Ordinary People: Elijah

Today, Dave Blow picks up our series on ordinary people in the Old Testament with a teaching on the prophet Elijah. What does it mean to be burnt out and weary, unable to go on? How does God help us in those situations? And as an added bonus, we captured Jay's prayer to start us off today.

Please find the slide deck for this week's teaching here.

Home Church Questions:

1. What stood out to you from this week's teaching?

2. Read 1 Kings 19:1-18 (preferably in multiple translations). What stands out to you from this passage?

3. When was as time that you felt too weak or insufficient? What stands out to you from that experience?

4. What would it look like to trust and rely on God more than you do now?

5. Pray with and for one another, our church community, and our world.

Instagram: @theharbournewmarket
Website: theharbournewmarket.ca
Email: david@theharbournewmarket.ca

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for August 9th, 2026. Thank you for the sun shining. Thank you for the world turning. Thank you for the earth, the seeds, the just the beauty everywhere, and let us recognize it. Let us move beyond ourselves to see these things and recognize your love is everywhere. Lord We all have our list of to-dos and when we finish those, we're just gonna add more. So let's help us to settle down and recognize that we need to move with you inside of all that we do so that we can be aligned with what you're doing, with creation, with what is meant to be as part of your will. Guide us, Lord, to to settle into everything, to see you in all circumstances and in people's faces, and to recognize that sometimes they're in a different place than us. And we need to slow down, or maybe we just need to give them time. And as we move through this life, because we're meant to do more than just exist, we know that. So as we move through these two-doos to r to realize that it can take time. It can take time, Lord. Sometimes a long time, and to wait, to wait to hear your voice. And um to help us, to guide us. Thank you so much for this day. Thank you for bringing us together. We're so grateful for your love and all that you do for us. In Jesus' holy name. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Well, good morning, everybody. It feels like it's been a while since I've been here. People are slowly drifting back from holidays. I don't know how your summer has gone. It's been um seems to be going by in a hurry. Hard to believe that we're well into August. I know in some ways it's flown by, in some ways uh it's felt like it's it's taken a long time. And uh that's kind of where we're camped out this morning, just in these these hard places. Um those of you who um who have been tracking uh with me over the last couple of months know that uh I work a couple of days a week at John Howard Society, and uh they decided, I guess late June that they were going to uh repave the driveway and heat it. Okay. It's a bit of a grade, and uh it it uh that comes with its own set of challenges in February. So we now have this beautiful paved driveway, beautifully heated, and the office, after being closed for three weeks, reopened um with little fanfare. Um so I have my first day back, and um I'm sitting there with all the young social justice warriors who I I love. I'm kind of the the old guy, and uh so immediately I'm the one who gets yelled at when the toilet backs up. Dave, the toilet's backing up, and I'm like, why are you making your problems my problems? But um well, yep, the toilet was backing up for sure, and to the point where I sent uh the ED a little message who is wonderful. I love her, she's she works works real hard. And um call the plumber. Okay, so the plumber comes and he's in there working away, and uh there's a whole lot of gurgling and a lot of bad things, and I'm hearing things like I need bigger snakes, and I'm like, oh, this isn't going well. Then I hear a few very bad words, and then I'm thinking this isn't going well for sure, and none of us can go to the bathroom, so we close the office and home we go, and the message comes out the next day, yeah, um, there's a bit of a problem. There's these pesky tree roots that are uh have crushed a bunch of the plumbing. And oh, by the way, one of the lines runs across the newly paved driveway. So um, long story short, um yeah, we're uh it's the plumbing is now fixed. There's a very, very big invoice that the uh accountant is lamenting, and we're into another. We can now open the office, but we can't drive up there because it has to cure and many reasons. Anyhow, so it seems like a long time. And uh chatting with the ED last week, she said to me, This just feels hard. And uh yeah, we we get to that point, don't we, where there's nothing left. And that's basically where she um where she had landed. Um what you know, one of the jobs working for any not-for-profit is you're constantly fundraising, it never ends. Everything's a contract, and you're only good until your contract expires, and then who knows what. Anyhow, the theme was I just can't do this anymore. And you know what? We