Study 74
Natural Refreshment
So often we’re tempted to think that relating to God is a frenzy of praying, fasting, giving and witnessing. But that’s not true. The God of the Bible ‘makes me lie down in green pastures …he restores my soul’ (Ps. 23:2,3) and ‘grants sleep to those he loves’ (Ps. 127:2). We must get to know the God who lets us lie down and sleep.
Rest, Food and Time
Elijah needed rest, food and time. So God gave him all three before he said anything to him. He let Elijah sleep and then gave him a meal. What does that tell us? Simply this: God knows our body’s requirements. He created and fulfils them. Let’s beware the super spirituality that looks exclusively for the supernatural answer and ignores the physical need.
Have you noticed? When Elijah was at the centre of God’s will, he was fed with bits of food by ravens. But when he was running for his life, disobedient and dejected, God didn’t dispatch another raven, but commissioned an angel to prepare a meal for him. That’s grace!
The devil tells us that when we disappoint God, we have to suffer for it. That’s a lie. When we fail, Jesus doesn’t keep us at arm’s length. Instead, he draws close to us. When Peter cursed and swore that he didn’t know Jesus, did Jesus reject him? No. After the resurrection, Jesus stood on the seashore and called to the disciples in the boat, ‘Come and have breakfast’ (John 21:12). He didn’t say, ‘Peter, you disowned me, so you can’t join us.’ The Good Shepherd was lovingly re-gathering his flock. They’d been in a boat all night and needed something to eat. Jesus was there to give it to them.
Elijah, too, had been working hard and needed refreshment. God was there to give it to him. After he’d slept and eaten, God didn’t immediately close in on him. He gave him space to get all the tension out of his system. He let him run.
Back to Basics
Once Elijah had been refreshed by God, he was no longer running aimlessly into the wilderness. He was going back to his roots, to Horeb, where God first spoke to Moses from the burning bush, where he’d made a covenant with the Israelites and had given them the Ten Commandments.
When you’re perplexed and disillusioned, don’t waste time in the wilderness. Run back to the things that you know are true. Remember the foundations of your faith. Talk to yourself. Didn’t Jesus say, ‘I am with you always’? Isn’t he the same yesterday, today and forever? Why am I allowing life to toss me around? Why am I living as though my feet were on shifting sand? I need to get back to the rock. Lots of things have happened to me that I don’t understand, but God is my fortress and I will not be shaken.
You aren’t just following an abstract philosophy or trying to be religious. You’re in covenant relationship with a God who acts and a faithful friend to whom you can run. Come back to your covenant-keeping God because he will never fail you.
Identity and Accountability
Elijah was rested and nourished and had run back to the roots of his faith. Now God could speak to him. ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ he said.
Elijah believed himself to be an emotional wreck who might as well be dead. But these thoughts weren’t true. He’d run away, but he wasn’t a hopeless mess. So God reminded him, ‘No, you aren’t a nothing. You’re Elijah, a person with a name and a history. Not only that, you’re my servant. You’re accountable to me. So what are you doing here?’
God wants you to see afresh the dignity of your identity. You aren’t, as many modern philosophers suggest, simply a lot of feelings and thoughts happening one after another. A mass of feelings has no identity, but you do, and with identity comes accountability. One day you’ll stand before God and give account of what you did with your life and how you used the talents that he gave you. This awareness should stir you out of the complacency and lethargy that can swamp your soul after a period of discouragement.
So beware the danger of being so bound by self-pity that you lose your holy fear of God and stop serving him. For some, this medicine may be hard to take, but it will bring ultimate healing. First God gave Elijah rest, food and space and then asked him, ‘What are you doing here?’ He made him face up to reality.
To Meditate On
We must learn to talk positively to ourselves.
’Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God’ (Ps. 42:5).
’Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him’ (Ps. 62:5).
’Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits’ (Ps. 103:1,2).
’Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you’ (Ps. 116:7).
Food For Thought
The Bible tells you that you are:
chosen and dearly loved (Col 3:12); born of God (I Peter 1:23; 1 John 5:18); adopted as God’s child (John 1:12; Eph. 1:5); Jesus’ friend (John 15:15); a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17); in him (1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 1:7); alive with Christ (Eph. 2:5); raised up with Christ (Eph. 2:6; Col. 2:12); set free (John 8:32; Rom. 8:2); sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13); a citizen of heaven (Phil. 3:20); blessed (Eph. 1:3); forgiven (Eph. 1:8; Col. 1:14); included (Eph. 1:13); not alone (Heb. 13:5); secure (Eph. 2:20); safe (I John 5:18); protected (John 10:28); no longer condemned (Rom. 8:1,2); not helpless (Phil. 4:13); victorious (Rom. 8:37; 1 Cor. 15:57; 1 John 5:4).
To Consider
Do a little research (from a newspaper, a magazine, a book, a newsletter, the television or the Internet) on the subject of poor and hungry people in another nation.
Spend some time praying that God will be merciful to them and meet their physical needs.
To Do
This week imitate God’s care for our physical needs by inviting a single person to your home for a meal or coffee and cake. Alternatively (if appropriate) invite him/her out for food in a restaurant/café and pay the bill!
To Be Inspired
‘Just think you are here not by chance but by God’s choosing. His hand formed you and made you the person you are. He compares you to no one else; you are one of a kind. You lack nothing that his grace can't give you. He has allowed you to be here at this time in history to fulfil his special purpose for this generation. You are God’s servant in God’s place at God’s perfect time.’ Anonymous
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