Study 13 - Reaching Rock Bottom

One moment our great hero is standing confidently on Mount Carmel calling down fire from heaven; the next he’s a terrified man running for his life towards the desert. Yes, ‘Elijah was a man just like us’ (James 5:17). On Mount Carmel he looked like someone out of this world. But now we recognise flesh and blood, and suddenly we can identify with him.

So where did Elijah go wrong? Here was a man whom God had trained to bear up under pressure. ‘Give me your son,’ he’d said to the widow during his training period. ‘Come here to me,’ he’d said to the nation on Mount Carmel. Elijah invited pressure, so why did he suddenly collapse under it? One thing is sure, like Peter on the lake, his eyes must have drifted away from the Lord. But why?

Did he become angry?
God’s judgement may sometimes seem harsh, but it’s always flawless and is always motivated by love. As imperfect human beings, we frequently find it hard to express righteous anger. Someone sins and we confront him, but we allow our own feelings of hostility to take over. So instead of loving the sinner and hating the sin, we lash out and condemn both.

Did Elijah fall into this trap? When he challenged the priests of Baal, did he slip from God’s holy wrath into his own anger and frustration?

When taking your stand against modern evils, beware of adopting a judgemental spirit and working off your own personal frustrations and pet hatreds. Never forget that God hates sin but still loves sinners. How often have overly zealous ‘evangelists’ given people the impression that a vindictive God is totally against them?

Did he become proud?
Elijah had spent three years concealed from the public eye. All his previous miracles were worked in private – by a hidden stream or in a widow’s humble home. Suddenly, Elijah faced not seclusion but overwhelming public triumph and vindication. An obscure prophet unexpectedly became the most famous man in the land.

Perhaps you’ve been hidden away for a while. Maybe your whole church used to meet in a living room, but now it’s the biggest in town. Maybe God is beginning to use you to bring words of knowledge or answer your prayers for the sick. Now others are beginning to seek you out; you’re getting a reputation. How are you handling it? Once you begin to gain popularity it can easily go to your head.

Elijah’s early ministry was characterised by God-consciousness. But at some point, did he suddenly become self-conscious? As he shot past the king’s chariot did he think, ‘Hey, Ahab. Look at me. I’m motoring!’ Elijah hadn’t had a public ministry before. But now the spotlight was on him. Beware the secret ambition for recognition.

Did he become exhausted?
Elijah may simply have been worn out. For three years he’d been living under the pressure of a drought that he’d announced. Then came the emotional build-up to Carmel, as the news travelled slowly across the nation without the aid of radio or television. This was followed by the emotional demands of the day itself. Finally, there was the crushing realisation that Ahab and Jezebel were untouched and unchanged. Elijah was emotionally shattered.

Quote
‘In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that – and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison – you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud, you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.’
C.S. Lewis