This article was originally written and distributed in booklet form in May 1994. It subsequently appeared as the third chapter of three on the subject of Depression published in Harry’s book, “When the Road is Rough and Steep”.
Although the book “When the Road is Rough and Steep” is still in print and available, I am reproducing the article here to make it available for anyone to read who accesses our website, with the prayer that it will continue to be a blessing to many in these days.
June Kilbride, August 2025
A FRESH ENCOUNTER WITH GOD
Have you ever had such a wonderful and exciting experience that you wished it would never end?
Elijah wanted the mountain-top experience of Mount Carmel to go on forever (See 1 Kings 18:16-45). It was all he had dreamed of, preached for, and prayed over. The Lord God Jehovah had demonstrated his power, Baal had been proved impotent, and his prophets had been destroyed. The people cried as if with one voice, “The Lord. He is God.” Surely, Elijah supposed, national revival would now sweep the country. It only remained to deal with that murderess, Jezebel, and a golden age would arrive.
It did not work out that way. King Ahab went back to his obsession with possession and Queen Jezebel not only survived but sought Elijah’s life. Israel’s “conversion” evaporated like the morning dew. It was business as usual – Baal-business. Once more Elijah went into exile. This time, however, he fled the scene in fear. In the desert of the Negev, disappointed, disillusioned, exhausted, and alone, he prayed to die. To this suicidal servant, who regarded himself as an utter failure, life was no longer worth living. Faith had given way to fear, determination to despair, hope to self-pity.
But God was not ready to take him Home for God was not finished with him yet. Elijah received the immediate and very practical help he obviously needed. An angel was dispatched from Heaven to touch him. Oh, it was a touch so tender and kind. He was given sleep and food and encouraging words (1 Kings 19:1-8).
He needed more than this, however. He needed a fresh encounter with God himself. He needed to go to Horeb and confront again the One who had called him years before and whom he had so faithfully served. He must pour out his soul – complaints and all – to Jehovah.
My friend, maybe you are going through something similar to Elijah. The circumstances will be different but the result is the same. Maybe you too have become exhausted, overwrought, and desperate to quit. You want out. Maybe you have been let-down, hurt, or even dealt with treacherously. Maybe you are lonely and crushed with grief or pain. Truth is: you too wish God would just take you Home. Angels have touched you. You thank God for each one – but you need something – Someone more. You need God.
Do you long for God? If only you could see him, hear him, know him. You long for that. Do you know something? You could not have a better longing! Some of us, it seems, only have that longing when we are down and desperate. “O God, help me,” we cry. When all was well, we never did.
Have you ever thought what God’s greatest ambition is for you? Is it to make you materially prosperous? Is it to make you successful? Is it to make you happy, so that you sing like a lark every day with never a care in the world? Well, it is none of these things. His greatest desire IS FOR YOU TO KNOW HIM. And knowing him to make you like Christ.
Jesus prayed on the eve of the Cross, “Now this is eternal life; that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3 – see also Jeremiah 9:23-24; Philippians 3:7-11).
It is one thing to know about God. It is quite another to know him – personally, intimately, deeply. That is his desire for each of us.
Now, let us be honest, “knowing God” is not always the deepest desire we have for ourselves. Perhaps such a thing has never even entered our minds. We usually desire other things and then we pursue what we desire. Only infrequently is it the pursuit of a deeper and richer knowledge of God. For some of us it takes a lifetime to bring our priorities for ourselves into line with his.
Yet we learn with each fresh encounter that it is the sweetest thing we have ever known. Maybe gradually, maybe suddenly, the light dawns. The knowledge of God is the “pearl of great price”. Any other is flawed, counterfeit and unsatisfying. This is what we really want. I have needed to learn it. I have learned more of it when I have been down than when I have been up. I learned it most when, like Elijah, I was helpless, fearful, and despairing. Then I learned it best of all. Strange, is it not?
I am convinced that God allows us to go through such dark times as Elijah because he is going to use them to this great end. We would prefer to learn some other way (who wants to be depressed, who wants to suffer pain?) but some of us do not learn “some other way,” only this way.
