Alone

We're trying to hold it all together, and oftentimes we are failing very badly. So, we'll go ahead and have a word of prayer, and then we'll dive into our time and our text this morning. Father in heaven, we thank you for how you have cared for us. We thank you that we can bring both our joys and our sorrows to you in prayer. We thank you that we can sing together. Even when our hearts are heavy, we thank you that you restore our souls and you lead us by the green pastures and still waters, and even when we walk through those dark valleys, we know that you are with us. So help us this morning, refresh and restore and renew our souls. May we have the strength to do what you have called us to do, not in our own power, but in yours. Help us this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

So there is a TV show just called Alone, and it's run now for I think like 13, 14, maybe even 15 seasons. It's been on for a while. And essentially the premise of the show is that you take a bunch of people, most of whom who have some sort of survival skills, and at least in the earlier times you kind of drop them on this deserted island, not near each other, but by themselves. And whoever is able to stay alive the longest, you know, ends up winning the cash prize. And so you're allowed to bring I think only like 10 tools with you, and so you have to figure out how to get water and food and build structures. And the longer you're there you begin to run into trouble, like the seasons begin to change. You know, predators may come and seek the food that you have harvested.

And so there are all kinds of things that can go wrong in this scenario where you are sort of left alone with a camera and a satellite phone. And people just, "Here you go. Here's some wilderness. Go have fun." And the things that can go wrong, right, you can find yourself where there's not enough food, or maybe you're injured, there's an accident. But what's interesting about this show is that most of the people who leave the show, it's not always because they don't have enough food, or enough skills, or it's too cold, or it's too hot, or it's too wet. Most of the time, there may be some of those as factors, but it's compounded by the fact that they're all by themselves. And you can kind of notice, if you watch through seasons, when people are beginning to feel that loneliness.

Because they begin to talk more about their family, and their friends, and how they miss them, and how they want to be part of that life. And the fact that the loneliness is one of the biggest reasons that people sort of tap out and leave the show. Yes, they may be hungry. Yes, they may be hurt. But ultimately, it's that feeling of being alone. And we can find ourselves, I think, in life alone in a lot of ways. Maybe we are alone physically. Sometimes we feel alone emotionally. Nobody understands the weight of what we're carrying. Maybe we're isolated because we don't understand what's going on. Maybe we feel that we're without support. We can feel alone spiritually. Maybe seeking to do what's right, and everybody else is walking in a different way. Maybe we're on a mission that God has called us to do, and nobody else is joining us.

Or maybe it's simply in our belief in God, where everybody else denies Him. There are a lot of ways in this life we find ourselves alone. And alone, it's not always bad in the short term. There's times Jesus calls His disciples to come away, to be alone in the wilderness, to find quiet and find peace. There's times when Jesus steps away to pray and to rest. But there's times where all that aloneness just sort of compounds. And we find ourselves feeling like we are truly and deeply alone. And all those feelings compound, and ultimately we begin to feel not just alone, but abandoned. And the question I want to try to direct us to this morning is what happens when we find ourselves in this situation where we feel like we're alone or abandoned or believing that we are.

And I want us this morning not to come up with a new plan to feel better, but rather see how God addresses that aloneness in our heart. And I want to do so by taking a look at the prophet Elijah. We're going to start by taking a look at his character, his ministering, ultimately ending in his exhaustion, and then we'll see what God begins to do in the life of Elijah, and we'll see and be reminded of God's faithfulness. So we're first introduced to Elijah in 1 Kings 17. And oftentimes in the life of some of these famous biblical characters, we see the most famous stories, and we'll look at some of those this morning, but we tend to sort of look at the big parts, and the fast parts, and the parts that are loud and impressive,

and the ministry of Elijah does not start loud, and it does not start very impressive. In the book of Kings, genealogies matter because it's tracing the royal line of God's kings. And so genealogies are a continual thing in Kings until we are introduced to Elijah. And so I want to take a look first at his character. So our little dog, Ranger, now he's just a little cattle dog, and one of the things that I had heard about but had not experienced is that some dogs, especially herding dogs and cattle dogs in particular, can have a laser-like focus on something they want. And so Ranger very much does that, right? So if there is food anywhere in his general vicinity, right, if you have never been stared down by like 35 pounds of hatred, I want you to eat a burrito in front of him as he just laser-like focus. Or when I'm out throwing a ball for him.

