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[0:00] Seeking the Lord's blessing, we can turn again to the second portion of scripture we read. 1 Kings chapter 19.

[0:27] And we'll read again at verse 9. 1 Kings 19 at verse 9. And he came thither into a cave and lodged there.

[0:39] And behold, the word of the Lord came to him. And he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? Particularly that question addressed by the Lord to the prophet.

[0:54] What doest thou here, Elijah? Elijah. Now, it's not surprising that the Lord should ask this question of Elijah.

[1:13] Elijah. Because for the first time in Elijah's experience, in the word of God, he has moved out of the path which God required him to walk on.

[1:27] Elijah is for the first time in his life as it's presented before us, for the first time out of the way. He's gone out of the path and strayed into a bypass.

[1:39] And there's no way of bringing that more clearly before us than this. Every single time Elijah moves, we are explicitly told beforehand that the Lord asked him to move.

[1:52] The Lord asked him to present himself before Ahab. And it's written that Elijah went and presented himself before Ahab. The Lord then said to him, Arise and go eastward and hide thyself by the brook Cherith.

[2:06] And we read that Elijah arose and hid by the brook Cherith. Then we read that the Lord said to Elijah, Arise and get thee unto Zarephath.

[2:18] I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. And we read immediately that Elijah arose and went to Zarephath. And here for the first time, Elijah is found somewhere.

[2:31] And he's found in no man's land. He has left Judah and he's gone into the wilderness. And he's lodging in a cave. And the Lord never asked him to go there.

[2:42] So it's not surprising that the Lord says to him, What doest thou here, Elijah? Or what are you doing here?

[2:53] Who asked you to come here? Who asked you to present yourself here? Why are you more than a hundred miles away from where I last met with you? And where I last spoke with you?

[3:05] And far from the Lord asking him to come here to this cave, Read verse 2 of chapter 19. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, If I make not thy life as the life of one of the prophets of Baal By tomorrow about this time.

[3:28] And listen, And when he saw that, He arose and went for his life and came to Beersheba. This is the first time in which he arose Without the Lord telling him to do so.

[3:43] And he does it because of the wrath of the queen Jezebel. Now, The question also makes sense if we take it like this.

[3:55] What are you doing here, Elijah, In the spirit in which I find you here, Elijah? What does it mean for you, A man so well known for your courage, And for your strength, And for your power?

[4:09] What does it mean for you to be in this cave, Dejected, Depressed, And downcast? A mere shadow of the man you were, Many days ago.

[4:24] Why are you feeling like this? Why are you thinking the way you are thinking? Why have you changed so much from the kind of man you were, On the top of Mount Carmel, When you defeated the 450 prophets of Baal?

[4:38] Why do I find you running for your life, Almost utterly without hope, Dejected, And depressed? And in that way too, The question is very relevant, It's very powerful, And very penetrating.

[4:54] But the fact of the matter is that, Elijah is a man of God, Who has slipped, And who has gone out of the way. And the Lord will meet with them, Remarkably, With a view to bringing him back onto the path, And making him a powerful, Fiery, And zealous prophet, Again.

[5:17] Now, When the Lord asks this question, What doest thou here, Elijah? There's no doubt, But that he's encouraging the man of God, Into some kind of self-examination. Elijah is sitting in a cave, We have no idea how long he's been lodging in the cave, We're told that he came to the cave, And he lodged there, And the word of God came unto him.

[5:38] He might have been many days, In that cave, And he's morose, And he's confused, And dejected. But the Lord brings him, As it were, Face to face with this condition, And he says, What exactly, Are you, Doing here?

[5:53] And, When we fall into that kind of experience, In our Christian life, And we'll look at it, In more detail as we go on, That kind of state of apathy, Confusion, Deserting your post, Inactivity, Listlessness, The Lord will come to us in that, And he'll confront us with a word, From himself, For some kind of providence, That takes us as it were, And shakes us, And says, What are you doing like this?

[6:18] Or what does this mean, In your history, And in your experience, As it is right now? And Elijah finds himself, Face to face, With the word of God, In that matter, And he's forced, To look inwards, And he's forced to examine, His own condition, As it is, Right there, And then.

[6:37] Now if you're at all, In that kind of condition, The kind of condition, That I've described, Then listen, And even if you're not listening, Who knows, But that one day soon, You may fall into it.