I do not mean to suggest that painful experiences automatically draw us nearer to God. There is nothing automatic about it. They may do the precise opposite. Suffering can lead to bitterness, and bitterness leads to Godlessness. The choice is ours. Will what we are enduring drive us to God, or further away?
Elijah had a choice. He could have refused the journey or gone home to Gilead. He did not because he knew he needed God. He must find God. David declared, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” (Psalm 42:1,2.) The Apostle Paul, after all his journeys, converts, churches, had this one overwhelming ambition: “I want to know Christ…” (Philippians 3:10). Would that we all had the same longing.
Will you come, then, with me through 1 Kings 19:8-18 and let us see how we might have a fresh encounter with God, and encountering him, know him – as never before.
Let us notice first:
A SPECIAL PLACE
“He traveled for forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night” (v 8-9).
Horeb and Mount Sinai are the same place. It was near this mountain that God had revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush (Acts 7:30-33). It was on Mount Sinai that God had given Israel the Ten Commandments and other laws, making a solemn covenant with them as his very own people. So, Elijah, in his great need, made the long arduous journey to Horeb (Sinai) “the mountain of God” to have a fresh encounter with God.
Does this mean we have to make a similar pilgrimage to a special place if we want to meet God?
Answer: No, and Yes.
No: not necessarily. God is everywhere. Elijah knew God in Gilead, his home state. There God had called him into his service. He knew God in Samaria when he confronted King Ahab. He knew God at the brook Kerith when God sent ravens to feed him, and in Zarephath when God used a widow to take care of him, and where God raised her son. He knew him on Mount Carmel when he prayed for fire, and then for rain. Elijah even knew God in the desert when he prayed that he might die, for God heard his cry and sent an angel. God is as near as breathing. Paul, preaching to the idolatrous Athenians, said, “He is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
Yes: in some circumstances. Elijah, however, went to a specific place to seek a fresh encounter with God because he was desperate. He needed something extra-special. Consequently, he went to an extra-special place. That has a message in it for me.
It speaks to me of:
The Place of Reconciliation
This is the place where Jesus died. There is no meeting with God except through the Cross. Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6). That is why we pray, “through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We cannot come into a deep knowledge of God until we are reconciled to him. Our sins have separated us from God. Yet God, in his great mercy, laid them on his Son, Jesus.
Have you ever put your trust in Jesus Christ? Have you knelt at Calvary and believed with all your heart that Jesus died for you and, so believing, given him your heart. You say, “Yes; I have come to the Cross. I am a Christian, but I need a fresh encounter. I am down, and almost out.” Then, my brother or sister, you should still come to the Cross. Come to the Cross again – and again. Gaze and gaze on the One who bore away your sins and loved you so much as to die for you.
When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Charitie Lees Bancroft
That is why the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion, is so important. It brings us again, and again, to the meeting place of the Cross. Could it be you will have your fresh encounter as you gather with the Lord’s people and “break bread?”
Elijah’s “Special Place” also speaks to me of:
The Place of Retreat
Elijah had left his place of service to journey alone to a remote mountain, there to meet with God. Many have found God in a new and deeper way by getting away from the place of disappointment and trial and visiting somewhere especially associated with fresh encounters with God.
For example: I used to preach at the great annual Keswick Convention in England’s beautiful lakeland. There beside that little gem which is Lake Derwent Water lies the market town of Keswick. It nestles at the foot of Mount Skiddaw and is surrounded by other splendid hills. Every year, for well over one hundred years, thousands have gathered for one week (now three) under the huge canvas tent, to be challenged to a fresh encounter with God.
Many have made the pilgrimage to the Convention spiritually dry and feeling tired of life’s journey. Many warriors have retired from the battlefield wounded and weary, longing that in this quiet place they might find healing and restoration. Others have arrived, like Elijah at Horeb, with questions, complaints, disappointments, disillusionments. Like Elijah they “have had enough, Lord.”
Yet they have come to Keswick because it is a special place. A place dedicated to the preaching of God’s Word. There God’s people have experienced that challenging, comforting, healing, and life-changing Word, as it has reached deep down into their hurting hearts. Away from home, away from the battle, missionaries, pastors, husbands, wives, children, students, and all kinds of people have known a fresh encounter with God. It might happen in the tent at the close of the meeting: it might be alone afterwards up in those quiet hills and fells.
