Not Alone

“Be strong and courageous.  Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9

Elijah couldn’t do it alone.  Even though he was a great prophet of God.  Even though through him, God worked many miracles and spoke to His people, urging them to repentance and faith. At Elijah’s word, it did not rain in Israel for over three years.  And through those three years, while there was famine and drought in the land, God provided food and drink for Elijah, using ravens to deliver food to him, and making sure a widow’s jar of oil never ran dry.  When the widow’s son died, God raised him back to life through Elijah. And then there was the great victory of God’s power on Mt. Carmel, when Elijah defeated the 450 prophets of Baal in a contest to see whose god was the true God, once and for all.  So of all people, after all that, one would think Elijah to be a perfect example of faith and steadfastness and stick-to-it-ness.

But Elijah couldn’t do it alone.  When Queen Jezebel learned that her prophets and her god had lost the public contest to Elijah and his God, she threatened his life – and fear, despair and discouragement got the better of Elijah. For what good is miraculous food and even victory when you’re going to die?  Who would there be left in Israel to raise him back to life?  And so he journeys out into the wilderness, lies down under a broom tree, and tells God: Take my life and let me be.  The challenges of life are just too much to handle.  But God does neither. He doesn’t take his life or leave him alone – He feeds him. Not once, but twice. And with no mere bread, but with bread that supplies strength for Elijah’s entire journey, 40 days and nights.  Bread that sees him through the wilderness, until he arrives at the mountain of God.

Elijah couldn’t do it alone. But he was not alone.  The false gods, false prophets, and evil kings and queens were no match for the One who accompanied Elijah. The One who gives strength for the journey. The One who gives no mere bread, but bread of life.

           

Elijah couldn’t do it alone . . . and neither can we. No matter how strong a Christian you are, no matter how strong your faith.  How easy it is for fear and despair and discouragement to get the better of us.  How easy to feel abandoned and all alone.  How easy to lie down in our own little corners and, like Elijah, tell God: Take my life and let me be.  Life and all its burdens are just too much to handle.  But such words show that WE are trying to do it on our own, and relying on our own strength, our own intellect, our own words, our own ingenuity, our own wisdom and might. For if life is too much for us, it is not God’s strength that has let us down . . . it’s because we’ve (once again!) struck out on our own, through the wilderness, only to find out that the journey is too great for us. We can’t do it alone.

Elijah couldn’t do it alone, and neither can we.  But you are not alone.  So if you’re going to curl up and hide under a tree, don’t look for a broom tree!  Curl up and hide under the tree of the Cross, where God gave His life for you.  His life for your life.  The journey is too great for you, but it is not too great for your Savior. “I am the Bread of life,” Jesus said.  “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed are all who take refuge in Him.  God’s answer for our discouragement is Christ.  He is our Living Bread for the journey of life that leads to our eternal home.  And Christ alone will raise us up on the Last Day.