May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let's turn to the
first book of the Kings, chapter 19, and we'll read verse eight.
The first book of the Kings, chapter 19, and reading verse
eight. And he arose and did eat and
drink and went in the strength of that meat 40 days and 40 nights
unto Horeb, the mount of God. Horeb, of course, is the same
as Mount Sinai. It's one and the same thing.
So as we read here of Mount Horeb, we recognize it is the same as
Mount Sinai. Now, this account in its 19th
chapter follows on, of course, from the previous chapter, verse
18. And it was in that chapter where
Elijah was faced with the difficulty of proving who worshipped the
true God, either the God that he worshipped or the people of
Baal. And the Lord God very wonderfully
proved, without any doubt, that Elijah's God was the true God,
and that the God of Baal was not. It was very clear, as you
can read through that 18th chapter of the Kings, and how the people
of Baal had to acknowledge, or the Israelites had to acknowledge,
the Lord, He was the God. And so we should think that having
being wonderfully blessed like that, Elijah wonderfully blessed
with that amazing miracle that God brought about that he would
never doubt again. He would never fear what man
should do, but we find very quickly Elijah was tempted, and we find
the temptation was very great, and it seems almost He was a
different character. There he was, so bold previously,
and now in this chapter he's afraid of Jezebel and what she
says. And surely this should be instructed
to us, to never think that we will always be strong, and to
never think that we will never fail or fall. Remember, we must
be reminded of Peter, Peter was wonderfully blessed and a privileged
disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, who clearly spoke that he would
never deny the Lord his master, but it was only a few hours later
that he denied Jesus with oaths and curses. So we learn from
this that we should pray that constantly we are kept by the
power of God. to never rely on our own ability,
to never think that we are strong, because we are only as strong
as God gives us strength. We do not possess strength ourselves. And if God removes his support
and removes that which he gives to us, we will very quickly fall
into all manner of evil. And if you'd like to take that
a little bit further, you can look at the case of David, a man of God,
a man blessed of God, and yet you see tempted by the devil,
by that woman Bathsheba, as you saw her bathing herself, and
the result was he committed adultery with her, and then it went on
that he arranged for her husband to be killed, and therefore he
committed murder. And that was the man David. So let us not therefore think
that you and I will ever be able to stand firm ourselves. We are only kept by the power
of God every day, every moment of the day. And so we're thankful,
really we should all be thankful, that we have such a case here
as this man of God, Elijah, who was wonderfully blessed. And
as we read later on, he was taken up to heaven, he didn't actually
die. A chariot of fire came and took him up to heaven. And yet,
you see, here he was. We are shown his human side,
his fleshly side, and the weakness of his flesh. But anyway, so
Jezebel, who was of course the wife of Ahab, she was not at
all happy. about what Ahab told her. He told her what Elijah had done. And of course, what Elijah had
done was to completely defeat the prophets of Baal. And therefore,
she was so unhappy that she sent a messenger to Elijah, and this
was the message. So let the gods do to me, and
more also, if I make not thy life, as a life of one of them
by tomorrow about this time. And that was one of those whom
had been slain. So what was the effect upon Elijah? We're told he arose and went
for his life. He ran away. He was petrified. What was going to happen? And he came to Beersheba. belonged
to Judah, and left his servant there. And he himself went a
day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a
juniper tree, and he requested for himself that he might die.