My downcast, spiritually dried-up friend: is there not some place like that to which you could go for a break? A summer camp: a convention: a retreat-center? Consult your pastor. Most Denominations have them and many others are inter-denominational. The biographies reveal how many of God’s servants had some sacred spot to which they retreated and where the Living God was revealed to them in a life-changing way.
We should also remember; when the Lord Jesus faced the demands of an exhausting ministry, he often “rose early” and went into the hills around Galilee’s lake, and there alone, in his own “special place,” he kept his encounter fresh.
Elijah’s journey to Horeb also speaks to me of:
The Place of Resolve
Perhaps, more than anything, this journey of Elijah to Horeb teaches me that life-changing encounters with God are not made casually. This is not for those who fit in a little time for it, between supper and the start of the ball-game.
Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Notice, incidentally, the context of this verse. Israel is in exile in Babylon. The Lord sends a very hopeful and comforting word by means of a letter penned by Jeremiah, the prophet. But the oft-quoted promise of v.11 is conditional upon those in exile turning to God in desperate, heartfelt prayer. We like the promise but ignore the condition!
Hebrews 11:6 tells us that God “rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Elijah was certainly doing that. From the broom tree to Horeb was a six-week journey. A hard, mountainous, foot-slogging, desert journey. He faced blisteringly hot days, and cold and dangerous nights. This lonely pilgrim might at any turn face flash floods, wild animals, or murderous bandits. But Elijah meant business. He was determined. He was resolved.
Your “special place” may be far away from home or in your own bedroom. Where is not the point. What matters, I believe, is: how earnestly do you seek him? Is it “with all your heart?” Let me say it again, the deepest knowledge of God is not gained easily. It is not a “quick fix”. A fresh encounter with God is not for the superficial, but for the desperate.
So, first we have – A Special Place.
Now, second:
A SEARCHING QUESTION
“And the word of the Lord came to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?'” (v 9).
I suspect this immediately took Elijah by surprise. Why, had he not come to Horeb to ask the questions?! Elijah was not only depressed, he was mystified, as we shall see. Yet God opens the conversation with this searching question. And it is a searching question, isn’t it? Sometimes we hear it when we are in a bad place. A place we ought not to be.
Some Christians have heard that question when they were in a place of unwholesome entertainment. They were supposed to be having fun; actually, they were very uncomfortable because, you see, they were surrounded by that which was depraved or obscene. The Holy Spirit, quickening the conscience, asked, “What are you doing here, child of God? Is this a fit place for you to be?”
I cannot resist including here a true story from the life of one of my heroes, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great English Baptist preacher of the 19th century. Spurgeon spent the first six years of his life with his grandfather, the minister of the Independent Chapel in the Essex village of Stambourne. The young boy, learning that his grandfather was upset with one of his members who had taken to excessive drinking and bad company, went and boldly confronted the man.
According to the man’s own testimony, the five-year old Spurgeon strode into the tavern and, pointing his finger at the man (whose name was Thomas Roads), declared: “What doest thou here, Elijah? Sitting with the ungodly; and you a member of a church, and breaking your pastor’s heart. I’m ashamed of you!” Whereupon he walked away. “Old Roads” was convicted by the boy. He left his beer, went to a quiet place, and rededicated his life to his Lord. The change was permanent and he became a stalwart worker in the church.
Some of us have heard that question when we are in a good place – but not where we ought to be. Perhaps we have stayed at home when we ought to be in church. Perhaps, not wanting to miss that TV program, we failed to keep a commitment. Elijah had left his post. Was the Lord saying to him, “I don’t recall withdrawing your commission to preach in Samaria. I am not aware that I changed your place of service or called you to retire. What are you doing here, Elijah?” That is a possible interpretation.
Some people hear the question because God called them to missionary service but they have stayed home. Some husbands hear it when they are out, yet again, with “the boys” when they ought to be at home spending time with a lonely wife and neglected children. Some wives and mothers hear it when their precious babies are left day after day with strangers, not for economic necessity, but for selfish reasons and pleasure. “What are you doing here? You know, this is not where you ought to be.”