all can land in that space. Um, and sometimes it's the strongest people that are the ones that become the most exhausted because you know they spend a long time holding stuff together. And uh, of course, we live in a culture that celebrates strength. Um, we admire people that appear to have everything all together, but again, the Bible tells us a different story. And uh again and again, God meets people not when they're at their strongest, but often when they're at the end of themselves. Well, we meet one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament today, uh Elijah, uh, not in his finest hour, but at one of his lowest. And if you know a little bit about Elijah, or you remember it from Sunday school, you know that uh he had finished at this time a great victory. Um, on Mount Carmel, he stood alone against a lot of prophets, um, and God answered with fire from heaven, and the people fell on their face, declaring the Lord He is God. And so you would think by this that Elijah would be riding a great wave of confidence, but as we see in our passage today, he he's basically running for his life. And uh it's a reminder that spiritual victories don't make us immune to human weakness. So, backing up a little bit, who was Elijah? Well, he was one of Israel's greatest prophets for sure. Um, he's found in 1 Kings, you know, around chapter 17 through 19, 2 Kings 1 to 2. Um his name means Yahweh is God, which really captures the message of his ministry, which was Israel must return to the worship of the Lord alone. And he comes from a territory uh east of the Jordan River, and scripture doesn't tell us a lot about his family or his early life, and uh he suddenly appears in the biblical story um during the reign of King Ahab, should be around the 9th century BC. And King Ahab ruled northern Israel, um the northern kingdom of Israel, and um, like some was strongly influenced by his wife Jezebel. So no editorial comments about that. Um Ahab was kind of a disagreeable guy, and his wife Jezebel was even more disagreeable, and uh she promoted the worship of the Canaanite god Baal. Therefore, um Elijah and her butted heads continually. And Elijah was not afraid to confront Israel with the question: how long are you going to waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal is God, follow him. 1 Kings 18 21. So we see him perform miracles in his ministry for sure, but he was also calling the people back to God, and uh many had divided loyalties, as we're wont to do sometime, to kind of hedge our bets, but there was this push by him to recognize that the Lord alone is God. And uh Elijah had some power, God blessed him with the ability to back up his uh words. Um, he announced a drought and uh declared that no rain would fall unless he said so and he demonstrated the Lord's authority over creation. And uh, of course, Baal was believed to control rain and fertility, and uh Elijah said no. He was also sustained by God. There was a time of drought, and Elijah was provided for through ravens, and uh then later through a widow. He uh he was um you know, again blessed by God to uh restore the life of a widow's son. Um God provided uh the power and uh again revealing the Lord's compassion as well as his power. And finally, he confronts the prophets of Baal and on Mount Carmel. He challenged 450 of them, and when the Lord answered by fire, the people finally confessed, the Lord, he is God. Well, after that, Jezebel is particularly mad because all of the prophets' um lives had been uh snuffed out, and uh it was time for Elijah to flee, and he's burnt out. He flees into the wilderness, he's exhausted, he's afraid, and again, even you know, a great reminder of faithful servants experiencing fear, loneliness, and weakness. And the passage goes on to say that God meets him, and not through great wind, great earthquake, great fire, but a gentle whisper, and Elijah goes on to mentor Elisha and again lives a very, very human life. So if anyone asks you at the local trivia night, who was Elijah and what was he all about, you can say he was a courage, a man of courage, um yet deeply human fellow, who uh called the compromise people, and they were, there's no getting around that, back to wholehearted worship of the Lord. So there's some great takeaways from this passage, and uh as I've been kicking it around this week, this message is kind of morphed and changed, and uh it changed as late as last night. But we'll uh we'll get there. Um, but the big verse here is verse 4 I have had enough, Lord. Take my life. And friends, these are shocking words. Um this guy was had just wiped out 450 um people, um, he had served God faithfully, yet he says, I've had enough, take my life. And the man who trusted God over everybody now wants to quit. So what can we pull out of this? Well, the first um the first observation is that uh even the strong grow weary. One of the most comforting truths throughout scripture is that God doesn't hide struggle, he doesn't minimize the struggle of his servants. Elijah isn't portrayed as a superhero, he's portrayed as a human. So at this point, he's afraid, he's