[6:48] Listen to how the Lord, Meets him, What he has to say, To him, How he deals with him, And how he gently, And lovingly, Restores the prophet, And one of the most remarkable things, You'll see in this passage, Is the way in which, The great God of heaven, Mingles, The rod, And, Comfort, And, He mingles it, In a marvelous way, To bring the prophet, Out of dejection, And to make him strong, For himself, And able, To do exploits, Now, Let's look, First of all, At the flight, Of the prophet, Why he ran away, And how he ran away, And the spiritual significance of it, And in the second place, The way in which the Lord met him, And you'll notice in the passage, That the Lord met him twice, The Lord met him first, Part of the way into his journey, Underneath the juniper tree, He met him there, Through an angel, And touched him, But then secondly,

[7:49] The more marvelous encounter, At the mouth of the cave, In Mount Sinai, So the flight, And the two meetings, Of God with him, Now first of all, His flight, And you have it in verse 3, When Elijah saw that, He arose, And went for his life, And came to Beersheba, Which belongeth to Judah, And left his servant, There, Now why did he run, Well he ran obviously, Because of the message, Which Jezebel sent to him, Jezebel must have sent this message, By the hand of someone, Who knew where Elijah was, And the message was simply this, That if you're around, At this time tomorrow, Then you will be, As the 450, You have slain, And I will do my utmost, And use my utmost cunning, My utmost strength, And all my power, As queen of Israel,

[8:51] To make sure that you are dead, By this time tomorrow, And when he heard that, He arose, And he ran, For his life, Now, When you take these two verses, Together, You would conclude, That what made Elijah, Run away, Was fear, And in fact, Some modern versions, Of the Bible, Take the liberty, Of just adding that in, As though it's so clear, And so certain, They just added in, That Elijah was afraid, And ran for his life, Now it nowhere actually says, That he was afraid, That is an inference, Perhaps you can draw, But I would argue strongly, That it's a wrong one, Now there's no doubt, That it is possible, For some people, To be afraid, In these circumstances, You'll find many commentators, Painting this picture, Of this powerful man of God, Quaking before this woman, The man who had stood, Before the king, And before the 450 prophets of Baal,

[9:52] When he hears that Jezebel, Is angry with him, Runs for his life, As though he's afraid, Of the wrath of a woman, Now there's probably no doubt, That the wrath of a terrible woman, May be a terrible thing, And we have all known men, Who seem to be very strong, And very courageous, And we've seen them fall to pieces, Perhaps when their wives, Appear on the scene, There is no doubt, That such men do exist, Men who are very afraid, Of the wrath of women, Or certain kinds of women, But that is not true, Concerning this man, This man of God, Is altogether different, We have seen him stand already, Before the king and the queen, He has stood before everyone, It is quite clear, That in this man's experience, The position, Or the gender, Of the person in front of him, Has no effect on him whatsoever, He has only one thing in view, And that is God, And his glory, He has never been shaken, By the fear of man, And there is something to my mind, Ridiculous in the idea, That he is running away,

[10:53] Because he is afraid of Jezebel, Many have said it, But that is quite beside the point, It is not the case, Read again, Well, Read his own reason, Read his own reason, The Lord says to him, What are you doing here, Elijah, And listen to verse 10, This is his reply, And let's take it from himself, At face value, In verse 10, And he said, I have been very jealous, For the Lord God of hosts, For the children of Israel, Have forsaken thy covenant, Thrown down thine altars, And slain thy prophets with the sword, And I, Even I only am left, And they seek my life, To take it away, Now, The impression, That response, Should leave in your mind, Is not a person, Who is afraid, But a person, Who is deeply, Despondent, A person,

[11:56] In other words, Who is, Cast down, And can hardly believe, The state of things, As they now exist, In the land, How?

[12:08] Well, Because his expectations, Have been completely, Shattered, Ah, My friend, Christian friend, You know, You know, What that means, To have high expectations, To be believing, And expecting, That the Lord, Is certainly, About to do something, And then to discover, That it doesn't, Materialize, Things aren't, Things aren't, What you thought, They would be, Perhaps even, The Christian life, As a whole, Is not what you thought, It would be, You thought, It might be simple, Perhaps a life, Of ease, Or a bed of roses, You have found it different, You thought, You could trust, Everyone that professes, The name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, That has been, Your broken expectation, Whatever, Our expectation, Is really, That falls short, Of God himself, Will find it a broken, An empty vessel, Or a, Broken sister, And Elijah's life, At this point, Was full, Of broken, Expectations, And I'll put that,

[13:10] With respect, To other people, And with respect, To himself, Take first of all, With respect, To other people, Now, Just some months, Before this, You remember, He was walking, Forty days, And forty nights, And he had been, Lodging in a cave, Some months, Before this, Some weeks, Before this, He had stood, On the top of Carmel, And he had seen, The prophet slain, And God, Opened the heavens, And the rain, Cascaded down, After such a long, Period of dryness, And barrenness, And Elijah, Was convinced, That now, Was the time, Of change, And he was convinced, That now, Was the time, When Israel, Was going to turn, And everything, Was to be restored, And everything, Was to be revived, And when Jezebel, Sent this message, Elijah, Knew, That deep down, Nothing had changed, That the goodness, That Israel showed, On Mount Carmel, When they put to death,

