After Ahab’s death, the story moves seamlessly into 2 Kings, where Ahab’s son, King Ahaziah (of Israel), was injured and attempted to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron. Really?

GOD’s angel spoke to Elijah the Tishbite: “Up on your feet! Go out and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria with this word, ‘Is it because there’s no God in Israel that you’re running off to consult Baal-Zebub god of Ekron?’ Here’s a message from the GOD you’ve tried to bypass: ‘You’re not going to get out of that bed you’re in—you’re as good as dead already.’” Elijah delivered the message and was gone. (2 Kings 1.3, 4, MSG)

The messengers return and relay Elijah’s message, and the king reacts:

The king said, “Tell me more about this man who met you and said these things to you. What was he like?” “Shaggy,” they said, “and wearing a leather belt.” He said, “That has to be Elijah the Tishbite!” (2 Kings 1.7, 8, MSG)

So the king sends a captain and 50 men to fetch Elijah. Elijah calls down lightning on two such groups.

The king sent a captain with fifty men to Elijah. Meanwhile Elijah was sitting, big as life, on top of a hill. The captain said, “O Holy Man! King’s orders: Come down!” Elijah answered the captain of the fifty, “If it’s true that I’m a ‘holy man,’ lightning strike you and your fifty men!” Out of the blue lightning struck and incinerated the captain and his fifty. (2 Kings 1.9, 10, MSG)

This story, of course, is the source of James and John’s response to inhospitable Samaritans:

When it came close to the time for his Ascension, [Jesus] gathered up his courage and steeled himself for the journey to Jerusalem. He sent messengers on ahead. They came to a Samaritan village to make arrangements for his hospitality. But when the Samaritans learned that his destination was Jerusalem, they refused hospitality. When the disciples James and John learned of it, they said, “Master, do you want us to call a bolt of lightning down out of the sky and incinerate them?” Jesus turned on them: “Of course not!” (Luke 9.51 – 55, MSG)

Back to Elijah and his times. In all this, God is trying to get people’s attention, yes? There is a God in Israel. I know what you’re thinking and that you’ve sent men to consult with the wrong god. I can incinerate 51 men any time I want.

By the way, a young pastor started to say positive things about the LGBT… movement. A few seconds in, lightning struck. Maybe God is still trying to get our attention! Despite the ministries of Elijah, Elisha, and other prophets, the Northern Kingdom, Israel, never repented. Here’s a sneak preview:

The exile came about because of sin…They took up with other gods, fell in with the ways of life of the pagan nations GOD had chased off, and went along with whatever their kings did. They did all kinds of things on the sly, things offensive to their GOD, then openly and shamelessly built local sex-and-religion shrines at every available site…Everywhere you looked there was smoke from their pagan offerings to the deities…They had accumulated a long list of evil actions and GOD was fed up…GOD had taken a stand against Israel and Judah, speaking clearly through countless holy prophets and seers time and time again, “Turn away from your evil way of life. Do what I tell you and have been telling you in The Revelation I gave your ancestors and of which I’ve kept reminding you ever since through my servants the prophets.” (2 Kings 17.7 – 13 MSG, emphasis mine)

He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. (Proverbs 29.1, NKJV)

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness. (2 Peter 3.10, 11, NKJV)

1 Kings 22 closes out the book and the life of Ahab but not without another weird story. After three years of peace with Aram, King Ahab of Israel joins with King Jehoshaphat of Judah to reclaim Ramoth-Gilead. But before going into battle, they want counsel.

The king of Israel got the prophets together—all four hundred of them—and put the question to them: “Should I attack Ramoth Gilead? Or should I hold back?” “Go for it,” they said. “GOD will hand it over to the king.” But Jehoshaphat dragged his heels: “Is there still another prophet of GOD around here we can consult?” (1 Kings 22.6, 7, MSG)

There is, Micaiah, and he gives the true word from God:

“Not so fast,” said the king. “How many times have I made you promise under oath to tell me the truth and nothing but the truth?” “All right,” said Micaiah, “since you insist. I saw all of Israel scattered over the hills, sheep with no shepherd. Then GOD spoke: ‘These poor people have no one to tell them what to do. Let them go home and do the best they can for themselves.’ ” (1 Kings 22.16, 17, MSG)

