Be
Still!  Listen!
Keith
McFarren
May 11,
2025
1
Kings 19:1-13
    The Bible is full of people we should look
up to…heroes, we might call them.  But at
the same time the Bible isn’t afraid to tell the truth about those same people…those
same people who are supposed to be the heroes of our faith.  
    Abraham was a hero…but he was also known
to lie.  Jacob was a hero…but he was also
a thief.  Moses.  We all know what Moses did…but he was also a
murderer.  King David was the greatest
king Israel ever had…a man after God’s own heart.  But David was also an adulterer and part of a
scheme to have his best friend murdered.
Rahab, was a woman who lived in Jericho. A woman who saved the lives of a
group of Israelite spies sent to scout out Jericho before attacking it.  Rahab’s name as well as all those mentioned
above appears in Hebrews 11, in what is called the Christian Hall of
Faith.  Oh, and in case you didn’t know, Rahab
was a Canaanite and also a prostitute.
    Our hero from Mt. Carmel, the prophet
Elijah, the guy we talked about last week…the guy who defeated Ahab and 850 of
Ahab’s prophets…was no different than those I just mentioned.  He too had shortcomings that the Bible
exposes for us.
    Elijah won the big contest against King
Ahab.  His God, the God of Israel,
brought fire down from heaven while the god of Baal didn’t…and Elijah was
declared the winner.  But there is more
to the story than just that.  After God’s
fire reigned down, Elijah killed all of the prophets of Baal and then he prayed
for rain and it rained like it never rained before, which caused massive
destruction and even death.
    In the meantime, Ahab, being the
tattletale that he was, was so mad that he ran home and reported everything
that had happened to his wife Jezebel, the meanest woman in the Bible, who then
sent a messenger to Elijah telling him that by this time tomorrow he would be
dead.
    That’s a pretty threatening message to
receive…you’ve got less than twenty four hours to live.  And when Elijah heard that there was a bounty
on his head, he did something that was out of character.  Elijah, who was tired and worn out from all
that had gone on just a little earlier on Mt. Carmel, did the same thing that
Peter did when he was walking on water.  Peter
was walking on water and everything was going fine…that is until he took his
eyes off Jesus and when he did that, he saw the storm around him and began to
sink.  
    Just like Peter, everything had been going
great for Elijah; that is until he found out there was a contract out on his
life and he suddenly lost not only his courage…but his faith in God went up in
smoke as well.  Scared to death, Elijah took
off and ran for his life.  He ran to Beersheba
which was way down south and way out in the desert and from there he ran and he
ran and he ran until he was so far out in the wilderness no one would ever find
him.  
    Tired, worn out and exhausted, he
collapsed under a tree and with what energy he had left in him yelled out to
God, “It’s more than I can take.  Take my life and let me be.”  This coming from the man who just a few
days ago basked in the presence of God…a man who just a few days ago single
handedly defied and defeated the 850 prophets of Baal.
    After facing Ahab and all the prophets on
Mount Carmel, I always thought that Elijah was a pretty tough guy.  Maybe he was on the outside, but on the
inside he was different.  Like many of us
he was ruled by his emotions, often going from elation to dejection in the blink
of an eye.  
    And now, despite his huge victory on Mount
Carmel, we find Elijah in a faithless funk.
“You know what God?  I’m done being a prophet.  I’ve been on the front line ever since you
chose me to be your spokesman.  I head up
all your causes; I’m on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week, and I’ve worked my
fingers to the bone.  And what do I get
for all I’ve done?  A contract out on my
head and I have less than 24 hours to live.
I break my neck to do what is right and I try to get the people to do
what is right, but it doesn’t work.  I’m frustrated.  I’m burned up and I’m burned out and I can’t
take it anymore.  Just kill me and get it
over with.”
Elijah’s frustration reminds
me of the minister who was asked if burying the people of his church was the
toughest part of his job.  “Not at all,” he replied.  “After
all, a Christian funeral is all about a celebration of victory.  The toughest part of ministry is going to an after
church Administrative Board Meeting and watching the people act contrary to
everything I’ve been preaching and teaching.