[14:11] The prophets of Baal, Was the goodness, That appeared, Like the morning cloud, And then passed away, It was just a brief, To repentance, It didn't go deep, It didn't change, Their lives, The whole display, Of the fire, Coming down, Upon the altar, Impressed them, No doubt, But it didn't change them, It didn't change them, Fundamentally, Or it didn't change, Them really, And that was clarified, To Elijah, When this message, Came out of the court, He thought, Ahab, Would take matters in hand, When he had seen, The glory of God, In Mount Carmel, He thought, He would march, Into the court, And say, Enough is enough, Out with the idols, Of Baal, Down with the temples, Of Ashtaroth, But no, Jezebel is at the helm, And as long as Jezebel is at the helm, Idolatry is at the helm, And he has discovered, That the people, Of whom he expected, So much, Were delivering, So little, There was no will, In the church, To reform itself, No will in the church,

[15:13] To turn to God, There was, A flurry, Of repentance, But it was superficial, And he knew, And saw the truth, That deep down, They just did not have the heart, Or the spiritual life, To turn, With all their hearts, To the Lord, And to, Crave, A blessing from him, And that's what broke, The man's heart, And it was a broken heart, That made him flee, Not fear, But a broken heart, And a shattered, Expectation, Have you experienced that, In your own life, Have you thought, Or expected much of others, And you thought, That people were on the brink, Perhaps of doing something, You thought there was, Great promise there, And then you found out, I've been misled, And mistaken all along, It was just a, Superficial, And a slight thing, Deep down at the root, Idolatry reigns, And idolatry, Is at the helm, And that, Is why,

[16:14] The man, Of God, Flees, Oh real will, To put that right, It's a sad, Sad sign, Indeed, And it broke, This man's heart, But he was also, Disappointed, In himself, Look in verse 4, When he lies, Underneath the juniper tree, He himself, Went a day's journey, Into the wilderness, And came, And sat down, Under a juniper tree, And he requested, For himself, That he might die, Now, He means that, It's not said, Flippantly, He means it, He is asking the Lord, Just to take, Away, His life, For I am better, For I, He says, I'm not better, Than my father, Now what does he mean, By that statement, Well surely, What he means by it, Is this, That he thought, Or perhaps,

[17:15] He may have been led, Into thinking, That he could do, What others, Could not do, Perhaps he may have thought, That there was something, Concerning himself, That might just, Bring about the change, Which others, Had failed to bring around, But now, He realizes, That that is not, The case, He realizes, Fully, That there is nothing, In himself, Any more, Than what was in his, Prophetic fathers, In those who had called, Or summoned Israel, To repentance, In the past, And he sees, Himself as an utter, Failure, He thought, That his whole life, Had focused, And led up, To Mount Carmel, And when he saw, That Mount Carmel, Wasn't permanent, He fell down, In his mind, And he fell down, In his heart, And he says, Well what's the point, Of my life, What's the point, Of all I've said, And what's the point, Of all I've done,

[18:16] I feel that my whole life, Has been a waste, Of time, All that I've said, Has availed nothing, I'm sure, Every person, Experiences, Something like that, At one time, Or another, The feeling that, It's all, Been vanity, Even your best moments, Even the best things, You came out for, Or the best encouragement, That you gave another person, Or the most sensible thing, You ever said, You came to the conclusion, That was nothing, And worthless, And it was as well, For the Lord, To take you away, Not only, Had you done no good, In the past, But there was no way, You could see yourself, Doing any good, In the future, And as far as, Elijah is concerned, There is just no point, In his being in the world, Anymore, That is what you call, Dejection, It's a spiritual, Dejection, And a feeling of, Utter failure, And uselessness, And he's all together, Disappointed, In himself, Now, I don't know, But Elijah had been,

[19:17] For a long, Long time, Beside the brook, Cherith, Being fed, By the ravens, Witnessing the sheer, Power of God, Day and night, And the ravens, Bringing him meat, Day and night, But perhaps, He still has to learn, That the excellency, Of the power, Is not of himself, At all, That it is utterly, And altogether, Of God, If he did, Indeed, Think, That there was something, More about himself, Than others, God will shatter that, And God will break it, And that's the reason, Why God brings, Dejections into our lives anyway, It is very often, To empty ourselves, Of perhaps some notion, That we're entertaining, That is foolish, Or that is out of the way, The Lord has his ways, Of cutting you as a stone, And making you fit, Into his temple, He will bring us on, Bit by bit, Draining his own, True people, Of self-sufficiency, And pride, And causing them, To lean upon the Lord, And when you see in a moment, Elijah coming out, Of the wilderness,

