In Life, I find that there are times when it seems everything is going wonderfully, times when it seems as if God might just be looking down and be calling you His favorite. It’s those times when life seems great and everything happens to be going your way. I like to call these times in our lives the “Mountain-top highs.” Then there are those times when the complete opposite happens. Times when nothing goes your way, challenges arise, your faith in God diminishes, and it might even seem that the whole world is against you. These are the infamous “Rock-bottom lows” of our lives.
A lot has happened in my life over the last year and a half. To name a few things; I married my beautiful wife Katie, moved from one job to another, moved to a completely new city, and have finished my Master’s Degree. It has been an amazing season, one where I definitely had many mountain-top highs in my relationship with the Lord and looking back it’s easy to count blessing after blessing of God’s faithfulness in my life. But the simple fact that there has been so much change in my life makes it easy to understand that I’ve also had my fair share of rock-bottom lows.
We can observe from Elijah’s life in 1 Kings 18-19 that he also had his mountain-top high’s and rock-bottom lows. In 1 Kings 18 Elijah was on his mountain-top high while defeating the 450 false prophets of Baal. He had so much faith in God that when he called on the Lord, the Lord reigned down fire from heaven that consumed the wooden altar and led to his victory over the false prophets. Now just one chapter later, in chapter 19, we see Elijah running scared after a threat against his life is put out. We might wonder, how is it that this man of faith, just moments later, doesn’t have the faith to trust God to protect him? Why doesn’t he stand strong and trust in the Lord? Well I love what James 5:17 says. It reads, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.” (James 5:17). He wasn’t superhuman, he was just like us! And how are we? Well I know how I am, and there are times where right after God shows His faithfulness I begin doubting and not trusting that He’s going to come through again when the next challenge comes my way.
Now, the way God responds to Elijah during 1 Kings 19 teaches us 3 things about God that we all need to know during our rock-bottom lows, three things that will give us the confidence and power to make it through even our lowest of lows. The first thing we learn about God occurs when Elijah is sleeping under the broom tree. During this time an angel of the Lord says in verse 7 of chapter 19, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” We can learn here that God acknowledges us in the fact that often times the journey, the rock-bottom lows we are in is too great for us to endure on our own. After the angel says this to Elijah, the angel feeds him and gives him drink on two different occasions. From this food and drink Elijah has enough strength to continue running for 40 days all the way to Mount Horeb, also called Mount Sinai. We can learn here that the Lord will strengthen us during our rock-bottom lows. Philippians 4:13 echoes this, and not only will He strengthen us, but he will give us more than we need as He did with Elijah.
The second thing we can learn about God is from verses 15-18 of chapter 19. At this point, God has begun a conversation with Elijah, and in response to Elijah’s distress, God gives him 3 new tasks to complete; anoint Hazael as king over Syria, anoint Jehu king over Israel, and anoint Elisha as prophet in his place. This shows us that God has a plan. God is working all things for His good and He knows even the long-term plans for our lives. Sometimes, in our times of despair, we lose perspective to see the bigger picture and forget that God is ultimately in control. God reminds Elijah here that He has a plan, just as He has a plan for all of our lives. And sometimes, during these low points, we just need but a glimpse of it, just a few small tasks to keep our attention off our distractions and focused on God. So remember, God has a plan for your life.
The third thing we can learn about God comes also from His response to Elijah in verse 18. God says, “Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (v.18). Elijah basically told God that He was the only person left who still loved God. The Lord responded by basically saying, well Elijah, you exaggerated a bit, because there are still 7000 others who worship me. Often during our lows, it seems like there’s no possible way things are going to improve or work out for the better. What we have to remember, just as God reminded Elijah, is that God is resourceful. He has all resources available at His fingertips, and when things don’t seem possible in the natural, we must remember that they are possible in the supernatural, through God.
The last thing I want to mention is something I noticed in verse 8 and the first part of verse 9. It says, “So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God. And there he went into a cave…” Elijah knew that in his rock-bottom low, he needed to find that place where he could just get away, a place that if he made it there he knew he could meet with God and things would be okay. For Elijah, it was Mount Horeb, the same place God met with Moses and the children of Israel. For me, during my depressing times, I know if I can just go on a walk and talk with the Lord, things will be okay. Or if I can just spend that time doing my devotions each morning in my living room, I will meet with God. So I pose 2 questions to my readers; first, when tough situations come, do you run to God or do you run to other false idols? Second, where is that place for you? Where is that place you go to meet with God during tough situations?
As followers of Christ, we must learn to rely on Christ to lead us. Elijah was close to God, He pursued God, He spent time with God, and unless we are doing the same we won’t be able to make it through these lows, these tough times. We can choose to do it on our own, but from my own life, I gave up on doing that a long time ago. I was tired of using all my own strength, of getting depressed, feeling hopeless, not knowing how things would work out. When I began running to God instead of running to my own securities and relying on my own answers, I was able to walk in confidence, walk with purpose and know that my God is there to help.
So my question now to you is, where do you run? Is it to God?
Leadership Lesson of the week: As leaders it is easy to feel that we are alone on the journey and that everything hinges on our decisions. We must remember that God is in control, He has a plan, He has all the resources necessary, and He will give you the strength to continue.
Leadership Lesson of the week: As leaders it is easy to feel that we are alone on the journey and that everything hinges on our decisions. We must remember that God is in control, He has a plan, He has all the resources necessary, and He will give you the strength to continue.
