Study 17 - Foundations

Now that he’d been refreshed by God, Elijah was no longer running aimlessly into the wilderness. He was running back to his roots: to Horeb, where God first spoke to Moses from the burning bush and made a covenant with the Israelites, giving them the Ten Commandments (Deut. 5:2-4). Elijah was going back to his foundations.

Truth
When you’re perplexed and disillusioned, you can’t stay in the wilderness, you must run to things that you know are true. Remember the foundations of your faith. Remind yourself, ‘Hey! I’ve been born again! Didn’t Jesus say to his followers, “I am with you always”? Isn’t he the same yesterday, today and for ever? So what am I doing allowing life to toss me around? Why am I carrying on as though I’m standing on shifting sand? There’s a solid Rock over there. I’ve got to get back to it, back to God, because with him there’s a foundation stone on which I know I can stand. I don’t know why the job fell through … don’t know why he’s developed cancer … don’t know why the engagement failed … But I do know that God is my fortress.’ Or, as Job responded, even in his suffering, ‘I know that my redeemer lives.’

You’re not following an abstract philosophy. You’re in a covenant relationship with a God who acts in history, a person to whom you can run. Many Christians waste weeks, months and even years through neglect of this truth. You have a covenant-keeping God. He won’t fail you. Upon such bedrock you can stand.

Identity and accountability
Now Elijah was ready to hear from God. He was rested and nourished and had run back to the roots of his faith. God met him with a question, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’

Elijah had come to the place where he said of himself, ‘I’m nothing. I’m hopeless. I’m an emotional mess. I might as well be dead.’ But God said of him, ‘No. You’re Elijah. You’re not a nothing. You’re a person and you have a name and a history. Not only that, you’re my servant. You’re accountable to me, so what are you doing here?’ God knew that Elijah’s thoughts about himself weren’t true. He’d run away, yes, but he wasn’t a hopeless mess. He was God’s servant and God wanted him to see anew the dignity of his identity.

God wants you to know that you’re not, as many modern philosophers suggest, simply a lot of feelings and thoughts happening one after the other. A mass of feelings has no identity, but you do, and with identity comes accountability. One day you will stand before God and give account of what you did with your life, how you used the talents God gave you. The awareness of that truth should stir you out of the complacency and lethargy that can swamp your soul after a period of discouragement.

‘The fear of the Lord teaches a man wisdom’ (Prov. 15:33). We dare not become so bound by self-pity that we lose our holy fear of God and stop serving him. For some, this medicine may be hard to take but it will bring ultimate healing. God first gave Elijah rest, food and space, and then asked him, ‘What are you doing here?’ He made him face up to reality.

Quote
‘Self-pity is a powerful, negative attitude that gives rise to many, many excuses for sin. People fall into Satan’s trap of giving themselves “permission” to sin to compensate for the difficulties and trials they’ve had to bear. Self-pity is a direct rejection of God’s control. It is saying, “I don’t like what you’ve done in my life, and I absolutely will not be content! I can’t change it, so I’ll just be angry and miserable.”’
John A. Younts, Everyday Talk, Talking Freely and Naturally about God with Your Children, Shepherd Press, 2004, p.140