Let the Lord Be Gentle

Bibles, we'll be in first Kings chapter 19. We'll walk a little bit before that, kind of just to catch up, um, let you guys know what's going on. But we find Elijah in the middle of a very stressful situation in his life. Um, and we were studying this with youth. I looked and my original notes from, from then was about a year ago. And at the time it was very much feeling that 2021 is starting weird.

But right now, 2022 has also started weird and 2020 was weird. It just seems like a broken record. You know, we're always back to life is interesting right now. It's just a strange season and there's a lot of unknowns and, and, and what do we do with that? And so I was encouraged. We're going to look at Elijah at a very unknown situation in his life and be able to look

at how the Lord ministers to him in that place, how, how that interaction is. And we'll even look at a little bit of God's character as he does. So, and I think to find encouragement, if we find ourselves in, this is already crazy and I don't know what's going on, um, or encouragement for maybe we are just at a place of abiding and this is the closest we've been to the Lord and to hopefully help us stay there. So we'll pray a little bit and then we'll, we'll jump in.

So fathers, we come before you, Lord, we just ask that you would meet us in your word. Father, your word is alive. Lord, you, you speak to us so clearly. It's asked that you. You would remove any barriers, any distractions, Lord, whether they're, they're external or whether it's just in our hearts or the things that we're thinking about, we need to do this afternoon or this week or what we're having for lunch or just the different things, Lord,

that, that get in the way. Father, that you would keep us simple before you, that we might hear your word, that we might see you and be encouraged. So Lord, we pray this in your name. Amen. Amen. And so just a little bit of backstory. If you look at Elijah in chapter 17, that's when he prays that the rain would cease, which causes a drought and a lot of turmoil in Israel.

And it's actually something that's cool because we get that in James. We know that that period of time is three and a half years because James, it's the effective prayer of a righteous man avails much. And he says, look at, paraphrasing it, but you know, look at Elijah being, being a man just as we are. Elijah prayed and the rain ceased. And so it was the, the reminder of the power of prayer as God works through us.

But specifically, why is Elijah praying that a drought would happen for Israel? That doesn't seem very kind, you know, like what's going on here. It's because Israel's in a very bad way. Ahab is the king and his wife is Jezebel. They are much more Bonnie and Clyde than Chip and Joanna. I don't know if we, okay. Magnolia, a couple of people understand that. If you don't, they're not a great couple.

This is not someone you invite to a dinner party. Ahab is, is actually referred to, if you continue to study, it's, oh, he was a king in the likes of Ahab, which is basically saying he was horribly immoral and challenged the children of Israel to not just forget about the Lord and do their own thing, but then chase after other gods. And Jezebel is probably worse than he is because we watch Ahab roll over, be like, all right, whatever she says, like we think that he's afraid of her. Well, um, she's terrible.

And so the children of Israel at this point are, are just plunged into idolatry. And so why is the rain ceasing? The Lord asks Elijah to pray that the rain would stop causing the drought to hopefully make the children of Israel recognize that they have walked away from the Lord. It's applying a little bit of pressure so that they would realize what's going on and not be confused as if the Lord does not care.

And so after that, we, he hides for a little bit and, and three, three years into this, he meets a messenger and then he takes him to Ahab and they meet for the greatest duel, um, or showdown in the Bible, I think, uh, on Mount Carmel. And so Elijah's there and he says, bring your prophets of Baal. There's like two, 300 of them. And we are going to figure out once and for all who the true and living God is.

And so he says, build an altar. And they build an altar and they take, uh, the, the, the sacrifice, they chop it up, they put it on the altar and they begin praying. And throughout the entirety of the day, they go from praying to shouting, to cutting themselves until they're all covered in their own blood, jumping around, screaming, you know, just making a fool of themselves, asking the Baal would, would set this, uh, altar on fire that it would spontaneously, you know, start so that they would know that he is truly their God. In which Elijah then...

