4/13/13- The Loneliness of Isolation and Persecution

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁰ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn 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.”(1 Kings 19:9,10)

Thoughts: Elijah was a great man of God.  He had raised a dead person.  He had forecasted a drought and the relief of the drought and it happened just as he said.  He had multiplied bread and oil in the midst of scarcity.  He had defeated his more numerical and lucrative spiritual enemies- the prophets of Baal in a contest.  But he had to run for his life from the evil queen Jezebel who was set on revenge. In exhaustion he sat on the mountain where the Lord had given the Law to Moses.  He was so tired he could die.  Weariness makes cowards of us all.  God sent an angel to him to feed and nourish the prophet, but he still was ready to die.  He was saddened by the rejection of God from the people.  They had destroyed the places of worship of the Lord, killed the ministers, and felt like he was the only one left and his life was close to dying.  He was overwhelmed with the retreat of the faith.  If God was God, why weren't they winning?  It looked like the faith was about to be snuffed out.  

     God had other plans- we will talk about that tomorrow. But note here how even the most successful of the prophets was depressed from weariness and lack of food and sleep.  We should take care of our bodies lest they effect our minds and spirit.  We also should not despair even if it seems we are the only one left who has faith.  Many feel isolated at work, school, or home.  I have heard similar things from Americans and Europeans that Christianity is in great decline.  In fact Christianity is the fastest growing religion numerically in the world.  It is just in the increasingly immoral and spiritually skeptical, prideful and rebellious West that Christianity declines. The lie we may believe is that the faith is dying out.  But God has a plan.  The resurrection is a sign that even though we may think the faith is dead- it is alive.  As God raised the faith up in Elijah's day, in Jesus' day- he can raise it up in our own day too.  The darkest night is just before the dawn. 

Prayer: Help me not to despair.  Give me grace to be a faithful soldier at my post for you, O Lord.  Keep weariness and a feeling of isolation from my despairing.