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Last week, we journeyed with the Israelites as they escaped Egypt. In their hunger through the desert, they complained to God, wishing they had died as slaves in the land of Egypt instead of being brought to the wilderness. While that seems like an excessive response, it is helpful to remember that we too have complained to God over-dramatically and for very silly reasons in our own lives.
Elijah, often considered the greatest prophet in Israel’s history, seems to have a similar moment in our reading from 1 Kings today. It is in this reading that Elijah asks God to take his own life, claiming that he is no better than his ancestors.
To understand why Elijah feels this way, we need to understand his story. Elijah served as a prophet during Ahab’s reign, who is listed as the most evil king that Israel had faced. To make matters worse, Ahab marries Jezebel, who works to establish worship of Baal over the worship of the Lord in the Land of the Holy One.
Elijah proposes a challenge. He, as the last of the Lord’s prophets, would face the great number of Baal’s prophets. Each group would offer a sacrifice to their god, and the god who lit the sacrifice would be declared the god of Israel. Baal’s prophets shout, wail, and plead, but to no avail. Their sacrifice remains unlit. Elijah, on the other hand, pours buckets of water on his sacrifice to the Lord, and when he cries out, God responds and lights the sacrifice. The people then turn back to the Lord, and the reign of the prophets of Baal is no more.
Jezebel, however, is furious. She sends a message to Elijah that she is coming for him and that she will end his life if its the last thing she’ll do. Elijah is frightened, like many of us would be, and flees.
This is where we find Elijah in our reading from 1 Kings today. He has just finished his greatest deed to restore faith in the Lord in the land of Israel, and instead of finally rebuilding the worship of the Lord, he is running for his life.
We’ve all had letdowns like Elijah, sometimes following what we thought were our greatest victories. We’ve all had great upsets, and many of us have had moments when we felt burned out or just wanted to quit.
Even with Elijah ready to be done, God was still there. He didn’t let Elijah quit his service to the Lord, but God did give Elijah some time. The journey we hear the Lord preparing Elijah for is his famous journey to Mt. Horeb where he experiences God in the “sound of shear silence.” God calls Elijah to take some time to rest on a retreat.
God does give Elijah a new task too, but it is one that is really about establishing the future, of laying down what would be next. His tasks are to anoint two kings and to train Elisha, Elijah’s successor who would inherit twice Elijah’s spirit.
When we are weighed down in our lives, it helps to have stories like Elijah’s. Even the greatest of the prophets struggled. Even the greatest of the prophets got knocked down. Even the greatest of the prophets didn’t want to get back up again to serve another day.
But God was there with Elijah. He had the prophet carry on, but he did not give him too much either. The task God called Elijah to do laid the groundwork for the future. By the end, this man who started as the one single prophet to the Lord had many others following him when he made his way to Heaven in the chariot of fire.
When we are tired, stressed, despondent, or even burned out, we too can know that God is there with us. It doesn’t mean our way forward is done, but if we can look to our Lord, if we can try to emulate His loving and forgiving Spirit, as we hear of today in Ephesians, we can get the rest and strength we need to continue to do God’s work, or at the very least, to help prepare those who will follow us in making a brighter future in service to our Lord.