You Are Never Alone
Romans 10 tells us that “faith comes from hearing” (v. 17). Faith is not something that we create or drum up within ourselves. It is something that is born is us when we hear a promise. This can be true about any promise, but it is most specifically true about God’s promises. When you or I make promises to people there is always the very real possibility, even likelihood, that we will not be able to keep it. It is one of the main subjects of about 50% of the songs ever written! As Glen Hansard cried out, “I could see you're only telling lies, lies, lies! Breaking us down with your lies, lies, lies!” On that note if you have not seen the excellent 2007 movie Once about a singer/songwriter go watch it immediately. BUT, God does not lie. The Bible is a written record of God keeping his promises to his people. In fact Jesus is the proof God does not lie. “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Cor. 1:20).
One of those faith giving promises is that God has given us himself in his Holy Spirit. Jesus tells us very clearly in John 14 that he will ask the Father to send his disciples the Helper, the Spirit of truth. And he says that the Spirit will “dwell with you and will be in you.” That’s the awesome truth about what Jesus has done for us. Because of his death and resurrection for our sin…because of him coming to save us and calling us to be his own…the amazing truth is that God’s dwelling place is with humanity. He lives with us and in us in his Holy Spirit. That’s what the tearing of the curtain on Good Friday represents…that the separation between us and God is torn down. The barrier that we put up with our original sin, our rejection of him, has been breached by Jesus’ sacrifice for us. He has brought us back into the presence of God. And as is always the case with Jesus it is not a simple returning to what we once had…it’s not a going back…it is instead better than it ever was. His death and resurrection has taken us into new territory. We are not just allowed to freely be in God’s presence again like Adam and Eve in the Garden…that was really great, but NOW God actually lives in you and me. He lives in his people by the power of the Holy Spirit! That is way better!
Just take a minute and let that sink in. God makes his home in you in his Holy Spirit because of Jesus forgiving your sin. This means that even when you feel far off from God…you’re not. He is right there with you by the power of his Spirit. Even when you feel like you’ve been abandoned or orphaned…you’re not. He is right there with you. Even when you feel like you’re lost…you’re not. He is right there with you. Even when you sin and try to turn away and run back to the old lies of the enemy and of self-sufficiency. He does not leave you. He is right there with you. Even when you think he is not listening or he’s not aware of all of your pain and struggles…it’s not true. The truth is that he has made his home in you. The curtain has been torn, and Jesus promises that He will never let us separate ourselves from him again (John 14:18). You will never be apart from God again because his Holy Spirit lives with you and in you.
I list these different examples of when we may doubt God’s presence because it’s when things are the bleakest, when we feel alone, that it matters most to us to hear God speak, to know that God is with us. It is then that we need our faith to be revived. Let’s consider 1 Kings 19. It’s a pretty famous one about God’s great prophet, Elijah. Elijah was God’s prophet to the Israelites in the Northern Kingdom after the nation of Israel split in two after the reign of King Solomon. He ministered during the reign of King Ahab in the 9th century B.C., and he had some very famous run-ins with the prophets of Baal. Ahab and his notorious wife, Jezebel, had killed all the prophets of God and had led God’s people away from following his commandments and toward the worship of Baal. And so God sent Elijah to call his people back. One of the most dramatic moments was when Elijah set up the cage match between Baal and God to show who was the real God, who had the real power. Two gods go into the cage, only one comes out! If you don’t know that story then I recommend it to you in 1 Kings 18.
It is off of this amazing display of God’s might that we find Elijah in chapter 19. Jezebel, the real power behind the throne, finds out what happened, that the prophets of Baal and their lame god, Baal, were soundly defeated by Elijah and the God of Israel, and she then starts hunting Elijah. And so Elijah is running for his life. He is completely exhausted and wants to give up because it seems like no matter what he does his ministry just keeps on failing. Even after this great success he still ends up running for his life. He is low and he feels pretty bad for himself. He says he feels completely alone and he just wants to give up and die. I wonder if you’ve ever been there.