[20:18] He is leaning more, Emphatically, Upon his beloved, Than he was going down, Into the wilderness, There is no, Bitter experience, Brought into your life, But that which will improve it, And better it, Under the hand, And under the power, Of the Holy Spirit, So Elijah, Elijah is downcast, He has been disappointed, In others, And he is utterly, And altogether, Disappointed, In himself, And let me say, Along with that, That he is lonely, Because he says, In verse 10, That I, Even I only, Am left, And they seek my life, To take it away, I don't know, If you have noticed, In the history, Of the Christian church, And indeed, In the scriptures, That many people, Mindfully used by God, Had to plow, A very lonely furrow, It wasn't there a lot, To have thousands, Of companions, Around them all the time, It wasn't there a lot, To have an easy life, Or a bed of ease, It wasn't,

[21:19] It was a lonely life, In which they were, Continually emptied, That God would do, Great things through them, Now Elijah, Was a lonely man, He couldn't see himself, As lonely, Because he had great things, To do, That would defeat, The object of the exercise, All he felt, Was his loneliness, And he says, I am alone, And it's as though, He's saying, I've always been alone, And felt alone, And now they seek, My life to take it away, But even there, You see, There's the cause of God, At his heart, What will happen, He says, If I go, I am the last of the prophets, You have allowed them to die, You have allowed them all, To be slain, As far as I know, Elijah says, There is none left, Except myself, And they seek my life, To take it away, What does this mean, The prophet is expostulating, With the Lord himself, Is it your purpose, To let Israel die forever, Are you going to extinguish, The church out of the world, And the man is a lonely man, And he puts up, As it were,

[22:19] A complaint to God, A little does he know, That the Lord, Has reserved to himself, Seven thousand men, Who have not kissed Baal, And who have not, Bowed the knee to him, And you know, That is a very encouraging thing, If you look at other parts, Of the world, Even if you look at, Our own nation, You think, Taking the overview, That there is a backsliding, And that is no doubt, The case, But there are pockets, Of people here and there, Groups meeting, Churches growing, And flourishing, And it's the same, In other parts of the world, People returning, To the reformation truths, And to the reformation path, God has his people, People who haven't, Kissed the idolatry, Of the day, People who haven't, Found an apathetic weakness, To the schemes, And to the plans, Of the world, People who haven't, Aped the world, But people who have loved him, And cleaved close to him, He has reserved, Such in the world, And may you be strengthened, By that, I believe when the Lord, Told Elijah that, That Elijah was strengthened,

[23:19] By it, There are others, And he has others, And so you remember, That he has others, He has others, Who love what you love, And who hold dear, The truths which you hold dear, And he will have them, As long as the sun shines, And the moon by night, As long as the world lasts, He will have such, In the world, To bear witness, To his name, Now, Notice this, When Elijah, Loses his hope, He starts, To wander, There's a spiritual principle there, As soon as he becomes disillusioned, He takes a wrong step, Not once, Do we hear of him, Taking a wrong step before, Until, He becomes disillusioned, Disillusioned, It's written in the Bible, He that believeth, Shall not make haste, Don't make haste, Even when you feel, Downcast,

[24:20] Don't do anything hasty, Don't take a position, Or don't take a course of action, That may be putting you against, What God had shown you clearly before, Don't do it, Stay where you are, Until the Lord shows your path to you, Let me show you what I mean, Elijah goes so far out of his way, That he travels to Beersheba, Now from Jezreel, That is a 90 mile journey, Going south, And slightly to the west, And Beersheba is well known in the Bible, Because of the expression, From Dan to Beersheba, Now that's like saying something like, From Ness to the Klisham, That means the whole, From one extreme in other words to the other, Beersheba is the very south, Of the promised land, It's the very border, Of God's own land, And Elijah makes a beeline for it, A whole 90 miles he travels, Without pausing, And without resting, And when he comes to Beersheba,

[25:21] He leaves his servant there, And he himself travels an extra day, Into the wilderness, And that's the beginning of a journey, He's not going to stop after one day, He knows where he's going, He's going to make his way, To Horeb, Which is another name for, Mount Sinai, Or it is the range, The mountain range, Where Mount Sinai is found, He's going to go all the way down, Through the wilderness, And he, Until he comes to this great mountain, Where God gave the law, To Moses, But before I pass on, I want to look at this, Why did he leave, His servant, In Beersheba?

