Do You Know Why You Are Here?
Good Morning Friends,
Do you ever get tired and discouraged? We all do. Ever feel like you are not being effective in the way God would have you be effective? I have. Have you ever felt like the church and other institutions are stuck in neutral? Perhaps we all have been discouraged. Sometimes it is a characteristic of those who care. The good news for those who want to make a difference is that the work God has assigned us to do is never in vain. It may be something big or a million small things. It is our purpose to glorify God. Do You Know Why You Are Here?
Scripture: When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart,
Jeremiah 29:13 (NRSV)
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 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. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
1 Kings 19:1-13 (NRSV)
In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,
Ephesians 1:11 (NRSV)
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31 (NRSV)
Message: In today’s scripture from 1 Kings, the prophet Elijah feels beaten even though God had been totally present in his actions. He has fallen into depression based on the threats from Jezebel and all he sees is a dark future. He has no hope left in this world, everything he knows seems to be destroyed. His life is threatened and he has no place to go. He finds a shady spot to sit down and asks to die. An angel cares for him and directs him to a cave where he spends forty days and nights away. And then in a still small voice God speaks to him and asks: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” I believe that is God’s question for us this morning. What are we, the body of Christ, doing here? What are we, humans doing on this Earth? What are we the people of the United States of America doing for God? We are among the most blessed in the world. Our nation is rich while many of us don’t feel that way ourselves I believe it is a case of just not knowing how lucky …..No, how blessed we really are. So back to the question. I believe that God is still waiting for our answer. I think for us the question is really, in what ways do we actively reach out to glorify God? Like a divine therapist, God asks an open-ended question, “Elijah, what are you doing here?” And then God just listens. God just listens as Elijah pours out his anxiety and loneliness and despair. We too need a God who is still listening. When we are full of fear and anxiety and just need to unload, we don’t need someone to give advice right away and tell us what to do. We need someone to just listen giving us peace. But God is still listening for an answer. “What are you doing here?” God asks, and in asking that question, God is saying. “Come out of hiding. Be here. Be present. Be here because I am here. Unload your anxiety, cast your cares on me. I am listening.” When God finally speaks, it’s not what you think God will say. “There, there, Elijah. I love you. It’s going to be OK.” God doesn’t give Elijah any apparent comforting but peace comes nevertheless. God just listens and then sends Elijah back to work, back to where he is needed. He sends him back down to the valley, to the work that God had called him to do, back to being a prophet. It’s as if all Elijah needed was to pour out his heart to someone who would really listen to him and then the healing begins. But that’s not where this story ends. If you read on, and I encourage you to do that, you will see that Elijah comes down from the mountain and as he walks back into his life there is somebody else walking by his side. God brings the gift of Elisha into Elijah’s life. He’s no longer alone. He has someone to pass on the work he was doing. So sometimes we need time to be alone with God, we need times of solitude to be renewed, but that is never an end in itself. God calls us out of our loneliness and gives us the gift of each other. God calls us to work together. So friends, discover that the power of peace grows and thrives where respect and love of other believers are present. Peace grows and thrives when we become clear witnesses of God’s power in our lives. Peace grows when we obey the Lord. Peace grows in us when God’s peace takes us over. Here in this place of peace we discover God’s purpose for us and our potential through acts of faith to glorify our Creator. Friends, God made us so we could glorify Him and have fellowship with Him…sometimes on a mountaintop and sometimes in the valley.
Pray for those who struggle with fear and worry. Pray for those proclaiming the good news in hard places. 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
that we go where God asks us to go. Pray that we live in a sense of expectancy. Pray that we recognize under whose authority salvation, healing and peace is realized. Pray we find the truth that God made us and loves us. Pray that we jealously guard against claiming any glory but offer it all to God. Pray that we be energized with the power of God, motivated to find opportunities to minister to hurting people… always expecting a miracle. Pray that we be still and experience what we have been searching for. Pray we not seek God in the experience of earthly power. Pray we seek for God in the still small voice that tells us even now what we already knew…that God is here right now in our hearts listening.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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