The Life of Elijah #6: Discouragement
CCEA
School of Discipleship
October
19, 2025
Have all the guys go to one side of the room, the gals to the other.
Guys with guys, gals with gals. Share one thing you could pray for each
other.
Homework
How many of you read Swindoll: Chapter 7: Sure
Cure for the Blues? Can two people share with us one thing you were encouraged
by?
How are you doing with your Bible memory verse? Anyone want to give a try
at reciting it?
(James 5:16–18
NKJV) —16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one
another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous
man avails much. 17 Elijah was a
man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain;
and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth
produced its fruit.
About the Final:
The point is to recite the three verses to someone outside of class.
You can recite them all at once, or you can spread them out and recite one a week if you want.
Have the person(s) you recited to sign the “final” paper.
Either turn in your paper in class or take a picture and email it to me.
Don’t forget that we did short little studies on each verse to help you
memorize them. They are on weeks #2,3,5.
Introduction
Ahab was known as the most wicked of the northern kings. With the influence
of his wife Jezebel, Ahab had introduced the worship of Baal and Asherah to the
northern kingdom of Israel.
God responded by sending Elijah to call for a drought.
After 3 ½ years, there was a showdown between the gods on Mount Carmel.
The prophets of Baal spent the day crying out to their god…
(1 Kings 18:29
NKJV) …But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid
attention.
After Elijah repaired the altar of Yahweh, he offered a simple prayer and
fire fell from heaven.
The prophets of Baal were put to death.
Elijah prayed for rain.
Then as the rain began to pour, Elijah and Ahab headed back to Jezreel.
1Kings 19 - Discouragement
19:1-10 Man on the run
:1 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed
all the prophets with the sword.
:2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to
me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by
tomorrow about this time.”
:2 if I do not make your life …
Jezebel isn’t too happy with Elijah.
He has put to death 450 of her favorite people.
Quiz Alert
Lesson
1. Expect attacks
I think that most of us are aware that the enemy can attack us when we are
weak.
He also attacks us when we are strong.
Elijah has just been through the greatest victory of his life, defeating
the prophets of Baal.
Play “No Touchdown” video clip
I think that sometimes we can “celebrate” a little too early when we have a
big victory.
You have to learn to run the ball
all the way into the end zone. And the
end zone is when we get to heaven.
Even at what seems to be your strongest moments, you can find yourself attacked.
You can still be faced with something that strikes fear into your heart, or
temptation to your soul.
Peter wrote,
(1 Peter 5:8 NKJV) Be sober, be vigilant; because your
adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may
devour.
The Scottish pastor Andrew Bonar (1810–1892) said, “Let us be as watchful
after the victory as before the battle.”
:3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to
Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
:3 ran for his life
Quiz Alert
Lesson
2. We all get afraid
Everybody gets afraid.
Jacob, father of the nation of Israel, was afraid (Genesis 46:3)
(Genesis 46:3 NKJV) …do not fear to go down to Egypt…
Moses was afraid (Numbers 21:34)
(Numbers 21:34 NKJV) …“Do not fear
him, for I have delivered him into your hand…
Joshua, conqueror of Canaan, was afraid. (Joshua 10:8)
(Joshua 10:8 NKJV) And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear them…
Gideon conqueror of the Midianites was afraid (Judges 6:23)
(Judges 6:23 NKJV) Then the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you; do not fear, you
shall not die.”
Even the man who can call down fire from heaven. Remember…
(James 5:17 NKJV) Elijah was a man with a nature like
ours…
He even was afraid.
My point here is not to give you three things to do to stop being afraid,
but to simply take a moment to realize that fear is common to us all.
Elijah was afraid. He’s just like
you and me.
:3 to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah
See map
Just a side note for those of you coming to Bob’s study on Wednesday nights.
The majority of the battle
with Deborah, Barak, and Sisera takes place in the
Valley of Jezreel/Megiddo, between Mount Tabor and the Kishon River.
The Kishon’s the same river where Elijah slew the prophets of Baal, and the
valley that Elijah ran through several hundred years later to escort Ahab back
to Jezreel from Carmel.
Now Elijah runs to Beersheba.
We often think of Beersheba as being the “southernmost” part of the nation.
Beersheba is not in the northern kingdom of Israel where Elijah has been, but belongs to the southern kingdom of Judah.
Elijah will leave his servant there in Beersheba.
