1 Kings 19:13

1 Kings 19:13

It has been more than once observed that some of the men who, as we say, most distinctly leave a mark on their age, are liable to great changes of spirits, alternating between buoyant enthusiasm and something like despair. The great effort which rivets the attention of the world, which perhaps gives an impression of extraordinary strength and capacity, is often dearly purchased by succeeding hours of depression and weakness. So great was Elijah's power both over man and nature, that in after-ages his countrymen came to regard him as an almost preternatural personage, whose conduct was not a precedent for, or an example of, that of ordinary men. St. James prefaces his argument by what might seem to us a very obvious and trite remark, but it was a remark which was by no means unneeded by St. James's first readers. He says that "Elias was a man subject to like passions with ourselves." Elijah, he means, had his share of impulse and of weakness, and therefore the power of his prayers is an encouragement to others than himself.

I. In deep depression, after a journey of forty days, Elijah reached the sacred mountain, the very scene of the great revelation of Moses. There the word of the Lord came to him, and the Lord said to him, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" To the question Elijah could not but reply. It was, so it seemed to the prophet, his zeal for the cause of God, it was his tragic despair, it was his isolation, it was his crushing sense of impotence and failure, which had brought him thus to Horeb. His answer is neither accepted nor rejected; it is passed by significantly without a word of approval or rebuke.

II. "The Lord passed by" before Elijah on the mountainside. In physical impulse, in convulsive terror, in the white heat of emotion dealing with sacred things, we may ask for God in vain, but when conscience speaks clearly we may be sure of His presence. Conscience is His inward message, and in its quiet whisper we listen to an echo from the Infinite and the Unseen.

III. Conscience then repeated the question, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" Observe that the motive of Elijah's despondency was beyond all question unselfish and noble, but in itself his despondency was wrong. He might have remembered that what passes for the moment on earth is no measure of what is determined in heaven; he might have reflected that, while duties are ours, events are God's. For the moment he had set aside the claim of duty in favour of the indulgence of sentiment.

IV. The directions whispered by the still small voice to the conscience of Elijah involved two principles, (1) Elijah was not to dwell on the abstract aspects of evil; he was to address himself to the practical duties that lay around his path. (2) He was to begin his work with individuals; he was to deal with men one by one. "Anoint Hazael" (the heathen monarch, heathen though he be, has a place in the Divine government of the world). "Make Elisha prophet in thy room. That shall be thy first concern, thy most sacred and imperative duty."

H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxiv., p. 97.

References: 1 Kings 19:13. F. W. Farrar, In the Days of thy Youth,p. 189; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. vii., p. 86, and vol. x., p. 342. 1 Kings 19:13. J. R. Macduff, The Prophet of Fire,p. 187. 1 Kings 19:14. J. Keble, Sermons for the Christian Year: Sundays after Trinity,Part II., pp. 52, 63. 1 Kings 19:15. J. R. Macduff, The Prophet of Fire,p. 201. 1 Kings 19:15. A. Edersheim, Elisha the Prophet,p. 1; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. v., p. 97. 1 Kings 19:18. F. W. Aveling, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xiv., p. 36. 1 Kings 19:19. W. M. Taylor, Elijah the Prophet,p. 149; J. R. Macduff, The Prophet of Fire,p. 215 H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit,No. 593, also Church Sermons,vol. ii., p. 353, and Old Testament Outlines,p. 79. 1 Kings 19:20. G. T. Coster, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xvii., p. 396. 1 Kings 19 Parker, vol. viii., p. 41.