And he said, it is enough now, Lord, take away my life, for
I am not better than my father's. Well, that's a very sad reflection,
isn't it? But God didn't answer his prayer. And perhaps we're now told he
lay and slept under a juniper tree. Perhaps he felt if he was
to lie down and go to sleep, the Lord would take his life
and deliver him from any difficulty and any hardship which might
follow that verdict which Jezebel had given. But we find that God
does not usually deliver his people in such away as this,
because we are in this world as his witnesses. We are not
therefore to expect that you and I can somehow escape, that
we somehow can get out of any trial or any problem. No, the
Lord has placed us in the world, all of us, for such a time as
this. That was the word spoken. To
Esther, in her day, when Mordecai told her, perhaps you're here
for such a time as this, then it was of course so true. And
we should not think that that only applies to eminent people. We should recognise that if we
are the children of God, we are all here for a purpose. And that purpose is to bring
honour and glory to our God. We should not therefore Think,
well, I don't think I can face that. I don't want to be involved
in that. I want to escape. And just like
Elijah asked that his life might be taken. Well, the Lord takes
our life when it's his will so to do. Well, instead of that,
as he was asleep under this juniper tree, an angel came. and touched him and said, arise
and eat. That was something strange, wasn't
it? But there it was. And so he woke
up and he looked and there was a cake baking on the coals and
a cruise of water at his head. So he ate and drank and went
back to sleep. The angel came the second time
and touched him and said, arise and eat because the journey is
too great for thee. And he arose and did eat and
drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty
nights unto Horeb the mount of God. Now, this verse is interesting
because it sets before us the journey that Elijah was to make. It would seem quite clear, he
didn't know where he was going, He'd left by Beersheba, and he'd
gone for a day's journey from Beersheba, and then he'd been
laid down in the wilderness under the juniper trees. So it was
only a day's journey from Beersheba. Now, Beersheba to Mount Horeb
or Mount Sinai is something like 50 or 60 miles. So it's not very
far, really. And therefore, to think of taking
40 days to actually travel 50 or 60 miles, although the terrain,
the ground wouldn't have been very easy, yet it would seem
unnatural to only do perhaps a mile or so a day. So we must
therefore conclude that God, in his infinite wisdom, led Elijah
for 40 days around the wilderness. And he really traversed Some
of that way, the same part, the same area, that Israel had gone
about and walked in the wilderness for those 40 years, and now he's
there for 40 days. And of course, the time that
Israel were there were many years before, because not only had
Moses died, but Joshua died, and then all the judges had come,
and they'd all passed away, and then Saul had been made king
and he passed away and David had been made king and he passed
away and Solomon had been made king and he passed away. So there
were many a great length of time between that and yet here we
find that Elijah is ordained by God to come unto this Mount
Horeb and it's spoken in this way unto Horeb the Mount of God. This Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai
was indeed a very special place. It was a place for Israel when
God demonstrated His greatness. Demonstrated it by coming down
in that fire upon the top of that Mount of Horeb. And at that
time, we're told all the mountain quaked and Israel trembled because
of that occasion. And now these many years later,
we find that Elijah comes to this Mount Horeb. And God had
given him this food. Remember, in those 40 years,
Israel were provided with manna. And God miraculously provided
it. And now the Lord has miraculously
enabled Elijah to live for 40 days and 40 nights without any
more food or any more water. So we see both of those occasions
were miraculous. But they were both ordained by
God. Israel were fed in the wilderness,
and here we see Elijah having that food which was to sustain
him. Of course, these pictures that
we have, especially in the Old Testament, do direct us, so very
wonderfully really, to the Gospel age in which we live. And as
It was very clear that there was a need for natural food to
live. Israel were granted it and Elijah
was granted it. So today, you and I, we need
spiritual food to live. And God perhaps grants it in
various ways. We can look at Israel and we
can see how they had that manna to eat and the water that came
out of the rock and it's provided every day. It was very simple
and yet it sustained them and it kept them. And yet you see
in the case of Elijah, we might say he had really quite a feast
on that one occasion. And yet under the influence of
God, it sustained him for all that period of 40 days. And we can think of that surely
in a spiritual sense. The Lord deals with his people
in different ways to supply their spiritual need. And as it was
40 years in the case of Israel, 40 days in the case of Elijah,
nonetheless on both situations it was needful that God supplied
their natural need. And as we may be on the earth
today, we have a spiritual need of being blessed with spiritual
food and spiritual drink. Both are needed, both are provided
on these two occasions, and the people of God require the same
today in a spiritual sense. So we should be concerned and
desire that we might have the evidence of God dealing with
us and leading us. Now Israel and also of course
Elijah were led about. They didn't know how they were
going to be directed. Elijah here wandered in this
wilderness for these 40 days and 40 nights in a relatively
small journey and yet God directed him. Now we're not told what
he thought. We're not told what passed through
his mind in those 40 days and 40 nights. But we do know really
that in effect he was running away from God. Running away from God. Remember
Jonah ran away from God. Jonah was placed in the position,
told what to do, but preached the Ninevites. He didn't fancy
it. He ran away. Here you see Elijah
now is being tested. God's testing Elijah with regard
to his faith in his God. He'd previously been wonderfully
blessed, and now we see how fallible he is. under a time of temptation. We should realise that we need
God to sustain us. We need God to give us faith
to believe that He who has helped us hitherto will help us all
our journey through and be willing to walk in that way that God
has ordained for us and not to run away. Here was Elijah, he
was running away, he was afraid of a woman and what she said. And yet she had no ability to
really do that unless God permitted it. So Elijah is here sustained
for these 40 days and 40 nights. And he comes eventually to Horeb,
the Mount of God. Well, as I said, we're not told
what he thought on the journey. We're not told what he thought
when he came to this Mount of God. But it must have had some
effect upon him. He stopped there. And he went
into a cave in the mount. And God then came and asked him
a question. What doest thou hear Elijah? What doest thou hear Elijah?