[26:09] Well I would say, That there were two, Closely connected reasons, In the first place, He left him in Beersheba, Because what he had to do, He had to do on his own, There are times my friend, When the cause is so pressing, And the situation of her soul, Is so absolutely urgent, That it must be one to one, With God, And no other person, Must witness it, There are times, When the situation, Is that intense, And when it is that acute, This is between me, And the Lord, No one else can understand, And no one else, Can enter into it, What I have to say to the Lord, Is between me, And himself, You all know, Times like that, In your own experience, And that connects, With this, Elijah didn't want, His servant, To be a witness, To all that he was going to say, Because I believe, It might have, Discouraged, The servant, Or it might have,

[27:10] An adverse effect, Upon the servant's soul, There's an important, Spiritual principle there, And that's this, Never share, Your doubts, And your trials, Never share, Your doubts, And your trials, With those, Who are weaker, And less advanced, On the road, Than you are yourself, When you are discussing, With a less experienced person, His trial, Then keep it, Within the confines, Of your own experience, In relation, To what he is going through, Not in relation, To some things, That you have encountered, Much later along the way, Trials perhaps, Which you can hardly, Begin to dream of, And which you can hardly, Begin to understand, Which would utterly, Confuse the soul, And utterly perplex him, Deal with it, In the confines, Of what you experienced, At that stage yourself, In a similar kind of situation, And leave it at that,

[28:11] It can do, Untold damage, To try to speak, About things, That you met, Very late on, To a person, Who can hardly begin, To understand that, And, When you have a trial, Yourself, Take it to those, Who have been that way, And who you feel, Have walked that way, They will be able, In turn, To help yourself, They can cast light, On your situation, According to their own experience, Now Elijah was passing, Into a situation, That was beyond, That of the servant, So he left him, At Beersheba, I've no doubt, That he would later, Tell him parts about it, Or help him, Understand little parts about it, But as for the main part, He was better, Putting him, And leaving him aside, So he leaves him, At the edge of the land, In Beersheba, Now he walks, For a whole day, Through the dry, And dusty wilderness,

[29:12] And at night time, He comes to some water, We know there was some water, Because the juniper tree, Grew beside water, It would grow, To a considerable height, And there he wishes, To take shelter, For the night, And that's where, He puts up the prayer, He says, It is enough, Oh Lord, Take away my life, For I am not better, Than my fathers, So here is a man, At the end, Of his resources, And now let's notice, Secondly, The marvelous way, In which the Lord, Meets with him, And as I said earlier, He'll meet with him, In a way that mingles, Comfort and rebuke, And you'll find, That most, Dejected states, Require exactly that, People who are cast down, And who have become apathetic, And can hardly move, Because of their, Cast down nature, Very often, Require both, Rebuke, And comfort, To rebuke,

[30:14] Will just cut them, All together, Or to comfort, Will do no good, The Lord knows, How to mix them, And, The rebuke is necessary, And let me say that, By the way, Because there's a tendency, In the church today, To think that, To think that, All that is needed, When a person is cast down, Is just to comfort, Or to pat his back, And to say that, All is well, I'm telling you all is well, I assure you all is well, Whereas very often, The reason behind, A person being cast down, Is some kind of, Neglect of duty, Or some failure, To do what the Lord, Has asked, Or some diversion, Into by path meadow, Instead of being straight, And true, According to the law, And according to the will of God, Certainly, That is how many, Of the Lord's people, Have experienced it, How often, Have we felt, That there are times, When we are cast down, And we thought, Ah the reason, We are cast down, Is because of what he said, Or did, And we've discovered, No the reason, I'm the way I am, Is because I'm not doing this, Or I'm not doing that, Elijah had left his post,

[31:16] And that was one of the major, Reasons, Why his dejection, Goes on and on, To the point, Where he asks God, To take his life, Well then, He meets him first, Underneath the juniper tree, And what does he do, Verse 5, And as Elijah lay, And slept under a juniper tree, Behold, An angel touched him, And said to him, Arise, And eat, And again the second time, The same thing happened in verse 7, The angel of the Lord, Came again the second time, And touched him, And said, Arise and eat, Because the journey, Is too great for thee, Now how marvelous this is, Here is the man of God, Who has gone out of the path, But the first thing the Lord does, Is meet him, In his physical and spiritual need, And he touches him, He comes and he touches him, And he gives him a little bread, And he gives him a little water, He furnishes a table for him,

[32:17] In the wilderness, The Lord knows, Where his children go, And even if the Lord will smite us, It is always in love, And he will never forget, To bind the broken hearted, And to feed his own children, He'll never leave that out, There will always be a little food, And a little drink, For the child of God, In whatever circumstance, He is found in, Even when, He is out of the way, Like this, Out of the way through dejection, Now notice, I don't know if you've noticed before, That it's expressly said here, To Elijah, The angel says it to him, That God knows, Where he is going, Elijah isn't wandering aimlessly, In the wilderness, He's going somewhere particular, And the Lord knows it, In verse 7, The angel says to him, Arise and eat, Because the journey is too great, For thee, And Elijah knows, That the Lord knows all things,

