Elijah in the Wilderness

Painting by Lord Frederic Leighton (1830-1896) 

But he (Elijah) 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 King 19:4

At my small group bible study not too long ago, we discussed Elijah’s wilderness experience, that part of Elijah’s narrative where he ran for his life from Jezebel who had sworn to kill him if that was the last thing she did. That story has sat with me since. Here’s Elijah, who had just witnessed the spectacular phenomenon of God sending fire from heaven to consume the bull offering set on wood submerged in water, putting to shame the other gods, who in spite of repeated manipulative pleadings by their priests could do nothing to light up their offering set on dry wood. All Elijah had to do was call out to YHWH once, and poof! fire shot down from heaven! Elijah must have felt pretty triumphant, affirmed in his own faith, if not the Israelites’, that YHWH was indeed real and He was powerful beyond measure, and that this great God listened to him. 

Shortly after this mountain top experience, he got wind that Jezebel was out for his life. This big man of God immediately buckled at his knees, cowered, and ran for his life. Granted, Jezebel was one ruthless, brutal queen, but didn’t Elijah know that he himself was one larger-than-life prophet who had the almighty God and His heavenly armies on his side? His fear of Jezebel obviously got the better of him, for off Elijah ran, to the wilderness, sat under a broom tree, felt so sorry for himself that he asked God to take his life. 
 

What struck me first about this story is how gently and kindly God handled him.  If Elijah had bemoaned his fate to me, I would have said, “Come on now Elijah, have you already forgotten what God just did with the fire from heaven?  You couldn’t have witnessed all that and now fret over what a woman could do to you?”  And then I would quote him verses from the Bible like Psalm 56:11 - in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?  Well, good thing Elijah didn’t cry to me but to God!  God did not reprimand him or give him a litany of what it means to trust Him.  Instead God sent an angel to make him a meal!  Doesn’t that just cause you to pause and wonder about this God of Elijah’s?  How gracious and kind and how aware He is not just of the spiritual but the physical and emotional needs of His people.  God’s angel came to bake Elijah a cake!  He made sure Elijah had a good meal and good rest before he was allowed on his long journey to Mt. Horeb to meet God.

I have made the mistake when friends and family come to me to express unhappiness or fear, to jump in with a long lecture about how they should trust God and remember who He is and how well He has taken care of them, etc, etc.  When what I should have done instead was let them express their sorrow, allow them to cry, and make them a special meal or treat them to their favorite restaurant.  No matter how much faith we have, life can get pretty crummy at times.  There are times when we need to remind one another about God’s faithfulness and redemptive power, but I think when fear and sorrow grip us, we should try to give each other the grace to lament, to sob, and to even exaggerate our painful existence.

Which brings me to the next thing I picked up from the wilderness narrative.  After Elijah was well fed and well rested, he took off to Mt. Horeb to meet God.  While at Mt. Horeb, Elijah cried out to God about how he had been zealous for God, how he was the only one left who was faithful while everyone else had forsaken Him.  God again allowed him to lament first, then in a whisper, gave Elijah a list of tasks to accomplish for Him while assuring him that He had 7,000 people who had neither forsaken Him nor succumbed to the worship of the false god Baal.  The common take from this part of the narrative is -- of course Elijah was so crushed and fearful for he didn’t know until then that he was not alone, and that there were all these Israelites who remained faithful to YHWH.  This is what we get when we don’t read the biblical narratives from beginning to end!  For a few chapters before this, we learned that Elijah had run into Obadiah, another faithful man of God, who had told Elijah that he had hid a hundred prophets in caves when Jezebel tried to kill all of YHWH’s prophets.  I am not here trying to implicate Elijah for exaggerating his dilemma, just pointing out that, like Elijah, we often feel forsaken and alone when life gets overwhelming even when we know in reality that that is not the case.   

Hopefully, the next time someone approaches me with her fear, I would remember God’s graciousness and gentleness toward Elijah, and be slow to admonish, quick to listen and empathize, allowing her to exaggerate her fears, seeking first to shore up her strength by  meeting her present physical and emotional needs in offering her some form of “angel food cake!”  

And for all of us, when the Jezebels of this world come after us, let us run to God to hide and weep, He will not spurn us but gently and lovingly restore us like He did with Elijah.

On a side note, we are not told if Jezebel ever caught up with Elijah.  Elijah with renewed strength and assurance carried out what God commanded him to do (there comes a time when wallowing needs to come to an end)  and was duly taken up to heaven in a whirlwind.  Jezebel lived long enough to make life hell for several more people, but died with makeup on and, as prophesied, with her body shredded by dogs!