Finding God in the WildernessSample

Focus

Reflect on today’s reading using these questions.

1. How does God respond to Elijah?
2. What might these signs express about God?

Elijah talks to God about his pain

Elijah reaches Mount Horeb (also known as Mount Sinai) after a 40-day journey with no food. He finds shelter in a cave. He has had plenty of time to think about his experience on Mount Carmel and Jezebel’s threat. When he arrives, God now speaks to him for the first time, asking, “What are you doing here?”

Elijah seems to feel pretty much the same as he did before his journey. He tells God a story of failure and trauma—that only he is left after faithless Israel has abandoned God and killed all the prophets. And now they are trying to kill him as well.

Notice that God still does not rebuke or correct Elijah’s perspective. Instead, God shows his presence and power to Elijah. Then he asks Elijah a second time about what has brought him to this point in his ministry. God invites Elijah to talk about what he has experienced.

When a person experiences trauma, they may find it necessary to keep telling about what happened to them, as if they are trying to make sense of chaos and disorder in their life.

Connect

1. What story in your life keeps playing over in your mind, or is hard to make sense of?
2. Is there someone in your life who is safe to tell a portion of your painful story?
3. What signs of God’s power can you see that remind you of his care?

Dig Deeper

Psalm 62:8 (NIV) reminds us that we can tell God our complete story even when it is hard to tell another human. Consider how you can write out or otherwise express your pain to God.

Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.