Day 1:
And the voice I hear falling on my ear the Son of God discloses...
He went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah” (1 Kings 19:9)?
As I wrote my story blog this month Paradise Pilfered (practicalfaithliving.com), I pondered my mother’s question, “What are you doing here?” It sounded familiar. And then I realized it ought to be. It was one of those hard questions from God—the kind He uses to capture our attention when we lose track.
It was the question He asked Elijah, not once, but twice, as the prophet, consumed by fear, hightailed it into the wilderness. We are given the story in 1 Kings 19:
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.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep... (vs 3-8).
He got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (vs. 8-9).
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (vs. 11-13).
A hard question for a prophet who had wandered into dangerous territory. I think of the countless times I too, have heard "the word of the Lord" speaking into my spirit, "What are you doing here?" I think of the countless ways its merciful challenge has arrested my wayward or misguided steps...
I think of the long wilderness of my prodigal wanderings, when in stubborn rebellion I pulled my cloak of defiance over my ears—refusing to hear the voice drawing me, calling me to the mountain of God. It was only after the shattered rocks, and the quaking earth, and the raging fire, that I was finally willing to uncloak my ears and hide my face in humble repentance, ready to hear the gentle whisper.
I think of other wilderness journeys like that of Elijah—faithless retreats, fear-filled flights and spirals into caves of self pity and despair. But our merciful God still speaks above the wind, and above the shaking, and above the heat.
He still whispers His words of challenge, "What are you doing here?" and His words of instruction, “Go back the way you came..." (1 Kings 19:15). Go back to the path of faith, back to the work yet undone, back to the certainty that "The Lord—He is God” (1 Kings 18:39)!
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