Endings (MPLS)

1 Kings 19:1–15a

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in 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 sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.

‘Text Message’ Reflection:
From Pastor Angela Denker

When I read this passage, I am struck by how it changes the way I think about what it means to have “enough.” In a state of despair, Elijah lies down under a broom tree and “asks that he might die.” He has had “enough” of the world.

God’s response to Elijah is not to convince Elijah otherwise, or to reason with him. Instead, God redefines what “enough” looks like. God brings comfort in the form of a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. God invites Elijah to eat something, and to rest. Simple instructions that nonetheless are “enough.”

Later, Elijah looks for and listens for God. In much of conventional wisdom about God, we think of God as loud and disruptive: an impending storm. But God was not in the whirlwind: God was in the silence.

Click here for a longer reflection on this portion of the text that I wrote earlier in my ministry.

‘Text Message’ Reflection Questions:

• In times of distress, where do you turn for comfort and relief?
• What is “enough” according to God?
• Why didn’t God come to Elijah in the whirlwind?

Prayer:

Dear God, sometimes you don’t speak to us in the ways we expect. Grant us space and peace to pause, to eat something, to rest. Help us to listen to Your voice in the sheer silence. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.