Elijah then starts trash talking them a little bit and, hey, maybe he's out on a journey or maybe he's busy doing like godly things and can't hear you. Or maybe he's using the restroom and he's busy right now. Um, it's pretty funny because that's actually how it translates is maybe he's relieving himself and he cannot hear you. Um, and so they, they stop and then Elijah rebuilds the altar, um, 12 stones, like 12 tribes of Israel.

There's, there's some cool symbolism as he does. So places the sacrifice. Sacrifice on, drenches it in water three times, digs a moat around it, fills that with water. And then at the time of the sacrifice, the correct time of day that they would for the evening sacrifice is praise. Lord, would you reveal yourself? You know, knowing that it's not because I'm asking, but because of who you are.

And so fire descends from heaven, consumes the entirety of the altar and the moat and the water. The people of Israel gathered around are like, whoa. Oh, Yahweh is the real God. Like this is, this is amazing. And so Elijah says, take those prophets of Baal and kill them. They're, they're false prophets. We need to get rid of them. And, and so they do. And then he looks back, he has a conversation with Ahab saying now is when the rain will

come. And he prays that the rain would come again. And it does. And then if you want to look, it's chapter 18, it's one verse behind where we're going to start, but it's 1844. This is also pretty interesting. And we're, we're building this because we find Elijah, this should be the moment where he's like great victory. This is after, you know, they won the championship, the Superbowl, whatever.

It's the interview. And who do you want to thank? And, you know, my mom's the real MVP and, and, and whatever, you know, he's, he's excited or he should be. He's not quite. And we'll see that in a second. But verse 46, then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. So the Lord's supernatural.

He naturally empowers him to outrun a chariot. It's like 14 miles or something like that. And, and place him in Jezreel before Ahab can even get back. And so this should be the ultimate victory. God has been glorified. The children of Israel see that he's the true God. Everything should change, right? The nation's in total turmoil, but this is when revival happens.

God is going to be glorified. This is going to be awesome. They're either going to overthrow Ahab or maybe Ahab gets, who knows, you know, God's cool. He can do anything, right? Verse 19 or chapter 19, verse one. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had executed all the prophets of the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so let the gods do to me.

And more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. And when he saw that he arose and ran for his life. And went to Beersheba. Which belongs to Judah. And he left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die and said, it is enough.

Now, Lord, take my life for I am no better than my father's. Seems a little confusing. We've just seen the Lord do amazing work through Elijah's ministry. And yet the first pushback that he gets. He runs away. He actually runs away because you have to think northern and southern kingdom. He runs as far south to Judah as he can physically get, leaves his servant there, and then journeys

an entire day deeper into the wilderness, further away, and then says, Lord, take me out. I'm done. I don't want to keep doing this anymore. This seems really confusing because you're like, man, like God just did a bunch of stuff through you. You know, the first look, I've done a lot of youth ministry. So I'm like, man, this is like middle school. Boy, Elijah, like the world is ending and everyone's mean.

And you know, like, what are you doing? Like, wow, God has used you in ways that most of us probably have never seen in our lives with their own two eyes. Or maybe we have just here and there, like God has used you powerfully. And this is how you act. But the thing that the Lord reminded me is there's a good chance and it's a little bit of speculation, but think about it.

For those three and a half. Years, there's a good chance that Elijah was expecting this to be the moment that Israel would repent. There's a good chance that he was looking at, oh God, this is how you're going to do it. Like, this is how everything goes back to the way it's supposed to be. This is it. And then when it wasn't, and now there's a hit out on his life and his life is in immediate

danger. I think he just, he's tired. He's done a ton of ministry. And I think this is when he's like, I don't know what to do anymore. Like, I can't keep doing this. I can't win. You know, even when, even when it looks like we're on just the brink of, of ultimate revival and yet still nothing. And I don't know if I can do this anymore. And we know that he feels alone.

