Elijah the Pitiful & God the Gracious

First Kings chapter 19 is where we are this morning. This is our sixth message on Elijah. Elijah, the pitiful. God, the gracious. First Kings chapter 19 we are going to begin reading at verse one and for the moment, just read down through verse eight, okay?

First Kings 19 and verses one through eight. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and with all how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah saying, so let the gods do to me and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life and came to Beersheba which belongeth to Judah and left his servant there but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree and he requested for himself that he might die and said, it is enough now, oh Lord. Take away my life for I am no better than not better than my fathers.

And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold then an angel touched him and said unto him, arise and eat. And he looked and behold, there was a cake, bacon on the coals, and a cruise of water at his head and he did eat and drink and laid him down again and the angel of Lord came again the second time and touched him and said, arise and eat because the journey is too great for thee and he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, the Mount of God. Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for the blessing that it is just to read it, to ponder it today.

We thank you for your goodness and mercy. We thank you Lord that nothing catches you by surprise. Lord, I pray that you would help us through this message today to learn to trust you more, to trust in the graciousness, goodness, mercy, guidance, of our God. And Lord, I pray that you would restore some today that are hurting, that are struggling, that you might refocus us on the ministry that is before us. And Lord, that you would lift our eyes and hearts up to you.

To Jesus Christ, our savior, for it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. The silent killers of fear and self pity What happens when we take our eyes off Jesus and begin to look at the waves around us? Fear takes hold and we begin to be overwhelmed by the waves. Remember Peter?

He said to Jesus when he saw him walking on the water, Lord, let me walk out to you and Jesus said, come. So, he got out in the boat. He walked on the water but then he took his eyes off of who? Jesus and fear set in and he began to sink and he cried out, Lord, save me and Jesus was right there to pick him up and to set him back on the ship. When we take our eyes off of Jesus, the waves of life can overwhelm us.

What happens when we take our eyes off of Jesus and begin to look at only self? Well, self pity sets in and we begin to despair. No child of God should ever reach the point of despair. And yet some of the greatest of God's prophets and servants, at least for a brief moment in time. Suffered from such despair.

Jeremiah did. Jonah did. Job did. And so did Elijah that we read today. What can we learn from them?

Specifically, Elijah today that might be a help to us, his servants today. Well, let's begin by observing the moments leading up to Elijah's despair, okay? What what were the moments leading up to this horrific point in Elijah's life? Well, to understand that, particularly if you weren't here last week, we need to go back to chapter 18 and we're going to go back to verse 36. Elijah had challenged the prophets of Baal to a duel on top of Mount Carmel.

Whoever, whoever's God heard their prayers and brought fire down from heaven to consume their sacrifice would be the true and living God. Well, of course, Baal is not the true and living God. He is a false god. He is an idol. He cannot hear.

He has no power and so, the priest of Baal cried and screamed and cut themselves and did everything imaginable to get their God's attention, didn't do any good, nothing happened. That brings us to verse 36. And it came to pass after the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, oh Lord, hear me.

That this people may know that thou art the Lord God and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then, the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God and Elijah said unto them, take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape and they took them and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and slew them there and Elijah said unto Ahab, get thee up and eat and drink for there is a sound of abundance of rain. If you look down in verse 45 and it came to pass in the meanwhile that the heaven was 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 girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

A bit of a parade in honor of who? In honor of the God who called down fire from heaven and the God who quenched it with torrents of rain. And refreshed his people. Again, That is the great victory we see here for Elijah. He defeated and slew the prophets of Baal.

The Lord washing away their vile blood from the fields of Jezreel. A victorious Elijah empowered by God outran the chariots of Ahab to the gates of the city of Jezreel. Elijah was the victor. The enemy had been slain. His God was vindicated in the eyes of the people.

The land again was refreshed with life giving rain. His enemy, Ahab, was embarrassed. It is often after great victory that our enemy the devil, desperate, and yet shrewd, launches his counter attack. For which we are not prepared. So is the case with Elijah.

In our story today. Although Elijah was not prepared to handle this attack as we will see, his God most certainly was up to the task. So, we see Elijah's great victory and we see how it was short lived. We see now not the courageous Elijah. We see the fearful Elijah.

Elijah's celebrating was interrupted by who? By Jezebel, Ahab's wife. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done back to verse one of chapter 19 and with all how he had slain all the prophets with the sword, then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah saying, let so let the gods do to me, that is slay me and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. So, Elijah is victorious. But Queen Jezebel remained entrenched in leadership in Israel and she swore that Elijah would be killed within a day for what he had done to her prophets and her religion.