overwhelmed, and he's emotionally drained. And he's discouraged. And I think sometimes we imagine that if only our faith were just a little stronger, we'd never feel exhausted. But our story today reminds us that faithfulness and fatigue can live together. It's okay. Um, I like to say that good theology and good sociology can work hand in hand, and also that faithfulness and fatigue can exist together. It's what do we do with it? So we can love God and still be weary, we can love God and still feel overwhelmed, and we can be serving and still need rest. And the Bible gives us permission to admit that we're not limitless, and this is difficult for us. I acknowledge that. I I don't like admitting weakness, you know. Dave, how are you? Oh, I'm good, other than the hip that I'm dragging around, and uh but we don't talk about that. Dave, how was New York? Any issue walking? Not really, until until there was, you know, it it's just um you know, we keep smiling. We're always fine, we keep smiling, we keep serving, and we keep saying yes. And that's fine externally, maybe but eventually our souls get to the same place and we hear a whisper enough. And and that's what was happening to Elijah. So being tired doesn't mean that we're failing, it just means that we're human. Well, secondly, God's first response is compassion. And what I love here, and it isn't really surprising, but to some it could be. It's what God doesn't do. God doesn't rebuke Elijah, he doesn't say, Come on, Elijah, pull yourself together. He doesn't say, suck it up, he doesn't say keep going. Instead, God lets him sleep. And Elijah sleeps and sleeps a while, and then God feeds him. And then he lets him sleep again. Then he feeds him again. And there's something wonderfully practical in this story that really reveals God's nature. So sometimes the holiest thing we can do is to eat well, sleep well, and allow ourselves to rest. Because we're embodied creatures. And I think what I've personally learned and what I've heard from others is our spiritual lives cannot be separated entirely from our physical lives. They're so intertwined that um Yeah, we can't separate them. And God understands us. And uh I know we imagine God saying, you know, work harder. Because this is how we're wired. But again, God says, Rest. And the angel's response and her comment is beautiful. So practical, so simple. Get up and eat. The journey's too much for you. The journey's too much for you. Not because Elijah's weak. It's because nobody is meant to carry life's burdens along. Now, let's think about Jesus for a second. After busy seasons of ministry, we have countless stories of Jesus withdrawn. He prayed, he rested, he spent time with his father. So if the Son of God embraced rhythms of rest, I think it's something worth considering. You know, great examples in the Gospels. After Jesus' popularity grew, he withdrew to pray. Luke 15, or Luke 5, 15, and 16. And yet the news about him spread all the more, but Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. So this became or became a regular pattern despite uh increasing demands on Jesus' time, before choosing the twelve disciples, a monumental decision. Luke 6, 12, 13 says that Jesus went to the mountainside to pray and spent the night in prayer before selecting the apostles. After hearing of the death of John the Baptist, uh Matthew 14, 13 says, when Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. A moment that likely combined grief and seeking his heavenly father. And after feeding the five thousand, which is outlined in Matthew and Mark, Jesus dismissed the crowds and went up a mountain by himself to pray. And finally, when the crowds wanted to make him king. I mean, that's where the uh I mean that's where many wanted this to go. We see in John 6, 14 and 15, that Jesus perceived their intentions. He withdrew again to the mountain alone and prayed and he rested. He spent time with his father. And just so many examples, church, that if the Son of God embraced rhythms of rest, it's something we need to consider. Well, eventually Elijah reaches Mount Horeb and God asks a simple question. What are you doing here, Elijah? Now God already knows, so the question isn't for God's benefit, it's for Elijah's. And God simply invites Elijah to tell the truth in a conversation. I've been zealous, God. I'm the only one left. They're trying to kill me. So Elijah pours out his heart. And he's not pretending. These are raw comments. I'm it. It's a prayer. It's honest conversation. And we're invited to do that. God wants to hear our prayers. Look in the Psalms. There's a whole lot of that where we're taught to pray. And God welcomes our fears, our confusion, our disappointment, our grief. And so, although we may have been taught that faith means pretending everything is okay, biblical faith says otherwise. And throughout these conversations, we invite God to speak. And how does that happen? Well, perhaps this is the most famous part of the story, and many a reflection has been crafted around these few these few verses.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