He's going to tell us that in a minute. But, but looking at it, you know, honestly, the last couple of years have not been great for really anything. The Lord has still been faithful. But. We look at governmental structure and it doesn't matter what side or party you vote. Nobody's happy. You know, we look at the world and, and especially what's going on in Ukraine and, and, and everything

else besides that, you know, there's just so much going on and it can be easy to get to the point where, Lord, I don't want to keep doing this anymore. Like, I can't, you know, it's like, I'm seriously the only person who cares. And so when I looked at it a second time, the first time, like Elijah quit being a baby. And then the second time I was like, I don't want to keep doing this anymore.

And then the third time I was like, okay, I've actually found myself there more than once in the past couple of years. Not to, you know, forget about even the times where we go through really difficult things. And, and Lord, I don't know if, if you really, who you say that you are. I know that I've found myself in that place. Like I said, my wife and I have been married for, for six years, almost two kids, but

we've gone through two miscarriages and there's something that, that rocked me. And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and my, I'm, I'm serving in ministry and I don't know if I can look at the Lord. You know, I don't, I don't know how you let things like that happen. And so it's times like that, that I realized, man, Elijah's not just being a wimp.

Elijah's seriously looking at Lord. I don't understand what's going on and how am I supposed to continue? And so let's look how the Lord responds. Because initially I kind of expected the Lord to be mad at him, honestly. Like Elijah, stop it. Go back. You know, but he doesn't. He actually does something really cool.

Verse five. Then he lay and slept under a broom tree. So he takes a depression nap. That's biblical. Suddenly an angel touched him and said, arise and eat. And then he looked and there by his head was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water. And so he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, arise and eat

because the journey is too great for you. So he arose and ate and drank. And he went in the strength on that food for 40 days and 40 nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God. And so the Lord literally lets him take a nap and feeds him, which is cool because like, what's the bread? Is it manna? I don't know. Maybe. But, you know, God's cool like that in the overlapping circles and doing the same thing over and over again.

Or not over and over again, but you'll see the same idea show up again and again to point back to something. And so. The Lord actually, in his gentleness, takes care of his physical need because, again, he's just done some crazy intense ministry. He's also lived through the famine as well. And if you looked even further back, he's to a point where he has no food and the Lord leads him to a widow who has no food.

And then the Lord provides for them both. So he's tired. He's worn out. He's obviously depressed and trying to figure out what is going on. And so the Lord takes care of his physical needs so that he's able to listen. To what God is going to speak to him next. And it seems that Elijah is understanding that God's doing something. Doesn't know what it is yet, but that he's doing something because then he takes him on a 40-day journey and sustains him through, you know, those two supernatural naps and meals.

And so we know that Elijah's along for it. He's waiting like, OK, like there seems to be God is doing something. And so he's willing to continue and see what does God have on the end of this? What's cool is where does he take him? So Mount Horeb, the mountain of God, which is also known as Mount Sinai. And so the Lord literally takes him back to a place where he revealed himself before to remind him that he's going to speak to him now.

And I think that that's really, really cool. Verse nine. And he went into a cave and spent the night in that place. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah? And so again, the Lord asked him, why are you here? As if the Lord doesn't know why he's there, but he still has the conversation with him. You know, he doesn't finish the answer.

He doesn't tell him to get over it. Like I gave you a nap and we're done. But why are you here, Elijah? Elijah said, verse 10. I've been very zealous for the Lord, God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant and torn down your altars and killed your prophets. With the sword, I alone am left and they seek to take my life. And so we see Elijah quite literally thinks that he is the only person left that follows the Lord.

And so he's just saying, like, I, the entirety of the world around me hates you and I can't keep doing this alone. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. And so the Lord answers him again, because the Lord's cool and much kinder than I. He said to him, go out and stand on the. Mountain before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks into pieces before the Lord.

But the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind, an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake, a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire, a still small voice. And so it was when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And suddenly. A voice came to him and said, what are you doing here, Elijah?

It's pretty cool because the Lord reveals his power because Elijah seen God's power a bunch over the course of the last, you know, years of ministry. But he's not in the earthquake, the wind, the fire, which feels like an earth, wind and fire joke. I just I don't know. Elijah is a shining star. Came out 20 years before I was born. OK, I looked it up. I should get credit for that.

