Lewis Memorial UMC

Life during Biblical times was a lot different than life today! In fact, I would venture to say that just about everything is different now when it comes to things like food and clothes and buildings and technology and many other areas. Life during the New Testament was even different than life during the times of the Old Testament because of Jesus. THAT is the one thing that hasn’t changed over time! There is one aspect of Biblical times that I wish was the same today! It seems like God spoke to people in a more direct way back then. We can read story after story of when God spoke to the prophets and appeared to people in visions and had His angels talk to people in their dreams. That doesn’t seem to happen near as much today!

Maybe it’s because of us and not because of God. Maybe people back then were more open to hearing from God than we are today. Maybe they had more faith than we do today that God would respond to their cry for help or when they needed direction in their life. I don’t know the reason why, but I would love to hear a voice from heaven like Elijah did in our scripture reading this morning out of 1Kings. Elijah was feeling down and actually was giving up on life because he was running from death and felt like he could not go on. He actually told God that he had enough and asked God to take his life. That is where we pick up this story. Elijah fell asleep and an angel awoke him and told him to get up and eat.

Now that kind of message from above seems to come to me a lot as I get up and eat a little more than I should. But can you imagine if you were facing a giant of an issue in your life and an angel of the Lord appeared to you and gave you direction? Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Not only did the angel tell him what to do but he provided what he needed! We are not sure how long Elijah had gone without food and/or water, but he ate and drank and fell back to sleep. Apparently he didn’t exactly do what he was told as the angel appeared a second time with the same directions. This time the angel was a little more detail oriented! “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you!”

Wouldn’t it be great if God would just communicate that openly with us? Or does He already through His Holy Spirit? Maybe instead of food and drink God reminds us through the Holy Spirit to read and meditate on the Word of God, otherwise the journey will be too much for us! Maybe the Holy Spirit reminds us daily to pray - otherwise the journey will be too much for us!

But I want to get to the part of this scripture that just seemed to jump off of the page for me. Look back with me at 1Kings 19:9. After Elijah ate and drank he traveled for 40 days and nights to Mount Horeb and the food and drink he consumed that was given to him from the angel lasted for all of those 40 days! Just another reminder that God provides for all of our needs! Verse 9 says, “At that place (Mt. Horeb) he came to a cave and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to Him saying, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?” This is the first of two times God asks this same question. I have often wondered how this sounded to Elijah. There are a couple of ways of looking at this. Maybe God was asking with a certain amount of joyful surprise, like when you see someone you know at a place you are not expecting to see them. When you run into someone you know while you are on a trip out of town it’s surprising. “What are you doing here?”

Back in the early 90’s I was a head custodian at a middle school over in Smyrna, Ga. Years later as a youth minister I took our youth white water rafting in Tennessee. Once the guide finished giving everyone directions about rafting I heard someone say my name with surprise in their voice. It was a P.E. teacher from that middle school who I had not seen in about 4 years. I was standing there with an oar in my hand, life jacket on, helmet on my head getting instructions about rafting at the entrance of the river and was asked, “What are you doing here?” I felt like saying, “Here’s your sign!!!!” The point is she was surprised to see me in unfamiliar territory. Is that how God questioned Elijah?

Or was God asking him this question in a negative sense, like “What are YOU doing here?” Or “What are you DOING here?” Both of these have a feeling of disappointment. In some way this is what was going on. This is not where God thought He would be speaking to Elijah so I believe He was asking him, “What are you doing HERE Elijah?” I wonder if God ever asks us the same question when we are not where God wants us to be. Or does God ask us this question to make us think about WHY we are at a particular place. Have you ever stopped at work and wondered why you are there? Or maybe even at church or on a mission trip or on top of a roof or during a 30 hour famine?

After God asked Elijah this question Elijah answered by saying that he is the only one left to worship the Lord and all the others are trying to kill him. I am glad that this would not be my answer if God asked me this same question! Now look at verse 11. God responded to Elijah’s answer by giving yet more instruction! “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” What a great response by God! Wouldn’t be great if God not only spoke directly to us and told us what to do, but also revealed Himself to us like this?

But then again, maybe He does and we just don’t see it because of the storms and wind and fires in our lives! Continuing in verse 11 we read, “Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.”

In the stillness and in the quiet places God is there! Once all of this happened Elijah knew he was in the presence of God Almighty and what did God ask him? “What are you doing here Elijah?” When God reveals Himself to us in any form we need to respond! If God reveals Himself to you this morning then I hope and pray that He does not have to ask why you are here! Sometimes when we hear God we want to stay right were we are and just sit in His glory, but we can’t sit here all day for we must go out on the journey He has set for us! When God speaks to us and tells us what we are to do for Him we need to get up and do it! We cannot just sit here and do nothing about it! God should not have to ask us why we are here after He reveals what we are to do for Him! When He wakes us up from the spiritual sleep we have been in then we need to trust Him, knowing He has provided all that we need to do His will!

Maybe God is asking us some questions this morning! What are you doing here? What are you doing here on this corner Lewis Memorial? What are you doing here for my people? In Psalm 46:10 God says, “Be still and know that I am God!” I want us to do that right now and through this prayer and during Communion this morning I pray that when God asks us what we are doing here we will be able to answer Him. Will you pray with me?