Are you running from God?

Here we have Elijah sulking in victory and awaiting defeat under the shade of a broom tree.

We have heard the same Peter who would glorify Jesus and Moses and Elijah with a shrine, deny knowing Jesus when he risked imprisonment or execution for his confession of Christ.

We have even seen Moses, God’s hand-picked leader of Israel to lead them to the Promised Land, weary of the weight of leadership.

Yet God pursues victory beyond the focus of our vision and glory higher than the imagination of our defeat.

1 Kings 19

The Lord Speaks to Elijah

⁹ There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him,

“What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁰ He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

¹¹ And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.”

And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord,

but the Lord was not in the wind.

And after the wind an earthquake,

but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

¹² And after the earthquake a fire,

but the Lord was not in the fire.

And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

¹³ And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said,

“What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁴ He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

¹⁵ And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.

WAIT a minute! Elijah, Prophet of Israel who God has used to prove His Almighty Power over the false prophets and worshipers of Tyre and Sidon and places beyond Syria; Elijah, Prophet of Israel, who had thought his battle against Ahab and Jezebel was over (and that they would kill him); GOD commands Elijah to anoint a man Hazael as King of Syria!

Syria! NOT Israel, NOT Judah. Almighty GOD is anointing a King of Syria; as before Moses, God had anointed a Prince of Egypt named Joseph.

GOD is strategic beyond the best planning and foresight of man. As with Moses being succeeded by Joshua, God also appoints a powerful successor to the Prophet Elijah. And God also commands the defeated Elijah under the broom tree waiting to die to anoint the next King of Israel to replace his pursuer Ahab. (The fate of Jezebel she has prophesied on herself.)

[Previously, in 1 Kings 19:2 – “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” ] Of course Jezebel’s gods are nothing more than stone and wood.

GOD continues Elijah’s orders:

¹⁶ And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. ¹⁷ And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. ¹⁸ Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Elisha later witnesses the Prophet Elijah taken up into heaven! Seven centuries later Peter, James and John would witness Elijah standing with Moses and Jesus talking about that which is to come.

And when Peter later denied knowing Jesus, God pursued him. Peter was witness to Jesus after the resurrection.

NO broom tree to sit under or cave in which to hide – Jesus walked along the road to Emmaus: God pursued Peter.

And providentially enough, not so much later, Jesus appeared alive once more to another Jew, an Apostle to the Gentiles. And where was it where GOD, in the risen Christ Jesus, pursued Saul, persecutor of Christians?

GOD met Saul on the road to Damascus, Syria!

Paul is witness to the risen Christ Jesus! A man from Tarsus (in Turkey) testifies JESUS IS LORD!

GOD is not ONLY the God of the Jews; GOD is the ONE GOD, over all who believe in Christ Jesus our Lord; any who will listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit and return to the way of God’s will.

Not my will, but thy will be done. – Luke 22:42

Let us prepare for the return of Christ Jesus our Lord upon the clouds in victory.

Amen.