STOP, LOOK AND LISTEN

There is something about being in the wilderness; something about communing with nature that says "renewal" with every breath. Place yourself in that building for a moment; what would it be like? Four walls, some windows, a front porch and even a small building out back (maybe an outhouse or storage shed, who knows?). No one else around; absolutely no one!! No telephone to bother you (a cell would probably not work with THOSE MOUNTAINS so close), no TV, no distractions whatever. What WOULD YOU DO? Hunt, probably; read, certainly; think, absolutely!! So, what WOULD YOU THINK ABOUT? I can't say for certain, but with all that scenery around, probably NOT YOURSELF! Eventually all those things we do that revolve around us would become a distant memory and we would become one with the background. Maybe that's what we all need; to stop having the world revolve around us. God has a way of using our surroundings to make us think and then CHANGE! One of my favorite stories is that of Elijah, AFTER his confrontation with the Baal prophets, when he fears for HIS life. God reaches out to him to get his attention and change his life.

The book of 1st Kings

1Ki 19:1 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
1Ki 19:2 Then Jezebel send a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I don't make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
1Ki 19:3 When he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
1Ki 19:4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough; now, O Yahweh, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
1Ki 19:5 He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, Arise and eat.
1Ki 19:6 He looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on the coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and laid down again.
1Ki 19:7 The angel of Yahweh came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.
1Ki 19:8 He arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the Mount of God.
1Ki 19:9 He came there to a cave, and lodged there; and behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah?
1Ki 19:10 He said, I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword: and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
1Ki 19:11 He said, Go forth, and stand on the mountain before Yahweh. Behold, Yahweh passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before Yahweh; but Yahweh was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but Yahweh was not in the earthquake:
1Ki 19:12 and after the earthquake a fire; but Yahweh was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
1Ki 19:13 It was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. Behold, there came a voice to him, and said, What are you doing here, Elijah?
1Ki 19:14 He said, I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
1Ki 19:15 Yahweh said to him, Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when you come, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria;
1Ki 19:16 and you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah to be prophet in your place.
1Ki 19:17 It shall happen, that he who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu kill; and he who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha kill.
1Ki 19:18 Yet will I leave me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him.

1Ki 19:19 So he departed there.......

The World English Bible

I like Elijah because this passage shows a second side of him; an unflattering side, but one that I can relate to. Elijah had performed miracles in the name of Yahweh, but was afraid of Jezebel. Sometimes, the closer you get to heaven, the longer the fall to Earth; the more you do, the more there is to lose. So, Elijah ran for his life! But, in the wilderness, Yahweh reaches out to him and finally gets through to him. How typically human Elijah is and how frail we as human beings really are. Yet God knows our faults and cares about us; HE reaches out to us in many ways; being alone in the wilderness is just one of them. It begins with us: We need to STOP, LOOK AND LISTEN to the world around us without ourselves being in the way. When we do this, we may find out we have a lot of company, maybe even "seven thousand" others who are a lot like us! Wait a minute, I can't be certain, but did someone say something to me: it wasn't very loud, so I guess I will just have to be silent and LISTEN!!!