I have been studying and meditating on 1 Kings 19. I encourage you to read it yourself, but I will tell it to you in my own words and offer you two of the things that have impacted in my heart:
Elijah had just come down from Mount Caramel, where he had made visible for Israel that YHWH was the one true and living God and that Baal, the false god they had been worshiping was not. Following this, all 450 prophets who were perpetuating this idol worship in Israel were put to death….and when the wicked King Ahab went home and told his wicked queen Jezebel the events that had unfolded that day, she didn’t bend the knee and declare YHWH to be God as the people of Israel had, instead, she vowed that she would kill Elijah THAT DAY.
Remember how it says that “Elijah was a man just like us” [James 5:17]? Well, even though he had just stood in front of all of Israel and watched the fire he had called down completely consume the offering and the stone altar it sat upon…Elijah was afraid and he ran.
For an entire day he ran deeper and deeper into the wilderness until he came to a broom tree where he curled up in the dirt beneath it and asked the Lord to take his life before Jezebel did. “I’m done, Lord, take away my life; I am as good as dead anyway.” And then he slept.
He was woken from his sleep by the touch of an angel who had brought him a meal. He was woken a second time when the angel told him, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” So Elijah arose and ate and set out. Here is where we find out why he had run into the wilderness…it wasn’t just to die, he had a destination in mind and it would take 40 days to get there. He was headed to Mount Horeb (Also known as Mount Sinai, the mountain of God).
My first meditation comes from this half of the story. I found it worth considering what Elijah was running FROM and where he was running TO:
Elijah ran FROM the source of his fear. Jezebel was evil. From Elijah’s perspective she has successfully destroyed God’s prophets, His altars and the fear of God in the hearts of Israel. We all have things in our life that cause our feet to scurry in search of safer ground.
Elijah ran TO Mount Horeb. This was the Mountain of God. The same mountain where the Lord first spoke to Israel, where He met with Moses and gave him a glimpse of His glory, where He wrote the law in stone with His own holy finger. Ahab and Jezebel could tear down the altars and the people, but they could not destroy this mountain. This mountain reminded Israel that God meets with His people, and Elijah wanted God. This was no directionless running, he was was heading to the place he knew God had revealed Himself to His people before.
Man, I love that. Even though we see Elijah fleeing in fear, we see that the physical course his feet took was the same path that his spirit took when his vision was clear. His muscle memory, formed by years of looking intentionally to the Lord, instinctually brought him when he was in “flight” to where he needed to be: Where his Lord could be found. I know that God cannot be contained in a temple made by human hands—he’s not confined to a mountain or constrained beneath a steeple—but I know what it’s like when I can’t see Him to find myself wanting to go where I know He has been.
Psalm 84:5 “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.”
Psalm 71:3a “Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come.”
May I be a woman whose mind and heart and feet make their way continually to the Lord; may the grooves of my feet and the highways of my heart be so deep that even when my fear pushes me to run and hide, the course I take brings me straight to Him.
Elijah had just come down from Mount Caramel, where he had made visible for Israel that YHWH was the one true and living God and that Baal, the false god they had been worshiping was not. Following this, all 450 prophets who were perpetuating this idol worship in Israel were put to death….and when the wicked King Ahab went home and told his wicked queen Jezebel the events that had unfolded that day, she didn’t bend the knee and declare YHWH to be God as the people of Israel had, instead, she vowed that she would kill Elijah THAT DAY.
Remember how it says that “Elijah was a man just like us” [James 5:17]? Well, even though he had just stood in front of all of Israel and watched the fire he had called down completely consume the offering and the stone altar it sat upon…Elijah was afraid and he ran.
For an entire day he ran deeper and deeper into the wilderness until he came to a broom tree where he curled up in the dirt beneath it and asked the Lord to take his life before Jezebel did. “I’m done, Lord, take away my life; I am as good as dead anyway.” And then he slept.
He was woken from his sleep by the touch of an angel who had brought him a meal. He was woken a second time when the angel told him, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” So Elijah arose and ate and set out. Here is where we find out why he had run into the wilderness…it wasn’t just to die, he had a destination in mind and it would take 40 days to get there. He was headed to Mount Horeb (Also known as Mount Sinai, the mountain of God).
My first meditation comes from this half of the story. I found it worth considering what Elijah was running FROM and where he was running TO:
Elijah ran FROM the source of his fear. Jezebel was evil. From Elijah’s perspective she has successfully destroyed God’s prophets, His altars and the fear of God in the hearts of Israel. We all have things in our life that cause our feet to scurry in search of safer ground.
Elijah ran TO Mount Horeb. This was the Mountain of God. The same mountain where the Lord first spoke to Israel, where He met with Moses and gave him a glimpse of His glory, where He wrote the law in stone with His own holy finger. Ahab and Jezebel could tear down the altars and the people, but they could not destroy this mountain. This mountain reminded Israel that God meets with His people, and Elijah wanted God. This was no directionless running, he was was heading to the place he knew God had revealed Himself to His people before.
Man, I love that. Even though we see Elijah fleeing in fear, we see that the physical course his feet took was the same path that his spirit took when his vision was clear. His muscle memory, formed by years of looking intentionally to the Lord, instinctually brought him when he was in “flight” to where he needed to be: Where his Lord could be found. I know that God cannot be contained in a temple made by human hands—he’s not confined to a mountain or constrained beneath a steeple—but I know what it’s like when I can’t see Him to find myself wanting to go where I know He has been.
Psalm 84:5 “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.”
Psalm 71:3a “Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come.”
May I be a woman whose mind and heart and feet make their way continually to the Lord; may the grooves of my feet and the highways of my heart be so deep that even when my fear pushes me to run and hide, the course I take brings me straight to Him.
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