Another instance of the majority being wrong (the vote was 400 – 1!), and Micaiah explains that the reason they’re wrong is they listened to a lying spirit from God. (See 1 Kings 22.19 – 24) That’s a tough one although there are reasonable explanations of why God might use a lying spirit. The Apostle Paul was clear that just because an angel says something, doesn’t mean it’s true:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1.6 – 8, ESV)

We digress… Ahab does go into battle, along with King Jehoshaphat of Judah although Ahab goes in disguise:

The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah attacked Ramoth Gilead. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Wear my kingly robe; I’m going into battle disguised.” So the king of Israel entered the battle in disguise. (1 Kings 22.29 – 30, MSG)

No matter. If God wants you, he’ll find you:

Just then someone, without aiming, shot an arrow randomly into the crowd and hit the king of Israel in the chink of his armor. The king told his charioteer, “Turn back! Get me out of here—I’m wounded.” (1 Kings 22.34, MSG)

And Elijah’s prophecy came true right down to the dogs:

All day the fighting continued, hot and heavy. Propped up in his chariot, the king watched from the sidelines. He died that evening. Blood from his wound pooled in the chariot. As the sun went down, shouts reverberated through the ranks, “Abandon camp! Head for home! The king is dead!” The king was brought to Samaria and there they buried him. They washed down the chariot at the pool of Samaria where the town whores bathed, and the dogs lapped up the blood, just as GOD’s word had said. (1 Kings 22.35 – 38, MSG)

A lot of ink devoted to bad King Ahab (1 Kings 17 – 22). Jezebel doesn’t meet her end until 2 King 9. But God’s word, positive or negative, will come to pass, and God will use anything from a lying spirit to a randomly shot arrow to make it happen.

Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Revelation 19.10, NKJV)

For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1.21, NIV)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4.1, ESV)

Last night was the Presidential Debate, and everyone agrees that President Biden didn’t perform well, and serious questions were raised on whether he seemed capable of serving a second term. Some think it’s unconscionable that his handlers have let him go this far.

By contrast, the late Paul Stanley, friend of mine, former International Vice President of The Navigators, graduate of West Point, strong in body, was failing mentally in his last years. He just kept adding to his list of things “I don’t do anymore.” No more leading. No more speaking engagements. And he accepted it all with grace and humility.

Rather than speculate on what might happen or should happen in presidential politics, I think we would do well to just step back and remember:

God is in control.

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will. (Proverbs 21.1, ESV)

For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary… (Isaiah 8.11 – 14, ESV)

For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. (Psalm 75.6, 7, KJV)

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. (Romans 13.1, ESV)

Today, June 27, 2024, marks 2,000 consecutive days of publishing the Ewellogy. The streak started on January 6, 2019. The blog had already been in existence, but I had published 32 blogs between January 9, 2014, and January 5, 2019. 32 blogs in 5 years! Now it’s been 2,007 blogs in just under 5 1/2 years. Why the difference in production? And how did it happen?

First, of course, is the commitment. I wrote about that when reflecting on the first 1,000 days, citing Cal Ripken who holds the Major League record for the most consecutive baseball games played. If I had to make a decision every day whether to write or not, I’m pretty sure I’d miss A LOT of days!

Second, one has to wonder where the ideas come from. The answer is they come day by day, and they often come while the writing is occurring. Even if I think I know exactly where a blog is going, I sometimes end up with something different. As the old saying goes, “You can’t steer a parked car.”

Finally, when I was publishing only occasionally, there was always the feeling that I was looking for something “good enough.” Now, I have to go with what comes up and publish it “ready or not.” To change the metaphor, I can’t try for a “home run” every day, but I hope I’m at least hitting singles.

Thank you for reading. I don’t know who most of you are nor how many of you there are, so I’d love it if you’ve never commented before, if you’d check in. There are two ways to do that. You can leave a comment after this or any blog. If you don’t want your comment visible to anyone else, just say so. No comment goes live until I approve it. The second way to check in is to just write me an email, bob@ewell.com.

Again, thanks for reading. We’ll finish 1 Kings tomorrow.