:4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he
prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for
I am no better than my fathers!”
:4 broom tree – rethem –
broom-plant
Also called the “white broom tree” (retama raetam). It is a bush
that can grow 5 to 10 feet tall, living in desert places.
:4 prayed that he might die
Quiz Alert
Lesson
3. We all get discouraged
Elijah was afraid just we are at times.
Now, just like us, Elijah got depressed.
There is often a connection between fear and depression.
I’ve found that a lot of people struggle from time to time with
depression. Even a lot of famous people.
Job got depressed (you say, “of course”)
(Job 3:11 NKJV) “Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?
Moses got depressed
(Numbers 11:14–15
NKJV) —14 I am not able to bear all these people
alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If You treat
me like this, please kill me here and now…
Jeremiah got depressed
(Jeremiah
20:14 NKJV) Cursed be the day in which I was born! Let the day
not be blessed in which my mother bore me!
Churchill, one of my heroes, got depressed, calling it his “black dog”
The great preacher C.H.Spurgeon
was known to suffer at times from depression. This is from “Lectures to my
students”, the chapter called “The Minister’s Fainting Fits” –
“As it is recorded that David, in the heat of battle, waxed faint, so may
it be written of all the servants of the Lord.
Fits of depression come over the most of
us. Usually cheerful as we may be, we
must at intervals be cast down. The
strong are not always vigorous, the wise not always ready, the brave not always
courageous, and the joyous not always happy.
There may be here and there men of iron, to whom wear and tear work no
perceptible detriment, but surely the rust frets even these; and as for ordinary
men, the Lord knows, and makes them to know, that they are but dust.
“Knowing by most painful experience what deep depression of spirit means,
being visited therewith at seasons by no means few or far between, I thought it
might be consolatory to some of my brethren if I gave my thoughts thereon, that
younger men might not fancy that some strange thing had happened to them when
they became for a season possessed by melancholy; and that sadder men might
know that one upon whom the sun has shone right joyously did not always walk in
the light. It is not necessary by
quotations from the biographies of eminent ministers to prove that seasons of
fearful prostration have fallen to the lot of most, if not all of them.
The life of Luther might suffice to give a thousand instances, and he was
by no means of the weaker sort. His
great spirit was often in the seventh heaven of exultation, and as frequently
on the borders of despair. His death-bed was not free from tempests, and he sobbed himself
into his last sleep like a great wearied child.”
My point in all of this? If you get depressed, you are not alone. We all need encouragement from time to time.
Play Jeff Foxworthy video – Truett Cathy – Encouragement
How many of us are breathing right now? We probably need
encouragement.
:5 Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched
him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.”
:5 an angel touched him
The word for angel is mal’ak, “a
messenger, representative”
This individual is a messenger sent from God.
God sees Elijah and He has dispatched Someone to help him.
You. Are. Not. Alone.
There is another in the fire…
(Daniel 3:24–25
NKJV) —24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and
spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the
midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 “Look!” he
answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are
not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
:5 slept … Arise … eat
Quiz Alert
Lesson
4. Watch your health
Sometimes the answer to our depression isn’t a simple one. But sometimes it is.
Oswald Chambers wrote,
The angel did not give Elijah a vision, or explain the Scriptures to
him, or do anything remarkable; he told Elijah to do the most ordinary thing,
to get up and eat.
Sometimes depression comes because we’ve simply been pushing ourselves too
hard.
We need to take a break.
Get some rest.
Take a nap.
Sometimes depression comes because our diet is off.
Blood sugars can be too high or too low.
We might need to examine our diet.
Maybe lose some weight.
Embrace a better diet.
Sometimes depression lasts too long because we’ve taken too long of a break
and it’s time to “Arise”, get moving. Go for a walk.
Breaks are good, but realize that sometimes
depression is driving you to sleep or withdraw more
than you need.
:6 Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a
jar of water. So he ate and drank,
and lay down again.
:6 a cake baked on coals
Scientific research has discovered the chemical makeup of this cake.
It was made up of …
1 cup cake flour
1 ½ cups white sugar
12 egg whites
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
½ teaspoon salt
It was angel food cake
:7 And the angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him,
and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.”
:7 the angel of the Lord
Now we learn a little about this specific “angel”.
This phrase is a specific, unique person of the Old Testament.
