Resting in God should be the default place that we go to, when we face challenges. But I wonder how many of us end up in a cave. The more we know of God, of His grace, His faithfulness, His truth, His life, the way He shows up and the way that He nourishes us. The more we are able to be stable and hold our position in the midst of uncertain and challenging times.
Resting not running should be our default place but sometimes, we end up in places in our thinking, and attitudes where we shouldn’t be and God asks us ‘What are you doing here Elijah?’ and we can substitute our names ‘What are you doing here…?’
Look what Elijah says 14 ‘I have been jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant…I only, am left and they seek my life to take it away. The first thing that happens is we end up with a wrong perspective.
Look at Elijah’s pronouns ‘I’ and ‘My ’ He had forgotten God and lost His focus because the situation instead of being about God revealing His glory in the difficult circumstances, it became about Elijah. I, I, I, Me, Me, Me
He has a wrong perspective and grasp of the situation because he says twice v.10 and 14 ‘I only, am left…’
We know this is a wrong perspective because in v.18 we learn that there were 7 000 others just like him, who had not bowed the knee to Baal.
The Lord will take care of those who do not bow down to this world. There are all sorts of things competing for our attention, to take us away from God.
Things that say just give it a little kiss, just touch this relationship I know it’s not right but just be there for a while, stay there until something right comes along then you can get in place. And we end up giving little piece of our hearts away all the time.
Stop touching the things in society that we’re not supposed to touch, stop playing with the things we’re not supposed to play with and stop kissing the things we’re not supposed to kiss. Amen!
God has always preserved a remnant, He will always preserve a remnant and it’s us up us to decide whether we are going to be a part of that.
God will always protect those who remain steadfast, faithful and with their eyes fixed on Jesus. If you’re in the wrong place God says today ‘What are you doing here?
Second thing v.10 and 14 tells us is forgetting who God is, taking our eyes off Jesus causes us to indulge in self loath and we have a pity party. What are you doing here?
No one understands, no one has ever had to deal with what I have, No one knows how much they hurt me, I’m the worst, I’ve had enough, I wish I could die, I’m as bad as the everyone else, why would God choose me?What are you doing here?
Anyone else can be in a cave but not a Christian we have to be different, distinctive from the rest of the world.
God will ask the question in any situation because He is always surprised at one of His children being in the wrong place, at the wrong time, doing the wrong thing. God has the right to ask ‘What are you doing here? After all wasn’t Jesus in a place He shouldn’t have been when He was falsely accused, when He hung on a Roman cross.
What are you doing here down and outcast? If you want a powerful, mighty God I can be in the wind, fire, earthquake. But God spoke in the still, quiet voice and fed him, sustained him and encouraged him.
But look at what the Lord says in response to all this 15: ‘Go return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus Don’t you find it annoying when you choose to do your own thing, go your own way and walk down a particular path, then God says No! you’re going to have to take that walk of shame to get back to where you should have been in the first place.
And how often do we forget, so God brings us back because there is something along the path that God wants us to pick up, something He wants to show us so that we don’t do it again and can move on. And we forget, go back and learn, forget, go back and learn and this is an almost endless cycle because we are so fickle and we quickly forget the goodness, sovereignty and faithfulness of God.
So very often, this is what happens when we run our lives and run from God.
Things will get hard but don’t forget. Things may be complicated but don’t let those complications stop you. Things may be hard, shaky and uncertain but don’t allow those things to break you and cause you to fall apart at the shaking.
Elijah had forgotten all the things that God and allowed them to render him powerless, impotent, lame. This is not who we are, we are people of purpose and mission because God tells us to go, Jesus asks us to come.
‘Stand still, keep the posture of an upright man, ready for action, expecting further orders, cheerfully and patiently awaiting the directing voice; and it will not be long ere God shall say to you, as distinctly as Moses said it to the people of Israel, “Go forward.” – Charles Spurgeon
God is still speaking , He is still stirring hearts we’ll stay when He says stay, we’ll go when He says go.