Years ago I knew a woman whose husband died suddenly. They
had just built their dream house on a lake. He was the owner of a large tile
company in Pittsburgh, so the house they built was full of tile. There was tile
in the kitchen and bathrooms; but more than that, there was a tile mosaic in
the living room, and the porch overlooking the lake was covered in multicolored
tile. It was absolutely beautiful - so bright and colorful. And yet, when the
husband died, all beauty seemed to wash out of her life. There she was, all
alone in a brand new home.
One morning, at a point of particularly acute despair, she is
sitting on her bed, in “their” bedroom. The sun is shining through the eastern
windows, but none of that matters to her. The sun has gone out of her life. She
is in, what the Puritans called “the slough of despond.” And what makes it
especially tough is that it was immediately after accomplishing their dream.
The house was built. It was all paid for; yet now it seems like a giant
albatross.
So she’s sitting there on the bed with her eyes closed. All
at once she opens her eyes and stares straight ahead at the bedroom door. It’s
a panel door painted white. But this morning the door is bathed in sunlight.
And for the first time ever she stares at the cross that separates the panels.
She has seen doors like this all her life, but that morning she really sees it
– the cross. Instantly the Holy Spirit speaks to her out of the silence and
says, “You’re not alone. He’s with me and so are you.”
As she told me the story tears filled her eyes. It had been
over thirty years since the Lord spoke to her in her brokenness. And yet, as
she described it, it seemed to me as though it had happened only a day or two
ago.
Last week we focused on the story of Job. In twenty-five
minutes we were able to review his entire life and focus on its climax - God’s
exposure in the whirlwind. Though Job is at his lowest, when God shows up,
rather than comforting him, He challenges him. “Where were you when I laid the
foundations of the earth?” “Who do you think you are challenging me?” God shows
up and speaks to Job out of the whirlwind and Job is changed.
This week we see God exposing Himself in an entirely
different way. It’s a different kind of suffering that Elijah endures. It’s a
suffering of defeatism. At this point in his life and ministry he wants to die.
He wants God to end his life just like Moses did in Numbers 11, just like Jonah
did in Jonah 4. But interestingly, his crash came not after a loss, but a win.
In fact, the win Elijah experiences in I Kings 18 is as great a victory as
there is in the Old Testament. His circumstances couldn’t be more dissimilar
than Job’s and yet, their despondency is mutual. Elijah is in the pit of
despair and it’s at that point that God comes to Him and exposes Himself in the
prophet.
In preparation for this second message in our series “Divine
Exposure”, you may wish to consider the following:
1.
Why does God value stories so much that He fills
the Scriptures with them?
2.
How has God spoken to you through stories,
biblical and otherwise?
3.
Why do some scholars believe that chapter 19 is
an editorial error, i.e. there’s no way chapter 19 follows chapter 18?
4.
What is Baal worship and why is Israel engaging
in it?
5.
What is Elijah’s hope going into the showdown at
Mt. Carmel?
6.
Why does Elijah select this site for the
showdown?
7.
Why within four verses does Elijah leave his
servant and go hide himself? What’s he doing and why?
8.
What do you make of God’s approach to him in
19:5f?
9.
What are the problems with Elijah that God
addresses at Horeb? (Note the significance of this place.)
10.
How does God change Elijah through this
exposure?
11.
How does his story parallel your story?
See you Sunday!
