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One thing I find beautiful about Scripture is the way God communicates His care for us, even when we stumble through dark times of sorrow, depression, and doubt. The Psalms are known for their vast array of human emotion, while highlighting our response to God, not only at the peak of triumph, but also during adversity and despair. Yet when we step outside the Psalms, we see God interacting in day to day life in the very ways David, and many of the writers, penned of Him throughout their poetry.

1 Kings 19 takes us to such an instance in the life of the prophet Elijah. Despite serving the LORD in a time of Israel’s history where prophets of the LORD are persecuted and killed, and worshippers of evil and foreign gods seem to be triumphant, Elijah’s ministry is marked with great victory. Through miracles that culminate in an ultimate display of God’s power against the prophets of the false god Baal, God demonstrates through Elijah that He has not abandoned Israel, and that, despite all contrary appearance, He is still King over all, no matter what wicked rulers set themselves up against Him and the remnant of faithful followers that He has preserved for Himself.

Elijah stands with the LORD at this very pinnacle of triumph – only to find his faith and courage plummet when God’s victory over the prophets of Baal is met with threats, and an impending sense that he will die despite all the ways that God has shown Himself as Israel’s true God and righteous King.

And so, Elijah flees to the desert, apart from the movement of God, and hides beneath a broom tree, and begins to fall asleep. “I have had enough, LORD,” he says, “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”

Despite all he has seen and all that he knows of God, his faith has a breaking point. Perhaps he had hoped that the destruction of the prophets of Baal would be the tipping factor in Israel’s apostasy, the act that would finally turn their hearts back to the LORD. But life carries on, without an intervention, with threats still uttered, and evil still deeply reigning.

And Elijah – well, he has had enough, and all he sees left is to die.

But God, rich in mercy, does not kill his wayward servant. Instead of death, he gives him rest, strengthens him with food, and leads him to the mountain where He had shown Himself to Moses, many hundreds of years before. Back then, in magnificent glory from which Moses hid his face. Now, as the smallest whisper, quiet and near nothing next to the fire, and earthquake, and windstorm He had sent as well, but had chosen not to show Himself through.

“What are you doing here, Elijah?”

The LORD knows what Elijah is doing on the mountain. He knows the depths of his sorrows, and his vast inability to see the small yet monumental ways that God was working to bring about His glory, His praise, and His victory. In shifting political powers, in preparing new prophets, in preserving a people hidden, but who had not yet bowed their knee to Baal. Elijah knows, but cannot see, that God is at work.

So many times, we don’t see, either. Things go beyond our understanding, and sometimes, we fall into despair and ask for everything to be over. But take heart, for God is not a God who abandons the works He has begun. Though evil may seem to triumph, God has already declared victory over every evil through Christ. His day is coming, a day when Christ will return and rescue His remnant in full. At the height of triumph or in the pit of despair, this is the hope that we cling to; this is the hope that we look toward; this is the hope that we wait for.

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