This is the post to which I’ve been assigned—keeping you alert with frequent reminders—and I’m sticking to it as long as I live. (2 Peter 1.13, MSG)

It was Sunday and I was in the Spirit, praying. I heard a loud voice behind me, trumpet-clear and piercing: “Write what you see into a book…” (Revelation 1.10 – 11, MSG)

King Ahab has been declared multiple times to be the worst king of Israel. He is NOT a good guy, and his wife, Jezebel, is even worse. But 1 Kings 21, the infamous story of Naboth’s vineyard, has a surprising ending…

In 1 Kings 20, we left Ahab in a funk after a prophet rebuked him for sparing Ben-Hadad. His bad mood continues into chapter 21:

And then, to top it off, came this: Naboth the Jezreelite owned a vineyard in Jezreel that bordered the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. One day Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard so I can use it as a kitchen garden; it’s right next to my house—so convenient. In exchange I’ll give you a far better vineyard, or if you’d prefer I’ll pay you money for it.” But Naboth told Ahab, “Not on your life! So help me GOD, I’d never sell the family farm to you!” Ahab went home in a black mood, sulking over Naboth the Jezreelite’s words, “I’ll never turn over my family inheritance to you.” He went to bed, stuffed his face in his pillow, and refused to eat. (1 Kings 21.1 – 4, MSG)

No problem. Jezebel says, I’ll get you Naboth’s vineyard.

She wrote letters over Ahab’s signature, stamped them with his official seal, and sent them to the elders in Naboth’s city and to the civic leaders. She wrote “Call for a fast day and put Naboth at the head table. Then seat a couple of stool pigeons across from him who, in front of everybody will say, ‘You! You blasphemed God and the king!’ Then they’ll throw him out and stone him to death.” And they did it… (1 Kings 21.8 – 11, MSG)

But, of course, actions have consequences:

The minute Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he set out for the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite and claimed it for his own. Then GOD stepped in and spoke to Elijah the Tishbite, “On your feet; go down and confront Ahab of Samaria, king of Israel. You’ll find him in the vineyard of Naboth; he’s gone there to claim it as his own. Say this to him: ‘GOD’s word: What’s going on here? First murder, then theft?’ Then tell him, ‘GOD’s verdict: The very spot where the dogs lapped up Naboth’s blood, they’ll lap up your blood—that’s right, your blood…I will most certainly bring doom upon you, make mincemeat of your descendants, kill off every sorry male wretch who’s even remotely connected with the name Ahab.‘” (1 Kings 21.16 – 19, 21, MSG)

We’ll see the prophecy about the dogs and Ahab’s blood fulfilled shortly, but chapter 21 has a surprise ending:

When Ahab heard what Elijah had to say, he ripped his clothes to shreds, dressed in penitential rough burlap, and fasted. He even slept in coarse burlap pajamas. He tiptoed around, quiet as a mouse. Then GOD spoke to Elijah the Tishbite: “Do you see how penitently submissive Ahab has become to me? Because of his repentance I’ll not bring the doom during his lifetime; Ahab’s son, though, will get it.” (1 Kings 21.27 – 29, MSG)

It’s never too late to submit to God. Something to apply personally and to pray for our leaders.

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. (1 Timothy 2.1, 2, MSG)

We concluded our look at Ahab’s rebuke from the prophet for not taking care of the enemy king, Ben-Hadad:

But I got busy doing one thing after another and the next time I looked he was gone.

It’s an important word, and I was reminded of it when I received a letter from Christian Endeavor, whom I’ve mentioned before. I love their paradigm for youth ministry: we want to produce honeybees, not hippos! Hippos consume; honeybees produce: what kind of disciples do we want to make?

Here’s part of the letter:

Christian Endeavor (CE) led a training workshop for youth leaders and volunteers from eight different churches. The participants examined the CE discipleship strategy, focusing on ways to emphasize active, rather than passive, discipleship with students in their ministries. Afterwards, one leader remarked that they’re excited to implement these ideas. For them, this was a “brand new paradigm for youth ministry.” This strategic approach was one they’d never been taught in seminary, and which offered practical ways to call students to commit to Christ daily, and actively engage their faith. – From a Christian Endeavor letter, dated May 2024

I love what Christian Endeavor is doing, but I hate that they have to do it. Teach a “strategic approach…they’d never been taught in seminary.” What were they taught in seminary? To be “busy doing one thing after another”?