It could be in the middle of a hurricane, there could be a herd of deer running through, and his focus is only on that ball. Or when we were up with the horses this week, and they started running in, and Ranger's like, "I don't think you guys should be running in." And full-on body checks like a 1,200 pound horse. Because he was so focused on trying to make them do what he wanted them to do. And in many ways, Elijah, in his character, has a laser-like focus on who God is, and what God has called him to do. Essentially, he's kind of like God's cattle dog with a laser-like focus for most of his ministry on God's glory. And so 1 Kings, we usually begin with a genealogy. Elijah is introduced with no family, no tribe, and no call to serve as prophet.

He's just a guy who shows up. We know the general area where he's from. People debate about what city he's specifically from. And the first recorded word of the Lord to Elijah doesn't come in verse 1 where we're introduced to him. It comes in verse 3 where God says, "Go and hide." And one of the points we see is that the introduction to Elijah makes very little of Elijah. But it makes very much of God. Elijah's name just simply means, "The Lord, He is God," or, "Yahweh is my God." And an interesting note, in 1 Kings 18:39, when the people see God's power displayed, they begin to chant, "The Lord is God! The Lord, He is God!" Now, it's not Elijah's name, but it's the meaning of Elijah's name. This is not just Elijah's name, that the Lord is God, but it is His desire for His people, and it is the mission of His life.

And you see it poured out in his heart as he prays for the people. "Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back." One of the most famous moments in Elijah's life is found in a pronouncement, and it's the very first mention of Elijah in Scripture. 1 Kings 17:1, "Now Elijah the Tishbite of Tishbe and Gilead," that's where he's from, that's all we know about him, "said to Ahab, as the Lord the God of Israel lives before whom I stand, they shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by my word." Right? That's pretty confident. For somebody to say, "It's not gonna rain." I did that like two times this week. Pulled in the car, windows down, I go, "Should I roll up the windows?" "Eh, it's not gonna rain." Right?

And then like 25 minutes later I'm running out in the middle of the rainstorm, or in one case Rachel had mercy on me, and she ran out in the middle of the rainstorm because I didn't even know it was raining. And then sometimes we think there's going to be rain, and so Luke and I, and the big storms that were supposed to roll through Thursday, I got a little warning. It's a severe thunderstorm warning, and so we ran out, and we took down the church umbrellas, and we got them in the church, and we were in the church working, and no rain. Just a bunch of wind. Other people had wind and rain, but we just had wind. And so the confidence of this man to say, "As the Lord, the God of Israel lives,

and the truth of who God is, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word." Right? That's pretty confident. Notice, too, that this pronouncement is before our first recorded word of the Lord to Elijah. And we begin to learn something about Elijah that I think is fascinating and that I'd never considered before. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth bore fruit. We have no record of God ever saying to Elijah, "Say that it won't rain." You know what we have a record of? Elijah praying. And it's likely that Elijah, as he looks at the spiritual train wreck that has become the people of Israel,

is praying God's judgment upon his land like this from Deuteronomy chapter 11. "Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, and the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and there will be no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you." The book of James says he prays fervently, and God answered. So here we have a guy with no background, so we won't be distracted by his pedigree, whose name is a literal declaration of God, who desires God's people to return to God, and it seems likely he's praying places like this in the book of Deuteronomy, specifically so God's people would be moved to repentance.

And when he prays that it won't, it's not because God has commanded him to, but it's because he's seeking God's glory and repentance for the people. By knowing God's word, which Elijah does, his heart has already been set on the mission of God to call these people to repentance. Before in this story we're even introduced to the fact that God has said anything to him. Now, had God said something to him? Absolutely, through the word of God. Had God spoken through him like we see in verse 3? I don't know. But Elijah's heart is so focused on God that he is in the Scriptures, knowing the Scriptures, praying them, and God answers. And Elijah then humbly serves God. In 1 Kings 17:1, and again in chapter 18, he says, "The God before whom I stand."

