Elijah: Prayer in Despair
Good evening, Brethren, this is our Wednesday night Zoom prayer meeting. One of the purposes, not the only purpose, but certainly one purpose to come to a prayer meeting, a corporate prayer meeting, is to learn how to pray. We learn by way of principles and precepts, but we also learn from one another and we also learn from men in the Bible who prayed and we're going to focus on Elijah.
1 Kings 18:41-46
I'm going to turn you to another passage of Scripture, James chapter 5. This is where Elijah comes into focus again. He is mentioned several times in the New Testament. But here in James chapter 5, he comes into focus again, this whole answer to prayer with regard to the rain. James 5:17, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months, it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.” Notice there are two things that are highlighted here with Elijah, first his humanity, he had a human nature like ours, he was fully human. You might wonder why that's being stressed. Why does he tell us that Elijah was just like us? Well, I think it's because there are times where Elijah doesn't look like us. I mean, on top of Mount Carmel he doesn't look like us. He looks so much greater, he looks almost superhuman. Remember what he did after that fire came down? He slaughtered 450 false prophets. Now, he might have had some help from some of the other folk there, but he certainly had blood dripping from his sword. Soon after that mass slaughter, what happens here, he is back on his knees praying for rain, and again another wonderful answer to his prayer.
But what's so surprising and rather stunning is very soon after this Elijah is found sinking in despair. He runs in fear because of the queen, the queen, Jezebel, threatens to kill him. If you turn to 1 Kings 19, you can pick up how this transpires. 1 Kings 19:1-3, “Ahab, (King Ahab) told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with a sword. 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 as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” And then we're told Elijah's response, “Then he was afraid and he rose and ran for his life."
Clearly there's a big difference, isn't there, between Elijah on the mountaintop and you could say Elijah now in the valley. On top of the mountain, he triumphed by faith; in the valley you could say he's running in fear. How could a man so strong before God, so bold in faith, now seem so broken in fear. I think the answer is very simple. There's some other factors here, I realize that, but Elijah has lost sight of God like those disciples in the boat. Remember, fear takes over and Elijah goes into a sinkhole of discouragement, despair, and even what some call depression.
That can easily, easily happen to any of us when things don't go the way we would like them to go; when things seem to be going backward instead of forward, downward instead of upward; when we easily get focused on ourselves and our circumstances. And Elijah's faith is eclipsed by fear. Fear is a powerful emotion, maybe the most powerful emotion. It explains why the Bible, I think 300 times, says, “Don't be afraid." Don't be afraid, 300 times. And James wants us to know here in James 5, that Elijah is just like us. Fear, discouragement got the better of him. Did that ever happen to you? The best of men are still men. We all have feet of clay. We all get discouraged, weary. When we get real discouraged we want to run, we want to quit. What's the answer? What do we do?
Well, the answer is you pray. Prayer gets your eyes back on God. When Elijah was on that mountaintop, he was thinking of God's glory, wasn't he? He wanted the people to come back to God, he wanted them to know God. But now he has lost sight of God and he goes into a dungeon of despair, or depression. He needs to get his eyes back on God. And he does, he does. If you read on into 1 Kings 18 he comes to another mountain, Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai, and that's where he hears the voice. He hears the still, small voice of God. To get him back to where he should be spiritually, he needs to hear God's voice. He needs to learn that the God of the Bible is not just a God of fire, power, justice and judgment like he saw on Mount Carmel; but he's also a God of mercy, a God of grace, a still, small voice. He doesn't just speak by way of the earthquake and by way of thunder, but also by way of a still, small voice. He is the God of gentleness, He is the God of mercy and kindness.And hopefully we are here tonight to get our eyes on God and to get our eyes off ourselves.
Prayer meetings should be faith strengthening exercises to help us run the race. And Christian, you and I have a greater knowledge of God than Elijah had. We have a more full revelation, we have a New Testament revelation. I don't think Elijah knew that God was a three-person God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And we know that there's no one more compassionate, no one more loving. We have the cross to tell us that. Herein is love, no one greater, no one wiser than God, the three-person God. So Elijah is just like us. We get fearful, we get afraid, we get discouraged, we get overwhelmed with life. But we can be like him. Look how we can be like him, by praying, by persevering in prayer. He prayed fervently. That's what he's telling us here, he prayed fervently. You don't have to be a prophet to pray. You don't have to be an elite prophet or Christian to pray, to spiritually lead. All of us can pray. Elijah was just like us and we can pray just like him. So we should pray even tonight, that we would have faith to pray, to take hold of the promise, even like Elijah.