Well, he tried to justify his existence. And it's very solemn,
really, that he did so. It's very solemn sometimes in
our lives when we try and justify something which we should not
have done. Not having faith in our God. Elijah had departed, really,
from that wonderful privilege of faith in his God. He'd run
away. He'd run away. have kept him in that place that
he was. God could have been with him.
God could have shielded him. God could have kept him. But
no, Elijah runs away. So he comes to this mount. He hides himself in a cave. Well, God knows where we might
try and hide ourselves. We cannot hide from God. We never
could, we never will be able to hide from God. And Elijah
couldn't hide from God. He went into this cave and God
asked him this question, what doest thou hear, Elijah? And then he makes this excuse. He says, I have been very jealous
for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken
thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, slain thy prophets with
a sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life
to take it away." Well, how wrong he was. You see, he looked around,
he judged by an appearance, and he was totally wrong. And it's
easier for us today to judge by an appearance. I mean, you
can look around, and it appears to have one view. And that view
may not be correct. It may not be right. It may be
that he was trying to justify himself and perhaps prove to
God that he had been the only one that had stood out for the
things of God. Well, we're told farther on in
this chapter that we read together that the Lord told him there
were 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to bail. 7,000. And
Elijah thought he was the only one. See, we should not judge
by appearance. We might look around and think,
well, we're in a very sad state today, and really, we're the
only ones. Well, we don't know. There may
be many others. who we have reckoned not to be
believers, not to be followers of a despised and crucified man.
But we may be wrong. Surely the Lord has given us
such a record, such a word to instruct us today. And so here
we have Elijah speaking like this. You see, then God speaks
to him and he says, go forth. stand upon the mount before the
Lord and God was going to demonstrate his power just like he'd done
to Israel all those many years ago. What an occasion that it
must have been for Elijah. My friends sometimes perhaps
God comes into our lives and demonstrates to us his power demonstrates to us that we have
walked contrary to our God. We walked away from God. And we may think that surely
now God is going to do some wonderful thing. Well, we read here these three
occasions. Firstly, The Lord passed by and
a great and strong wind rent the mountains and break in pieces
the rocks before the Lord. Must have been a very frightening
experience naturally, must it not? You see it can be in our
spiritual life perhaps a very frightening experience when the
Lord shows to us perhaps his wrath toward us. Perhaps we might tremble, we
might perhaps think, well, there's going to be now a wonderful blessing,
perhaps I'm going to be favoured like the Apostle Paul was, when
the Lord demonstrated in that amazing way when he came and
shone that light right into the heart of the Apostle Paul. But
no, we read that The Lord passed by and a great wind, strong wind,
rent the mountains and break in pieces the rocks before the
Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And sometimes we may
look around, we may watch people perhaps and look at people and
we may see they come into a terrible situation, perhaps they come
into a very serious accident, Or perhaps they have some terrible
scene occur to them in Providence and we think, oh well this will
definitely turn them to serve the Lord. Well, not if it's not
God's will. Didn't have any effect on Elijah. Very clearly, because the Lord
was not in the wind. See the Lord can bring all kinds
of judgments into our lives. But if it's not His will and
purpose, it may not have any real true effect upon us. So we should remember such a
statement as this, the Lord was not in the wind. And then an
earthquake We would think surely an earthquake would have an effect. Surely an earthquake would make
them tremble. It did Israel of old when the
Lord came down upon the mount, but we're not told that Elijah
trembled at all. We are told that the Lord was
not in the earthquake. So again, we should not draw
a conclusion that when we have some amazing scene come into
our lives, that it's going to have a good effect. It may not. It may leave us as we were, cold,
unconcerned. What we have to prove is this.
