Your phone tells you when it needs a rest. “Battery at 1%.”
People aren’t quite so obvious.
Elijah had just had the greatest spiritual victory of his life. On Mount Carmel, he challenged 450 prophets of Baal to a contest: whose god would send fire from heaven? The prophets of Baal danced and shouted all day long. Nothing.
Then Elijah prayed one short prayer, and fire fell from heaven and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and even the water in the trench.
What a day!
Then came the next day. Queen Jezebel sent Elijah a message: by this time tomorrow, you’re a dead man.
And the great prophet, who had just called down fire from heaven, ran for his life. He went a day’s journey into the desert, sat down under a broom bush, and prayed, “I have had enough, LORD. Take my life.”
Battery at 1%.
So, what did God do? Did He lecture Elijah? Did He give him a pep talk? Did He tell him to have more faith?
No. He let him sleep.
Then an angel woke him up and said, “Get up and eat.” There was fresh bread baked on hot coals and a jar of water. Elijah ate, drank, and went back to sleep. Then the angel woke him again: “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”
Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap and eat a good meal.
Afterward, God met Elijah on the mountain. Not in the wind, not in the earthquake, not in the fire, but in a gentle whisper.
Rest isn’t laziness. Rest is how we hear the whisper.
Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, thank-you for caring for me when I am tired and worn out. Thank-you for giving me the rest of Elijah, so that I can be refreshed and renewed. Thank-you for speaking to me in the gentle whisper. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Wikipedia: Elijah, Jezebel, Mount Carmel
Look-It Up:
The contest on Mount Carmel is told in 1 Kings 18, and Elijah’s escape in 1 Kings 19.
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.”
After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Free Bonus:
Elijah was one of only two people in the Bible who did not experience death. He was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). The other was Enoch (see Pray 4 Daily Walks).
At the Jewish Passover meal, a cup of wine is traditionally set out for Elijah, and the door is opened to welcome him.
Felix Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah, first performed in 1846, tells his story in music.