1 Kings 18:41-46
And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain.” So, Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees. And he said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” And he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go again,” seven times. And at the seventh time he said, “Behold, a little cloud like a man's hand is rising from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.’” And in a little while, the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he gathered up his garment and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
I'm going to turn you to another passage of Scripture, James chapter 5. This is where Elijah comes into focus again. He is mentioned several times in the New Testament. But here in James chapter 5, he comes into focus again, this whole answer to prayer with regard to the rain. James 5:17, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months, it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.” Notice there are two things that are highlighted here with Elijah, first his humanity, he had a human nature like ours, he was fully human. You might wonder why that's being stressed. Why does he tell us that Elijah was just like us? Well, I think it's because there are times where Elijah doesn't look like us. I mean, on top of Mount Carmel he doesn't look like us. He looks so much greater, he looks almost superhuman. Remember what he did after that fire came down? He slaughtered 450 false prophets. Now, he might have had some help from some of the other folk there, but he certainly had blood dripping from his sword. Soon after that mass slaughter, what happens here, he is back on his knees praying for rain, and again another wonderful answer to his prayer.
But what's so surprising and rather stunning is very soon after this Elijah is found sinking in despair. He runs in fear because of the queen, the queen, Jezebel, threatens to kill him. If you turn to 1 Kings 19, you can pick up how this transpires. 1 Kings 19:1-3, “Ahab, (King Ahab) told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with a sword. 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 as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” And then we're told Elijah's response, “Then he was afraid and he rose and ran for his life."
Clearly there's a big difference, isn't there, between Elijah on the mountaintop and you could say Elijah now in the valley. On top of the mountain, he triumphed by faith; in the valley you could say he's running in fear. How could a man so strong before God, so bold in faith, now seem so broken in fear. I think the answer is very simple. There's some other factors here, I realize that, but Elijah has lost sight of God like those disciples in the boat. Remember, fear takes over and Elijah goes into a sinkhole of discouragement, despair, and even what some call depression.
That can easily, easily happen to any of us when things don't go the way we would like them to go; when things seem to be going backward instead of forward, downward instead of upward; when we easily get focused on ourselves and our circumstances. And Elijah's faith is eclipsed by fear. Fear is a powerful emotion, maybe the most powerful emotion. It explains why the Bible, I think 300 times, says, “Don't be afraid." Don't be afraid, 300 times. And James wants us to know here in James 5, that Elijah is just like us. Fear, discouragement got the better of him. Did that ever happen to you? The best of men are still men. We all have feet of clay. We all get discouraged, weary. When we get real discouraged we want to run, we want to quit. What's the answer? What do we do?
Well, the answer is you pray. Prayer gets your eyes back on God. When Elijah was on that mountaintop, he was thinking of God's glory, wasn't he? He wanted the people to come back to God, he wanted them to know God. But now he has lost sight of God and he goes into a dungeon of despair, or depression. He needs to get his eyes back on God. And he does, he does. If you read on into 1 Kings 18 he comes to another mountain, Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai, and that's where he hears the voice. He hears the still, small voice of God. To get him back to where he should be spiritually, he needs to hear God's voice. He needs to learn that the God of the Bible is not just a God of fire, power, justice and judgment like he saw on Mount Carmel; but he's also a God of mercy, a God of grace, a still, small voice. He doesn't just speak by way of the earthquake and by way of thunder, but also by way of a still, small voice. He is the God of gentleness, He is the God of mercy and kindness.And hopefully we are here tonight to get our eyes on God and to get our eyes off ourselves.
Prayer meetings should be faith strengthening exercises to help us run the race. And Christian, you and I have a greater knowledge of God than Elijah had. We have a more full revelation, we have a New Testament revelation. I don't think Elijah knew that God was a three-person God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And we know that there's no one more compassionate, no one more loving. We have the cross to tell us that. Herein is love, no one greater, no one wiser than God, the three-person God. So Elijah is just like us. We get fearful, we get afraid, we get discouraged, we get overwhelmed with life. But we can be like him. Look how we can be like him, by praying, by persevering in prayer. He prayed fervently. That's what he's telling us here, he prayed fervently. You don't have to be a prophet to pray. You don't have to be an elite prophet or Christian to pray, to spiritually lead. All of us can pray. Elijah was just like us and we can pray just like him. So we should pray even tonight, that we would have faith to pray, to take hold of the promise, even like Elijah.
Posted in Pastor Devotional