Reading: I Kings 19:1-8
And Elijah got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and
forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. I Kings 19:8
Elijah is ready to throw in the towel. He can stand up to King Ahab, but Queen Jezebel is just
too much. When she swears to have his scalp, he responds with fear, and he flees for his life.
He even tells God that he’s quitting. Who needs that kind of hassle? Prophet, shmophet! And if
God wants to zap him for giving up, so be it.
But God does not zap Elijah. Instead God nourishes him. Elijah’s own name could have
told us (and him too) that God would react this way. The word “Eli-jah” is a full Hebrew
sentence: “My God is Jahweh,” the covenant God of Israel. Other gods may zap their agents who
quit on the job, but not Jahweh. This God majors in rehabbing the losers, restoring the fallen,
forgiving sinners, re-filling the empties. So Elijah gets food and drink to keep on going.
With that nourishment he has strength (forty days worth = just enough) to get to God’s
own hideout in the Sinai desert. Here Jezebel can’t get him, and God can thus get on with the
rehab project. If you read on beyond the suggested verses above, you see that it takes more work
to get Elijah on track again. But those forty days were just enough to get Elijah to God’s own
hideout, the safe space for Elijah to be restored.
Lent’s 40 days are safe space for us to get our second wind, to get relief from the Jezebels
that are out to get us, to get the big picture. The Passiontide of Christ is just that: just enough
space for us to see that Elijah’s name is our name too. Our God is Jahweh, and Jahweh’s
beloved son is our brother Jesus. So what does that make us? God’s own beloved kids as well.
That’s a big “Four -O” to live on forever.
You brought Elijah through his wilderness, O God, and refilled him when his own emptiness
brought him to despair. Do for us what you did for him. We have even better grounds to trust
you for it. He too had your Word for it, but we also have your Word in the Flesh, Our Lord
Jesus Christ. Refuel us from his fullness. Amen.
And Elijah got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and
forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. I Kings 19:8
Elijah is ready to throw in the towel. He can stand up to King Ahab, but Queen Jezebel is just
too much. When she swears to have his scalp, he responds with fear, and he flees for his life.
He even tells God that he’s quitting. Who needs that kind of hassle? Prophet, shmophet! And if
God wants to zap him for giving up, so be it.
But God does not zap Elijah. Instead God nourishes him. Elijah’s own name could have
told us (and him too) that God would react this way. The word “Eli-jah” is a full Hebrew
sentence: “My God is Jahweh,” the covenant God of Israel. Other gods may zap their agents who
quit on the job, but not Jahweh. This God majors in rehabbing the losers, restoring the fallen,
forgiving sinners, re-filling the empties. So Elijah gets food and drink to keep on going.
With that nourishment he has strength (forty days worth = just enough) to get to God’s
own hideout in the Sinai desert. Here Jezebel can’t get him, and God can thus get on with the
rehab project. If you read on beyond the suggested verses above, you see that it takes more work
to get Elijah on track again. But those forty days were just enough to get Elijah to God’s own
hideout, the safe space for Elijah to be restored.
Lent’s 40 days are safe space for us to get our second wind, to get relief from the Jezebels
that are out to get us, to get the big picture. The Passiontide of Christ is just that: just enough
space for us to see that Elijah’s name is our name too. Our God is Jahweh, and Jahweh’s
beloved son is our brother Jesus. So what does that make us? God’s own beloved kids as well.
That’s a big “Four -O” to live on forever.
You brought Elijah through his wilderness, O God, and refilled him when his own emptiness
brought him to despair. Do for us what you did for him. We have even better grounds to trust
you for it. He too had your Word for it, but we also have your Word in the Flesh, Our Lord
Jesus Christ. Refuel us from his fullness. Amen.
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