Are You Expecting A Miracle?
Good Morning Friends,
The faith life is a pilgrimage of worship as we grow in relationship with Christ in fellowship and character. Imagine now Jesus with His disciples starting on the journey to Jerusalem for one of the three great festivals. As they begin, tradition was to sing Psalms 120-134 in sequence. Today we read the first verse of the first Song of Ascents and imagine taking that first step toward the highest city in Palestine and singing that first note with Jesus as he turns his eyes upward to Jerusalem. So too we must leave behind our routines and we must make our way on the Christian journey…Here we learn that this life pursuing God is about taking the first and next step from mountaintop to valley to mountaintop. As reality sets in, the direction we go is critical. That is why when we are in trouble…when we are dealing with discouragement it is best to seek God’s intervention right away. So too in today’s scripture from the book of 1 Kings, we see the effects of an emotional roller coaster in the story of Elijah after his mountaintop experience of defeating the evil prophets of Jezebel. So it comes to the next step and today’s question. Are You Expecting A Miracle?
Scripture: I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me.
Psalm 120:1 (NIV)
Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’ Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, ‘Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.’ He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’ He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces 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; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.
1 Kings 19:1-12 (NRSV)
Message: Psalm 120 has a lot in common with the story of Elijah in today’s reading. Both are about a person, sick of the world and sick of his very life. The psalm is a kick in the backside that gets us going on the journey from the mountaintop through the valley to the mountaintop. It is an admission of our trouble. Ever feel like this world is not your home and you want out? Aren’t you sometimes…maybe even now… absolutely fed up with the ways of the world? Aren’t you thoroughly disgusted with the way things are? If you are then you might be motivated to repentance… motivated to get out of your cave and set out on the Way of Jesus. Perhaps here we might be ready to change directions. Here we might get a little Rx for the soul…a little healing for the anger and funk and frustration of running on empty. Here in the silence we need to examine our very life…we need to examine our focus and then enlist help. Discouragement does not have to be the end of the journey it can be the beginning of one. So eat a little food and get some sleep, sing a song and set out with Jesus with that first step on the journey to the mountaintop. Someday our nation, communities, cities, businesses and States may learn the lesson that Elijah learned. He ran out of gas but he kept going. He ran on feeling, fear, fumes and finally faith. Through hope, survival, depression and finally in the Spirit he found purpose doing what he needed to do. You can too if you expect a miracle on the journey…one step at a time…one song at a time… one note at a time…connected in the spirit that has no end.
Pray for those who struggle with fear and worry. Pray that we remember to look to God when we are overwhelmed. Pray we get our spiritual bearings and right direction for the journey. Pray for a change of direction for those people who try and control others for their own selfish ends on the journey. Pray we continue on the journey even though we face accidents and hardships and unresolved issues. Pray we are rescued from the lies in this world. Pray we find the truth that God made us and loves us….that God is the only one who tells the whole truth. Pray we make a decision to make that first step away from the lies. Pray we seek God first. Pray we expect a miracle in the journey. Pray we sing a song on the way.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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