Listen and Go

Listen and Go

1 Kings 19: 1 – 8

1 Kings 19: 9 – 16

June 22, 2025

When I was a child, I used to read the stories of Bible quite often. Stories in the Old Testament and New were so vivid, so full of life, so dramatic. The Bible that I had then, and actually still have, contained pictures from the Holy Land and those pictures – much like the pilgrimages that we take to Israel now – helped to make the stories come alive. In my mind’s eye, aided by these pictures and a vivid imagination, these stories became real for me.

The prophet Elijah was a particular favorite – again because the stories surrounding his ministry were so vivid. This is the prophet who challenges King Ahab – a powerful king who reigns for 22 years building and fortifying cities in the Northern Kingdom, creating powerful alliances through marriage with his daughters, and maintaining good relations with Phoenicia and Judah – the Southern Kingdom. Many biblical archeologists consider the building programs of King Ahab to be as impressive as the more famous Solomon and Herod the Great.

And yet, Ahab is described in Scripture as the most evil king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Why? The father of Ahab – Omri – arranged a marriage for Ahab with the daughter of the neighboring king of Phoenicia. This was a common royal practice up until even modern times and helped to guarantee peace between the two kingdoms.

Ahab’s wife – Jezebel – was a follower of the pagan god Ba’al. To make his wife happy, Ahab built worship centers and temples to Ba’al and Jezebel was very aggressive in promoting Ba’al and did all she could to eliminate the worship and following of Yahweh. Ahab condoned this persecution and even incorporated Ba’al worship elements into northern Jewish national life.

This was where Elijah came in. Elijah – called by God as a prophet - confronted both Ahab and Jezebel and demanded that they stop the worship of Ba’al and that they tear down the worship centers dedicated to this pagan god. Elijah battled the prophets of Ba’al, handing them a disastrous defeat. Famines and droughts occurred because of the unfaithfulness of Jezebel and her false gods. Elijah maintained a running battle with Jezebel, bringing rain, miraculous food, and even raised the son of the widow from Zarephath from the dead.

This was a long battle. Jezebel had all of the resources of the king, and she relentlessly pursued Elijah. By the time of our story for today, Elijah was exhausted. He had been faithful. He had been persistent. He had accomplished miraculous things and persevered, but Elijah was worn down by the intensity and relentlessness of the opposition.

We have all been there, haven’t we? Faithful. Persistent. Perhaps even victorious. But opposition, even unsuccessful opposition, can wear us down. We want to be faithful – we have been faithful! But we get tired, we get exhausted and just want to rest. It’s not that we are giving up on God. Elijah’s faith never wavered. But sometimes we just get worn down, don’t we? Sometimes we need a season of rest.    

Elijah is worn out. He has traveled to the south – far to the south – to the wilderness lands of southern Judah. We know them today as the Sinai wilderness. This wilderness, all the way back to the desert wanderings of the Israelites after they had fled Egypt, had always been closely associated with the mysterious presence of God. In today’s language, the wilderness desert was a “thin place” where those seeking could encounter and experience God in very real ways.

Elijah, exhausted and worn down; Elijah, faithful and yet tired asks God to die, but God has other plans. Miraculously fed by an angel, Elijah travels even further out into the wilderness now to Mount Horeb where Moses had received the 10 Commandments from God.

There, on Mount Horeb, Elijah – tired and exhausted, ready to call it quits and yet still faithful – takes refuge in a cave and awaits further instruction from God. And sure enough, verse 9 tells us, the word of God comes to Elijah asking, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

What are you doing here? That’s a good question, isn’t it? What’s Elijah doing? What is Elijah looking for? What does Elijah really want – to quit? Elijah, this faithful and warring prophet has come at God’s direction, overcome by the pace and danger of his life, and God asks, What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Elijah gets his answer. It doesn’t come in the normal way. It doesn’t come in a form that Israel was used to seeing – the word and direction of God - in a mighty wind, a powerful earthquake, or an overwhelming fire. No, the word, care, and direction of God comes in a still, quiet voice. Out of the silence of that place God speaks, and Elijah is able to move faithfully forward.

Friends, I want to ask you today. Why are you here? Is this just a continuation of what you have always done? You come, knowing it is Sunday morning – time for church! - but not really expecting anything new in your faith? Do you come, tired and exhausted, faithfully serving God but wondering – like Elijah – if it has really made any difference? Do you come because it is Sunday morning, this is what you always do? Besides, you are looking forward to fellowship on the patio? Why are you here? 

Friends, this story of Elijah is filled with power, miracles, and rescue! In many ways, and in many times, the story of Elijah, faithful but tired, faithful but tempted to give in to the cynical amongst us who question the transformative power of faith, I think the story of Elijah is a parable for our day.

How many of us fund ourselves scurrying to and fro, pursued by the demons of impatience and the expectations or demands of others? How many of us go to bed every night tired, not just from the labors of the day, but from the weight of unfulfilled expectations – ours, and those of others? How many of us are trying to force 30 hours of effort into 24-hour days? How many of us – surrounded by the beauty of God’s Creation around us – routinely miss that beauty because our heads are bowed, our backs are bent, our shoulders feel weighted down by the responsibilities of daily living?

We know that we have been enslaved to expectations and responsibilities. We know that our pace of life is damaging and life-sapping. We race from thing to thing looking for refuge and meaning only to be disappointed over and over again. And God says to us: “Beloved, what are you doing here?”

Elijah went to the cave as told. Elijah went, expecting a word from God. All of the normal avenues for God to speak – the great wind, the earthquake, the fire – all of these normal platforms from which God had spoken in the past did not deliver.

And then silence. A lack of activity. A lack of action. A lack of movement. A lack of effort. A voice – the voice of God came out of pure and ultimate silence. And Elijah heard – not because of something he had done, but because of something he had stopped doing. Elijah had stopped running. Elijah had stopped fighting. Elijah went to the cave on Mount Horeb as requested by God and then he was simply still. In that obedience and stillness, the voice and direction of God came.

Friends, beloved of God, we need to slow down. We need to quit running crazily through life. We need to quit being blown to and fro by the expectations of others. We need to quit cramming 30 hours of work into a 24 hour day. We need to be willing to sit. To rest. To wait on God knowing that God will speak in ways that sometimes we don’t expect but ALWAYS with a wisdom that puts the rest of life into perspective.

That means worship. That means prayer time. That means sitting in a comfortable place and emptying oneself of the tensions of the day. Maybe it means a long car drive with beautiful music accompanying you, not some hyperbolic talking head. Maybe it means a run where you simply immerse yourself in Creation. It can take many forms, this pause from the rat race that we call life. But it always includes certain essentials.

Our faithfulness in taking this period of stillness on. Faithfulness and the expectation that God will speak. Faithfulness, expectation, and then a willingness to wait on the Lord for God to speak – perhaps in a new way to us. We shouldn’t be afraid of quiet, or stillness, or calm. These are places of rest for our souls and avenues for God to speak.

Friends, why are you here? What are you looking for? What are you running from? To whom, or to what are you running towards? Let us find time to sit and be still. Let us find time to sit and listen….. for a new, fresh word of God. God is willing to meet, to embrace, to speak to us. We need to be still long enough to feel the embrace. Amen.