says, He says, He requests that he might die. It is enough now, O Lord. Take my life. Does he really want the Lord to take his life? I love what F.B. Meyer says, In his commentary on Elijah. He says, How many of us have uttered those words, It is enough.

The sufferer, weary in long, And weary of pain. The wife tied to an inhuman husband. The Christian worker whose efforts seem in vain. It is enough, is the cry. Let me come home.

The burden is more than I can bear. The lessons are tiresome. School life is tedious. Holidays will be so welcome. I cannot see that anything will be gained by a longer delay. It is enough. Take me home. And then he says, O silly, silly children. Little do we know how much we should miss, If God were to do as we request. To die now would be to forego immeasurable blessings, Which await us within forty days journey from this. And to die like a dog, Instead of sweeping honored and beloved, Through the open gates of heaven.

It is better to leave it all in the wise and tender thought of God. He wants us home, But will not let us come, Till we have learned the last lesson, And done the last stroke of work. And we shall yet live to thank him, That he refused to gratify our wish. When in a moment of despondency, We cast ourselves upon the ground and say, Lord, it is enough. Let me die.

He's right. There are people that have come to that point in their lives. This is Elijah. And I really do wonder, What is wrong with you? How do you get to this point that you actually want to die? And why is it you would run and be so afraid? And that's where he was. That's what happened. He was in great despair. He wants to quit. He wants to throw in the towel. Now, there are grave consequences. Listen carefully. Grave consequences that happen because of this. I want you to think them through with me for a second.

Okay? Number one is, It deflated the momentum of Mount Carmel. Remember on Mount Carmel, everybody exalted the Lord. And then they all went home. And they would relay the story to everybody in their village. And everybody in their town. Everybody in their family. To tell them what God had done that day. There was huge momentum. There was a huge momentum swing in the land of Israel. And Elijah was the leader of the charge. But he would not be around. It would be eight weeks later. Before he'd show up again.

Eight weeks. So it deflated the momentum that was before the nation. Listen, when God is doing the work, You've got to capitalize on what he's doing. You've got to capitalize it in the lives of the people. Because not only did it deflate the momentum, But it also discouraged the converts. It would discourage those who were converted that day. And realized that the Lord God of Israel was a true God. And think about a servant. Remember, we don't know who his servant was. We told you last week. It's probably maybe the son of the widow, Zarephath.

That he raised from the dead. Because remember, Elijah had no friends. He was the most wanted man in Israel for three and a half years. Nobody would befriend him. He only had one friend. It was the widow's son. So maybe that's the servant. But he takes the servant with him to Beersheba. And then leaves him there. He leaves him there. And goes off into the wilderness. And I'm sure he said to the widow. He said, I'll take care of your boy. Let him come with me. Let him be my servant. I'll watch out for him.

And now he just leaves him in Beersheba. And goes off into the wilderness. And there he stands. And it had to somehow cause all kinds of difficulty for this follower of Elijah. The man who once stood tall, now stands small. The man who was leading the charge is running away. And so the ability to capitalize on the moment. To seize the moment. To redeem the time that this was the opportunity. He let it go by. That's not the worst. Number three, it would delight the opposition.

Jezebel had to be ecstatic about this. He's gone. Well, where did he go? We don't know. But he's gone. Well, is he hiding someplace? We don't know. We can't find him. Someone said they saw him fleeing to the wilderness. Well, see, for Jezebel, that's a great thing. Because, you see, it helps her. If she kills him, he becomes a martyr. And the people rally around his martyrdom. But now she doesn't have to kill him. He's gone. And now the momentum can begin to shift back to Baal worship again. So it delights the opposition.

Because the opportunity to take advantage of the time, to redeem the time, is gone. But the number one problem with this.

The number one problem with this is this point. And that is, it disgraced Elijah's reputation. It disgraced Elijah's reputation. This one mistrust. This one false step. This one moment of being afraid changed everything for Elijah. Because from this time forward, guess what? He is no longer front and center. Somebody else becomes front and center. We'll see that next week. But no longer is he the man. He forfeited the opportunity. He forfeited his leadership as a prophet of Israel. He had the opportunity.