No. But he's not in those things like they are really just like it's the after effects of God's glory. Like his glory is breaking rocks and shatter, you know, rumbling the earth and like we see God's power. But where is he found? He's found in the still small voice. I think he does that on purpose because Elijah has seen God do amazing things, but he's forgotten that the Lord is with him always.

And so he reminds him that I am with you, even in the stillness, even in the silence, even when you run away as far as you physically can and hide in a cave. I'm still there with you. And then he asked him again, Elijah, why are we here? And Elijah's response looks to be the same. But this is where I have to remember that we need to make sure we pay attention to the tone.

If my wife texts me, Kay, I'm in trouble. My wife texts me, okay, I might be in trouble soon. If she texts me, okay, AY, we're all good. You know, like they all mean something different. And so I'm tempted to look at this and Elijah's response is almost verbatim what he just said. But looking at what happens afterwards there, I think there's a shift because the first time, well, let's read it really quick and then we'll come back to it.

But he says in 14, he said, I've been very zealous for the Lord. God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant and torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and they seek to take my life. And so it's pretty much the same thing. There's a really good chance that the first time there's a lot of stress and worry in that.

I alone am left where the second time is my circumstances haven't changed. Like nothing has changed because there's still seeking for his life. And he's still pretty confident that he's the. The only person in the world, at least that he knows of, that is following the Lord. But there seems to be a little bit more peace in his response that he can recognize, hey, this is what's going on.

And earlier I'm freaked out and I'm still not for sure what I think, but this is still currently what's happening. And so then the Lord responds again in a way that's very specific for Elijah. Verse 15, the Lord said to him, go return your way. To the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also, you shall anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, as king over Israel.

And Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of Abel Meholah, you shall anoint as prophet in your place. It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill. And whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. Yet I have reserved 7,000 in Israel and all, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal. And every mouth that has not kissed him. And that's where the story ends.

Because if you look down in verse 19, Elijah then leaves and goes and does what the Lord told him to do. And we see Elisha being called into ministry, which is a really cool story because Elijah shows up and throws his mantle on or his cloak saying, hey, like you're being called into this. And so Elisha, while he's, it's in the middle of him plowing his field, because he's got land and family. And so he takes.

He takes the, the yoke that the oxen were attached to, chops up that wood, starts a fire, takes the oxen that he was plowing the field with and actually cooks them in a barbecue. Because that's also biblical. But no, barbecues them for the rest of his family and his household saying, God is calling me into a new season of life. And so he literally eats his backup plan, which I find pretty cool because there's nothing for him to return to.

The Lord has called him to a new thing. And so he leaves. Um, and so he leaves. And I was like, that's pretty cool, but not necessarily attached to this story with Elijah, but Elijah just leaves. And it seems like this is a perfectly okay answer for him. And all I've seen is Elijah. Why are you here? And I'm all alone. Elijah, why are you here? I'm all alone.

Elijah, go and do these things. Like, okay. Like, what did we miss? Look at what he tells him. First is he gives him concrete directions. If you have anyone in your life that has any sort of anxiety. Or stress. Concreteness is a very good thing. Being like, I don't know what to do. Let's do this one thing. Okay. I can get myself to do this one thing. And so I think the Lord knowing Elijah says, this is the next thing I want you to do.

I want you to go anoint this guy. I want you to go anoint that guy. Second thing that he does, he gives him a friend. Part of what was wrong. Elijah was saying, I'm all alone. So he says, go find Elisha. You are going to do this ministry together. The other thing. Is that he says that he'll take your place. Which is reminding Elijah that right now this is difficult.

And this is your ministry. But it won't be forever. Soon I will call you back to me. And this will be done. But for now, continue and press on. Because Elijah is the one that gets caught up into heaven. Like, separated by fire. Because fire is always around Elijah. I don't know why. But like, he's always doing miracles of fire and stuff. And then a great wind.

