The weeks seem to pass with increasing speed as we adjust to the lock down in our communities. However, it is also clear that a greater number of people are feeling the mental and emotional strain of separation from friends and family and the familiar routines they previously enjoyed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On this day, another Wednesday, when we have set aside some time for prayer and reflection, we come to remember each other in our prayers for strength to continue our day to day lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I Kings 19:9b-10 What are you doing here?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And the word of the Lord came to him: \u2018What are you doing here, Elijah?\u2019 10 He replied, \u2018I 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.\u2019 (I Kings 19:9b-10)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Elijah had been happy with the dramatic and adventurous calling God had given him. He was a person happy with his own company and more than willing to live a lonely life as an itinerant minister serving the various rural hamlets of Gilead and in training future prophets to minister in other communities in the years to come through the small Bible schools at Jericho and Bethel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n His was a hard life, with many a night spent outdoors in the cold, together with endurance of the burning heat by day. Into that steady and settled work to which he was committed for the rest of his life Elijah\u2019s regular routine had been shattered by the call to address the king of Israel concerning the judgement God was about to visit on His sinful people Israel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The cumulative pressures piled upon his broad shoulders were gradually taking their toll. No ordinary mortal could have continued the day after the triumph on Mount Carmel as if it was another day at the office! The Covid-19 virus pandemic has come like a most unwelcome visitor into many of our lives that if we are honest had settled into a fairly comfortable pattern. It was not that everything was wonderful, but at least we had a fair idea of what was happening week by week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By contrast, the opposite is now true for many people. We cannot plan too far ahead because there is too much uncertainty surrounding what may or may not happen in the coming days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Will a vaccine be found that is completely safe? In the meantime how will my job be affected by the changes in guidelines from the governments in Edinburgh and London? Or will my company survive the lock down restrictions? When will I finally be allowed to go out freely to do what I want again? When will it be possible to gather as before in a church or a school, or a cinema or football ground? <\/p>\n\n\n\n These and so many more unanswerable questions pass through our minds. This chapter of I Kings reveals very clearly the pastoral heart of God, in the way that He deals with His servants in their most vulnerable times. It gives us a window into the heart of God and here in the Old Testament shows us a God of compassion, a term associated uniquely with Jesus in the New Testament, but it is an accurate word to describe the love of God for His people throughout recorded history. He had reached the point where he wanted to resign from his ministry because he was weary with it and felt it was time for someone else to take over. All of us can feel this way at times and sometimes with good reason, but not here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The lesson from this passage is the very opposite: Elijah wanted to quit because of the pressures of the calling, but these stresses arose precisely because he was being effective in God\u2019s service and had more years still to give in this important work. He could not see that, but being on his own that was not surprising. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is why it is so vital for us to be there for one another to encourage and sustain each other in our service for the Lord. Who might you want to contact today to encourage them at the present time? Ask God to put someone in your mind and sent a message of encouragement to them or even phone them to see how they are getting on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our song for today is: \u2018 I do not know what lies ahead\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elijah had sunk into self-pity and despair, recycling his difficulties repeatedly in his own mind. It may be part of the human condition to go through this process at times, but sadly we never feel any better for doing it, because the problems are not changed as a result of this activity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n