Elijah was in a good place. There is no better place to be than seeking a fresh encounter with God. But if so, then why the searching question? I believe this was the first step in Elijah’s re-education. Somehow, he had lost his perspective. He had taken his eyes from God and focused them on Jezebel, Ahab, and then upon himself. Thus, faith gave way to fear, and dedication to despair.
He needed to be re-focused and the first stage of this ophthalmic adjustment was when God spoke first, and did so with a question.
When Job – who surely could be excused for asking a few questions and who never did find out why he was called upon to suffer such terrible grief and pain – came before God, the Lord said, “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you and you shall answer me” (Job 38:2-3).
After sixty-eight verses of questions from God to Job (at least Elijah only got one!), Job replied, “I am unworthy – how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once but I have no answer – twice but I will say no more” (Job 40:3-5). Read Job’s memorable encounter with God – Job 38-42.
The answer to deep depression is a fresh encounter with God. And when we have that encounter you can be sure it will contain a new comprehension of his greatness and our own utter unworthiness even to approach him at all. Perhaps Elijah arrived at Horeb expecting to ask God to explain himself. Instead, God says to Elijah, “No; you explain yourself, Elijah!”
Does this mean he wants to push us further down? No: actually a vision of the light of God’s holiness and our own unworthiness does the very opposite it lifts us up. It is uplifting.
Does it mean he does not care about our depression? No: the very opposite; he wants to cure it.
Does it mean he does not want us to talk to him? No: the very opposite. He loves to hear us talk to him. But there is a right way to come to him (more later).
So let us go on to:
AN HONEST ANSWER
He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too” (v 10).
Elijah does not imagine he is giving God information of which God was unaware. He is simply answering the question as to why he had fled from his appointed sphere of ministry; why he was so depressed that he wanted to die; and what was the anguish of his heart. True, there is perhaps a touch of self-righteousness (I have been very zealous…), the hint of complaint at Providence (now they are trying to kill me…); and a little self-pity (I am the only one left).
But we shall not judge him. Many of us are far, far less zealous, and far, far more complaining. At least Elijah is honest. Before God, why be anything but honest? After all he reads our hearts. We cannot hide our thoughts from him. Only before men do we have to put on a mask.
“How are you today?” asks the usher in the vestibule of the church.
“Oh, fine, just fine, thank you.” We know very well he does not want to hear, “Well, actually, my heart is breaking.” Or, “I have just been diagnosed with cancer.”
When I first went to America I did not know the system very well. Having driven all day one day, I sank exhausted in the welcoming booth of the diner.
“How are you this evening?” greeted the friendly waitress.
“As a matter of fact,” I replied, “I have a migraine headache and I don’t feel very well.”
She was embarrassed and speechless for about one second. Then, her smile returning, she said, “Let me tell you about our specials tonight!”
So: we always say, “Fine, thank you. Just fine.” Even friends and loved ones rarely want to hear our woes. What can they do anyway? Consequently, we live behind a mask – or, if we don’t we soon drive people away.
It is so very, very different with God. He wants honest answers. He wants to know. With him we never need pretend. He is the Divine Physician who invites us to pour out to him our pains and problems. Jesus is the Burden-bearer who invites us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
That is why the Psalms are so surprising – and comforting. We are almost shocked at the boldness and honesty of the Psalmist. Again and again we glimpse the pain of the writer as he pours out his heart to God. Frequently he complains. Frequently he asks, “Why?” We read the Psalms and say, “Here is King David, ‘a man after God’s own heart,‘ and yet he had the same problems as me. He too was hurt, betrayed, lonely, homesick, puzzled, tearful, ashamed, and spiritually and emotionally depressed. But God brought him through.”
We will surely never be lower than the Psalmist, and yet this is the very book which, perhaps more than any other, has lifted God’s sorrowful servants out of their depressions by giving them a fresh encounter with the living God. “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God” (Psalm 40: 1-3).
Let us go on to see how the Lord responds.
