It Never Ends

Passage: 1 Kings 19:1-18

The book of 1 Kings chronicles the swift and steady decline of life in Israel under monarchic rule. As God predicted (way back in Deuteronomy), the kings of Israel and Judah have become corrupt and self-serving. As a result, God’s people have suffered. The same cycle gets repeated throughout 1 and 2 Kings: an evil king takes power; messes things up; dies or is murdered; and is succeeded by another evil king. The cycle never seems to end. Reading through it we have difficulty imagining how it’s going to change. We also have difficulty seeing God working in Israel in any positive way.

1 and 2 Kings also introduce some new characters. In these books we encounter prophets such as Elijah and Elisha – prophets through whom God works in unprecedented and miraculous ways. Although Israel’s political leadership takes the form of Godless kings, God maintains a clear and powerful presence among his people.

The prophet Elijah is called, among other things, to confront the evil that Ahab and his wife Jezebel have brought to Judah. 1 Kings 18 recounts the monumental showdown between Elijah, the lone man of God, and the entire priesthood of the idol, Baal. The showdown is resolved when God rains down fire from heaven and the crowd of onlookers shout, as with one voice, “The LORD is God! The LORD is God!” It seems as though God’s people are ready to turn over a new leaf under the leadership of the man of God.

Not so. No sooner have Baal’s priests been rounded up and killed than Queen Jezebel puts a price on Elijah’s head and he has to flee for his life. He retreats to Mt. Horeb, where he says to God, “When will this ever end? I’ve done everything you told me. And the world is still against us. I give up.”

God reveals himself to Elijah in a subtle and unexpected way that convinces the prophet that he is not alone. God is with him. God is with his people. And God concludes the conversation by reminding Elijah that in his country there are still thousands of people who haven’t succumbed to the idolatry of the nation. Thousands who claim the LORD as God. God’s presence with his people never ends. And the presence of God’s people in the world never ends.

The life of faith often feels lonely. It seems as though the evidence of our God in the world is scant. It feels like you’re the only one who really believes this stuff. It seems that the ever-shrinking church will only keep fading until its light is finally extinguished.

Don’t believe it. God will always be with his people. And God will always preserve for himself a people whose job it is to carry the fire. Hold it aloft and look around for the other flashes of light that pierce the darkness.