And what did Elijah do? He had stood before Ahab on several occasions without fear and now, he turns tail in what? He turns tail and runs. Yes, he did. Maybe he had expected Ahab to turn on her or the people to rebel against her or God to kill her but she remained in power and so Elijah ran.

In fear. Thought about this verse when I was reading that. First Corinthians ten twelve. Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest he fall. I think at that point as Elijah was outrunning the chariot, headed back to just real.

His head started to swell. Maybe just a little bit. And he thought, wow, this this is going great. And then, that's when you're not looking where you're walking and you hit a stone and it trips you up and you go head over heels. It is when we forget the battle is a long one.

When we think that we can let down our guard because the danger is past. That that's when the enemy attacks. It's when we think we have done some great thing and we bask in our accomplishments. Is then that the enemy attacks. When we think we are invisible, invince, not invisible, invincible.

But the enemy knows it is when we are most vulnerable. To him. And this is where we find Elijah. You would think he would be ready to take on anything and I think he probably thought he was until all of a sudden, Jezebel confronts him and he turns white with fear. I think back to Jericho and AI.

The Jews, Israel, they they conquered Jericho. How did they conquer Jericho? They walked around at 13 times. They blew their trumpet. They praised the Lord and the walls did what?

They fell down and they they conquered Jericho with almost no no challenge at all. So, the next city that they went to was called AI. Its walls were smaller. Its army was smaller. It was smaller and so they thought to themselves, well, hey, we don't even need to send the whole army out against Ai.

AI, we'll just send a small group. Well, they they got whipped. They came back with their tail tucked between their legs. Thirty six men died. What happened?

Well, they forgot. They forgot to talk to who? They forgot to talk to God. They got thinking, hey, we're we're pretty good stuff here. Makes me think of David conquered kingdom after kingdom to establish very nearly the borders that God had promised to Abraham of the nation of Israel And so the next time his armies went out, David decided to take it easy and he was strolling around on the top of his palace.

He took his eyes off the Lord. He took his eyes off of the goals and he put his eyes on a young lady named Bathsheba and you know how that went. We must be careful. The enemy is still there. Just because we win a battle doesn't mean that the war is over.

The war is still on. Our God will still help us as he helps Elijah here, we will see but we must be careful because it's when we think that we have accomplished some great feat that we are most vulnerable. Now, let's observe the depths of Elijah's despair. The depths of Elijah's despair. Okay.

So, he is up here. You see the red arrow at the top of the the map up there? That's up in Northern Israel up by Galilee. That's where that little red arrow up there. That's pointing to the city of Jezreel, okay?

That is where Elijah was when Jezebel declared she was going to kill him. He ran. Now, how far did he run? Well, he ran and he ran and he ran and maybe if the piano, the organs in your way, you can't see it but there's a red arrow at the bottom of the map all the way down the most southern city in Judah. So, he left Israel.

He traveled down into Judah to the most southern city of Beersheba. So, he kept running, didn't he? Ran for, it took him many days to get from one place to the other. He was determined. He was getting away and when he got to Beersheba, he left off his servant there and he kept running in further and further down into the desert.

That's desert. Just barren desert down there and he came to a place in the desert and he found what's called a juniper or a broom tree. One of these shrubs, they don't get much bigger than that. In the desert and he laid down in the shade of the broom tree, the juniper tree, and pass out. I mean, just went to sleep.

He was tired. He had been running for days. And there, he laid miserable, exhausted, and full of fear and self pity. And there he pleaded with God to do what? To take his life.

He requested for himself that he might die. He said, Lord, it is enough. Now, oh Lord, take my life for I am not better than any of my fathers. Self pity is just oozing out of Elijah. Poor me.

He was at the end of his rope so to speak. He could not see his way forward in life. For that, he had done his best and his best wasn't what? His best wasn't good enough. He had expected for this great revival for the king evident, the queen to be cast out and and for everybody and everything to go well and just he was going to reach the mountain top and and and then everything was going to go much better from there and immediately, everything went back what?

Back downhill. And now he lays there under the tree saying, I'm I'm no better than my fathers. I had nothing more I can do. Lord, I've done it all. It it's it's just it's worthless.

It's useless. Just take my life. I'm accomplishing nothing. He laid there in his pity and squalor. As I mentioned earlier, he's not the only man of faith in the Old Testament to say such things.

Jonah, as he overlooked the city of Nineveh, wishing that God would destroy it and he didn't, said very similar words. So did Job when God allowed Satan to take away his all of his material possessions, his family, and his health. And even Jeremiah. Jeremiah, if you want to turn there, Jeremiah chapter 20, I'm going to read a few verses from Jeremiah 20. I want you to see how miserable Jeremiah sounds.