It's the work of the Holy Spirit. My friends, when the work of
the Holy Spirit comes, the work is done. We know of course in
Paul's case, it was done. It was like an earthquake in
his life. and it had a wonderful effect
upon him but here we have this case the Lord was not in the
earthquake and then and after the earthquake a fire the Lord
was not in the fire three very solemn occurrences
but the Lord was not in those to bless Elijah and again We
can be foolish sometimes in our assessment of situations. And
we can think, well that hasn't had any effect. But surely this
will. That hasn't any effect. We think,
well surely this will. And then that hasn't had any
effect. But what does have an effect? Well we're told this. And after the fire, a still small
voice. does it not remind us of the
contrast in the Word of God in the New Testament between the
conversion of the Apostle Paul on that Damascus road, a very
traumatic and dramatic occurrence and then we have the case of
Lydia and we're told quite simply the Lord opened her heart to
receive the things that Paul spoke. Very different. Both effectual. Both the work
of the Holy Spirit. And what a mercy it is, therefore,
to remember the Lord works in various ways. And the ways that
he works will bring honour and glory to his great and holy name. In those two cases, And I mentioned
Paul and Lydia. The result was the conversion
of their souls. The blessing was Christ was revealed
to them and they were a changed people. They were changed. They were brought from darkness
to light. the wonderful work of God. Well, it was no less here, really,
in the situation with Elijah, because this small voice came. And it was so when Elijah heard
it. He wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood
at the entering of the cave. You see, there he was, perhaps
he was fearful, of looking upon God. Was he fearful of seeing
God? Therefore he wrapped his face
in this mantle. He went out and once again God
comes and speaks, What doest thou hear Elijah? Very similar
isn't it really to the account of Jonah. When Jonah refused
to go and preach to the Ninevites. When he went through that difficult
and trying time and when the Lord had touched his heart so
he looked again to the holy hill and prayed to God and he was
vomited out by the whale onto dry land and the command came
to go and to preach the Ninevites he went he went and so here we
have Elijah then in this case but still he's a still not convinced
and he's still making excuses and he reiterates that which
he said before to God. I've been very jealous for the
Lord God of hosts because the children of Israel have forsaken
thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, slain thy prophets with
the sword and I even I only am left and they seek my life to
take it away. What does God say? Go! Go! return. Elijah, he ran away. Go, return. Here he was. He'd gone these
40 days and 40 nights. Here he was in this cave. The Lord had been very gracious
to him. The Lord had been mindful of
him. The Lord hadn't dealt with him
as he deserved. And now he gives, he speaks this
word, go, return. Does he argue? Does he say, well,
I'm not going to do it? He was told to do three things.
He was told to go and anoint Hazael, and also Jehu, and then
he was also told to go and anoint Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of
Ava Mahola to take his place. And again, we might just think,
well, surely these things are going to come to pass very quickly. Well, of course, they didn't.
The first came to pass fairly quickly. The last point that
God spoke to Elijah about, and that was calling Elisha. And
we read that in the last verses of this chapter. we should not
always make an assumption that the order in which the Lord may
speak to us with regard to certain things in our life are going
to follow that particular pattern. We can be sure of this, that
the things that God speaks to us will come to pass and that
we should be obedient to the word of the Lord. And so we should
be thankful indeed to read of Elijah here He was, of course,
a gracious man of God. And here he is then, going and
obeying that word which God had called him to. Go, return on
thy way to the wilderness of Damascus. We're not told really
about his journey, but we do know he went. So we have this
little account in this chapter, in this 19th chapter of Kings.
instructed to us to realise how the Lord does deal with his people. We're not allowed to just do
as we fancy. We're not allowed to try and
please ourselves. We're not allowed to do that
which we think perhaps might be the right way. We're not allowed
to try and escape that which the Lord has set before us, as
Elijah seemed to do here. but what a mercy it is, what
a blessing it is that God deals with his children in love to
their souls. And here he dealt with Elijah
in a very wonderful way, and such a wonderful way that it's
recorded for our instruction here today. Indeed, as we journey
on day by day, and particularly we should recognize that God
comes and often speaks in a still, small voice. And Elijah had to do this journey,
he had to face these other situations before the Lord came and spoke
to him. And yet, you see, the time came. God's time. when no doubt Elijah
had realised where he was. And yet it's strange, isn't it,
that he still had endeavoured to justify his actions. But the Lord comes, of course,
finally to him and tells him, Elijah, the 7,000. He says, yet have I left me 7,000
in Israel, all who have not bowed the knee to Baal." And what we
read after that is this, So he departed thence. Yes, the Lord
has spoken to him. The Lord has put him in his place.