AN AWESOME DISPLAY
“The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’
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…”(v 11-12).
It is interesting that God does not answer Elijah’s lament by patting him on the back and uttering soothing words of affirmation. “I know, I know Elijah. You have been wonderful. Absolutely A++. I am really proud of you.You just have a self-image problem.Your self-esteem needs some adjustment.”
Instead, the Lord puts on a terrific show of extraordinary power. First came a hurricane. So powerful was it that the rocks of the mountain split asunder. It made “Hurricane Katrina” seem like a summer breeze. It probably was the strongest hurricane in history, and as Elijah cowered in his cave he must have thought he would be buried alive.
More was to follow. An earthquake. Apparently one of the most frightening experiences one can have is to be in an earthquake. Elijah had that. Then came lightning the like of which the prophet had never ever seen – or heard. Imagine what the thunder must have been like as it reverberated around the rocks and crevices of the mountain.
What does it mean, “the Lord was not in the wind?” It means there was no voice: no words. God was not saying something, he was demonstrating something. What? Answer: HIS AWESOME POWER.
Remember, Elijah had everything out of perspective. He was acting as if Ahab and Jezebel were omnipotent and God was wringing his hands in frustration.
At one time Elijah had focused on the Lord and feared no one. But his gaze had slipped. Like Peter walking on the water, Elijah took his eyes off his Lord and began to sink. He sank into one of the deepest depressions of fear and failure recorded in Scripture. We too are only one glance away from falling. We must keep our eyes focused in the right place. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…” (Heb 12:2).
God needed to impress him with where the power truly lies. You say: do you mean God was showing off? In a way, yes. All of nature is God displaying his power and his glory. “The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Ps 19:1). It is interesting that when Abraham’s faith faltered God commanded him to gaze into the night sky and count the stars – if he could.
When Job was confused and depressed and questioning God, His Lord reminded him of his mighty creative and sustaining power in nature. When the Lord Jesus wished to encourage his disciples to believe that their Father in Heaven cares for them, he directed them to God’s care of birds and flowers. The flowers have better clothes than kings and queens, and not one little sparrow dies but God attends the funeral.
Nature is God’s canvas on which he paints examples of his power, beauty, creativity, provision, and loving care. We should not miss it just because we live in cities. Anyway, earthquakes, wind and fire can be seen and heard in cities even where man’s lights have hidden the stars and vandals have destroyed the flowers.
Have you ever been in the mountains during a storm? Have you ever been in the mountains? I love the mountains. From a geographical point of view if I could live anywhere in the world I would live in Grindelwald in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland. The town lies under the awesome north face of the Eiger (Ogre) mountain (13,000ft). I have never hiked the trails of the Swiss Alps but I have been reminded of the greatness of God.
Someone may ask; “When God’s creation is so beautiful why are there such destructive things as storms, hurricanes, earthquakes and the like?” Well, those things have come since the Fall of man because all creation fell when man fell. They will not be present in the New Heaven and the New Earth. Now, God uses them, as indeed he uses everything he permits and directs, to send a message. They are his wake-up call to a Godless society. Untold thousands enjoy the creation but never worship the Creator or give thanks. Man is deaf to the quiet things, so God shouts. An earthquake is God’s alarm to a society slumbering its way to hell.
Personally, I love thunder storms; I always think “My Father has come calling.”
Sometimes even God’s children need a shout. Instead of “magnifying the Lord” – that is, seeing him large in our vision – we allow him to be small to us. On my computer I have “Windows”. I can “maximize” a window and make it completely fill the screen, or I can so reduce it that it becomes a tiny icon in the bottom corner. Just a little picture.
My troubled, downcast, despondent friend, who or what is God to you? Is he the Lord God Almighty who fills your “screen?” Or, have other things so dominated your vision that your sovereign God is just an icon: a verbal or visual image; a symbol? Perhaps for one hour each Sunday morning you “maximize” him as you sing, “Our God is an Awesome God”, or, “How Great Thou Art,” but then he is reduced again to the usual, insignificant, bottom corner of your life. Just a little picture!