It's royal palace language. That his declaration of authority, he's not declaring himself as good, but he's saying that God I serve is good. There's a difference between knowing, feeling, and doing. And one of the things about Elijah's character is that he is someone who obeys God. Listen to the first word of the Lord we have coming to Elijah. "Depart from here. Turn eastward and hide yourselves by the brook Cherish, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." Imagine going to your spouse or your kids and go, "What are you hungry for?" And they go, "I don't know. Let's just see what the birds drag in and drop off on our front porch," right? And for a Jewish person, ravens are unclean.

They're not birds that you can eat, and you don't want them bringing you food. And God says, "Go into the wilderness. The birds are going to drop off some, I guess, raven dash." Look at his response. So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. Just a little bit later, "Arise and go to Zarephath when the brook drives up." "I dwell there, behold, I have commanded a widow to feed you." Now, Elijah opposes both Ahab and Jezebel, but it seems Jezebel hates him the most. She is Phoenician, and so when the brook dries up in the wilderness, when the ravens aren't bringing food, God sends him to the homeland of Jezebel and to a widow who has no resources, and look at what Elijah does. So he arose and went to Zarephath. Just one more.

"Many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah the third year, saying, 'Go show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth,' just very simply." So Elijah went and showed himself to Ahab. A single-minded devotion to God. Now let's take a look at, just very briefly, the ministry of Elijah. The main pagan God that he opposes is Baal, who is the God of storms, rain, and fertility. And Elijah opposes him with spiritual warfare that goes against the very nature of this false God. He trusts God. He is sustained by God. The first resurrection in Scripture comes through the prayer of Elijah, defeats 450 prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel. He prays, and rains comes. He wins a chariot race at a distance of 17 miles, and if this is a resume, it's pretty impressive.

But what's interesting is that it only takes two chapters for it all to begin to fall apart. Elijah, for at least three and a half years, has been pouring himself out with escalating intensity. Right? He's in the wilderness. He's in the homeland of Jezebel. He's confronting the leaders of Israel. And maybe that question for us, what do we do when we feel abandoned? Or what do we do when we feel overwhelmed? When this happens, and we might say, "Well, it never happened to me." Right? I'm really strong. My character is good. I'm working hard. So was Elijah. And after his victory over the prophets of Baal, we find this. Jezebel will threaten his life. He was afraid and arose and ran for his life, came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, left his servant there.

The guy who prays, and God brings resurrection. The guy who prays, rain stops. The guy who prays, rain comes. The guy who is provided for by ravens and by oil and flour that never ran out while living in the homeland of your greatest spiritual enemy. The one who has defeated the 450 prophets of Baal in a definitive battle over who is God. What would you expect? Not running for his life. Right? Elijah is struggling. Let's go a little further. When God questions him, which God will do in just a moment, he says this, "I have been very jealous for the Lord of hosts, the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, killed your prophets with a sword, and I, even I, only am left and they seek my life to take it away."

Elijah is tired. He leaves his servant. Everything that had filled up his life seems to have been emptied. He has been jealous for God, and it's all gone. And what Elijah is saying in these words is, "I have worked so hard, and nothing's changed. Look at all the things that I have supposedly accomplished, and everything is exactly the same as it was in chapter 17, verse 1. I have worked so hard." People don't listen. There's nobody left that follows you. They want to kill me. Can you hear the aloneness in Elijah's words? And notice his focus. "I have been very jealous. Even I, even I only am left, and they seek my life." The man whose name and character and ministry has been for the last several chapters. Essentially, Heaven's Cattle Dog has lost all of his focus,

and it's no longer about declaring God. It's about seeing himself, and not in a selfish way, but in a way that is broken and hurting, and he feels like he is alone, and there is nobody left. He has worked so hard and prayed so hard. And here he is, all alone. And it might be easy for us to say, "Well, Elijah just needs to be stronger." Did you see his character? Maybe he needs to work harder. Did you see what he has done? This is not some lightweight, struggling guy who barely believes. This is the prophet for whom the picture of all other prophets is taken from. This is the prophet, when the one who comes to proclaim the deliverer of God's people, the Messiah, he's going to be just like Elijah. Elijah is not small, he's not weak, he's not a wimp, but he is so alone in his feeling that it breaks him.