Listen, if he stays, and if he stands, and he doesn't become afraid, and he trusts his God. Do you know what? Maybe, just maybe, the captivity never takes place. And the Jewish dispersion never happens. Because he rallies a nation. But we don't know, because he ran and hid, and he lost the opportunity. Maybe the 7,000 prophets of Baal that have been hidden will come out of hiding, stand strong. And the nation will rally around them. And Baal worship will be destroyed, and Jezebel will be destroyed.

And God will be honored even all the more. But that doesn't happen either. Because he ran. Because he was afraid. He didn't stand strong. Instead, the stain of shame and sorrow now are branded upon his life. And now, and now, he misses out on the greatest time of leadership in Israel's history. Because he's afraid. And he runs. And he hides. One simple misstep. One simple fear changes everything for Elijah. Because now he's commissioned to put other people in charge. He's no longer in charge. He forfeits that opportunity.

And this is something that every one of us need to realize. Listen. One false step. One slip up could cause monumental misdirection in your leadership. Change everything. It's not that he's not forgiven. He is. It's not that God doesn't come to him. He does. God still wants to use him. But he's not going to use him in the way he's been used up to this point. He's not going to use him to be the upfront center prophet that turns the nation around. Because he has not depended upon the Lord. He has turned from the Lord.

He didn't even rely upon the Lord. He just ran and hid. And unfortunately, not just for Elijah. But for the nation, he missed the chance to turn them all to God. How many fathers miss the opportunity to turn their families? Because they mess up. Because they blow it. And they don't turn things around. How many men in leadership miss the opportunity at home, in their church, in their workplace, just because of their own emotional turmoil, or their physical distress, or their lack of vision upon the Lord God of Israel.

And they turn their lives and they run scared. Instead of staying strong for the glory of the King. Elijah, remember, was a man with a nature just like ours. And the effectual prayer of a righteous man avails much. But he still has a nature just like yours and mine. And every one of us can fall prey to the same kind of deception and distortion that Elijah fell prey to. That's why we need to be on guard all the time. All the time. And here was Elijah, who had the opportunities. Let me show you something about Elijah's preservation.

Because the Lord God is so good to him. You'd think the Lord would say, you know what, you're an idiot. What is wrong with you, man? You're done. I'm done with you. You scaredy cat. You baby. You know, that's what I said to him. But the Lord's merciful. He's kind. And so, he falls asleep under this juniper tree. And the angel comes to him. Says, he lay down and slept under a juniper tree. And behold, there was an angel touching him and said to him, arise and eat. Forsaken by man, but never forgotten by God.

Never. Rise and eat. He needs to eat. He needs to be physically replenished. Remember, at Kareth, he was fed by ravens. Remember that? In Zarephath, he was fed by a widow. Now, he's fed by an angel. And not just any angel. Because the Bible tells us that it's the angel of the Lord came again a second time, verse 7.

So, this is just not any angel. This is the angel of the Lord. That according to the book of Genesis and the book of Judges. Is what we call a Christophany or a Theophany. A presentation of the Lord God before his incarnation. This was a Christophany. It's the angel of the Lord. It was the Lord God himself who came to him and gave him food. It's the Lord God who came to him and touched him. He said, Arise. Eat. And Elijah gets up. He sees the food. And miraculously, it's there. He eats, he drinks and goes back to sleep again.

Never wondering, how did this get here? Who fed me? So, the angel of the Lord comes back again and says, Elijah, arise. Get up. You gotta eat. He eats. I mean, this is the Lord God of the universe. He comes to him. Before it was ravens, then it was a widow. Now it's the Lord God of Israel. He comes to him. He says, get up, Elijah. You gotta eat. Because you have a journey. A 40 day journey. And what you eat today. Will be with you for 40 days. What health food restaurant wouldn't want that food? I mean, he eats once.

It lasts for 40 days. This is miraculous. This is supernatural kind of food. This is unique kind of food. This is divine food. Eat. You gotta eat. Because you have a journey. And so, Elijah is preserved by the angel of the Lord. He comes to him. Miraculously feeds him. And demonstrates to him great and wonderful mercy. He touches him. He doesn't clobber him. He doesn't beat him over the head. He just simply touches him and says, arise and eat. Aren't you glad to know that Psalm 103 says that the Lord God pities us as a father pities his own children.

He knows our frame is but dust. He knows that. He knows how weak we are. And here is the one who needs no sleep. Here is the one who needs no food. But yet he knows the need of man. He knows Elijah's need. He meets a need. He says, Elijah, you gotta get up. You have a journey. You're going to go to the mountain of God. And it's 200 miles away. It's a 40 day journey. And to get there, you must eat what I provide for you. So what does this teach us? What do these eight verses help us understand? Let me give you some principles that will help you.