It seems so. Look at the next paragraph in the letter:

The youth ministry landscape is currently dominated…by churches that apply adult-led and adult decision-dominated attractional programs. Well intended adult youth workers do most of the heavy lifting involved in creating great weekly programs and annual special events, in hopes youth attendance will spur them on toward a deeper relationship with Christ. 

“Well intended adult youth workers do most of the heavy lifting…” Sounds like “busy” to me. Busy “creating great weekly programs and …special events,” hoping that attendance at events will spur the youth on.

We’ve written about special events before. Generally, they’re a way to do “busy,” without being effective making disciples. But making disciples is what Jesus asked us to do:

This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. (John 15.8, NIV)

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…. (Matthew 28.18 – 20, NIV)

1 Kings 20 opens with Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, threatening King Ahab and ends with one of the best teaching one-liners in the Bible. Here’s the opening:

At about this same time Ben-Hadad king of Aram mustered his troops. He recruited in addition thirty-two local sheiks, all outfitted with horses and chariots. He set out in force and surrounded Samaria, ready to make war. He sent an envoy into the city to set his terms before Ahab king of Israel: “Ben-Hadad lays claim to your silver and gold, and to the pick of your wives and sons.” (1 Kings 20.1 – 3, MSG)

It goes downhill from there, but…

Just then a lone prophet approached Ahab king of Israel and said, “GOD’s word: Have you taken a good look at this mob? Well, look again—I’m turning it over to you this very day. And you’ll know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that I am GOD.” (1 Kings 20.13, MSG)

God has his people, many of them unnamed and unrecognized. Like the “man of God from Judah” in chapter 13. This one says, “You’ll win the battle and you’ll know that I am God.” The Israelites win the first battle. The same guy appears again in verse 22:

Sometime later the prophet came to the king of Israel and said, “On the alert now—build up your army, assess your capabilities, and see what has to be done. Before the year is out, the king of Aram will be back in force.” (1 Kings 20.22, MSG)

One battle is not enough. The enemy always returns.

Another holy man appears after the Arameans have regrouped.

Just then a holy man approached the king of Israel saying, “This is GOD’s word: Because Aram said, ‘GOD is a god of the mountains and not a god of the valleys,’ I’ll hand over this huge mob of an army to you. Then you’ll know that I am GOD.” (1 Kings 20.28, MSG)

Israel defeats that army. Then there’s an oops: Ahab spares his enemy. Ben-Hadad is hiding in a cave and sends his emissaries to Ahab:

They dressed in old gunnysacks and carried a white flag, and came to the king of Israel saying, “Your servant Ben-Hadad said, ‘Please let me live.’” Ahab said, “You mean to tell me that he’s still alive? If he’s alive, he’s my brother.” (1 Kings 20.32, MSG)

He’s my brother?! The guy who wanted to take all of Ahab’s silver, gold, wives, children? That guy? Then the famous rebuke by “one of the prophets” who asked someone to punch him (look it up! 1 Kings 20.35 – 37).

Then the prophet went and took a position along the road, with a bandage over his eyes, waiting for the king. It wasn’t long before the king happened by. The man cried out to the king, “Your servant was in the thick of the battle when a man showed up and turned over a prisoner to me, saying, ‘Guard this man with your life; if he turns up missing you’ll pay dearly.’ But I got busy doing one thing after another and the next time I looked he was gone.” (1 Kings 20.38 – 40, MSG)

But I got busy doing one thing after another and the next time I looked he was gone.

It was a rebuke to Ahab who “let a man go who was under sentence by God,” and Ahab went home “in a very bad mood,” but it’s also an important principle for us. I think I’ll give it another day.

He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. (Colossians 1.28 – 29, NIV)

I received a special Father’s Day present this year: a hot-off-the-press kit for building a replica of the Cathedral of Notre Dame:

For some reason, the news story of its upcoming release pushed my button, and June said, “Shall we get this for Father’s Day?” “Why not?” So here it is: all 4,383 pieces nicely packaged into 34 bags and a L O N G instruction book. I look forward to building it; I’ll let you know when I’m finished.

