I Kings 19:9 What doest thou here, Elijah?
On the day of this writing, it is dreary and drizzly here in Tennessee. Some days, you are in a dreary mood and you know why. Perhaps there is gray weather outside or gray circumstances on the inside. Sometimes you don’t know why you feel dreary. I Kings 19 tells us of how Elijah, the prophet of God, was feeling very dreary. He was at a low point, a dark spot in his heart, and he knew why. He had a great victory on Mount Carmel, but as soon as Ahab told his wicked wife Jezebel what had happened, she said, “I am going to kill that prophet as sure as I live.”
What follows is a time of dark despair for Elijah. Elijah wished that God would just end his life. He did not want to be on this earth anymore. Twice God comes to Elijah while he is hiding in a cave and asks, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” God was not merely asking him, “What are you doing in this cave?” but asking him, “What are you doing in this dark spot?” On both occasions Elijah responded by saying, “What do you mean, why am I in this dark spot? The people of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed Your prophets. I am the only one serving You, and they are seeking my life also.”
We can understand why Elijah felt so dark and gray. Everything was against him. Jezebel wanted to kill him. He felt like he was the only one doing the right thing. Sometimes we feel badly because we have done the wrong thing and are suffering the consequences. Other times we feel poorly because we are doing the right thing and are suffering for that. That was where Elijah was.
There are two things of which Elijah needed to be reminded. First, God had additional plans. God replied to Elijah’s despair by saying, “I want you to anoint three people, a king over Syria, a king over Israel, and someone to take your spot in the days ahead.” As it turned out, all these men were used by God to punish the very people that were seeking the life of Elijah. In other words, Elijah couldn’t see all that was happening. He couldn’t see the big picture, but God did. God had other plans.
Today, if it is a cloudy day where you are, you may not see the sun, but if you were to fly, you would see the sunshine within ten minutes. You would be looking down on the sunny side of the clouds. That is the perspective God has. God sees further, deeper, and broader than I ever could. So, I need to be reminded that God has additional plans.
Second, God has additional people. God said in verse 18, “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” God was telling Elijah that he wasn’t the only one.
By the way, do you really want to be in the majority? Are most people happy? Do most people have a functional home? Do most people have assurance of peace with God and eternity in Heaven? No, no, and no! Why would we want to be like the majority? “You and God make a majority,” Evangelist Bob Jones used to say.
Today, how you view your life depends on who you believe to own it. Elijah fell into the trap that I fall into oftentimes. Elijah makes reference to his life quite a number of times. He was stuck on thinking about himself, that he was the only one and that his was the only story. I am not the main character in my life, and there is more to what is going on that what I can see. God has other plans and other people.
Today, when I don’t see the sunny side of the clouds, I need to remember that there is a God in Heaven Who has more plans and more people. He will take care of me as He took care of Elijah. How you view your life in the end depends upon who you believe to own it.