I Kings 19:4-8; John 6:35, 41-51
“And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot
stones and a jar of water.”
Dorothy had her wicked witch; Narnia had its White Witch; Snow
White had her wicked queen; Alice in Wonderland had the Queen of Hearts. And
Elijah, well, he had his own wicked queen, and her name was Jezebel!
When Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done basically
killing all of her beloved prophets of Baal, she vowed to take Elijah’s life in
the same “sworded” way…and she intended to do it within the next 24 hours. When
Elijah heard this news, he arose and ran for his life.
My, my; things were NOT looking good for Elijah! He’s a man
on the run, hiding out in the wilderness, collapsing under a lone broom tree,
and begging the Lord to take his life, “I’ve had enough, Lord!”
Elijah has worked his heart out, run his buns off, prayed for
rain to come to Israel after 3 years of drought—which it did—and he has killed
hundreds and hundreds of false prophets—this should be an accomplished man! He
had been zealous for the Lord, he wanted to reunite Israel with Yahweh. Elijah
should have been ecstatic! Yet, he wanted to die, right there on the spot.
Under that broom tree, however, is one lonely, famished, discouraged,
depressed man. He is definitely in his “alone place.” Think of a time when you
were in your “alone place.” Just look around, as Elijah must have done, and
what do you see? Nothing but barrenness; loneliness; a deep sense of forsakenness—that’s
what it feels like to us under the broom tree, and surely that’s what it must
have felt like to Elijah in that place, too.
How many of us have arrived at a place of depletion—physical,
emotional, spiritual—where we’ve “had enough?” Certain times in our lives, we
just want to scream, “I’ve had it!” “No more!” “I can’t take it anymore!” Not a
fun place to be, is it?
So, friends, now you know how Elijah felt. If he were a
baseball player sliding into home base just under the catcher’s glove, Elijah
could not have come in any harder or faster under that solitary broom tree in
the desert. Exhausted, despairing, defeated, the broken prophet prayed, “It is
enough, now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”
(I Kings 19:4b).
Perhaps Elijah had hoped that the events on Mount Carmel
would change Ahab and Jezebel and the leadership of Israel so they would
worship God instead of those fatally false fools of Baal.
But that’s not what happened. All Jezebel saw was red—red
fury, red hunger and the red blood of Elijah spilled all over the ground by her
very own hand. [She was not a fan.] No
wonder Elijah asked that he might die; he’d never felt so frightened, so
depleted, so alone in his life.
Elijah was frightened; he was depleted, but he was not alone.
There’s someone else there, under that broom tree; can you guess who it is?
Yes; it’s God, God is there, in Elijah’s alone place.
How do we know God is there, under the broom tree, in that
alone place? We know because . . . there’s cake on Elijah’s pillow.
The first sign of God’s presence is God’s provision for
Elijah’s physical needs: rest and replenishment. God is aware we need these
things and wants us to have them. “Sometimes the most spiritual thing a person
can do is get enough rest and replenishment” (www.enduringword.com /commentaries/1119.htm); Elijah lays down his burden, his whole body,
and God takes care of the rest—literally.
“Suddenly, an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Get up and
eat.’ He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a
jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again” (vv 5-6). These are not
small needs!
Any old bread might have been provided, but God brings bread
that’s still warm from the hot stones; and who doesn’t love the aroma and warm taste
of fresh-baked bread?
The angel touches Elijah during his second sleep; “Get up and
eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you” (v 7). There’s more cake
on his pillow, more water in his jar, and more strength for the journey ahead.
The Lord knows Elijah needs strength because he’s about to travel 200 miles
over 40 days to Mt Sinai where God revealed himself to Moses, where God will
reveal himself to Elijah.
God provided food and water and strength for Elijah’s
journey, and God continues to provide for all his people. Maybe you haven’t
woken up recently with cake on your pillow, but maybe you’ve experienced a
situation that you thought was a lost cause, yet it’s been worked through. Can
you see in that place that you were not, after all, alone? God shows up,
friends. How do we know?
We know because God sent his son Jesus to be for us the Bread
of Life. In our New Testament passage from John, Jesus said, “I am the Bread of
Life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall
never thirst” (John 6:35), and that’s an awesome, amazing promise that no one
else ever has or ever will make.
But don’t place a period where God has spoken a comma—Jesus isn’t
finished yet! He reminds the people, “Your ancestors ate the manna in the
wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so
that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from
heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that
I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51). Nothing less
will give us the strength we need for the journey.
Donald Trump has his money; Dentist Walter Palmer has his
blood trophy; American Pharoah has his Triple Crown, and the world has its
seven wonders, yet none of those things is comparable in the least to the Good
News, the Good Food, we have today.
We have Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life. He is the bread (or
cake) that comes down from heaven, so that we may eat of it and not die” (John
6:50).
How great is our God?! God provides for his people in all
times and places—Adam had his garden, Noah had his ark, Elijah had his broom
tree—and we have our Savior.
Let us believe in him fully, call on his strength for our
journey, and receive the full and fulfilling promise for which he died: eternal
life, with him, with God, in heaven. Enough said! Amen.
August 9, 2015
Woodfords Congregational Church, Portland, ME
The Reverend Donna Lee Muise, Guest Preacher