The first is this. It would be good for every one of us to reevaluate each and every day what is happening in our lives. Reevaluate everything that's happening. You know, once you reevaluate your day's events, you can begin to, number two, refuel properly.

Let me explain it to you. Elijah was physically exhausted. And rightly so. It's been a long day. He had to run 20 miles. Okay? He was physically exhausted. There are people today that burn the candle at both ends. And they are physically just worn out. It's going to affect your mental state. It's going to affect your attitude, your conversation, your reactions. And it would be good for everyone of us to reevaluate the events of the day, and all the things that we are doing, and why we're doing them, and what purpose they serve, so that we are not so totally exhausted that when we get home every day or go to bed every night because eventually it's going to catch up to you.

Eventually it does. If I come to you and say, Man, do you smoke? No. Well, you just as well be smoking because you're going to kill yourself with all the things you're doing. You got to learn to slow down. You got to learn to keep perspective. But you know what? We don't eat right. We don't live right. We live in a fast-paced society that totally wears us down. And we have to keep up with the Joneses. And we need to reevaluate so that we can refuel our lives. Sometimes we need to eat better than we do.

Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. We do need to eat better than we do because we eat pretty much horribly from day to day. In fact, I'm surprised that most of you don't look like hamburgers or french fries because that's what you eat all the time anyway. But you are what you eat to some degree. And, you know, because our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, we should take care of that temple, should we not? What we put into it. How we exercise. Charles Spurgeon spoke to this issue when he said these words.

In his book, Lectures to My Students, he talked about the neglect of the physical body and how it brings upon all kinds of despair. He says, To sit long in one posture, pouring over a book or driving a quill, is in itself a taxing nature. But add to this a badly ventilated chamber, a body which has long been without muscular exercise, and a heart burdened with many cares, and we have all the elements for preparing a seething cauldron of despair. He says, Ministers, beware of physical neglect, of putting yourself in an environment that's going to wear you down, because eventually it leads to your despair.

It leads to your mental state, your emotional responses. That's across the board for everybody. We need to reevaluate, so we can properly refuel. Maybe it's exercise, maybe it's eating properly, maybe it's getting more sleep, more rest than we normally would get, because we don't want to burn the candle that boasts in. People say, Well, I'd rather burn out for Jesus than rust out. You know, what does that mean? You know, burn out for Jesus rather than rust out. You know, the bottom line is, you got to make sure that you have the energy you need to do the things that God wants you to do.

At the time when Elijah was physically depleted, he became emotionally spent. He took his eyes off the Lord and put them on a woman that decreed his death, and he made a huge mistake. Huge. And it cost him greatly. And he didn't even know how bad it cost him. But it did. And so, reevaluate your day's events. Reevaluate how you eat. Reevaluate your exercise regimen. All of us could probably use a little bit more exercise than we get, right? Reevaluate all the things that you do throughout the day to see how it affects you physically.

And then refuel your life. And then go beyond that and refrain from thinking of yourself better than you really are. Because Elijah did. I guess I'm just not any better than my father's. And we need to refrain from thinking that we are better than we really are. And, you know, sometimes we can believe our own press clippings. We can believe what everybody says about us. And when we begin to compare ourselves among ourselves, Paul says in Corinthians, you're not very wise. And so, never compare yourself with the person next to you in the pew or the person in front of you or behind you.

If you compare yourself among yourselves, you're not very wise. Only compare yourself to one person, and that is Jesus Christ himself. You'll always fall short of the standard. Okay? You'll be able to keep a proper perspective. But as soon as you compare yourself to some other individual who's a human being sitting next to you, you can always find fault in him and say, well, I'm not that bad. My marriage isn't that bad. My relationships aren't that bad. I don't look like he looks or she looks. Okay?

We can always find someone, quote, lower on the pole than we are. And yet, we need to really begin to understand that we need to refrain from thinking of ourselves better than we really are. Because if that was Elijah, and I tend to think that maybe it was, that you know what? It always leads to your downfall, not for anything good. Next, refuse, refuse to look at your circumstances.

Without looking at them through the eyes of Christ. Refuse to look at your circumstances without looking at them through the eyes of Christ.

