STAND II

Earth, Wind and Fire: Electric Universe

Ever tell God, “Just please, stop. NO MORE!”  Are you slapping the mat of your life in surrender while the latest trial feels like it has you in a headlock? Trial after trial, tribulation after tribulation does that to you.  You’re not alone. Consider Elijah.

“He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. ‘Take my life; I am no  better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down under the bush and  fell asleep.” 

1 Kings 19: 4-5 (NIV)

He was a Prophet of God who hit the wall of depression, discouragement and fear even while walking in obedience. Sound familiar?

God cared about Elijah’s emotional state so He gave him something to do. He told Elijah to journey to a mountain to meet Him there.  It was a forty-day journey that included a climb so God provided Elijah with food and water before he left.  This demonstrates that:

1) God provides what we need to accomplish what He asks us to do

2) Even while He asks us to continue through the pain – towards Him – He promises we can make it up that mountain. 

“He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights.” 

Psalm 18:33 (NIV)

3) God urges us to that intimate mountaintop experience with Him because it situates us above the fray of everything assailing us.

Elijah made that trip up Mount Horeb but,

           

“There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?

"The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’

Still, Elijah did not exit the cave. The mighty man of God stayed holed up; withdrawn and isolated.  

We do the same. Many of us attend church, sing the praise songs and even read the Bible from the latest App. But we can stay in a funk. We are rightly expecting to see God’s glory but worry, angst, and disappointment – all our distraught emotions - fragment us. We retreat from God just when His glory is about to manifest. God didn’t fault Elijah anymore than He faults us. He showed His glory anyway.

“Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave."   

1 Kings 19: 11-13 (TNIV) 

Imagine what Elijah could have seen, felt and heard had he obeyed God completely. Had Elijah stood, really taken his STAND on the mountain and not retreated into the cave, He would have witnessed the holy pyrotechnics of earth, wind and fire.

Perhaps he would have felt that wind whip across his face refreshing him, breathing in new life and vigor.  Perhaps those crumbling rocks and the swaying ground beneath him would have forced a stance Elijah never knew his legs could bear.  

"You make your saving help my shield, and your right hand sustains me; your help has made me great." 

Psalm 18:35 (NIV)

And what about that fire?  Perhaps he would have felt its intense purification but never the searing temperatures of its heat. Perhaps his stand on Holy Ground would have made him witness to a fire that destroyed all the wood, hay and stubble of his life but never consumed him.

“When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the  righteous stand firm forever.”

Proverbs 10:25 (NIV)

Elijah would not have even smelled of smoke.

“Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.” 

Psalm 5:12 (NIV)

- Still Processing