We just saw a great wind. Takes him up. Which is cool. But yeah, so it's find a friend. Do ministry together. He's doing it right now by himself. And he needs that support. That person to remind him, hey, you know, let's put our eyes on the Lord. Let's remember that God might be doing something. Even if it's not the thing that we thought he was doing. And that he hasn't forgotten us.

And that he's not ignoring things. The other thing that he does is he promises. He promises that he's paying attention to the sin. And it's not going to slide by. And he's saying, look, these people will be dealt with. There will be judgment for the sin that's happening. God is not confused. He's not saying that, oh, Ahab's fine. Like, I'll just keep letting him do his thing.

He knows that there will be judgment for the sin that he's caused. But the timing is not now yet. But he's reminding Elijah that he's still in control. And that he's not ignoring that. And the other thing is that he tells Elijah. There's a lot more than just you. There are a lot more people out there than just you. You just don't realize it. The cool thing is, so remember the messenger that talked to Elijah.

That brokered the deal for him and Ahab to have the duel on the mountain of Mount Carmel. That specific messenger actually had hid 100 other prophets in caves away from Jezebel. So that they wouldn't be killed. So where? Where is Elijah? In a cave. Where are these other 100? In a cave. What are they doing? They're both fleeing Jezebel from the imminent death that she wants on them.

There actually are other people like him. The Lord is saying, like, you just don't realize it. Like, you are one degree of separation away from them. But there are others like you. Don't believe the lie that you're all alone. And then he sends him out. I think it's pretty cool. Because if I think about the times where, again, I'm in a cave. I'm in a cave. I'm in a cave.

I'm in a cave. I'm in a cave. I'm in a cave. I'm in a cave. I'm in a cave. I'm in a cave. Again, where we find ourselves as, I feel like Elijah. You know? Like, I'm done. I can't keep doing this. I think there are lessons that we can look at. How does the Lord deal with him? How does the Lord help him through this process? And the first thing is, he takes him to a place that he can hear the Lord's voice.

Well, really, the first thing is he deals with his physical needs. So we can start there. First thing is he deals with his physical needs. He makes sure that there's nothing that's getting in the way of him hearing the Lord's voice clearly. And it seems like a small thing, but if you think about it, it happens for us as well. So I'm full-time staff at Calvary Wichita, leading youth and graphics and small church.

So, you know, we do a little bit of everything. Wednesdays are a 12-hour day. You know, we're in at 9 and service is done. We're out at 9. I forget to eat lunch a lot of times on Wednesdays. And so by the time I get to 6.30 and it's service and I need to, like, love youth and, like, hang out with them and teach. Like, why do I have a crushing headache? Why do I feel weak?

Like, why am I not able to focus? Like, oh, I totally forgot to eat. You know, like, there's simple needs that we just need as humans that set us up to love people better. Because if I'm constantly thinking about, like, man, I really need to go eat right now, which is probably really bad timing considering the time. But, you know, then I can't focus on the still small voice of the Lord speaking to me and,

hey, go pray with that student or whatever. You know? All night last night. Like, you know what? Sleep is dumb. My kids are being watched by grandparents right now because my wife's out of town. So, like, it was the most silent it was. But I'm just like, I'm going to stay up because I can. And I drive down here this morning. This is not going well. You know?

Like, we need to make sure that there are some basic things that make sense to take care of so that we can be in a place to hear from the Lord. Because otherwise, I'm stressed out all the time and I can't listen. I'm calming some of that mental noise. The other thing is he brings them to a specific place. It's not an accident. I mean, it's a 40-day journey.

So, it's definitely not an accident that he brings them back to Mount Sinai. Why? Because that's where God spoke to them before. That's where God revealed himself before. He's pointing to the fact that, like, I haven't forgotten this whole time. Like, I'm still in control and I've been in control from the first day. And so, you know, the Lord doesn't always take us to mountains to speak to us.