There's a mighty wind, but God isn't in it. There's an earthquake, but God isn't in it. There's fire, but God isn't in it.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Then there's a gentle whisper, or as some translations will say, a still small voice.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

And that's where God was. Why?

SPEAKER_01 21:31

Well, Elijah had just come down from Mount Karma while God revealed his power dramatically. But now Elijah needed a bit of a personal touch. He needed a quiet personal touch from God and to experience God's presence personally. There had all already been a whole bunch of corporate examples of God's power and present. And we see here that God is powerful, yet he's gentle. And sometimes we look for God only in the spectacular moments the miracle, the dramatic answer, the emotional experience. And those are all valid. We pray for this. I've prayed for this. I've prayed with people for this. But often God meets us. And ordinary moments in quiet prayer, in scripture, in worship, encouraging each other as friends, in silence. With me often a walk beside the lake, um, you know, early morning with with Kobe the wonder retriever as he wants to chase all the ducks. But there's these still small moments. Um communion is also a a time where I've uh I've met God and uh the whisper of God reminds us that intimacy is often quieter than spectacle. So it's easy to kind of stay in that place, and it feels pretty good. So it's sometimes nice just to kind of cruise along there. But Elijah has purpose again. God gives him purpose. So after listening to Elijah, God doesn't say, Yep, just camp out here, slippity slide right into retirement, you're good. Nope, God sends them back. There's still work to do, kings to anoint, and a prophet named Elisha to mentor. So a future is still unfolding, the story continues. But notice the order, church. God restores Elijah before he recommissions him, and that's important. God isn't interested in using people until they're empty, he restores us first. So our value, although many would say is found only in productivity, God says no, our value isn't found in productivity, our identity is not based on accomplishment. We're beloved children before we are servants. And productivity and looking after our family, our community comes after that. And another thing to note when we're feeling alone is that Elijah wasn't as alone as he thought. You know, Elijah said to God, I am alone. I met everybody's gone. And God gently corrects him. Well, wait a minute. There's 7,000 who have not bowed to Ball. You've got 7,000 people to look after. And I think exhaustion can distort our perspective. You know, we're all alone. So when we're tired, problems sure seem bigger, for sure. Hope is harder to find sometimes when we're tired. We feel isolated, we assume we're alone, but here God reminds Elijah, you're not alone. And I think this is the gift of Christian community. We remind one another that we're not alone. And when one person is weary, another offers strength. When one person doubts, and we all get there from time to time, we're not alone. So another believes with us and for us. When one stumbles, another helps them up, and that's the body of Christ. Of course, as Anabaptists, we believe that discipleship is not a solo journey. Faith has lived in community, and we bear each other's burdens, we confess to each other, we pray for one another, we do things together. And so when Elijah believed he stood alone, God reminded him that he had preserved a faithful community for him. So likewise we're called to remind one another of God's faithfulness, especially when we're well, when we're too weary to see it ourselves. And that happens from time to time. And of course, our our church community is meant to be a place where, you know, we can be tired and find grace rather than judgment. Well, friends, it's easy to identify with Elijah, even in these uh kind of quieter summer months. It's easy to be tired when we've carried our responsibilities faithfully. And we pour ourselves into family, into work, into ministry. Many of us and most of us are active all over the place and caring for others. And today the news is good. Even when you're tired and feeling empty, God isn't disappointed in you. He has no interest in standing over us and criticism. Jesus meets us with compassion, provides rest and nourishment, and simply listens to our heart. He speaks gently. So it's quite possible today you don't need another challenge. Maybe you just need, you know, you hear God to say to you, I'm with you. Well, I have the great pleasure um, you know, of spending some time at the trailer. I don't get there as often as I would like. But um yesterday I I was there the whole day. I went up Friday night, and I'm a