Day 3: I will carry you
[Elijah] came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors” (1 Kings 19:4).
Heavenly Father, You are our only hope when the difficulties of life weigh on us and it feels like we have had enough— the times when we pray, like the psalmist, From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I (Psalm 61:2 - NKJV).
You promised Your people long ago, Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you (Isaiah 46:4). And though You made that promise to a nation, it reflects Your faithfulness and Your tender compassion to Your people collectively and individually.
It was this faithfulness and tender compassion You showed the prophet Elijah when fear and discouragement drove him to the brink in utter despair:
Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors” (1 Kings 19:3-4).
Lord, Elijah knew firsthand that You are the one and only awesome, majestic God. He had called on You to reveal Yourself as God before the people and You answered with irrefutable proof—consuming a thoroughly saturated sacrifice offered on a flooded altar (1 Kings 18:32-39).
Yet even after praying for and witnessing such a major demonstration of Your power and might, Elijah became consumed by fear when Queen Jezebel threatened his life. He retreated alone into the wilderness, and, oblivious to the irony of his request, prayed that he might die (1 Kings 19:4). Instead, You offered Elijah physical and spiritual strength, righted his perspective, and renewed his calling and purpose (1 Kings 19:5-18).
Father, thank You for Your mercy and grace in the life of Elijah and in ours. You meet us in our discouragement—in our solitary desperation in wilderness places—under our broom bushes of consuming fear, despondency, disappointment, self-pity.
And when we have no strength for the journey, no will for the work, You send Your ministering spirits to refresh our bodies, revive our souls, and strengthen us for the road ahead. You right our perspective, remind us of our purpose, and help us to embrace with gratitude Your gift of life.
Father, You are our shelter (Psalm 61:4), our help... the One who sustains us (Psalm 54:4). Help us to guard against the things that expose us to defeat and despondency—loneliness and isolation, inadequate rest, inadequate nutrition, detachment from our God. And in the battlefield of the mind, help us to demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and... take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).
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