I guess when Elijah emerged from that cave he had been woken up alright. It was not Jezebel who now filled his horizon, but Jehovah, Lord of heaven and earth. Why, the Lord who could tear the mountains apart could sweep Jezebel away with a word.
Is someone making YOU afraid? Who is it? Your boss at work? A close relative such as a father or a husband? My pastor colleague, is it that rich and powerful leader who makes you tremble? My missionary friend, is it that local political tyrant?
They think they have the power to lift you up or cast you down, do they not? They may even think they have power to destroy you. Let me tell you something: THEY HAVE NO POWER WHATSOEVER EXCEPT WHAT THE YOUR GOD AND FATHER GRANTS TO THEM. Their very next heartbeat is in his sovereign hand. The Lord Jesus needed to remind Pontius Pilate of this fact!
The very first thing a fresh encounter with God will do for you and me is to magnify his greatness. Once again, his awful majesty, sovereign power, and blinding holiness will fill our vision. When we are depressed – at least, when we are as depressed as Elijah – it is frequently because adverse circumstances have overwhelmed us, enemies have all but destroyed us, and we feel helpless and hopeless. We will never get out of that slough unless we come to see again “…with God nothing is impossible” (Luke 1:37). He is able to deliver us.
He can still the storm, part the waters, crumble the walls, close the mouth of the lion, liquidate the enemy. He is THE LORD. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. The Apostles’ Creed begins, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth….” Do you really believe that? If you do not, no wonder you are depressed. There is no God. You have become – for all practical purposes – an atheist. But I am sure you do believe it. You just forgot. It is easily done.
After this dramatic and unforgettable theology lesson, God spoke. Let us therefore consider:
A GENTLE WHISPER
“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. Then a voice said to him, ‘What are you doing here Elijah?’
He replied, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too” (v 12-14).
Having been first overwhelmed by the awesome power of the God he served, Elijah now needed to experience – what we might call – the other side: the sweet and gentle tenderness of God. The whisper was so personal and intimate. How lovingly the Lord called to him. Nevertheless, the Lord asked Elijah the same question as before and – perhaps surprisingly – Elijah gave precisely the same answer. How can we understand this?
I believe the clue lies in the reference to “his cloak.” Elijah was humbled by the experience of the earthquake, wind, and fire. He had no doubt cowered in his cave scared out of his wits. Surely he would be either crushed to death or buried alive. Neither happened. Instead, in the solemn stillness which followed the crashing noise, he heard the Lord quietly calling his name. Elijah emerged from his hiding place; slowly, carefully, and with his cloak covering his face lest he be destroyed by the Presence of the Lord.
Does this not remind us of Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush when he was commanded to remove his shoes? Does it not remind us of the reaction of Isaiah to a vision of the glory of God, or of John to a vision of the risen and reigning Christ? We have already mentioned Job. We could mention others.
Friends: God does not want his children to approach him scared and trembling with fear. Hence the gentle whisper. But he does require us to approach him with reverence. Anyone who experiences a fresh and deep encounter with the living God does not approach him with flippancy, but with awe. It is a wonder of grace we are not consumed, “…for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). A confident approach is not contradictory to a reverent one. It seems to me that many churches, as well as many Christians, need a fresh encounter with the majestic holiness of God. We have become trivial.
It is then against the background of this true understanding of God in omnipotence and purity that we marvel at his grace. How can such a God know me, call my name, speak to me in a gentle whisper and want for me nothing more than that I know him more deeply and more intimately than I have ever done before. It is amazing. Have you heard that gentle whisper calling your name? It is soft and full of love. Of course, we cannot hear it if we never turn off the radio or TV.
I used to see lapel buttons which declared, “Smile. God loves you.” When you have the encounter of which this article speaks you may more likely, weep. You will weep with wonder at his grace.You will weep at the assurance that God loves you with an everlasting love, that your sins are gone forever, and that you can never, never be lost. The tears, of course, will be tears of joy. “Weep. God loves you.”
But you may well also weep at the state of Israel (the Church) as Elijah did. Gone now, I believe, was his self-pity, his complaint, his self-righteousness. All that was left was his genuine and holy sorrow at the apostate condition of God’s own people. That is why Elijah gave the same answer, because it was – largely – true. He was mistaken in saying he was the only one left, otherwise the sorry picture he painted was all too accurate.
