There he came to a cave, where he spent the night.
The Lord Speaks to Elijah
But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1 Kings 19:9b NLT
Often, God asks us questions not to get more information; the Lord has all he needs. He asks us questions to give us the information that we need.
The backdrop to this story is that Elijah has destroyed all the priests of Baal, and Jezebel, King Ahab’s wife, sent Elijah a message that she will kill him. He flees in fear (1 Kings 19:1-2 NLT). He ended up on Mt Sinai, not worshiping but in a cave. We can be in the midst of worship yet, in our hearts, be in the pit of despair.
In this chapter, God asked Elijah twice (vs. 9 and 13), what are you doing here? If God asks you the same question two times, you are not listening the first time. Elijah gave the Lord the same answer both times. He tells the Lord that the people have all gone astray, and he is the only prophet left (1 Kings 19:10 NLT). In reality, 7000 prophets had not bowed to Baal (v.18). Deception happens when we start to believe lies. Despair often follows deception.
The story takes an interesting turn at this point. While standing on the mountain, there was a great windstorm, an earthquake, and a fire, but God was not in them; the Lord was in a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:11-13 NLT). We often look for the miraculous to solve our problems when God is trying to speak to us in that still small voice. In hard times, we can be too busy asking why to hear what he wants us to do.
God does not tell Elijah why all this has happened to him, but he does tell Elijah what he wants him to do (1 Kings 19:15-16 NLT). God tells him to anoint Elisha, and he knows that whatever happens to him, his ministry and the work of God will continue, which must have been a great encouragement to him.
In your hard place, don’t just ask God why, but what you are to do. Embracing what God wants you to do often leads to the answer to the why question.
Image used with permission from Microsoft.
Ken Barnes, the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places” YWAM Publishing and Broken Vessels through Kindle Direct Publishing.
Ken’s Website— https://kenbarnes.us/
Ken blogs at https://kenbarnes.us/blog/
Email- [email protected]