And for us to pretend that we can somehow hold up better than Elijah is just simply not true. And so we need to, I think, see our struggle very clearly. Think about how we deal with our problems. We hide them, everything's fine, we minimize them, it's not that big of a deal. We compare them to others, while other people have it worse. I remember when I was in grade school, we lived in a dairy farming community, and one of the kids was goofing off, and his brother was roughhousing, and he was goofing off with a pitchfork, and he accidentally stabbed himself in the toe with a pitchfork, and instead of telling his parents, right, he just sort of bandaged it up and covered it, this was like fourth grade, until he had to spend a couple days in the hospital

and almost lost his toe, because rather than admit he was doing something dumb to his mom and dad, he just hid it. And how many of us, when it comes to our exhaustion, we're hiding it, I'm doing fine, as we hobble around limping. Or it's not that big a deal, it's just a little cut. Or look at all these others who have it worse. Right, until we realize our brokenness, we can never see the refreshment, restoration, and renewal from God. And the reason that we can't is simple, because if I can handle it, then I don't need it.

It's interesting that in chapter 18, Elijah says this to God's people. Elijah came near the people and said, "How long will you go on limping between two different peoples?" He pictures the spiritual life of God's people as sort of hobbled, or on crutches, or limping, and unable to walk. We'll see it again about the priests of Baal, who are absolutely exhausted. They can barely stand up any longer. Elijah, who could see this struggle and limp in everybody else, is unable to see it when he collapses under the broom tree in the wilderness. And in part, I think a little bit of what is happening is God is saying to him, "Run until you're ready to listen and to depend on me." I'm not a big prop guy. I don't really use props a lot. But one of the things I've been doing the last few weeks in some of my off times, I've been working horses in a round pen.

And the way that I was taught, when you have a horse in a round pen, before you can really work with them, they have to be willing to trust you and listen to you. And one of the ways that you do that is they have to move your feet. And so you take a flag, and you point where you want them to go, and you kind of move the flag. And as they run in a circle, you follow them with the flag. And eventually they kind of get used to that, and they'll start slowing down. And so you try to get them to listen to you. And if they don't listen, what you do is you come back with the flag again. And you keep them running, and you keep them moving. Not in a harsh way, or designed to scare them, or to make them afraid.

But until they're to the point where they realize they can't go anywhere else, and their only option is to trust the one who's training them. And what God sometimes does to us, I think, in those moments of absolute exhaustion, is that we have been trying to run and figure our own way out over and over and over again. And we're running in circles, and until we are willing to finally stop and turn. That's one of the ways you know with horses is when they stop turning their back to you when they turn around and they start turning towards you. That you know that they're beginning to trust you. And Elijah is now at that point. God's first act of mercy in our life is letting us run until our legs give out under us. Not to humiliate us, but to free us from the lie that is our own strength and that was exhausted to put our trust in Him.

And so in that, I want you very clearly to see God's faithfulness. And in Elijah's life, sometimes this has to be a looking backward. Sometimes it has to be looking where we're at right now, and sometimes it's the promise of what comes ahead. Think about how God has provided. Bread from ravens. Safety and provision in Jezebel's home territory. God has answered His prayer. God has raised the dead. And a little bit of oil and a little bit of flour has lasted Him. Not just a day or two, but Him and a widow and her son. For an extended period of time. And when He runs out of Himself, and He collapses, listen to what God does. And He lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched Him and said to Him, "Arise and eat."

And He looked, and behold, there was at His head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And He ate and He drank and He lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came a second time and touched Him and said, "Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you." And He rose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights to reach Horeb, the mount of God. The first thing that happens when Elijah collapses at the end of himself is that physically he takes a nap. God feeds him, God hydrates him, puts him back to bed, wakes him up, feeds him again, and says, "Look, you're not strong enough, but I will provide your sustenance even though you're collapsed and you don't think you can go on."

And so God has not just provided for him in the past. He provides for him in rest and refreshment and nourishment in that moment. And then he makes that go forward into the future as he journeys 40 days. And then God ultimately gives him help. The second thing we see is that Elijah is not as alone as he thinks he is. Right? That's our problem. Sometimes we stack up all our hurts and our problems and we can't see the reality of what surrounds us, right? Remember his complaint? "I'm the only one left and they want to kill me." That has happened very recently. Like maybe within the last couple weeks of this moment. He is gone, and he has talked to Ahab, and before he talks to Ahab, he meets a guy by the name of Obadiah, and listen to Obadiah's story.