bit of an early bird, and I found out that not everyone wants you to text them at 6.30 in the morning, and they like it even less if you call them at 7 o'clock on a Saturday morning. But I have found someone right across from me who is a bit of a kindred spirit. He's retired from the TTC, and uh he's there most of the summer, and he gets up and walks um for an hour, and then I don't walk with him. I, of course, my hip is my best excuse ever, although I probably walked three times as far in New York, but it just seems better to ease into the day, so I join him for coffee when he gets back. So I thought the sermon was all wrapped up here, but we had a conversation yesterday, and um, you know, these things ebb and flow. He knows what I do, and I talk very openly that nope, Sunday mornings. Um I'm going home tonight because Sunday morning I have this wonderful community that um I'm blessed to be the pastor of. And uh, you know, we have church in the morning. Well, what are you talking about? Well, I'm talking about Elijah. So I tell him a little about Elijah, and he has been sharing with me about some of his medical challenges the last month. And this is a fellow who is active. His wife was a little older, so he's a bit of a caregiver as well. So his walking and his staying active means everything to him until you're unable to do that. And so he's had some health challenges, and he's got to have some surgery later on this week. So there was just an opportunity to sit with him in that, listen to that, and we got talking about you know Elijah and the sustenance of God, and I talked very openly about my my faith in Jesus and and what what that looks like, and uh he um he doesn't comment too much one way or one way or the other. But yesterday he said to me, just I was getting up to leave, you know, and we sit sit for about an hour, and then he goes in and makes his wife breakfast about 8 30, and I I go in and uh and see if you know Sherry's kind of up and up and at it. And um as I'm leaving, he says, Oh, isn't there something in like the New Testament about like thorns in the flesh? And uh and I'm like, Yes, there is. Um you better listen to the podcast because um there's more. And you know what? Um I thought about that throughout the day, and I thought, you know what, this is there's more, a little bit more to this, to this story. And I I thought of Paul all afternoon, you know, through you know, kind of ruminating on on this conversation, because you hear a lot of stories these days of of families and people with tremendous challenges, and it's not necessarily age-related, although it can be, but it's not always. And Paul records these words in 2 Corinthians 12 9, and it simply says, But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made in weakness, therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. And for a little bit of context as we conclude, Paul describes a thorn in the flesh, and he pleaded with the Lord three times to remove it. And instead the Lord answered, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. And so rather than become discouraged, Paul's response is that, well, I'll boast in my weakness, because they that become weakener, weaker, you know, is the setting often where Christ's power can be clearly displayed. And then he summarizes it up, for the sake of Christ, then I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. So, what a great passage, I thought, that teaches us that God's grace is not merely pardon for sin, but also his sustaining strength that enables us as believers to endure trials and display Christ's power even in our weakness. And Elijah discovered this long before Paul ever penned these words. A long time. So God was present not only in the fire on Mount Carmel, but also in the silence of the wilderness. And the same God who meets us in moments of victory also meets us in moments of exhaustion. So, friends, if you're weary, rest. If you're discouraged, talk honestly with God. And if you feel alone, remember we have a community. And if we listen carefully, I pray that we discover that God's voice isn't always found in the dramatic, that sometimes is found in a gentle whisper that says, Do not be afraid. I am with you. And none of our stories are finished yet. So let's pray together. Well, Heavenly Father, thank you for your grace. Thank you for the sufficiency of your grace. And we struggle with our weaknesses, we struggle with so many areas, physically, emotionally, but help us remember that we are your children, you love us, and you want the very best for us. Thank you for for loving us. Thank you for the opportunity to serve wherever you've called us, and may we hear well the words that uh God has laid on my heart this morning. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, friends.