When someone mentions the prophet Elijah, most of us think about things like that dramatic confrontation between him and the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel (I Kings 18:1-46). There’s a feeling of satisfaction as God’s divine authority is displayed and Baal and his lying prophets are subjected to God’s righteous judgment. Elijah’s story reminds us that the best stories, the best victories, and the best heroes are the real ones, not those created by writers, artists, actors, digital technicians, and media specialists. The heroic exploits of those manufactured heroes are as unreal and empty of life as the fictional characters themselves.
No Fictional Characters ~
But the God we serve doesn’t deal in fiction and fantasy, and unlike the cinematic pretenders so pervasive in our culture, Elijah was real. He was a living, breathing
definition of the qualities that all heroes share, and stands as a testimony to the fact that real heroes are not one-dimensional anomalies. Elijah’s behavior shortly after his Mount Carmel performance makes that abundantly clear because we find him looking not quite so bold and gallant. In fact, he seems quite the opposite, and that’s one of the reasons we must not fail to consider it.
On the mountain, Elijah had watched the frantic, desperate, and painful attempts of the prophets of Baal fail to get their non-existent deity to produce fire on their altar. Then he stepped in, prepared God’s altar, and did an unthinkable thing. He ordered the sacrifice and the entire altar to be drenched in water – and repeated that three times (I Kings 18:30-35). Then, at the time of the traditional evening sacrifice, he raised his voice in prayer, and we’re all aware of what happened next . . .
Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!” (1 Kings 18:38–39 NKJV)
An Unexpected Turn ~
What a triumphant scene! Afterward, Elijah announced to Ahab that he’d better fold up 
his picnic blanket and head home because a storm was about to break. Then God did something totally unexpected. We may not have been surprised when God showed up to deliver the fire and desperately needed rain, but we weren’t expecting Him to turn Elijah into a marathon runner afterward!
Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. (1 Kings 18:45–46)
With no focused physical training, no high tech running shoes, and no Red Bull energy drinks to guzzle down along the way, Elijah tucked his robe into his belt and took off to run what could have been up to 30 miles over rugged terrain. It’s a divine intervention that makes us wonder, but regardless of God’s reasoning, the feat seems to move Elijah from the regular “hero” category to the “superhero” level. But Elijah’s victorious “track & field” performance makes his reaction to Jezebel’s threat even more surprising.
No ‘Trash Talk’ this Time ~
When Israel’s pagan, idol-worshiping Queen Jezebel heard about the humiliating Mount Carmel fiasco, she was enraged. She declared that she’d have Elijah killed within 24 hours and, of course, that news got to Elijah. After partnering with the Living God in re-establishing His
authority by taking apart the whole Baal-worshiping cult, we might have expected to see some confidence in God’s protection, from Elijah. Maybe even a little “trash-talk” – something like, “Oh, yeah, Jezebel? Go ahead. Take your best shot. You’ll go down just like your phony god and his cadre of lying prophets.” But that’s not what our newly inaugurated hero did. Instead, he responded like this:
And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went 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 broom tree (juniper bush). And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” (1 Kings 19:3–4 NKJV)
What a contrast. After displaying courage that was incredibly heroic and experiencing the impact of Divine energy flowing into and through his own body, Elijah finds himself huddled under a juniper bush in the wilderness like a frightened child, praying for God to take his life. Clearly, the impact of viewing a scene like that is radically different from the response we felt on Mount Carmel. We can’t avoid asking, “How did this happen?” – and “Why?”
An Understandable Response ~
Volumes have been written, sermons preached, and multitudes of efforts exerted in search 
of answers to those questions and explanations for Elijah’s behavior. It’s natural to wonder about the whys and hows leading to such radically different responses, but our purpose is not to attempt to add to or elaborate on those endeavors. Instead, our desire is to discover what God wants us to learn from Elijah’s story and explore how that might be applied to our own lives here and now. A few basic observations and suggestions along those lines are offered below that might be helpful for us to remember:
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- Elijah’s story is not about Elijah. It’s about the God who chose to partner with him. The objective as we read the story is not to know Elijah better; it’s to know God better. Elijah has departed this human stage and his story is over, but our story isn’t. And the God who sought to reveal Himself through Elijah waits to do the same thing in the dramas, traumas, and “juniper bush” moments in our lives.
- Life for us human beings isn’t a static, predictable continuum. Like Elijah, we are subject to the full range of emotional and spiritual responses to circumstances that confront us. Some will be faithful and courageous, but others may be the polar opposite. Faith and fear will go to war within us and sometimes fear will win. But the God who empowers us in battle will also show up to nourish and strengthen us in the lonely valley when we think it’s over and we have nothing left.
- Fear and exhaustion did to Elijah what Jezebel and her pagan deities could not do. They combined to convince him that he had failed, and there was nothing left that he could do. God defended him with three things … His presence, His nourishment, and His rest. We shouldn’t wait until those debilitating forces form a coalition to defeat us. The therapy God provided for Elijah is also a powerful preventive for us. When we acknowledge God’s authoritative presence, absorb the nourishment He provides, and allow rest to work its rejuvenating magic, we experience the strength to undertake the next mission.
- God showed us Elijah’s whole story. He encouraged us with Elijah’s boldness and public heroism, and then He shocked us with his panic-driven flight to the desert to hide from Jezebel. The first point we mustn’t miss is that while Elijah’s behavior has its ups and downs and may be inconsistent at times, God’s is not. The second point is that what is true about Elijah is true about us. We should not attempt to hide the fact that we have down times, too. God does not need to hide our “juniper bush” moments to glorify Himself in our lives.
So, at this point, we can leave the Judean desert and return to the challenges of our own world with confidence in the Hero who’s willing to partner with us and engage whatever comes our way. If we need boldness to confront the enemies of our people, He’s here. If we need energy to run an unexpected marathon, He’s here. And if we’re lonely and feeling like a failure, He’s here to nourish and strengthen us for the next chapter of the story – one that’s designed to reveal more about the truth and wonder of His own character.
Join us next week as we wrap up our series with a look at a New Testament wilderness encounter loaded with profound implications that affect all of us.
“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to tweet and share from the pull quotes below. Each one links directly back to this article through Twitter . . .
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- Our purpose and desire is to discover what God wants us to learn from Elijah’s story and explore how that might be applied to our lives here and now, remembering that Elijah’s story isn’t about Elijah. It’s about the God who chose to partner with him. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) https://ctt.ec/dr2o
- Elijah’s story isn’t about Elijah. It’s about the God who chose to partner with Him and to know Him better. The God who sought to reveal Himself through Elijah waits to do the same thing in the dramas, traumas and “juniper bush” moments in our own lives. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- Faith and fear will go to war within us – and sometimes fear will win. But the God who empowers us in battle will also show up to nourish and strengthen us in the lonely valley when we think it’s over and we have nothing left. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- If we need boldness to confront the enemies of our people, energy to run an unexpected marathon; if we’re lonely and feel like a failure, He’s here to nourish and strengthen us for the next chapter of the story – one designed to reveal more about ‘Him’. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
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