[33:18] Elijah knows, That the Lord knows, Where he is going, And that he knows, What's going on in his mind, Now, I said that Elijah, Was out of the way, There is a great truth, Which I wouldn't want, To confuse our minds with, But we must still bear it, In our hearts, There is this great truth also, That in the highest sense of all, The good man's footsteps, Are ordered by the Lord, Even this by path, Is supervised, And guided, By the Lord himself, Who will watch over, The very path of Elijah, Until God meets with him, And deals with him, In the way that he will, Though he stumble, He will not fall utterly, God knows, Where he is going, Notice again this, Forty days were told, And forty nights, Elijah lived, Elijah lived, On that bit of bread, And water, Now, What does that mean,

[34:20] Or what's the significance of it, To go forty days, And forty nights, In the strength of that, Well, I think what it means, Is this, That the Lord, Just gave him, Enough, To live on, Until God, Was going to deal, With the real problem, He just, Sustained, Elijah, Now I think, There is a spiritual significance, To it in other words, It's not merely, A matter of physically, Going forty days, And forty nights, In that food, There is an element, Of spiritual reality, To it, That God is sustaining him, However far, Elijah is going, Into this wilderness, There is sustaining, Power there, There is restraining, Grace, And there is, Sustaining grace, And it keeps him, For that forty days, And forty nights, Until he comes to Horeb, And where God, Is going to meet with him, And is that not how it is, Have you ever felt that, In your own life, When you walk,

[35:21] In a wilderness, And when perhaps, You have walked out of the way, And you are at an extremity, And you feel as it were, Like giving up, But there is just enough, To keep you, You feel you are tottering, On the brink, You are almost giving up, You are almost going back, You are nearly renouncing, But there is this, Thing, That keeps you, Day after day, And it's mysterious, And miraculous, To look at it, From a natural point of view, You would have gone long ago, But there you are, And there you last, And there you stay, And you stayed there, Day by day, Until the Lord, Graciously delivered you, And took you out of it, I'm sure, My friend, You've known a trial like that, And which one of God's children, Hasn't, The tried and exercised people of God, Know what it is, To live, As it were, By the skin of their teeth, To have just enough grace, To sustain them, Miraculously, They know not, From whence it comes, As it were, But day by day, It keeps them, Until God delivers them, And shows them, His glory, Forty days,

[36:22] And forty nights, He went in the strength, Of that bread, And of that water, And something else, With respect to the forty days, And that's this, Forty, Has a particular significance, In the Bible, Especially when you connect it, With the wilderness, Who else was forty something, In the wilderness, But Israel themselves, They were forty years, Wondering for disobedience, And here is Elijah, Wondering forty days, Let me say again, For disobedience, And the marvelous thing is this, Israel's journey, Could only have taken, Or should only have taken, Eleven days, Or even, Considering the route, That they took, It could be accomplished, In a few months, But it was lengthened, To forty years, For disobedience, In which he tried, And tested them, Elijah's journey,

[37:22] From Beersheba, To Mount Sinai, Could be done in fifteen days, Quite easily, And quite comfortably, What's he doing for forty days, I'm quite sure he's lost, And I'm quite sure he's lost, Because the Lord, As it were, Has caused him to wander, For exactly this period of days, So that he won't arrive at Sinai, Until forty days and nights are completed, So that when Elijah thinks, In the cave, Or when Elijah looks back later, At his own experience, He will say, Ah well, I was out of the way, And because I was out of the way, I was lost, And I was wandering, And I was alive, By the skin of my teeth, By the Lord's grace I lived, By the Lord's grace I persevered, By the Lord's grace alone, I made it, So the forty days, Tells us that, That he is in the place of Israel, The very Israel that he was rebuking, As it were, He has almost entered into, A past experience of theirs,

[38:24] Not of course as great, Not as fallen, But, He has himself, Gone out of the path, And what a big blow it was for him, To discover that, But the Lord, Took it home to him, Now what of the second meeting, That the Lord has with him, Well, Elijah carries on the journey, Until he arrives in Horeb, And he goes straight to this mountain, That hoary old mountain, That rocky and austere, Mount Sinai, And he knows exactly, Where to go, He goes, To the mountain, Because, He has something to ask, And he has something to plead, What does Sinai represent, To Elijah, What does it convey to his soul, Well it conveys this, It conveys the presence of God, And the reality of God, There, Thousands of years before, Moses,

