Sunday, September 6, 2009
August 5 (& 9) - Pentecost + 10
Elijah's had a tough couple of days
He's had a rough couple of years actually
He appears outta nowhere in chapter 17 –
a prophet of the LORD
sent to King Ahab,
who “did evil in the sight of the LORD more than all who were before him...”
which was saying something!
3 years ago, came to King Ahab,
declared that there would be a drought for 3 years
then off into hiding b/c Ahab was after him
then God tells, “Go, present yourself to Ahab!”
And off he goes for a showdown
with Ahab & Queen Jezebel & the prophets of Baal
450 prophets of Baal
& Elijah challenges them to a contest,
to see who is serving the real god.
He calls the whole country together,
all the people,
all the prophets,
the king & the queen
Calling down fire from heaven
to burn up the sacrifice of the bull
Baal prophets called from morning to noon on name of Baal
& nothing happened.
Elijah has them soak the wood,
the bull,
the altar,
even had them dig a trench around altar, filled w/ water.
Calls on God & fire of the LORD fell,
burned up the bull, the wood, the stones, the dust,
and even “licked up the water in the trench”!
With all the people behind him,
Elijah puts all the prophets of Baal to death by the sword
Jezebel swears her revenge,
promises to kill Elijah
– and so he fled for his life, into the wilderness
Out there in the wilderness, Elijah decides he's had enough
he's stressed out, burned out, worn out
he's ready to hang it up, ready to give up:
“now, O LORD, take away my life.”
“It is enough”
It is enough!
Ever felt that way?
“That's it, God, I've had it! I can't keep going this way!”
Been stressed out, burned out, worn out?
Burdens of life leave you feeling like you're in it alone?
Like you are the only one?
Like life with all its struggles and stresses,
pain & confrontations is too much?
Like you keep on trying to stand up,
and the world keeps knocking you down?
Why me, God? Enough already!
Maybe not to the point of asking God to take away your life,
but at least to the point of wanting to run away from it all,
to flee out into the wilderness,
away from all the things that hurt, or burden, or distress you?
Poor Elijah –
there he is,
sitting out there in the wilderness under the only tree around,
so worn out that he could die -
I love the wilderness stories.
God always shows up there out in the wilderness.
Elijah takes a much-needed nap,
and suddenly an angel touches him –
“Get up & eat”
And there's a meal,
a cake baked on hot stones,
a jar of water in this land where there's been a drought
And Elijah eats & drinks
– how refreshing –
and then it's back to sleep.
And the angel comes again to say,
“Get up & eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.”
Out there in the wilderness,
God finds Elijah,
and God feeds him
Elijah has been feeling that it's all just too much,
but then God comes and refreshes him;
God sends an angel to meet him, to feed him
God sends what Elijah needs to keep on keepin' on,
to go ahead to the place
where God will speak in the silence,
before going back into the world
to do the work God will send him yet to do
There are those days when we may want,
like Elijah,
to run away,
to escape from the stress of life,
from the busyness,
to run away into the wilderness,
away from it all
and we may not be able to do it.
We can't escape from life & its demands
but God meets us anyway,
in the wilderness
of our hectic, burned out, stressed out, worn out lives.
And there, God feeds us too -
God sends, not angels, but Jesus:
Jesus, the bread of life,
Jesus, the living bread from heaven
who comes to us in the wilderness places of our lives,
the times when we have had enough
& are wondering if we can go on.
Jesus comes to us
in those times of stress and struggle and strain,
and he touches us,
and he gently says, “Get up & eat.”
I am the bread of life
& I will feed you with myself.
I am living bread that came down from heaven.
Whoever eats of this bread will live forever.
The bread that I will give is my own flesh.
I will give myself to feed you
I will give myself to heal you
I will give myself to strengthen you
Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.
Get up and eat, and Jesus, the bread of life, will give you strength for the journey.
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