St. John's & Zion Lutheran Churches

What Are You Doing Here?

Sermon on 1 Kings 19:9-18

Text: 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.”
11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
14 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.”
15 The LORD said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel — all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

Have you ever been depressed? Do you ever get down? How do you feel when this mood is hanging over you? No one likes to be down in the dumps. We may try different things to get out of this mood. However, there are times when it seems impossible. We sit there gloomy and full of self-pity because of our situation. This morning, we encounter a man who was very depressed. He was full of self-pity. We are going to look at how the Lord helped him and, as we do so, we see how he helps us. God comes and asks this question: WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? As he asks this question, he wants you to 1. Trust In The Lord’s Word Of Promise. He, also, wants you to 2. Know That You Are Not Alone.

Our text focuses on a prophet of God called Elijah. God had called him to a very difficult ministry. He served during the time of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. They were very wicked people. They had promoted the worship of Baal. They persecuted the believers by killing the prophets in Israel. The people of Israel had followed their idolatrous practices. As a result, God came to Elijah to tell the people of Israel that there would be no rain in the land. As a result of this prophecy, his life was threatened. So, he went into hiding. Then, he challenged these ungodly rulers to show who the true God was. 450 of Baal’s priests met with Elijah on Mt. Carmel. The challenge was that whichever god sent fire from heaven to consume a sacrifice was the true God. Though the priests of Baal cried out for hours, there was no fire. Then, Elijah prayed to the Lord, who sent down fire from heaven, which consumed the sacrifice. The people responded, “The LORD — he is God! The LORD — he is God!” (1 Kings 18:39) They seized the priests of Baal and put them to death. What a marvelous day of victory!

However, Jezebel, when she heard what had happened said to Elijah, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” (1 Kings 19:2) So, Elijah had to run for his life, again. He ran to the southern part of Judah and was exhausted. He was discouraged to the point where he said, “I have had enough, LORD . . . Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” (1 Kings 19:4) The Lord sent an angel with food and water. Strengthened by that food, Elijah traveled for forty days, until he came to Mt. Horeb. There he sat, depressed and full of self-pity.

The Lord came to Elijah with the question, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (Verse 9) This was not where God had called him to do his work. He was to be preaching to the people in Israel, not sitting in a cave. With this question, God reached out to Elijah to help him. Elijah’s answer was, “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.” You can understand why Elijah felt this way, can’t you? The showdown on Mt. Carmel should have made the people of Israel repent and come back to the true God. Yet, it seemed to have had no effect, at all.

Then, the Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” (Verse 11) Elijah felt that everything was wrong. God wanted to show his almighty power. Then, we read, “Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire.” (Verses 11&12) This was how Elijah expected God to act. He should come in his almighty power and shake up the people of Israel. Perhaps, one of the reasons that Elijah was thinking this way is that another and more familiar name for this mountain is Sinai. When the Lord gave his law to the people of Israel, he came down on the mountain in fire and smoke. The mountain shook. He also might have been thinking of what had happened on Mt. Carmel, when fire came down from heaven. ‘God, this is how you should be interacting with these people. Let them see your almighty power. Then, they will straighten up and follow you.’

I believe that we can relate to what Elijah was feeling. We have had occasions to speak to others about what they are doing that is in opposition to God’s will. We came to them because we really cared about them. We wanted the best for them. Yet, in spite of our best intentions, we didn’t see the change that we hoped for. Instead of thanking us for our care and concern, they became angry with us. They may have said some hurtful things to or about us. They may have shunned us. Yet, we tried and tried. Finally, when it seems as though nothing we say will matter, we get frustrated. We get depressed and full of self-pity because they aren’t listening to us. Maybe, we think, if God would send something into their lives to wake them up, that would change them. Maybe, if they saw how God is angry with sin up close, things would be different. Then, they would change.

However, would we want God to treat us this way? How many times don’t we find ourselves falling into the same sin again and again? Each of us has those sins that we seem particularly susceptible to. It may be greed or lust. It may be lying or gossip. Whatever the sin might be, would we want God to immediately send a lightning bolt from heaven to shake us up? If it did happen, would it permanently change us? We might do better for a while, but, when we felt that the threat was gone, we would find ourselves back in that same sin again. The lightning of the law does not permanently change us.