Sometimes it's on beaches. Or in Kansas, it's just on beaches because there's no ocean. Lots of sand. But, you know, it's not always needing to venture out into a crazy place and for God to speak. Sometimes it's just making sure that the small kids that I have around are being watched so that I can sit with the Lord and not be like, I've got five minutes, you know, to

make sure that sometimes we do need to retreat. That's why we do retreats together, men's retreats. Women's retreats. Women's retreats, youth retreats, things like that. It's time to be able to step away from everything else and say, Lord, how do you want to speak now? And we can do that. And my grandfather was a great example of this. He would wake up at four o'clock in the morning, which I was like, that's disgusting.

I've started doing that lately. It freaks me out. But just because he liked the silence, the stillness. And so he'd wake up and he'd make a pot of coffee and he'd move through a pot of coffee and sit with Maranatha worship on a CD player. And reading his word and watch the birds in Tucson. So there's like two. And just watch the birds. And I remember that he would visit and I'd wake up.

I'm like, what are you doing out here? He's like, this is the time that I spent with the Lord. And it's just still. And the Lord speaks to me and I speak to him. And like, this is just what we do. And I was kind of always taken back by that. Because he has such a deep relationship with the Lord. He's someone that if he calls me, he's like, hey, are you okay?

I'm like, I don't know what's going to break. Because sometimes the Lord just like places people on his heart and he reaches out to them and something's going on, you know. Like, he's just close with the Lord because he spends time with him. He sets aside to make sure that he's at a specific place so that he can hear from the Lord clearly. And we see that happening.

The other thing that the Lord does with Elijah to help him in the state that he's in is he reminds him that he's there all the time. That, yeah, he's in all the works that happen. He meets him when he's doing ministry, but he's with him in the stillness. He's with him in the cave. He's with him when he's running away. Just as much as he's with him when he's praying for the rain to stop,

praying for fire to come down from heaven, being carried at a crazy speed, faster than chariots. The Lord's with him always. The other thing we can learn is he walks out the answer in community. He leaves and finds Elisha. And they do ministry together. It's the reason why we've gathered this morning, right? God calls us to fellowship. God calls us to community.

God uses us in the lives of each other. Especially for those of you who are married, the Lord uses your wife or your husband quite often. If you're like, what is going on? Like, nothing's going on. I'm not super introspective. Like, I have to take a moment to, like, stop and process through, like, what's going on. It's easy for me to just react. It's like, dude, why are you fighting?

Frustrated. Nothing's happening. I'm like, I'm not frustrated. Oh, I guess I am frustrated. You know, like, the Lord uses us in those ways. The Lord sometimes just will have someone come and pray with you. You know, like, you know, like, God uses us in community. We're made for this, to do this thing together, for the accountability that's there, for the encouragement that's there.

You know, we're not supposed to be on an island. And so Elijah literally leaves his people that he, his servant that he was bringing with him, he actually ditches community to go hang out by himself. And the Lord reminds him, don't do that. You need that community of someone to be alongside to support you. And the last thing is he reminds him to have hope. That God's not blind.

He's not forgotten. He's still in control. And man, do we need that reminder. You know, everything going on in Ukraine and the world. You know, we need to remember that God is still in control. That despite what is going on, that, you know, he will have, he will have ultimate judgment. He still is working, even in the bad things. And he's, he's not forgotten.

But the other thing, looking back on this, that I think I missed the first time going through, is that I was very focused on what is Elijah's, like, what does God do for Elijah? Because I was more in that place. And I think looking back, I realized that not only do we see what Elijah does, and those are, those are great things, you know, making sure that we take care of our physical needs. and setting aside time and place to hear from the Lord and remembering that he's always there.

He's not just when we're having a hard conversation or doing ministry, you know, whatever that looks like for us. You know, that he's in control and all that stuff. We see a lot of God's character. I grew up playing sports, and so I think I sometimes expect the Lord to be, you know, barking orders at me and like on the line right now. You know, Elijah on the line.