In the meantime, I can see that there are lessons to be learned…of course!

Lessons for me:

• It will be an exercise in perseverance. The Lego expert who reviewed it said he built it in 10 hours. I expect it will take me 2-3 times that, so 30 hours, max, I think. We’ll see. I will have to persist over time.
• It will be an exercise in discipline. Some tasks require imagination and creativity. This one does not. It requires building the cathedral step-by-step, bag by bag, IN ORDER, from bags 1 to 34. “But I thought” doesn’t enter into it. I will have to discipline myself to simply follow the directions.

Lessons from the Legos people:

• There was A LOT of imagination and creativity from Legos to produce this product. To take an actual cathedral and figure out how to reproduce it with Legos.
• Having designed it, Legos needed to organize the construction. Can you imagine looking for one part among more than 4,000? Nope. Neither can I. The parts are organized into bags….
• Meaning, the manufacturing and packaging process is incredible: I don’t know how many different kinds of parts there are, but each has to be manufactured in quantity, then sorted.
• In short, Legos did the hard work so that I can engage and succeed.

Applications to disciple-making: we used to teach a 5-part process for churches to create a disciple-making culture. By and large, this Lego project makes a nice metaphor:

• Purpose: my purpose is to build the cathedral, not purposelessly play with Legos. The church’s purpose should be to make disciples, not just provide a variety of purposeless church activities to engage the members.
• Profile (or Picture): Legos is clear about what we’re building. Similarly, the church should have a clear picture in mind of what a disciple might look like. For example, disciples are people of the Word (John 8.31), they love and serve others (John 13.34, 35), and they bear fruit (John 15.8, 16). This Picture of a Disciple blog explains.
• Process (or Pathway): without a process, the cathedral wouldn’t have a chance. If someone came in and opened even a few of my 34 bags and mixed up the parts, the set would be useless. “Real” college courses have an order. Calculus before Differential Equations. Basic Economics before Microeconomics. Meanwhile, churches usually offer a smorgasbord of courses and say, “Take your pick!” There’s no clear connection between any particular course and the disciple we’re trying to make. As I write often, a mix of knowledge and skills is required. The In God’s Family Series (https://nav27series.org/) could be an important part of any church’s’ process.
• Participants: the Legos company doesn’t build cathedrals. People like me build them. To make disciples, a church needs to offer appropriate courses, and they must have teachers! An obviosity, as one of my math teachers used to say. If we think small groups should be a key element of our church’s disciple-making process, do we have enough leaders? If not, what’s our plan for producing them?
• Progress: is our plan working? In building the cathedral, the progress will be obvious. In the church, we try something and see if it’s working with our people. If not, maybe we need to adjust.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2.19 – 22, NIV)

For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. (1 Corinthians 3.9, 10, NIV)

We left Elijah toward the end of 1 Kings 19 with a list of people to see: Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha. He finds Elisha first:

Elijah went straight out and found Elisha son of Shaphat in a field where there were twelve pairs of yoked oxen at work plowing; Elisha was in charge of the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak over him. Elisha deserted the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please! Let me kiss my father and mother good-bye—then I’ll follow you.” “Go ahead,” said Elijah, “but, mind you, don’t forget what I’ve just done to you.” (1 Kings 19.19, 20, MSG)

It’s an interesting exchange. “Elijah…threw his cloak over him” must have been a “follow me” call, and Elisha responds with “Let me kiss my father and mother good-bye…” Someone tried that with Jesus:

Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

The interpretation I’ve heard all my life of Jesus’ response is that “the plow” is the work of the kingdom, and you shouldn’t start the work while looking back at what you’ve left behind. After all, when you plow, you must look forward. That works as an interpretation and application, but what if “the plow” is just the plow? Look at Elisha’s response:

So Elisha left; he took his yoke of oxen and butchered them. He made a fire with the plow and tackle and then boiled the meat—a true farewell meal for the family. Then he left and followed Elijah, becoming his right-hand man. (1 Kings 19.21, MSG)

In other words, don’t keep your hand on the plow while you “look back” at the work of the Kingdom you’ve been called to. Butcher the oxen! Burn the plow! Throw a farewell party and go!