The Lord corrected him in the things that he'd been saying
and thinking. And we should recognize that
you and I can sometimes think wrong things, can draw wrong
conclusions. What a mercy when the Lord doesn't
deal with us as we deserve for not listening to God, not trusting
God. What a mercy when we can come
and trust the Lord, trust Him as He's helped us to believe
that He will help us and that we should desire not to run away
from our God, but to be blessed indeed by His direction. The Lord does deal with His people.
He does direct His people. He doesn't allow us just to go
in the direction that we want to. He strengthens us. He supports us. We can read through
the Word of God. We can read through the 11th
of Hebrews. to all those patriarchs and saints of God who were blessed
with God-given strength, God-given faith, to believe that what He
had said to them would indeed come to pass. You know, if you
follow the examples set before us there, you will find that
the position is usually there wasn't a great demonstration
of God it was, a still small voice. God was speaking to them. He spoke to Abraham, spoke to
Isaac, spoke to Jacob, spoke to Moses. We're not told of any
great demonstration. There was perhaps in Moses the
situation where the bush burned when he was told to go and deliver
Israel. But nonetheless it wasn't a great
earthquake, it was a very simple demonstration that God was in
it. So what a mercy for us today
to know if God is with us and God is in it. Now let's be very
clear about this. If God is in it, if God is with
us, the Lord will give us that spiritual food. He will give
us the water of life, he will give us of himself. That sometimes we may have to
go in the strength of that which he gives us in many days. The Lord knows exactly what you
and I need. The Lord measures that which
he gives us to sustain us. It's not, you know, a surplus. God gives us sufficient. He reveals to us, of himself,
sufficient. Sometimes we might think we need
wonderful revelations, we need wonderful blessings. No, the
Lord gives us that which we need, not what we think we need. And
there's such a vast difference. Because when God gives us what
we need, When he comes and touches our heart and brings us down, shows us if he blessed us with
that which we demanded, our pride would be so great. And so the
Lord, in love to our souls and for his honor and glory, he feeds
us with that which is convenient, that which is suitable, that
which is necessary for us. And therefore he comes and he
blesses us with that communion and that union with himself in
that way which is needful. Perhaps not what we hoped for,
perhaps not what we expected, but nevertheless sufficient to
sustain us And therefore, we may be able to go then in the
strength of that which God has given us. It may be many days,
it may be many years. Yet you see, God gives us that
which will do us good. And of course, it comes back,
doesn't it, to the very beautiful position and the wonderful illustration
that we have in the New Testament so clearly set before us that
the church of God is to partake of the blood and body of Christ
to sustain them. And we are reminded of that so
very clearly when by his grace we're privileged to sit around
that table of the Lord to partake of those symbols of his broken
body and his shed blood. Now that, you see, is spiritual
food for the soul. And when the Lord comes, and
reveals himself unto us, as he does not unto the world, as our
sin-atoning Saviour. What a blessing that is, and
how so strengthening that is, and how we can indeed go in the
strength of that sometimes many days, perhaps many years, and
we can look back and we can remember all the way the Lord has led
us. Elijah looked back to these times
and realised how God had been gracious to him, had been merciful
to him, had not dealt with him as his sins deserve. The blessing is, today, God does
not deal with us as our sins deserve. But he's very compassionate
and his love is exceeding great. and his mercy is wonderful. My friend, you and I are brought
to appreciate it, are brought to understand it, as we realize
how perhaps we'd be no better than Jonah, no better than Elijah,
and wandered away from God, run away, and God has brought us
back, and he's taught us and he's shown us, he's shown us
what? Just like he showed Hezekiah
in Hezekiah's day. And Hezekiah came to this conclusion,
by these things men live. What a good thing it is in our
spiritual life. The Lord teaches us and reveals
himself to us and we can observe and recognise and thank God in
our little lives that it is through these paths that the Lord leads
us that we live spiritually. The Lord doesn't forget us. He
doesn't pass us by. The Lord knew where Elijah was. He was under this juniper tree.
God knew exactly where he was. God knew what he would do to
Elijah. God knew how he would bless Elijah. and how he would teach Elijah.
Well, we today have the same God. All these years later, that
same God comes and deals with his people today for the eternal
good of their souls. And so, my friends, never despise
the day of small things. Never despise the still, small
voice. but rejoice greatly, the Lord
God has been mindful of you and hasn't cast you aside and hasn't
thrust you away, but by his love and mercy has drawn you to himself,
revealing himself to you in that blessed way that only he can,
not in the earthquake, not in the wind, no, not in the fire,
by a still, small voice of love to your soul. Amen.