Why WorryShembull

PRAYER:

To begin your time, thank God for the specific ways He has provided for you in the past. 

READING:

Now and Then – Part 2

Today we continue the story of Elijah. After being sent by God to deliver a message to a wicked king and demonstrating God’s power, Elijah was being chased by people who wanted to kill him. He was on the run, exhausted and afraid.

“…When he came to Beersheba in Judah… 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.’” – 1 Kings 19:3–4

Elijah had given up hope—he thought he was better off dead.

“Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, 

‘Get up and eat.’ He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.’ So 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.” – 1 Kings 19:5–8

Horeb was what we would refer to as Mount Sinai, the mountain where Moses encountered the burning bush and where God delivered the Ten Commandments. In the minds of the Jewish people, Horeb was the place to go to be with God. Elijah spent over a month traveling to this deserted, lonely place to die and to be as close to God as he could because nothing made sense and tomorrow was so uncertain.

“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?’” – 1 Kings 19:9

God wanted to know why Elijah was so far from where God intended him to be. For Elijah, the future was so threatening that he ran away. When we’re stressed about the uncertainty of tomorrow, we sometimes do some running ourselves, don’t we? You may be in a place that you have never been emotionally, relationally, or physically—all because of the stress and the anxiety and the fear of tomorrow. If so, like Elijah, you’re in a place where you really have no business being. 

“He replied, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.’” – 1 Kings 19:10

Elijah told God his story as we might—giving an explanation, thinking he was justified in running away. We tend to do the same thing—we know God already knows, but we want to tell him our stories to justify our behavior.

Tomorrow we’ll finish the story and see what it means for our own response to the problem of worry.

REFLECTION:

Have you let your concerns about tomorrow drive you to a place—emotionally, relationally, or physically—where you have no business being? What if God showed up in that place and asked, “What are you doing here?” How would you respond to Him?