Immediately they left their nets and followed him. (Matthew 4.20, ESV)

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him [leaving the tax booth behind]. (Matthew 9.9, ESV)

After the excitement of 1 Kings 18: fire from God, massacre of 450 prophets of Baal, RAIN!, Elijah is so energized he outruns Ahab to Jezreel:

Things happened fast. The sky grew black with wind-driven clouds, and then a huge cloudburst of rain, with Ahab hightailing it in his chariot for Jezreel. And GOD strengthened Elijah mightily. Pulling up his robe and tying it around his waist, Elijah ran in front of Ahab’s chariot until they reached Jezreel. (1 Kings 18.45, 46, MSG)

Mt Carmel to Jezreel is about 16 miles according to Google Maps. But no rest…

Ahab reported to Jezebel everything that Elijah had done, including the massacre of the prophets. Jezebel immediately sent a messenger to Elijah with her threat: “The gods will get you for this and I’ll get even with you! By this time tomorrow you’ll be as dead as any one of those prophets.” When Elijah saw how things were, he ran for dear life to Beersheba, far in the south of Judah [another 110 miles!]. He left his young servant there  and then went on into the desert another day’s journey. He came to a lone broom bush and collapsed in its shade, wanting in the worst way to be done with it all—to just die: “Enough of this, GOD! Take my life—I’m ready to join my ancestors in the grave!” (1 Kings 19.1 – 4, MSG)

The guy who stood up the king twice and then to 450 prophets of Baal runs for his life when threatened by Jezebel and just wants to die.

First treatment? Rest and food:

Exhausted, he fell asleep under the lone broom bush. Suddenly an angel shook him awake and said, “Get up and eat!” He looked around and, to his surprise, right by his head were a loaf of bread baked on some coals and a jug of water. He ate the meal and went back to sleep. The angel of GOD came back, shook him awake again, and said, “Get up and eat some more—you’ve got a long journey ahead of you.” He got up, ate and drank his fill, and set out. Nourished by that meal, he walked forty days and nights, all the way to the mountain of God, to Horeb. When he got there, he crawled into a cave and went to sleep. (1 Kings 19.5 – 9, MSG)

Then twice we have this exchange:

Then the word of GOD came to him: “So Elijah, what are you doing here?”

“I’ve been working my heart out for the GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies,” said Elijah. “The people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed the places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.” (1 Kings 19.9 – 10, 13 – 14, MSG)

In between those two exchanges is the well-known “how does God appear?” section:

Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before GOD. GOD will pass by.” A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before GOD, but GOD wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but GOD wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but GOD wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper. (1 Kings 19.11 – 12, MSG)

God was not in the wind or the earthquake or the fire. Don’t miss God’s quiet voice while distracted by the spectacular! “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46.10)

Back to Elijah: Afraid. Depressed. Poor me. The cure?

GOD said, “Go…

• anoint Hazael; make him king over Aram. Then
• anoint Jehu son of Nimshi; make him king over Israel. Finally,
• anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet…

Meanwhile, I’m preserving for myself seven thousand souls: the knees that haven’t bowed to the god Baal, the mouths that haven’t kissed his image.” (1 Kings 19.15 – 18, MSG, bulleted for clarity)

Often the cure for fear or depression is action. “Go…anoint Hazael… Jehu… Elisha….” And, by the way, you’re not the only one. In fact, as Skip Gray used to say, you’re number 7001!

There was a disciple in Damascus by the name of Ananias. The Master spoke to him in a vision: “Ananias.” “Yes, Master?” he answered. “Get up and go over to Straight Avenue. Ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus. His name is Saul. He’s there praying. He has just had a dream in which he saw a man named Ananias enter the house and lay hands on him so he could see again.”

Ananias protested, “Master, you can’t be serious. Everybody’s talking about this man and the terrible things he’s been doing, his reign of terror against your people in Jerusalem! And now he’s shown up here with papers from the Chief Priest that give him license to do the same to us.”

But the Master said, “Don’t argue. Go!” (Acts 9.10 – 15, MSG)