Have you ever been enjoying the view from a spiritual mountaintop, only to experience a sudden crash down into the valley? You’re not alone.
After Elijah’s victorious showdown with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (see 1 Kings 18:18-40) - both a physical and spiritual mountain top! - he receives a death threat and flees for his life.
1 Kings 19:1-8 tells the story:
Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”
Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.
All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
What a remarkable passage! Here is a powerful man of God who just fought and triumphed over the powers of darkness - and now he has fled and succumbed to hopelessness. I am baffled by Jezebel’s boldness after all of her prophets were slaughtered and the Lord sent fire from heaven. She should have been shaking in her sandals! And I wonder how Elijah could have been so fearful of one person after the Lord had given him victory against the hundreds of prophets of Baal!
But let’s not criticize Elijah from slipping from mountaintop to valley, because which of us hasn’t experienced the same fall? I find great encouragement in this passage because it shows that the “Bible superheroes” (like Elijah) were normal people, like you and me. They are not immune from sadness or despair. Rather, what made them “super” was that they prevailed through their troubling times in the strength of the Lord.
When Elijah was at the end of his own strength, emotionally and physically, God literally prepared a table for him in the wilderness. The tangible bread he ate that nourished him physically is, for us, a metaphor for the Word of God that nourishes us spiritually, as is written in Deuteronomy 8:3 (NIV) “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord”. Most of us have not experienced being fed physical food and drink by an angel, but God still does feed us in our wildernesses with the bread of His spoken Word.
Let’s look at five observations about how Elijah was fed to understand how we can receive the Word of the Lord in our wilderness:
1. Elijah was alone.
Elijah got alone with God. He even left his servant behind in Beersheba as he continued on to a very lonely place - the wilderness. Our lives today are full of noise: overscheduled calendars, constant dings on our phones, social media screaming for our attention - noise, noise, noise! Yes God can thunder above the din but you will have a much easier time hearing him when you separate yourself from all the racket and get alone with Him.
2. Elijah put himself in a posture to hear from God.
In the depths of his despair, even wishing that God would let him die, Elijah initiates a conversation with God. We won’t hide the fact that his words were not exactly faithful or inspiring! “I have had enough, Lord. Take my life.” But they are honest words to a caring Father that already knows how he feels anyway. The point is this: Elijah spoke to God. Even if we don’t know what to say, even if the only words we can muster bely the depth of our discouragement, even if we feel like we have no hope or no faith left, we can whisper a prayer. We don’t need to sound like we have it all together - God can handle the mess and even invites it so He can clean up for us.
3. Elijah ate twice.
Yes, perfect faith will take God at His Word the very first time. But often, we don’t have perfect faith. And that is okay, because God knows that we are dust (Psalm 103:14) and He is compassionate and gracious in our weakness.
Consider Abraham, the father of our faith, who was told not once but twice that His descendants would be as the stars in the sky (Genesis 12:2 and 15:5). And the second time, Abraham honestly tells God, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir” (Genesis 15:3) before the covenant is confirmed! Likewise Gideon set out not one fleece but two (Judges 6:36-40).
Sometimes asking God twice is not an indication of “doubt”, but rather an indication that we are “down and out”. We don’t need to be convinced; we need to be encouraged. And God will graciously give us that second meal to strengthen us.
4. Elijah went on the strength of that food 40 days and nights.
Though tangible, this was no natural bread. Only a supernatural meal could carry Elijah that far and that long. This bread was straight from heaven, delivered by angels, prepared for a man with no strength left in the natural.
So it is with the Word of God. It gives strength that worldly advice or platitudes like “don’t worry, be happy” simply cannot offer. You can’t explain it; you can’t manufacture it. It’s supernatural.
Several years ago I walked through a long stretch of darkness that often threatened to overwhelm me. But in the very beginning - before it even began, in fact! - God gave me a word similar to the one He gave to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-2: God told me to leave the comfortable place where I was dwelling and journey to a new, unfamiliar land, and He would bless me there. The strength of that Word, that supernatural bread, carried me through the many long difficult months ahead.
5. The food did not carry Elijah through to the end.
It only carried him through to the next step. Elijah arrived at to Mount Horeb - “the mountain of God” - and God spoke to him again: go anoint Elisha as prophet (see 1 Kings 19:9-18).
If we only had to connect with God once and then could make it all the way to heaven, all the way through the assignments that He has ordained for our lives, then what need would we have for connection with Him? But God is a relational Father and He does not want to just wind up a robot and watch it scurry around until it dies. He wants to be the Vine to our Branch. He wants to be the Father to His child. He wants to be the place where we abide and continually receive nourishment from Him. He wants to walk with you like He walked with Adam in the Garden of Eden.
Don’t expect the Word to answer all of your questions and predict all of your future. Expect it to be what you need today, and then expect God to provide another meal tomorrow.
