Word of Encouragement (05/29/2024)
But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” (1 Kings 19:4)
Elijah was running for his life, and he was running on adrenaline. The adrenaline rush subsided after a day’s journey. He could not go on anymore. He was tired. He was scared. He just wanted to die. So, he prayed to God, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
Sin/unbelief doesn’t make sense, does it? Why all this drama? Why this hopelessness? Did God die? If so, why was he praying to God? He must have believed that God was still alive and well. And he still believed that God was the Lord of life and death, who could give life and take it away—“O Lord, take away my life...!” If He could take his life away, could He not easily take away Jezebel’s life, too? And was Israel still not in drought just as God said? And did God not just give Elijah victory over the prophets of Baal—450 of them?
A strange mixture of faith and unbelief occupied Elijah’s heart at that moment. Of course, this is true of us all throughout our Christian life in this world. We must humbly admit that even our faith is not perfect. Our constant prayer should be, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24)! But that was not Elijah’s prayer here. We pray for help only when we haven’t given up. There is no reason to ask for help if we have already done so. Elijah’s words here display a strong sense of resignation. It was not that he had no faith at this moment. But unbelief seems to have prevailed over faith in his heart (granted that he might have been just venting at God).
What a terrible thing to lose sight of God! We despair when our God is the God of hope (Rom. 15:13). We feel anxious and fearful when He has us placed under the shelter of His wings (Ps. 61:4). We feel poor when we are coheirs with Christ to the Lord of heaven and earth (Rom. 8:17). We complain about the temporary afflictions we suffer in this world when the eternal weight of glory await us (2 Cor. 4:17). If we can keep our eyes on the Lord, we can confess, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies” (2 Cor. 4:8-10). In fact, we can rejoice in our sufferings (James 1:2) and declare that we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:37)!
To experience our blessings in the Lord, we cannot just read the Bible; we need to meditate on the Word of God with sustained focus regularly. I hope you can do that even this morning and experience the power of the Word lifting you up.