The LORD Said, “Go!”
1 Kings 19:1-18

Have you ever felt deeply despondent? Perhaps even hopeless? Any number of circumstances can cause us to despair in this life. I think of the people of Afghanistan who supported the modernization of their nation. They were in favor of democracy. They favored allowing girls and women to be educated, to work outside the home, and to be in public without covering their faces. They enjoyed listening to music. Now they are back under the tyrannical rule of the Taliban. I think especially of the Afghans who supported us and were promised safe passage to other countries before our disastrous withdrawal from their nation. Their lives are literally in danger every day. They must be truly despondent.

Many Americans are despondent about the future of our country. A recent poll revealed that a whopping seventy-four percent of us feel that our country is headed in the wrong direction. That is an astoundingly high percentage. It is not just the spike in violent crime, the skyrocketing costs of gas and groceries, or the unrestrained illegal mass migration at our southern border. Trust in our institutions such as the Presidency, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Department of Justice, and our sacred right to vote has dangerously eroded as American is pitted against American by our media, big tech, and politicians. Our circumstances are certainly much less dire than those of the Afghans, but there is a lot of fear, mistrust, anger, and uncertainty about the future.

What is true of nations is also true of individuals. A financial crisis, a life-threatening diagnosis, the dissolution of a relationship, the ravages of addiction, or severe mental illness can cause us to despair.

This morning’s reading from 1 Kings 19 tells the story of the prophet Elijah’s despondency, hopelessness, and despair. King Solomon was long dead. The United Kingdom of Israel under his reign had fractured into two kingdoms: the Southern Kingdom of Judah with its capital in Jerusalem and the Northern Kingdom of Israel with its capital in Damascus.

Elijah’s prophetic ministry took place in the Northern Kingdom and was focused on King Ahab’s unjust and idolatrous reign. Elijah repeatedly locked horns with King Ahab and his queen, Jezebel. Following Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, in which the LORD and his prophet emerged victorious, Ahab and Jezebel determined to rid themselves of the “troubler of Israel” (1 Kings 18:17). “Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow’” (1 Kings 19:2). Jezebel issued a death threat against Elijah and presumably dispatched her death squads to assassinate him.

Despite the victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, Elijah was afraid. He fled for his life to the Kingdom of Judah, where he thought he would be safe. Leaving his servant in the city of Beer-Sheba, Elijah went a day’s journey into the wilderness for good measure and collapsed. He sat down under a solitary broom tree, a large desert shrub. Under the shrub, Elijah asked that he might die. “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors” (vs. 4b).

Elijah had reached the end of his rope, or so he thought. He lay down to die, but the LORD was not finished with him yet. God sent two angels to provide food and water for the prophet. On the strength of that sustenance, Elijah journeyed forty days and forty nights into the wilderness until at last he arrived at Mount Horeb. Horeb is where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God’s hands. Elijah found a cave and spent the night there.

The word of the LORD came to Elijah in the form of a question. “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (vs.9b). Elijah proceeded to pour out his despondency, hopelessness, and despair to God. “He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away’” (vs. 10).

The LORD’s response was to initiate a terrible display of power. Elijah remained in the cave on Mount Horeb as the LORD passed by. “Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence” (vs. 11b-12). Interestingly, the text tells us that the LORD was not in the wind, earthquake, or fire. The sound of silence, however, drew Elijah from the cave to stand before the LORD. Elijah wrapped his face in his cloak and listened. God repeated the initial question. “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (vs. 13). Surprisingly, even after witnessing these might acts of God, Elijah remained despondent. He repeated his initial answer verbatim. “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away” (vs. 14).

In response, the LORD revealed that He still had important work for Elijah to do (vs. 15-17). Elijah was to anoint Hazael as king of Aram, Jehu as king of Israel, and Elisha as his successor. These three would be the instruments of God’s judgment against the injustice and idolatry of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Furthermore, God revealed to Elijah that He still had seven thousand loyal Yahwists in Israel who had not bowed to Baal or kissed his image. God’s word to Elijah was, “Go! You are not alone. I still have important work for you to do.”

This is a poignant word for us at this inflection point in our history. As the pandemic wanes, most churches have fewer people and diminished resources. I hear through the clergy grapevine that many pastors are burnt out. Many are retiring early, taking work outside the church, or moving to new calls to start over. Many Ruling Elders and church members are equally exhausted.

We may not want to lie down under a desert shrub and die, but we are bone tired. Like Elijah, we may feel we are no better than our ancestors. Although we try to remain zealous for the LORD, our culture has largely forsaken what is good and loves what is evil. God’s churches are crumbling, and Christians are increasingly marginalized in society. We too may feel despondent, hopeless, and despairing about the future.

God’s response to us is the same as the LORD’s response to Elijah. “What are you doing here, O Church? Are you going to retreat to a safe place and wait for death to come? Don’t you know I still have work for you to do? You are not alone! Millions and millions of Americans still share your faith, your values, your hopes, and your dreams. Go! Return to the work I entrust to your hands. Remember today that you were created in Christ Jesus for good works, which I prepared beforehand to be your way of life.”

Like Elijah, God still nourishes us with food for the journey. Through the Word of God read and proclaimed and in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, God feeds us with spiritual food so we can continue to run the race set before us. In the power of that bread from heaven we can journey deep into the wilderness of the world to behold the mighty acts of God and to play our small but all-important roles in God’s plan.

What the LORD said to Israel through the prophet Isaiah, God says to us in our day.

Isaiah 35:3–6 (NRSV)
3 Strengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
“Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
He will come and save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert.

In response, let us pray using the words of the great hymn “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind.”

1 Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
forgive our foolish ways;
reclothe us in our rightful mind,
in purer lives thy service find,
in deeper reverence, praise.
2 In simple trust like theirs who heard
beside the Syrian sea
the gracious calling of the Lord,
let us, like them, without a word
rise up and follow thee.
3 O Sabbath rest by Galilee,
O calm of hills above,
where Jesus knelt to share with thee
the silence of eternity,
interpreted by love!
4 Drop thy still dews of quietness,
till all our strivings cease;
take from our souls the strain and stress,
and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of thy peace.
5 Breathe through the heats of our desire
thy coolness and thy balm;
let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm!

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, who will yet cause us to triumph. Alleluia! Amen.