You sit back and you get frustrated as you watch people avoid each other
and refuse to speak to each other; you watch people argue with each other and
you watch people talk down to others, and you wonder “Have they not been
listening to what I say?  And you ask yourself,
‘After all I’ve done, I wonder if I’ve made even a nickel’s worth of difference
in any of their lives.”
    This is what makes Elijah so relevant –
he’s a prophet and he’s listed in Hall of Faith in Hebrews chapter eleven – and
yet, in many ways, he’s just like us.
Haven’t we all experienced frustration and fatigue in our lives?  Has there ever been a time in your life when
despite doing the very best you could, you’ve been completely and totally worn
down by the pressures and demands of everyday life?  If you’ve ever been a parent or if you have
tried to raise a family or if you have ever worked for a hard-to-work-for
employer, you know what I’m talking about.
If you have tried to wear too many hats at one time and discovered they
don’t all fit, you know what I’m talking about.
If you worry more and more about tomorrow and what tomorrow will bring,
you know what I’m talking about.  If you
have ever struggled with doubt about your faith, you know what I’m talking
about.  If any of these things describes
you, then you know how Elijah felt out there in the wilderness.
    We all get tired and we all get frustrated.  Like Elijah, we’re down and out and we’re
looking for something new and exciting to come into our lives; something to give
us a spark of energy or at least to show us a light at the end of the tunnel…something
to get us back on the right track again.
That’s the kind of message Elijah was looking for.
    The Bible is well known for mentioning
mountains because in the Bible mountains have a meaning.  So looking for God and hoping to hear from
God, Elijah went to Mt. Sinai…the mountain associated with God’s presence and
God’s power.  Mt. Sinai was where God
appeared to Moses and later gave him the Ten Commandments.  A mountain is where Jesus gave his best
sermon, prayed for his life and ultimately died on the cross.  Mountains had a history of having exciting,
life changing things happen.  Surely,
Elijah thought, this is where he could find God.
    But instead of standing on Mt. Sinai to
look for God, Elijah, who was tired and frustrated with life, decided to go into
a deep, dark cave on the side of the mountain.  To my way of thinking, caves have a negative
connotation.  They aren’t bright and
cheery…caves are dark, dank places.  Caves
are places of resignation, not revelation.
They are places of containment, of concealment and of death.  
    Think about David, hiding in a cave,
fearing for his life as he was being hunted by Saul.  Or think about the deep, dark cave like place
that Jonah spent three days in during his time in the belly of a fish.  And then there was the cave that Jesus was
buried in…caves are places of emptiness, of loneliness and isolation and darkness.
    I don’t know about you but if I were at
the end of my rope and I was searching for God, the last place I would do is to
hide in a cold, dark, dank cave.  
    If you were to look for God, where would
you look?  Where is it that we might find
God? Maybe we could find him in the wind!
The Bible talks a lot about God and the wind.  After all, it was the wind of God that blew over
the waters when God created the earth.
It was that same wind that was breathed into human beings at the very
moment human life began.  It was the
sound of the wind that created all sorts of havoc when Gods spirit came at
Pentecost.  If there would ever be a way
for God to make his presence known…it would have to be in the wind.  But then again, God isn’t always in the wind
because God is not always found in the same place or in the same way you found him
before.
    We remember the God who created the
planets and the rocks and the trees and the animals.  With a God this powerful we should be able to
find him in a powerful earthquake that shakes the world around us.  After all it was God’s presence in an
earthquake that tore the Temple curtain on Good Friday giving us full access to
his kingdom.  And then it was an
earthquake that shook apart the jail cell where Paul and Silas were being held
in prison.  If we were to find God,
surely we could find him in an earthquake.
But God isn’t always in an earthquake because God is not always found in
the same way or in the same place you found him before.