Charcoal on paper by Kate Norris, 48”x30”
As a wise person once said, “God’s office is at the end of your rope.” Elijah feels completely alone and God asks him what’s he’s doing there, and Elijah responds saying, “I’ve been all about you God. And I’m really down because the people of Israel have all rejected you and killed all your prophets and it’s awful, and I’m the only one left…I’m all alone, and they want to kill me” (19:9-14). If you sense a little bit of a whine in there it’s because that is what Elijah was doing. He was complaining to God.
So God tells Elijah to go out of the cave he’s hiding in and stand on the mount and then God passes by. That’s right God himself passes by. There’s a powerful wind that creates avalanches and breaks rocks, there’s an earthquake that shakes the ground beneath Elijah’s feet, and there’s a raging fire that rips through the area. All happen in succession. Can you imagine seeing all that? You’d have PTSD after going through all of that. And the funny things is that it says the Lord was not in all of those things…those huge displays of power. That’s quite strange because it is clear that God is causing all of those things. It says the Lord passed by and all of these calamities happen as a result. They are the result of his power. They are in many ways a repeat of the display of power that Elijah saw during the cage match with Baal when God rained down fire on the altar. And yet, the Lord was not in them. The author is saying that Elijah found no comfort in them. That was not the point of them. God was not trying to comfort Elijah in this moment. Instead he is shaking him back to reality.
Elijah wants to give up, he thinks he’s all alone, and he’s lost hope. But God has been with him the whole time. God is the one who defeated the prophets of Baal, God is the one that saved him from Jezebel’s reach, God is the one who sustained him while he was on the run, and God is the one now that in his mercy decided to show himself to Elijah. In this relentless display God is shaking Elijah out of his despair and depression. When you get overwhelmed, when you get down or depressed about situations in your life I wonder if you ever find yourself believing lies. Do you ever think that no one else understands how bad this is? No one else is dealing with anything like I am. No one else is suffering like this. I am all alone. Do you ever have these isolating thoughts? Elijah certainly did…and God undoes those lies. He reminds Elijah that he is in the presence of an almighty God and this almighty God has him right where he wants him to be.
Rescue by Kate Norris, oil on canvas, 24”x18”
God brought the comfort to Elijah only after he reminded him that he was not alone and was not at all helpless because God was the one who called him and sent him. Then he speaks to Elijah in the low whisper…the quiet and still moment that followed all of the chaos. Elijah recognized God’s presence in that moment. Many scholars write that this is what the wrapping of cloak around his head symbolizes…that Elijah has been humbled and is ready to follow the Lord again.
Then, God in his mercy opens Elijah’s eyes to the truth. He sends him back into ministry to anoint a new king, and he tells Elijah that he will be given a protégé, a student, in Elisha. He is not alone and will not be alone. God gives him fellowship and help in Elisha. On top of that God tells Elijah that he has been wrong this whole time. His very dire summation of the situation and the despair he felt about his ministry was wrong. God had not wasted one moment of Elijah’s ministry. He told him that there were 7,000 men in Israel that have not bowed their knees to Baal. He has saved for himself a remnant, and he had more for Elijah to do.
It is when we doubt God’s presence, when things are the bleakest, when we feel alone…that it matters most to us to hear God speak, to hear his promises again for the first time, to have our faith restored…to know that God is with us. When we are not sure of his presence is when we want/need to hear from him the most. He is speaking to you now through Elijah’s story that He does not leave you. Not only that, he does not let the lies of despair win out in your life. He reminds us of his might. He reminds us of who has called us…the one true God. And he speaks to our souls in that low whisper the truth that he is our defender, he is the one that sustains us, he is the one that will give us the strength to continue to live. He meets us at the end of our rope and exposes the lies we buy into and replaces them with the good news, with the truth about who he is…with hope. Though we may feel alone, we are never alone. Listen to one of my favorite bands, Waterdeep, sing this over you:
Amen.
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