You know, we can be overrun by circumstances. Someone says something. Someone does something. I hear a story. Things don't look good. You know, and all of a sudden, those circumstances begin to run my life and control my life. And whenever I do that, all of a sudden, God pales in comparison. And those circumstances become bigger to me than they really should be. And I need to refrain from doing that so I can then refocus my eyes upon the Christ. I need to refocus on things above, not on things below.

Stay focused. Don't lose perspective. Because once you begin to lose perspective, you're going to make decisions based on your own understanding. That's what the Bible says.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him. Direct your paths. Don't lean on what you think is right. Don't lean on what you believe to be right. Only lean on what you know for certain is right. And that's the Lord God of the universe. Trust in Him. Believe in Him. So easily, we get our eyes off of the Christ. Because, remember Moses, in Hebrews 11, he was able to see Him who is invisible. Because he perceived the invisible, he could perform the impossible.

Because he could see the true and living God in spite of all the negative circumstances in Egypt. He could see God. He could leave Egypt. He could lead the people out of Egypt because he knew that God was in charge. Everything was focused above and not below. And that's the way we need to live our lives. Looking at Him who is invisible. Seeing only Christ by being in His word, knowing what He says, and always, lastly, remembering the great mercy of God and the presence of God in our lives. Elijah would experience that.

He really would. Because God would come to him. And it's unfortunate that we look at Elijah's life and realize God wants to use him and God commends him in the New Testament.

But from this point on, things are going to change for Elijah. They're going to change. In an instant, everything can change in your life. It can change. Simply because you lose perspective. Simply because you focus on the things that are negative around you. And when you focus on the negative things, you become a negative person. You become very pessimistic. No longer you're optimistic, you become very pessimistic. And everything's a downer. And you become a bore. And you become a downer to everybody around you.

See? But if you stay focused on the Lord God of Israel and all the things He's going to do. Could you imagine if Elijah would have stayed in Israel? Could you imagine what would have taken place in all of Israel? You say, well, yeah, we could say that about anything. And you're right, we can. We can. What if this, or what if that, or what if this, or woulda, coulda, shoulda. But the bottom line is, just think. This one act by Elijah deterred the nation from following God. It affected not just him.

It affected a whole nation. The opportunity to capitalize on a moment. The opportunity to stand strong, stand tall. For everybody to see that in spite of the negativity of Jezebel, in spite of the negativity of the decree to die, he would not back down. He would stand strong, and the nation would see it. And the nation would understand the power of God even more so than they did on Mount Carmel through one man who would not back down to the decree to die. But it never happened. In the sovereignty of God, it happened as God had decreed it to happen.

But we can't help but go back and think, gee, everything changed for Elijah simply because he lost perspective. Simply because he no longer looked at the Lord of his life, but looked at the wife of Ahab, Jezebel, and feared for his life. When in reality, he only had to fear the Lord, not her. But it didn't happen that way. And yet, even in his misstep, in his attitude, we can learn from the life of Elijah, can't we? Learn so much. Learn not what to do, learn what not to do, that we might begin to honor the Lord all the more in our lives.

God's not done with Elijah. God has come to him. God is going to restore him. God is going to speak to him once again. God's going to give him direction as to what to do, because God doesn't throw you away. God doesn't put you on a shelf. God's still going to use you like he's going to lose Elijah. But, but the glow of Elijah is now diminished. It'll never be the same for him. God will still use him. And he'll be used in a great and mighty way. And God will still take him home and be one of the guys that never dies.

He never dies. He goes home. He wants to die. He says, I got bigger plans for you, Elijah. I'm not going to let you die. I'm going to take you home in a whirlwind. Elijah didn't know that, though, see. He didn't know that. So God's still got great plans for Elijah. But at this point, he just wants to die. But God has bigger plans for you. Look at Elijah.

You've got to trust him. You've got to believe in him. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. Thank you for the opportunity to trust you. We thank you for the life of Elijah. Lord, we can learn so much from this man. He can revolutionize the way we look at life.

He revolutionizes our prayer life. We even learn how to pray. We even learn how not to pray from Elijah. We learn what not to say by Elijah's prayers. So much to learn from this man. And our prayer is that we would not leave the same way we arrived tonight. That we would leave determined to accomplish your plan, your desire for our lives, for the glory of your kingdom. In Jesus' name, amen.