Ahab called Obadiah, who is over the household, takes care of the household of the king. Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly, and when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets, hid them by fifties in a cave, and fed them with bread and water. So here's a guy by the name of Obadiah, who when the word comes down to not feed the prophets or care for them or to kill them, he takes as many as he can get his hands on, hides them in caves, feeds them water and bread either out of his own supply or by stealing from the king and giving to these prophets. So there is a righteous man left. And what's interesting is when Elijah goes to meet Ahab, just a couple weeks before this moment where he says there's nobody left,

he meets Obadiah, and Obadiah says, "Has it not been told to my Lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord? And how I hid a hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water." So not just Elijah under the broom tree goes, "I'm all alone!" And just weeks before he's met a guy who works for the king, arguably maybe even more dangerous because he's closer to the danger, and this guy is hiding prophets and sneaking them food, right? Our discouragement sometimes lies to us. Our hopelessness lies to us. Elijah is not alone. He has just left his servant behind in Beersheba. Let me tell you what's happening. He's piling up all his problems, and he can't see what God has done. This is why the psalmist says, "Lift your eyes to the hills."

Because what happens is so many times we take all of those brokenness, we just put it right in front of our eyes, and all we can see is our hurt and our hopelessness. And so God, I think, sometimes brings us to the wilderness to show us the truth of what he has done. And he does so in a way not to terrify Elijah, but to deal with Elijah's exhausted heart. God doesn't come in an earthquake or in fire, but in his still, small voice. James 5:17 says this, "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours." And it's meant in James as an encouragement to pray fervently. But I also want us to see the other implication of this, that Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. That means he got tired, he got hungry, he feels alone.

And in those moments where he only sees the brokenness that surrounds him, and he misses the faithfulness of God in all the unexpected ways. He doesn't see all the good, but he only sees the hurt. And like us, he begins to build up all the opposition, and he finds himself collapsing under the weight of everything. And then when he collapses, God doesn't abandon him. What does he do? He refreshes, he energizes, and brings him deeper into the wilderness. Reveals his presence, starts him on training the next generation. Elijah's story is not over. And his work was never going to be finished by one man. It needed more. And that's what God's reminding Elijah of, that you can't carry this burden yourself. Let me just be very clear to you, there has been only one man who can carry the burden.

There's been only one who can carry the entire future upon himself. The one who can only truly stand faithfully in the midst of suffering, in the midst of true righteousness. And that one goes to a garden, and to a cross, and to a tomb. So that we who could not stand might be transformed and refreshed. You see, the burden Elijah couldn't carry, and that we can't carry either, has already been carried by Jesus. Maybe in this moment you're strong, and you're full of energy. And like Elijah and his ministry and character, you want to put it to use. But don't lose sight of the one who sends the ravens and answers your prayers. And maybe you're in that wilderness, and you feel alone, and you're limping, and you're about to collapse under the tree. It's not bad to find yourself in that place. It is hard, and it is difficult, and it is heartbreaking.

But remember that God nourishes, He feeds you, He brings you to rest. And He reminds you of all the ways in which He is working that we can't always see. In fact, He tells Elijah, there's 7,000 people. You're not alone. You've just met Obadiah, who's been hiding prophets. 7,000 people who've not bowed their knee to Baal. You are not alone. Maybe you're on the other side of it this morning. You've walked through the joys and the sorrows, the energy and the exhaustion. Part of what God is calling you to do is to bring that faithful testimony to those people who are under the broom tree, and those who are energetic, to remind them that God is the one who provides, that God is the one who answers prayer, that when you're exhausted, rest and be refreshed and be nourished by God's goodness, and it's okay to limp,

because there's one who didn't walk with a limp, and he carries you and strengthens you. And so those who have been the mountain and through the valley, walk with God's people, proclaim his faithfulness, and like Elijah is about to do as he comes out of this valley, to teach and to train and to help. Those who are around you. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I thank you for Jesus and for grace and for hope. As we look at Elijah and his faithfulness, and we look at Elijah and his ministry, it's easy to see all of the greatness.

Help us when it all falls apart for us. When we find ourselves exhausted under the tree, may you remind us that it was your strength all along, that it is your provision, that it is your help, and that you are our hope. So encourage our hearts, strengthen us for your work, and may we walk with one another encouraging and helping each other. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to stand, and we're going to...