Last week Eric and I made our big announcement about wanting to take Courage for the Journey on a LIVE tour. That sounds like we’re a rock band when really, we’re just two people who said yes to however God wants to use us. There is a little bit of fear creeping in as I make that statement. But even as I say these words I’m thinking, yeah – that’s when courage is needed.
We’re Talking About Courage to Live
When we were praying about starting the podcast, I was afraid to do it – that even if I did know what to say, would anyone want to hear it? And it brought me back to something Chris Fabry said to me.
Chris Fabry is an author and radio host who a mutual friend asked to endorse my book. When I started to realize he was a big deal, I became a little embarrassed that I hadn’t figured it out sooner. But he just took it all in stride and continued to encourage me on my own journey.
The book contract with my publisher included an audiobook, but I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t like my voice, I didn’t know how to do it, and it felt very overwhelming.
When I emailed Mr. Fabry to ask for his advice, he said,
“We’re talking about Courage to Live, right? It’s almost as if you have to record your own audiobook.”
Then he proceeded to tell me to get in touch with my local radio station and see if they did this sort of thing. Well, they do. JR here at WKUL makes it so easy for me.
Courage is Not a One Time Thing
And now Eric and I are about to embark on this new Journey and some of the same fears are creeping in.
Will people like it?
Will it make a difference?
Does God really want us to do this and will He come through?
I know the right answer is if He is in this, He will prepare the way. And I don’t want to do it if He is not preparing the way. I guess I just want to see the way ahead of time. And God seems to want me to take each step by faith.
So, once again – faith and courage are needed to proceed. It seems like we circle back to those themes over and over. Like they are not a one-time thing. We must keep at it. Bravely moving forward, believing God wants to use us, and if so, then He will work it out. And I have to preach to myself a little sermon that every detail does not have to be figured out ahead of time.
This Little Light of Mine
All of this contemplation and praying and seeking the Lord remind me of Elijah and his willingness to be used by God. I was finishing my study on the Holy Spirit with my ladies’ bible study, and we were all jazzed up and excited about how to use our gifts for God’s Glory to advance His Kingdom. So, I wanted to encourage us to not let satan blow out our candle.
Did you sing that song growing up?
This little light of mine. I’m going to let it shine. This little light of mine. I’m going to let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Hide it under a bushel? NO! It became a contest about who could scream NO! the loudest.
Then we get to the verse that says, “don’t let satan blow it out” …and that verse seemed more mysterious. I am not going to hide my light under a bushel, but could satan really blow it out?
We talked about this recently in my Sunday School class. If I am a true child of God, the light of the Holy Spirit cannot be completely extinguished. His presence is the guaranteed seal of my redemption until Jesus returns. But I can quench the Holy Spirit or even just grieve Him to the point He becomes less relevant. And that’s what I don’t want to do. I don’t want to give the Holy Spirit a reason to be filled with sorrow because of my disobedience.
Elijah the Prophet
When we took a look at Elijah from 1 Kings 17-19, we saw he was brave and fierce one day and then the next he felt very scared and alone. And that resonated. We agreed that we are all like that – brave one day and scared the next. Having courage is not a one-time thing. Even prophets of God who experience high highs can quickly be brought low with fear. Let me summarize the story for you.
The Drought and The Widow
Elijah predicted a drought. God was judging Israel because of their gross idolatry -cult prostitution in the temple and sacrificing children. It was horrific. During the drought God provided for Elijah by sending him to the brook Cherith. Ravens brought him bread and meat, and he drank from the brook, like this was his own private watering hole that God provided just for him.
Only the famine was so severe, the brook dried up. So, God told him to go to Zarephath and where a widow would feed him.
Elijah goes and when he sees this widow he asks her to bring him a morsel of bread in her hand.
She tells him, “As your God lives, I have a little flour and oil and I am gathering some sticks to go and prepare the last supper for my son and myself and then we are going to die.”
Yikes! Elijah has the nerve to ask her to prepare a meal for him first with the very last bit of food she had. I may have given a prophet of God my last supper, but I am not sure I would give him my son’s last supper.
Do you know what I am saying? It’s one thing if God asks me to sacrifice something but it is a whole nother thing to ask me to sacrifice my child for someone else, even if he is a prophet.
