How to Lead in Uncertain TimesSample

Finding Focus

The prophet, Elijah, was a great man of God, but he was not exempt from life's unwelcome challenges and vicissitudes, including uncertainty. Prolonged uncertainty has the potential to lead to discouragement and even depression. After Elijah defeated the 450 prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel and ran all the way from Mt. Carmel to Jezreel, he learned that King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, wanted to take his life. Elijah became uncertain about his future and God's reliability in protecting him. Yesterday we saw how physical fatigue was one factor that contributed to Elijah's sense of uncertainty and how God brought refreshment to his servant.

The second factor at work in Elijah's uncertainty was a loss of focus. He started to view God through his circumstances instead of his circumstances through God. When he was doing battle with the prophets of Baal, the prophets themselves were the last thing on his mind because he was completely focused on God. He was looking at the great challenge through the lens of God's faithfulness. God was huge, and his circumstances were minuscule. But when he began to focus on his circumstances, fear and uncertainty took over.

The refreshment God provided gave him strength, but he used that strength to run and hide in a cave! "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." – (1 Kings 19:8-9)

But God wasn't going to let him stay in the cave of uncertainty. And the word of the Lord came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Elijah replied he was afraid for his life, and then God said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by." Through wind, earthquake, fire, and whisper, God began to reset Elijah's faulty focus by revealing himself afresh to his prophet.

No matter how out-of-focus our lives become, God will not give up on us, doing whatever he must to make his presence known. For some of us, it might be that a whisper is all we need. Others of us might need an earthquake, but either way, God will come after us. That is the revelation of God in this passage – He loved Elijah too much, and He loves you and me too much to let us stay in our caves.

What about you? How is your focus these days? Have you let an improper focus lead you into a cave of uncertainty? Are you willing to let God lead you out into the light of his presence and restore your focus?