Now, Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet because God told him early on in his ministry. He said, you're going to cry out to the people and tell em to the judgment is coming and their sin is horrible and they need to repent and they're going to turn a deaf ear to you. They're not going to be your friends. They're going to attack you but I'll be there to protect you. Well, I'm sure Jeremiah heard that and acknowledged it but still, if you're ministering, if you're preaching, if you're proclaiming God's word, you still expect to see what?

Results change. He didn't see any. And eventually, reality set in and when it did, here comes Elijah. Verse 14 of chapter 20, cursed be the day wherein I was born. Let not the day wherein my mother bear me be blessed, cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father saying, a man child is born unto thee making him very glad.

Let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew and repented not. Let him hear the cry in the morning and the shouting in the noon time because he slew me not from the womb or that my mother might have been my grave and her womb to be always great with me. Where fore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow that my day should be consumed with shame. This was near the time that he watched as the city of Jerusalem was burned and destroyed. The temple destroyed and burned.

The people slain in the streets by the Babylonians as they went through Jerusalem. And he cried in despair before the Lord. I preached, I proclaimed, and it only brought what? It only brought this. Lord told him but it's a hard pill to swallow.

And so we see Elijah here. In similar fashion. Before we condemn Elijah, let's examine how we would respond or do respond to similar situations. When things do not go your way, do you ever get upset? I hear little giggling down there.

Do you ever want to throw in the towel? Do you ever sit down and go, oh, I just can't do this anymore. When times get tough, especially when we think we have things licked and all of a sudden, they turn on us. Do you ever want to run and hide, withdraw? Should your life be threatened?

Would it seem illogical to run-in fear? When our energy and accomplishments seem to go unnoticed, do we ever get frustrated? When God doesn't do what we expect, do we ever question him or get discouraged? We shouldn't but we but we do. And that's where Elijah is.

He's done his best for the Lord. And he thought this great mountain top experience was just going to be glorious But it wasn't as glorious as he thought. He thought he had everything licked and now things had turned on him. They didn't go his way. Instead of getting thanked for what he had done, he got threatened with his death for what he had done.

The question is not whether bad things will happen. They will. It's not a question as to whether your faithfulness will always lead to overwhelming success. It won't. At least it won't seem to.

It's not a question as whether we will be acknowledged for what we have done. We won't be. And by the way, neither was our Lord. Isaiah 53. He is despised and rejected of men.

A man of sorrow is an acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely, he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows yet, we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. The more he did for the Jews, the more particularly the leadership hated him for it. And was determined.

To take his life That is how they treated Jesus and Jesus said, if they treated me this way, don't expect them to treat you any what, any differently than how they treated me. John 111 says, he came unto his own and his own received him not. That was how they treated Jesus. That's the world, how the world treated him and that's how the world particularly if we stand for the things of Christ are likely to treat us. Bad things happen in this world.

Sometimes, they happen by determination of someone else. Sometimes, they happen as results of things we do. Sometimes, it just seems they just what? They just happen. Praise the Lord.

He's in control. There is no such thing as just merely coincidence. In the life of God's child. The question is, not will they happen but how will we respond in faith or in fear with grace or with self pity? Turn if you would to first Corinthians chapter 10.

Hold your place in first Kings 19 because we're coming back there but look to first Corinthians chapter 10. First Corinthians chapter 10. I read one verse from there earlier. Put it up on the screen but I want us to read the context. First Corinthians ten eleven through 13.

First Corinthians ten, eleven through 13. It says, Christ, the Lord, here Paul's writing, speaking of what happened to Israel in the Old Testament. He said, now, all these things happen unto them for what? And samples or examples and they are written for our admonition, our learning, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest he fall.

There are no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful. Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. This reminds me of Elijah, does it not? And why did God record this for us so that we might learn? We might learn from his failure.

We might learn to be careful if we think we stand, lest we what? Lest we fall. That we might also learn that there are no temptation that we face that other people haven't faced before or other people won't face again. And God brought them through and he will do the same for who? He will do the same for us.

Whether it's our own failure, whether it's the society in which we live or the government on which we live under or whether it's the family relationship we have to deal with or the financial crisis that comes into our life. Those things are things that everybody has dealt with in the past and will deal with again and God will be here for us just as he was for them and just as he was for Elijah. Galatians six nine, I think I I have that here. Galatians six nine says, let us not be weary in well doing for in due season, we shall reap if we faint not. Don't give up.

Don't take your eyes off of Jesus. If you do, you find yourself under a what? A juniper tree in the middle of the desert, exhausted and saying, Lord, it's over. I'm done. Don't do that.

Don't take your eyes off Jesus. Don't faint. Don't faint. He's there. You'll make it.