But Elijah tells her, do not fear because the flour and oil are going to renew themselves every day until the drought ends. She just had to be willing to have faith and follow it up with obedience.
We have so much. I don’t know if I can identify with the kind of faith that is required to live with just enough for each day and no more.
On further reflection, however, that is what God asks of me. It may not be my physical sustenance, but spiritually He asks me to get up each day, trusting He will come through.
And He wants me to repeat this over and over each day because each day has enough cares of its own.
She must have believed Elijah because she does what he asks. Actually, God had already prepared her ahead of time and told her to feed Eljah when he came. The little faith over fear she is exhibiting is ultimately because she is just beginning to trust God will come through and she shows it with her actions. When we have the courage to step out in faith, then God will reveal more of Himself. And isn’t that what we really want? More of God!
Death, Resurrection, and Eternal Life
But sometimes there are more trials to endure first. Just a short time later, the son of this widow gets sick and dies. It was sudden and shocking. They are making through one trial, living each day by trusting God. And then the absolute worst happens out of nowhere. And she thinks it is because God is holding her past sin against her.
How many times do we think a bad thing is happening because God has not forgiven our sin? Or we think we deserve for the bad thing to happen. It’s our own fault it’s happening because of our past.
Even Elijah is shaken. He cries out to God asking why He brought calamity on the widow who is has been so good to one of His prophets.
Then with faith and courage he takes the boy and stretches him out 3 times as he cries, “O LORD my God, let this child’s life come in to him again.”
And after the third time of crying out, the LORD revived the child. And Elijah turned to the widow and said, “see, your son lives.” And the woman said, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is Truth.”
If the story had ended with the endless supply of food, the widow and her son would not have really KNOWN God. So, what would it benefit her to gain physical sustenance but be spiritually lost forever? This is a picture of God’s plan for eternal life. If we hang on to what the world offers here and now, we miss out on what God is giving us that is far greater.
The Showdown at Mount Carmel
Elijah’s story is not over. In the third year of the drought, God tells Elijah to show himself to king Ahab because He is about to send rain. Let’s just say everyone knows Elijah and Ahab are not friends. Ahab has tried unsuccessfully to kill Elijah numerous times because Elijah has spoken out against his evil idolatry. And how he has turned the nation of Israel against God.
So, when Elijah asks the prophet Obadiah to set up the meeting, Obadiah asks for some assurance that he is going to stay put until they get back. When Ahab saw Elijah, he says, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” Elijah responds by telling him he and his father’s house are the ones who have troubled Israel by abandoning the commandments of the LORD and following the Baals.
He then told Ahab to gather the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table. (Jezebel is Ahab’s wife and she is even more wicked than he is.) All of the people of Israel and all of the false prophets gather at Mount Carmel for a showdown.
Elijah addresses the people, “how long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him. He is setting before them the choice of life or death.
The plan is to lay a sacrifice on altars they each build but put no fire on them. The God who answers by fire is the One True God. I think these false prophets really believed Baal was a god. He was their god of rain and vegetation – which is why God judged them with a drought.
You would think that would give them reservation since it had not rained for 3 years. And you know they had been praying to Baal for rain. And now he is supposed to send fire?
But they agreed to do this and went to great lengths to try and prove Baal’s deity. They cried out to Baal for hours and cut themselves with swords until blood rushed out. But no one answered or even paid attention because Baal wasn’t real.
Elijah is mocking them all the while saying “maybe he is on a journey, perhaps he is sleeping or relieving himself.”
And then it was Elijah’s turn. He very confidently tells the people to come near. They are about to witness the power of God Almighty do what no other god could.
Elijah takes 12 stones according to the tribes of Israel to build an altar. He prepares the sacrifice and lays it on the altar and builds a trench around it. Then he tells them to saturate the altar with water three times so that the water runs down all around it and even the trench fills with water.
Then when it’s time, he prays this prayer,
“O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” 1 Kings 18:36-39 ESV
Then, acting as God’s judge, Elijah orders the people to bring the false prophets to the brook to be killed. Elijah turns to Ahab and tells him he better get going or else his chariot is going to get stuck in the rushing rain that’s coming. Elijah goes up to the top of Mount Carmel to pray. He sends his servant to look for the coming rain seven times and finally he sees a little cloud like a man’s hand rising from the sea. And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was finally, after 3 years of drought, a great rain. The end of James 5 gives more context to this story. God did what Elijah asked when he prayed according to God’s will. The hand of the LORD was on Elijah, as it had been the whole time. When he came down from the mountain, he outran Ahab’s chariot and beats him back to the city.
