COMFORT FROM HEAVEN

Overwhelming times can come to anyone. Elijah was a mighty man of God. We see in 1 Kings 19:3-4 a different Elijah – “3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”

It is unbelievable what a sudden change in the situation can do to us, our hearts, our morale and our confidence. The context of Prophet Elijah, in 1 Kings 18 is this – he performs a mighty miracle of bringing fire from heaven, and burning up the offering, which was heavily soaked in water. Then the prophets of Baal are killed.

From such a momentous event, where YAHWEH honoured His prophet through a mighty miracle, we see a “coward” of a man in Elijah, running terrified and scared for his very life, and terribly afraid of the evil Jezebel. What a change….

The point for us to note, is not about Elijah being “human” in his life, but rather, the LORD, being kind, gracious and good towards His scared prophet, who seems to display such utter lack of faith in God who just honoured him. This is perfectly possible. However, the LORD doest let Elijah wallow in his own world. We see the LORD sending help and strengthening Elijah in 1 Kings 19:5-9.

How about us? Do we face such extremes in our lives too? How about our thoughts and our fears? Are we running scared like Elijah? Take heart my dear brother and sister, the LORD is our sure help. Our LORD will never abandon is, and He will never let us down. He will help us, and guide us through all our storms and the darkness.