    What about fire?  Surely God’s presence can be found in
fire.  God used a pillar of fire for 40
years to lead the Israelites through the wilderness at night.  And there were the little tongues of fire
that touched down on all those present on the day of Pentecost.  And even Elijah himself witnessed the
presence of God in the fire sent down from heaven on Mount Carmel.  But it doesn’t always work that way.  God isn’t always in the fire because God
isn’t always found in the same way or in the same place we found him before.  
    When we limit ourselves to looking for God
in the same ways and in the same places that we’ve looked for him in the past,
we’re not always going to find him.  God
is powerful and at times overwhelming but that doesn’t always mean that he is always
going to show up at the same time and in the same place, whenever or wherever
we want him to.
    Thinking back, I don’t believe I’ve ever
been in a real cave…but figuratively speaking I’ve probably been in one more
times than I can remember.  Figuratively
speaking, caves are places we go when we’re feeling frustrated or feeling like
we’ve reached rock bottom or when we feel like God no longer cares about us or
our problems.
    But a
cave can also be like a mother’s womb.  A
cave can be a deep, dark, isolated place, but it’s also a place where we can
emerge with new life.  It can be a place
of rebirth…or a place of transformation…if we are willing open our hearts and
our minds to God and God’s word.  And it
was in this cave that Elijah did just that…and it was in this cave that Elijah not
only found God but he also found himself.

    You see, the battle isn’t always won at
the top of the mountain with fire coming down from heaven or with the earth
shaking or with high winds blowing.  The
battle can also be won simply by opening our hearts and minds and quietly listening
and sensing God’s presence and knowing that he is always with us and that he always
cares about us.
“Be
still, and know that I am God!”  That’s what the psalmist wrote in Psalm 46:10,
but that’s not what we do.  How
often do we ask God for something and then fail to take the time to stop and
listen for his reply?  We fail to stop
and listen for God’s reply because being still and being quiet in the world we
live in isn’t easy.  The world demands so
much from us and along with these demands comes the feeling of being
overwhelmed and frustrated.  We try to do
what God wants us to do.  We try to live
as he wants us to live and things still go wrong and we still get down in the
dumps and we still get frustrated and we still want to quit.  
    But it’s during these tough times God
wants us to be still and to be quiet, so that he can calm us just as he calmed
the raging sea.  “Why are you so afraid,” he asked the disciples that night.  “Have
you no faith?”
   That’s why we have to leave room in our
hearts and minds for God to come to us.
We have to set aside our preconceived notions of where we expect him to
be and open our hearts and minds to where he could be.  Be still, be quiet…listen and watch for God to
work.  
    God moves in mysterious ways…not always in
big and bold and flamboyant ways but sometimes he works in quiet, unspectacular
ways.  He uses little things to
accomplish his purpose.  As someone once
said, “Great doors swing on small hinges.”  God uses small things to open mighty doors.
    We cry out to God hoping that he’ll appear
in another one of his spectacular manifestations.  But God isn’t locked into appearing in one
way and one way only.  God doesn’t always
come to us in flashy ways…he come in unspectacular ways as well.  He comes sometimes through quiet, soft
ways…through some type of unspectacular event or even sometimes through common,
everyday people.
    And sometimes, God’s voice is even present
during a time of God’s self-appointed silence…like during the birth of a child
to an unwed mother in a manger in a small town…or even in the death of an
innocent man on a cross.
    The key to experiencing something new,
something surprising and amazing in your life is not necessarily by expecting God
to do something big and bold and breathtaking.
The key to overcoming frustration, exhaustion and spiritual burnout is
to quiet your heart, and quiet your mind and simply listen…no matter where
you’re at…simply listen for God’s presence.

    He may come in a way you would have never
expected.  And that’s okay because that’s
how God works.  Open your heart and open
your mind and allow his spirit to fill you, and to comfort you, and to encourage
you, and if you do that, he will give you a newfound strength, a strength to
continue on…even in the darkest of times.