When you think that it is too late for you, God is just beginning.
Let's listen to the words of Jesus.
Mark 8:34-37 (MSG) Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said,
“Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead.
You’re not in the driver’s seat; Iam.
Don’t run from suffering; embrace it.
Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all.
Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self.
What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?
What could you ever trade your soul for?
Christ is with us in the areas that we fall short.
I try to put God in a box that makes sense to me.
God is in control no matter how things appear.
Please read Psalm 23 in the Message Bible.
I was in despair.
I said, God if there is one ounce of mercy in You, please take me home.
How can God be in control when everything is out of control?
God, how can you be in control and good?
My mom told me.
Life is a test.
You have a heavenly Father watching over you.
I was determined that I'd be the perfect Christian, and it almost killed me!
I tried to get God to love me.
I tried to earn it.
It's possible to be very well known, and desperately lonely.
I was afraid to be fully known in fear of being rejected.
I was locked in a mental ward, and cried out to God in despair.
I was afraid of everyone.
The Bible is not a book of words, but a book of life. In times of desperation, start there.
These were desperate times in the Bible.
Elijah had spoken of a drought, and a price was on His head.
Read 1 Kings 18.
It was 1 man against 850 men on Mt. Carmel.
The 850 thought that their god wanted their blood.
Other religions want us to bleed for their god. Christianity is about a God who wanted to bleed for us.
Elijah stepped out in faith.
God showed up, but Elijah's life was in danger.
God is in control no matter how things appear.
God answered by fire to consume Elijah's sacrifice, and the 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah perished.
Elijah ran straight to Jezreel. Where King Ahab and Queen Jezebel lived.
After God had showed up in such an incredible way, Elijah must have thought that they'd repent, or the people would have cast them out.
Instead nobody cared.
Jezebel sent Elijah a message that he would be dead in 24 hours.
Have you ever felt let down by God? That nothing makes sense.
Perhaps you have a child that you've prayed and prayed, but they want nothing to do with your Jesus.
Elijah had a servant not because he was rich, but because he was prophet.
He let him go because Elijah was done!
1 Kings 19:3-4 (NKJV)
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!”
No matter how bleak it might get. God is in control no matter how it might seem.
God is with you even if you can't see his plan.
(In your deepest pain, remember that your life is not yet over).
1 Kings 19:5-6 (NKJV)5 Then as he (Elijah) lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, Arise and eat.”
6 Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water.
So he ate and drank, and lay down again.
(The enemy assaults us when we are hungry, angry, lonely,tired = h.a.l.t.)
(In this passage, God countered the demonic assault of Elijah with a meal. God gave him rest and a meal).
God gave him no judgement. He gave a gentle touch, and a heaven cooked meal.
1 Kings 19:7 (NKJV)
And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said,
“Arise and eat,
because the journey is too great for you.”
The angel of the Lord is called a Christophony.
It is an Old Testament manifestation of the second person of the Trinity, Jesus.
Elijah would not have known that.
The Christophony would not have looked like a heavenly being, but like a man.
He had no idea that God in human form woke him up with a touch, a meal, and much needed rest.
God meets us where we are and not where we wished that we would be, and he offers grace.
Psalm 23:6 A
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life.
God stoops down to meet us where we are.
The shepherd always knows where to find us.
The shepherd always knows where to find us.
Grasp hold of this.
When you think that it's all over, with God it is just beginning.
When Elijah woke up, he headed for Mt. Sinai. The mountain where Moses met with God.
There he took cover in a cleft of a rock. There God asked Elijah a question.
1 Kings 19:9 B. But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
When God asks us a question, He's trying to get us to reflect what are my decisions that have taken me to this place.
God asked Adam and Eve where are you for that same reason.
What are you doing, and where are you doing it?
Are you hiding from God?
There was heavy winds, a earth quake, and a fire, but the cleft kept him safe.
Just as it had sheltered Moses.
Just as it had sheltered Moses.
God told Elijah that there was always a plan in place.
You're not my last servant, but there are 7,000 others.
We try to put God in a box, but he won't live there.
However, let's look at another mountain in Luke.
Luke 9:28-31 (NLT)
28 About eight days later Jesus took Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray.
29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white.
30 Suddenly, two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared and began talking with Jesus.
31 They were glorious to see.
And they were speaking about his exodus from this world, which was about to be fulfilled in Jerusalem.
There they are Jesus, Elijah, and Moses talking face to face.
Jesus took the fire, the furious winds, and the earthquake, so we could hear the grace filled whisper.
I love you.
Notes taken from Shelia Walsh guest speaking at Saddleback Church.
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