Hebrews twelve two says this, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher for our faith and for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of the father. Jesus has been there. He won. He was victorious. And if we'll keep our eyes on him, he will help us to do the same.

So, we see the depths of Elijah's despair leading into the graciousness of God. Hebrews thirteen five says, he will never leave us nor what? Forsake us. What did God do? Well, he came and he ministered.

Unto him, he sent an angel and he fed him and he gave him water. If not, Elijah would just withered up and died under that tree but God, God wasn't wasn't done with Elijah yet. First Corinthians twelve nine says this, and he said, unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in what? Weakness. Elijah was weak.

Elijah was weak at his weakest point now. God was going to turn that around and it's a lot of times that when we're our weakest point, when you're at the bottom, you can only look what? You can only look up and when you look up, good things happen. God is there. He ministered to him.

He gave him food and water and fed him. He strengthened him for the journey to follow to Mount Horeb. Paul said in Philippians three nineteen, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. You know, God didn't even rebuke or admonish him to start with. He just did what?

He just fed him. He was just there for He didn't come down and stomp. He didn't come down and chastening hand upon. No. He was just there for There's a song in your hymn book.

The melody, I, this melody, I don't know. I know a different one but it's called there's a wideness in God's mercy. It says, there's a wideness in God's mercy like the wideness of the sea. There's a kindness in his justice which is more than liberty. There is welcome for the sinner and more graces for the good.

There is mercy with the savior. There is healing in his blood. For the love of God is brighter, broader than the measure of man's mind and the heart of the eternal is most wonderfully kind. If our love were but more simple, we should take him at his word and our lives would be all sunshine in the sweetness of our Lord. The wideness of God's mercy His goodness.

He was just there for Elijah. Put his hand on him. He fed him. He encouraged him. He said, you gotta eat because the journey is yet still what?

The journey is yet still ahead, Elijah. It's not all what? It's not all behind. It's still ahead. You need to eat.

You need to drink. You need to get up off the ground. Follow me. Two things we can learn there. God will be there for us also even when we have failed.

Just like we are there for our children. Even when they when they fail. Second Corinthians one three, Blessed be God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. He will be there for us and secondly, we need to be there for others. We need to be there for others.

Particularly when they fall, when they fail, when they're down, when they're discouraged, when sin seems to have the better of them, when life has taken a bad turn, God, in this case, used an angel to touch Elijah and defeat him but that angel could be you. That angel could be me. Tells us in Galatians six one and two. It says, brethren, if a man be taken, overtaken in a fault, Ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering thyself. Thus, thou also be tempted.

Bear you one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. The law of Christ is love. The law of Christ is mercy and justice. The law of Christ should be lived out in the servants of Christ And when somebody is down, when they're discouraged, when they're hurting, isn't the time to kick them? It's the time to why?

It's a time to be there for them. It's the time to bake em a meal, to send them a card, to give them a kind word, to pray for them, to encourage them later may come the time to rebuke and teach but they need to know that God has not abandoned them and neither have God's children. So, as we and I'm I'm not done with my message but if I keep going, we'll be here till 12:30. So, I will finish my message though. Next Sunday morning.

But I want to do, I want to finish with this verse. Blessed be God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the fathers of mercies, that that's not, that's the one I just read. Imma turn to it. So, I put the reference but I don't have the right verse. So, let me read it out of here.

For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our what? Infirmities. But was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. The Bible tells us God knows, God knows your struggle. God knows your heart.

God will never leave his children. He is in control and has a plan to reward the righteous and judge the unrighteous. God does know your inward struggle and understands you better than anyone else. God is with you yet. Do not give up on him.

For he has not given up on you. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you. For Elijah, Thank you Lord for recording him and his good times and in his bad that we might see he was a person of light passions, struggles, as we are, yet you answered his prayers. Yet, you did great and mighty things through him.

Yet, you picked him up, you fed him, you were there when he was down. For you are God of grace and mercy and Lord, we thank you for Jesus Christ, our savior, for you look down from heaven and sent your son to die on a cross for miserable sinners that you might lift us up to heaven in Christ Jesus, our Lord, that you might sit us in heavenly places, and guarantee us a place by your side. And you promise to be with us through this life. Though at times it may be hard, though at times we may fail utterly, righteous man by God's grace picks himself back up. And keeps going.

Lord, you are example. Thank you for that example and thank you Lord for your promises and thank you Lord that you are the God of comfort and mercy and Lord, help us to be that to others also and Lord, we do pray if there's one here today that's never trusted Christ as savior. We pray Lord today that they would come. For you are God of grace and mercy and you invite them today to come and join your family and we do too. In Jesus name, we pray.

Amen.