There can be a depression which is holy. We should sorrow at sin (our own most of all), at suffering, injustice, cruelty, war, abortion, divorce, death, and all the other things which sin brought into God’s perfect world. I suspect that if you or I have a fresh and deep encounter with the God of the Bible we shall sorrow more, not less. The Son of God became the “Man of Sorrows”, and said, “Blessed are those who mourn…” We shall weep over Jerusalem – or London – or Washington – as Jesus did and does. And we shall sorrow over the poor state of the people of God in so many places today.
Please do not misunderstand me. I do not mean we shall be introspective, morbid, and without hope. Our hope is in God. Sin, sorrow and apostasy shall not have the last word: not in the Church, not in Israel, not even in the World.
And this leads us to our final point:
A NEW ASSIGNMENT
“The Lord said to him, ‘Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel – all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him'” (v 15-18).
Even now the Lord does not pat him on the back, congratulate him for his zeal, or commiserate with him on the state of things. He sends him back with a new list of jobs to do. If God does not call us Home it is because he has work for us. We never retire – at least not until we get to Heaven and enter into our rest. We are saved to serve. The sphere and nature of our service may be changed – or it may not. Elijah had to go right back where he came from.
Is that the word of the Lord to you? “Go back the way you came.” You might have preferred to start again in a new place, with different people. But your commitment to serve the Lord is “any-time, any-place, at any cost.” So, if he tells you, “Go back,” back you will go!
If you left your post through fear or exhaustion or disappointment, God understands. He does not condemn you. He wants you to come to him and pour out your heart to him as Elijah did. In fact he will use the whole experience to give you a new and fresh encounter with himself – but then he may well send you back! Back to that pulpit; back to that office; back to those children…wherever he has called you to serve. It may be hard but you know the Lord will be with you.
It does not serve our purpose to get involved in the details of Elijah’s new assignments. Let me point out three things however.
First, notice how God is in total and sovereign control and is instructing Elijah with regard to the political succession. It is the Lord who “sets up kings and removes kings.” Some might imagine that God is only sovereign over the church and concerned only with prophets and priests. Oh no. He is concerned with kings and presidents, prime ministers, and governments. He is sovereign ruler over all. Empires collapse at his word and worldly rulers owe their power entirely to his will and purpose. They serve only as a temporary scaffold around which God is building the eternal Kingdom of his Son.
Second, notice how God is making provision for Elijah’s succession. Elijah prayed to die. But his time was not yet. Nevertheless, one day he would indeed complete his earthly service and then be called Home. And then what? God always has another and another. No prophet is indispensable. Elijah’s successor, Elisha, was already chosen out by God – though he was not yet aware of it. How lovely that Elijah is to have a young friend, a devoted servant, and an eager apprentice. Together they would do great things.
Third, see how God has to correct Elijah’s perception in another way. Elijah thought he was the only one left who was faithful to the Lord. Oh no. Quite wrong. The sovereign Lord has “reserved” seven thousand who have not succumbed to the fashionable idolatry of Baalism. Perhaps Elijah thought he knew everything about God’s cause. That is why he was so downcast and pessimistic. But he was wrong. There were seven thousand faithful ones, kept by God’s electing grace, who Elijah did not even know about.
Things are not always what they seem. Are you depressed by what you see? But you do not see everything. Let us be true to ourselves and our own call and leave the rest to him whose Kingdom has no end. Not all the Jezebels that hell can muster can extinguish the light of the Gospel or thwart the onward, triumphant march of the Kingdom of God.
CONCLUSION
“So Elijah went from there and found Elisha, son of Shaphat…” (v 19).
…and they went and founded Bible Colleges for the training of prophets loyal to the Lord. As for Ahab and Jezebel from whom Elijah had fled, they both died violently and ignominiously; whereas Elijah, whom they had despised and sought to destroy, after evening years of faithfulness and fruitfulness, was carried to Heaven in triumph and a chariot of fire.
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God, For I will yet praise him, My Savior and my God. (Psalm 42:5)