[39:27] Had, Stood on that mountain, There the mountain had quaked, And the trumpet had sounded, And the Lord had descended upon Sinai, With thousands of his angels, On chariots, There the Lord had given the law, There the whole of Israel, Quaked and feared greatly, Because the presence of the Lord, Was so clearly seen, And felt, It was so thoroughly manifest, And God revealed his law, I am the Lord thy God, Which hath brought thee, Out of the land of Egypt, Out of the house of bondage, Thou shalt have no other gods, Before me, And so on the ten commandments, Delivered in the thunderous majesty, Of the presence of God, And the effect it had upon Israel, Was so great, And Elijah saying, Why can't we see it again, You who gave us the law, And you who gave us the covenants, Return us to those covenants, Don't leave us, As it were, Year after year, Perishing and dwindling and dying, Restore to us the glory, Which you showed to our fathers, Give us the same, And it's as though he's pleading,

[40:28] Let me see it before I die, Let me see thy glory, As really and as truly, As it was revealed on this mountain, So many years before, And, And on this question of glory, Look at verse 9, We're told that he came thither, Thither unto a cave, And lodged there, Now, There's a small detail here, And it's very interesting, And that's this, In the Hebrew, It actually reads, The cave, And he came thither unto the cave, And lodged there, Now, Taking that at face value, It would imply to you that, There was some cave there, Better known than the rest, Or some distinguished kind of cave, A place that he knew about, And I wonder if he was led by the Lord,

[41:29] To the cave, In which Moses himself, Stood in Mount Sinai, You remember when, The Lord asked Moses to stand, In the cleft of the rock, In the cleft of the rock, And Moses put up the prayer, Let me see thy glory, And God said, I will cause, My glory, To pass, How is it written?

[41:54] He desired that, He put up that prayer, And, Moses said, I beseech thee, Show me thy glory, And the Lord said, I will make all my goodness, Pass before thee, Now, Keep this in your mind, When the wind, And the earthquake comes, I will make all my goodness, Pass before thee, And I will proclaim, The name of the Lord, Before thee, And I will be gracious, To whom I will be gracious, And I will show mercy, On whom I will show mercy, And then the Lord said to Moses, You cannot see my face, For no man can see me, And live, And listen, The Lord said, Behold, There is a place by me, Thou shalt stand upon a rock, And it shall come to pass, When my glory passes by, That I will put thee, In the cleft of the rock, And I will cover thee with my hand, While I pass by, And I will take away my hand, And thou shalt see my back parts,

[42:56] But my face shall not be seen, And however God passed on that glorious day, Moses saw as much of the glory as he could see, And as much of the glory as he could take, Is that not the cleft of the rock, In which Elijah is led, By the hand of God, And by his spirit, And as Elijah not essentially putting up the same petition, Show me thy glory, So that I can feel it, And others might feel it, And taste it, And see it, See the power, And the glory of almighty God, That they may turn for once and for all from the idols, And that they would cleave, To the true God, Who lives, And who abides, Forever.

[43:41] Is that not your own desire? To see that glory? See it for yourself, You perhaps who saw it in a revival, Some of you who are older perhaps saw it in a revival, Do you ever stay up, Pleading with God to show it again?

[43:56] Will you not have the spirit of Elijah, For our sakes, And for the sakes of others, Who have never seen such things before? Give him no rest, Till he return, And show us that glory, A powerful awakening from the dead, That the church would not be ashamed any longer, But rise up, Full of the glory of the Lord, Seen in her face, And in her witness, And in her worship, And in every area of her life, And that is Elijah's desire, On that day, And what does the Lord say to him, In verse 11, Go forth, He says, And stand upon the mountain before me, And behold, The Lord passed by, Relate that to what you saw earlier, The Lord passed by, And a great and strong wind rent the mountains, And break in pieces, The rocks before the Lord, Elijah, In other words, Comes to the mouth of the cave, And suddenly from nowhere, A wind picks up, And it's a wind like Elijah has never seen before in his life,

[44:57] Around about him on that mountain, And begins to smash the rocks in pieces, He hears the rocks cracking, And the boulders fall, Because the mountain is pierced by the ferocity, And the savage nature of this wind, It breaks the rock, And as though that is not enough, Suddenly an earthquake comes, And he feels the whole mountain shaking, Just like it shook so long ago, When Moses gave the law, So the mountain shakes, And so the mountain quakes again, And then a fire comes, Who knows where from, But the fire rages in the presence of Elijah, But the Lord passed by him in these things, It is written that he was not in them, The Lord passed by him, With a quake, And with a fire and a wind, But the Lord was not in it, But then finally, There comes a still small voice, Verse 12, After the earthquake a fire,

[45:58] But the Lord was not in the fire, And after the fire, A still small voice, And that voice was so full, Of the presence of the Lord, That Elijah hid his face, In a mantle, Notice the reverence, That's all the way through the word of God, There's none of this playing fast and loose, With the presence, And with the name of the Almighty, That characterizes the church today, Everything about the Lord is to be feared, He puts his face in a mantle, Because God is present, God is present, And he's present in his holiness, But it's in the still small voice, Still small voice, And there's this man, The Lord passes by with a fire, He passes by with a quake, And he passes by with a wind, But in the still small voice, That is where the presence of God was, Now what does that mean to teach Elijah,