What changes people is what Elijah experienced in the cave. “After the fire came a gentle whisper.” (Verse 13) That gentle whisper is the voice of the gospel. In the gospel, we hear about how much God loves us. We see the extent of that love when we look at the cross of Christ. God loved you so much that he was willing to sacrifice his own Son so that your sins would be forgiven. God loved you so much that he raised his Son from the dead so that you would never have any doubts as to whether or not your sins are gone. God loved you so much that he made you his child through the washing of baptism. God loves you so much that he has promised that, one day, you will be with him in heaven. When we hear the gentle whisper of the gospel, we are reminded of all that God did for us. This gives us our motivation to change our lives to thank God for all that he has done for us.

The same thing is true when we deal with other people. Rather than wishing that God would send a lightning bolt to wake them up, we continue to share what God has done for them. We share the gentle whisper of the gospel. This is not to say that we don’t use the law. People do have to see what is right and wrong and how God feels about it. They need to see the seriousness of their sins. However, we don’t use the threats of the law to try to change people. The effects of that will be only temporary. They will change as long as they are afraid. After that, they go back to what they were doing. No, the only thing that can effect a permanent change is the sweet gospel message. When they are brought to faith and as that faith grows, they will want to live in such a way that pleases God. To our eyes, this might seem as though it is not working. Yet, we pray, that the Lord would continue to build our trust in his Word for a permanent change both in the person we are dealing with and in ourselves, as well.

We also take note of Elijah’s assessment of his situation. “I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” (Verse 14) Elijah felt as though he was the only one left in Israel who was a believer. To him, it seemed as though the worship of the true God would be gone when he was gone. Do you ever feel that way? We live in a world that seems more and more evil, that is trying its level best to get rid of God. Do you almost feel like you’re the only one left that believes in him? We begin to wallow in self-pity. I seem to be the only one I know that’s a Christian. We are such a small congregation. We belong to such a small church body. We are a small flickering light in the midst of all of the darkness around us. Poor, poor pitiful me!

However, God had an assurance for Elijah. “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel — all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.” (Verse 18) Even though it seemed as though Elijah was the only believer left, God told him this was not the case. There were 7,000 other people in his nation that were still believers. In chapter 18 of 1 Kings, we are told that a man by the name of Obadiah, had hidden 100 prophets of the Lord from Jezebel’s persecution and provided for them. God reminded Elijah that he was not alone. Not only was God with him, there were still other believers, as well.

God reminds us of this, as well. We are not alone in our faith. There are other people in the world who are holding to the truth, in spite of all that the world throws at them. This is a good reason to be thankful for our congregation. We have brothers and sisters in the faith. We are not alone in the struggle. This is one reason why we gather together in worship on Sunday mornings. Not only do we have the privilege of hearing God’s Word and growing in our faith. We find brothers and sisters in the faith to encourage us. We, also, get the privilege of encouraging one another. We are reminded that we are not alone. This is, also, a reason that we thank God for our church body. Here is another group of people scattered across the country and around the world who believe as we do. God gives us the unique opportunity to pray for them so that they would be strengthened in the fight against the world. We are not alone. We, also, pray that more and more people would be brought to faith in Jesus, so that we can stand together. Dear Christian, rather than being filled with self-pity that you are the only believer left, thank God that there are believers around the world, who share your faith and your love for God.

Elijah really had a tough go of it. He went from the heights of seeing God’s majesty on Mt. Carmel to feeling as though he was the only one left. We go through the same cycles. We go from seeing God’s love and mercy at work in people’s lives to feeling like we are the only one left. May God reassure us that his Word works. We know that it does, because it worked in us. It will have the effect that God wants it to have with others, as well. Trust in that word of promise. God, also, reminds us that we are not alone in the struggle. First of all, he is with us to comfort and strengthen us. Secondly, he blesses us with brothers and sisters in the faith, who are there for us and pray for us. May God help us to be there and pray for them, as well. Finally, we look forward to that time when we are in heaven, where we will be united with all the believers who have ever lived and we will hear the voice of our God speaking gently to us. Amen.