We're running suicides. You clearly haven't learned it yet. You know, this is when a strong hand teaches the lesson. But we actually see the Lord being extremely gentle because he understands that, like, he's a human and he has, you know, he's goofy. Like, we're just weird. Like, you know, sometimes our brains go funky places and sometimes we need to literally take a nap

before we're productive for society. And the Lord knows that because, duh, like, Jesus was fully human. He understands our limitations in our bodies and he's not surprised by it and he's not going to push us past that, but he's going to make sure that, like, we get what we need in order to be able to hear his voice well.

We see him being extremely gentle instead of, Elijah, why are you here? I know why you're here, because you're being a baby, you know? I mean, because ultimately, why is Elijah there? Elijah's there because he took his eyes off the Lord. Elijah's there because he took his eyes off the Lord, he looked at his circumstances, he saw immediate danger, and he ran.

We do that pretty often. But the Lord doesn't break his legs in this process. He reminds him, hey, I'm still here and we're still doing something and it's okay. Like, yeah, you need to go back and to do the ministry that I've called you to. Like, we need to do that in community. We're going to travel. We're going to travel up back north. We're not going to hang out in the wilderness forever

and I'm going to take care of you. Because ultimately, the Lord knows what's best for us and that's personalized. Because we watch the Lord deal very specifically with Elijah and we can learn a lot of lessons from that because the Lord does work similarly. But there are a couple of things that are very specific for him. What was his exact reason? Lord, I'm all alone and he speaks to that directly.

You know, I think it's on purpose that he brings him to Mount Sinai, obviously. You know, he meets him in the stillness of voice even though he does all the other things like he's been doing through his ministry up until that point. But he knows what Elijah needs, which reminded me he knows what I need. He knows what you need. And that might be a little bit different

because some of us do need the stern, all right, we need to get up and we need to do this again. And, you know, some of us do need that. And there's times we see the Lord doing that for different characters in the Bible, you know, different people. But the Lord knows exactly what Elijah needs in this moment, which means when we find ourselves in any place near this, the Lord knows exactly what we need in that moment.

And he's not going to mess that up. You know, I think that's one of the things that, honestly, being a parent, the Lord has completely shaped my view of him. Both of my daughters just respond very different. It's pretty funny. My oldest looks like my wife, but acts like me. She's an extrovert. She's running and climbing all over things and pretty much hasn't met a stranger in her life.

And my youngest looks very much like me and is so much like my wife. Introvert, doesn't like new people until she gets to know you and then clings to her people, you know. And so it's funny just like watching them. But Nora, my youngest, will get to a point where she just gets stuck. Like you can see her brain just, like I can't handle anything, so she'll be crying.

Like, what is the problem? Like, there's nothing wrong. Like, we fed you, we changed, you know, you run through the checklist of what are all the things I need to think about, you know. Like, we've done all those. Like, there's nothing wrong. And she's just stuck. And so the thing that the Lord reminded me is just to sit with her. And so, you know, we'll go in her room

and she's crying and she throws herself on the floor sometimes. It's kind of like, I don't know what's going on here. But to just sit and wait. And that's different than the way I was raised. Like, my dad and I have a very good relationship. And that's not me saying, like, my dad was a bad father. But he was more like, all right, you go figure out what your problem is

and then you come back and we can have this conversation, you know, because that's kind of just the way he was raised. And, you know, like, it was what it was. It's not a bad thing. But the thing that the Lord impressed upon me is you need to sit with her. And so sitting in the room, letting her do her process, she cries. She flops around, you know, and then starts to de-escalate.

And eventually she'll come and sit in my lap. And then now we can have a conversation. Now, like, what's going on? You know, what's wrong? And the thing that the Lord reminded me is that's how I deal with you. That's how he deals with Elijah. We don't see that Elijah's crying. If he's running off into the wilderness, Lord, finish me. Like, yeah, he's probably crying, you know.