This is an incredible work of God using His prophet to do something miraculous to turn His people’s hearts back to Him.
But not everyone’s heart turned to God. Some refused to believe what was right in front of them. When God presented them with a choice between life and death, they hardened their heart against what He was offering.
He Runs in Fear
When Ahab comes home to his palace, he tells his wife Jezebel all that happened. And that Elijah killed all of their (false) prophets with the sword. Jezebel became so enraged, she sent a messenger to Elijah telling him he would be dead by that time tomorrow. Do you think Elijah is going to be afraid of her after he was just a part of this miraculous work of God?
At first reading what happens next seems so incredible to me.
When Elijah receives the message from the wicked Jezebel, he believes her. He believes her. He believes she will succeed in killing him and he becomes afraid. He fears for his life. He has just seen God Almighty rain fire down on the altar, consume the sacrifice, and lick up every bit of moisture. He was the epitome of confidence for God, trusting and obeying Him.
Then one word from his enemy and he runs for his life in fear.
Don’t get me wrong, Jezebel is scary and should be taken seriously. She is way more evil than Ahab. And that is saying a lot. She killed every true prophet in the land of Israel except the 100 Obadiah hid from her in a cave.
So, I understand why Elijah would take her seriously. Evil people do bad things and innocent people suffer and even die. But Elijah doesn’t even stop to seek God. He just runs in fear.
As I contemplate this, the Holy Spirit pricks my heart as if to say, “aren’t you the same way?” One day I can feel really good about my relationship with the Lord, enjoying the pleasure of that high.
But sometimes, when the enemy comes, intent on robbing me of my joy, I fear him more than God. I may not say that or even realize that’s what’s happening. Maybe I am overtired or sick or not prayed up.
But my actions speak louder than words when I give into the fear that something could harm me outside of God’s control.
Forces of evil have victory when we believe them over God.
Why are lies so much more appealing than the Truth? They can be so deceptive, especially when they are sandwiched between two slices of truth bread – two shreds of truth with a little slick lie stuck in between. The lie sounds true because it masquerades as true light.
We have to stop and seek God every time, so we don’t believe lies. Seek God and search out the truth.
At this point, poor Elijah is so discouraged. He runs and hides and asks God to just take his life. That may seem extreme, but he’s been at this for a while. He’s tired and not just a little discouraged.
So, God sends an angel with cakes and water to sustain him for the journey that awaits. He goes in the strength of the food from the angel of the LORD for 40 days while he lodges in a cave at Horeb.
There the LORD meets with him.
And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” 11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks 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. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. 13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1 Kings 19:9-12 ESV
The Sovereign LORD Yahweh already knows what Elijah is doing, but He comes in a low whisper and asks a second time anyway to give Elijah an opportunity to work out his fears before Him.
Elijah Passes the Mantle
I am learning that God is great, but He is also good. He is all powerful and also lovingkindness itself. The LORD instructs Elijah to be on his way because He has already prepared his successor. It won’t be much longer before God brings him home.
Elisha will be anointed prophet in his place, and the LORD will leave a remnant of 7,000 in Israel who have not bowed to Baal.
That may not seem like a lot when compared to all of Israel. But right now, Elijah feels like he is the only one and God tells him there are 7,000 others. He leaves and finds Elisha. And after a short time, he passes the mantle onto him. Shortly after, Elijah is taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire where he will receive his reward for being a faithful servant.
Even faithful servants get discouraged. Elijah was faced with a formidable enemy and feared for his life. He was so discouraged; he wanted to die.
But God wasn’t finished with him yet. And He encouraged and strengthened him until His work was complete.
In Closing
How does this story encourage you to cultivate habits in your life so that you are ready to courageously respond to God’s call by faith?
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. As I consider this prayer and make it my own, I am asking for courage to act in faith to what God has already prepared Eric and me to do and that can only be done through the power of His Spirit.
I will be reflecting in the coming weeks on how that is going as we step out in faith and together, for God’s Glory, lead this series on Courage for the Journey.