[47:00] Well what it teaches him, Is this or maybe there's a couple of things, First of all, Displays of the power of God as such, Don't convert anybody, God could cause a fire to rage, Right around us here tonight, And it wouldn't convert one single soul, Not a soul, He could cause a wind to blow, The like of which you never heard, Wouldn't change you, One little bit, Might make you shake for a while, Might make you question for a while, But believe you me, Although you might not believe it, You'd forget about it, And you'd find a rational explanation for it, Of some kind, And on you'd go with your life, These things don't change anything, Not even the fire, Blazing down on Mount Carmel, That day, Changed anybody permanently, It doesn't convert a soul, Did the Lord not say, That though Lazarus were to return, From the dead,

[48:00] He says, You would not believe, Miracles, Don't convert, They don't convert, And that is one thing, God is teaching Elijah, He says that, I came down on Carmel, He says in a fire, But I didn't change any heart, It's in my power to do it, I did not change it, It just hardened the hearts, Eventually, Of the people, Who were present, What the Lord is saying to a minute, Is this, Look, Elijah, I work, In my way, And when I work in my way, I work effectually, And I work powerfully, And I can do it, In any way, I choose, I don't need a fire, I don't need a miracle, Charismatics, Would lead us to believe, That God can't do anything, Without a crash and a bang, That there has to be a loud noise, Accompanying everything, Whereas the Lord tells Elijah, That his most powerful work,

[49:02] Is done through the still, Small voice, The wind bloweth, Where it listeth, You cannot hear the sound, You hear the sound thereof, But you cannot tell, From whence it cometh, Or whither it goeth, So is every man, Who is born of the spirit, I will work, By my spirit, And through the proclamation, Of the word, And that will change, The hearts of men and women, When I please, How I please, And when I please, I can't tell friends, But relate this to, John the Baptist in the prison, The Elijah of the New Testament, He had one period of doubt himself, And Christ came to him, And said, I work how I please, And when I please, It's the same message to Elijah, Don't you think, That you can change anything, Or anyone, I'll do it, And I'll do it my way, And what is this way, Well, He says to Elijah, And this is remarkable, When he's finished with Elijah, He says to him, Go back, He says, Where you came from, And on your way there,

[50:03] Take a detour, And go to Damascus, And anoint a man called Hazael, To be next king of Syria, And then he says, Go to Abel-Meholah, And go to a man called Elisha, The son of Shaphat, And anoint him to be prophet, In your room, If he ever thought, He was indispensable, Now he knows he's not, There's someone coming after you, He says, And what's more, If I'm not mistaken, I believe that Elisha, And his ministry, Was the still, Small voice, That the Lord would use, To powerfully bring, A large element of Israel, To himself, As though the Lord is saying, Yes, Elijah, I have sent you, And I have sent you to thunder, And I have sent you to prepare, But, He says, The crowning part of that work, Yours is a law work, And a law ministry, But the crown of it will come, When I send Elisha, Whose name means, Savior, Through him, I will turn many, To myself, He is the still,

[51:04] Small voice, Perhaps you could compare, Elijah himself, To a fire, And to an earthquake, But Elisha, Is the still, Small voice, Whom God himself, Will bless, And, Again, I can't tell, But wonder, If this is Elijah's experience, Where he says, With John the Baptist, I must decrease, And he, Must increase, And so he goes, Straight away, And what's the first thing he does, He goes, Like a humble man of God, And he anoints, Elisha, To be prophet, In his place, There the heart, Of the man of God, Comes out, He's not seeking, His own glory, No he is not, He is seeking the Lord, And when he hears, That a still, Small voice will come, Which will turn Israel, He's happy, He doesn't care, If it's not himself, Doesn't care, Let Elisha, Be the one, Through whom it is done, And he is content, To have it, So, But, Just in conclusion, Let me say this, That,

[52:05] What the Lord, Tells Elijah to do, Is, Essentially, To go back, And to do his duty, Now there's an important, Lesson there, If you, Left your post, Or if you left, The path of obedience, Go back onto it, And do what the Lord, Is wanting you to do, Never you mind, The troubles, Connected with it, Never you mind, The problems, Just do, What the Lord, Would have you do, Leave the results, To him, Leave it to the still, Small voice, You do, What the Lord, Asks you, And there is no better, Cure, For your disillusionment, Than to obey, The Lord, And you will find, In the path of obedience, That a blessing comes, Which will dispel, The clouds, Of darkness.

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