But the Lord sits there gently waiting. Until he's ready to have the conversation. Until he's ready to see him and realize that the Lord wants to love him. And that was something that really hit me. Because, like, it's easy to do that with my daughter. Well, it's not super easy to do with my daughter. It's becoming more easy to do with my daughter. It's reframing the way I think about parenting, you know.

But the Lord's cool that way. And I don't expect her to work any faster than she needs to because I realize that if I get frustrated, it doesn't help. If I try to push too fast, it doesn't help. I just need to let her process through. And then we can figure out what's wrong. And then we can move forward together. And the Lord was just reminding me that that's how he works with us.

That's why he revealed himself to Elijah in the stillness. That's why he said, hey, like, you're not the only one in the cave. You know, there's other people out there like you. You're not alone. I'm not blind. I know what's going on. And I still want to use you.

And it was kind of, yeah. It's been something that the Lord's just been reminding me. We need to let him be gentle. Which sounds kind of backwards. The Lord is gentle. The Lord wants to love us. He has our best interest in mind. He wants to grow us, to shape us. Sometimes that's not the easiest thing, right? Sometimes it's not always the most comfortable thing,

but it's always for our good. You know, it's what every coach will tell you in a weight room. Like, yeah, it's no fun to move weight. It's no fun to run until your arms are tingly. Like, you know, like, but we're trying to get to something. And the Lord is way more gentle than any coach I've ever had. You know, but the Lord will do that for us. He also will not do that if we won't let him.

If Elijah takes the nap, eats the food, and then is like, nope, not going to do that. Not going on a 40-day journey. I don't think the Lord's going to force him to. He's going to be like, okay. If he hears the instruction, nope, not going to do it. Then I don't think that he makes him like, nope, I'm going to physically pick you up and place you over here. He's done that a couple of times.

You know, Elijah has to let the Lord love him. Let the Lord be gentle to him. And honestly, like, if I think about, like, that's how the Lord wants to meet us. He wants to meet us in our pain. Wants to meet us in our struggle. Wants to meet us in our doubt, in our frustration, in our stress. He wants to meet us in our joy. He wants to meet us in our rejoicing.

No matter where we find ourselves, he wants to meet us in that place. He wants us to be with him and to continue moving forward together with him. But we have to let him. Because at the end of the day, he's a gentleman.

He's kind. He's gracious.

And so, yeah. I don't know where you find yourself this morning. Maybe you need to grab someone and pray with them before you leave. Maybe you need to say, hey, we need to go to lunch because I need you to be my Elisha. Like, we need to do this thing together because I'm isolating and I need support. Maybe you need to leave here and go find a quiet place and just sit with the Lord.

Maybe you just need to be reminded that the Lord loves you and meets you even when you're not actively serving. I don't know. The Lord speaks to us all again differently because he knows exactly what we need. And so, I'll ask the worship team to come back up and whatever the Lord is speaking to you, be Elijah and walk in it. Let the Lord's word be enough. His answer be true.

And let the Lord be gentle to you. So, Father, as we come before you, Lord, we thank you that that's who you are. Lord, we thank you that you didn't get angry. Lord, that you helped Elijah work through his stuff. And Lord, we thank you that you'll help us work through our stuff. Lord, that no matter where we find ourselves this morning, good, bad, in between,

Lord, that you will meet us in the middle of it, that you will walk with us through it. So, Father, we just ask that that you would help us surrender to you and let you be who you are.

We thank you that that's who you are.

Would you all stand? Ravel me with a melody You surround me with a song Of deliverance from my enemies Till all my fears are gone I'm no longer a slave to fear I am a child of God I'm no longer a slave to fear I am a child of God You have chosen me I've been born again Into your family Your blood runs through me Your blood runs through me Your blood runs through me Your blood runs through my veins I'm no longer a slave to fear I'm a child of God I'm no longer a slave You rescued me so I could stand I am a child of God I went to the sea so I could walk right My fears were drowned in perfect love So I could stand and sing I am a child of God The Lord bless you all. Have a great week.