The language in the Hebrew (מַלְאַ֨ךְ
יְהוָ֤ה mal’ak Yahweh)
is consistent whenever He appears.
He appears in 54 verses in the Old Testament.
He appeared to Abraham (Gen. 22), to Moses (Ex. 3), to Gideon (Judg. 6),
and to many others.
We believe this is none other than an appearance of Jesus Christ in
the Old Testament. This is a “theophany”, God appearing in human form before He
took on human flesh in Bethlehem.
When Jesus said,
(John 8:56 NKJV) Your father
Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
He had been with Abraham.
Now He appears to Elijah.
(Psalm 34:7 NKJV) The angel of the Lord
encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them.
I find it interesting that Elijah will return the favor and show up in
Jesus’ day.
(Luke 9:28–31 NKJV)
—28 Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He
took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became
white and glistening. 30 And behold, two men talked with Him,
who were Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of
His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
Moses and Elijah were speaking to Jesus about His upcoming death.
Perhaps they were encouraging Him to keep moving towards the thing God had
called Him to do.
:8 So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in
the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the
mountain of God.
:8 …food forty days and forty nights
That’s the same length of time that Moses was up on Mount Sinai (twice)
:8 as far as Horeb
Horeb is better known by its other name, Mount Sinai.
This is the same mountain that the children of Israel camped out at, where
Moses received the Ten Commandments, where the people went astray with the
golden calf, and where they departed from on their forty-year journey to the
Promised Land.
Show map video “Run to Sinai”
First Elijah went from Jezreel to Beersheba, a distance
of about 100 miles.
Then he went from Beersheba to Mount Sinai, another 200 miles.
The traditional view is that Sinai was located in
the “Sinai Peninsula”, but more recently, scholars have come to think that it’s
a mountain located in Saudi Arabia.
From the satellite view, you can even see a pile of huge stones where some
think the golden calf was worshipped.
What’s Elijah doing?
I think he’s running to God.
He's going back to where God first called Moses at the burning bush.
He's going back to where Moses received the Ten Commandments.
I think he’s coming here looking
for God.
Quiz Alert
Lesson
5. Time with Jesus
I’m sure there are those who would say that Elijah is running from his
responsibilities. You can make that
point.
I see this as Elijah running to God.
He needs time with God to be renewed, refreshed, and restored.
We talked last week about “withdrawal” in prayer – how important it is
daily to take a few minutes away from the hustle and bustle and spend time with
God.
But there are times when we need to take a little more than a few “minutes”
to spend with God.
I think this is part of the value of retreats.
As a senior pastor, an important part of my year was to go
to the Senior Pastors’ retreats out in Murrieta Hotsprings.
Retreats can be a chance to disconnect from the internet,
put our phones down, and listen to God. Hopefully we will be encouraged with
good Bible Studies, prayer, and wholesome fellowship.
I have found at times in my ministry that it was important to get away by
myself, even if just for a few hours.
I usually did these when a crisis would
hit. I wasn’t always sure I had someone to call or talk to, so I’d block out
time in my calendar to get away by myself.
I didn’t run to Mt. Sinai, but I tended to head to Corona
Del Mar.
Early in the morning, nobody else around, cold, overcast, seagulls
squawking, sitting in a beach chair in front of the waves with my Bible in my
lap and a pad of paper next to me.
It was a chance to gain fresh vision, clarity in my
calling, new direction.
One year the thing I came away from the beach was a fresh
definition of what our church should be about – Winning the lost, Equipping the
saints, and Sending the servants.
Some years there was no new direction, but just a sense of
peace.
It may be that some of you need fresh direction in your lives.
Don’t neglect the possibility that God may be calling you to spend some extra
time with Him.
(Hebrews 12:1–3
NKJV) —1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider
Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become
weary and discouraged in your souls.
Make sure that “time apart” is really “time with Jesus”.
He knows how to help you.
:9 And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and
behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, “What are you
doing here, Elijah?”
:9 What are you doing here
I wonder just what God’s tone was here to Elijah.
Is God angry, rebuking Elijah for going to Horeb?
Is God loving, trying to draw Elijah out?
It kind of reminds me of what God said to Adam after he ate the forbidden
fruit,
(Genesis 3:9 NKJV) Then the Lord God
called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
:10 So he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for
the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and
killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my
life.”
:10 I alone am left
We’ve already established that this simply isn’t true.
A few weeks earlier Elijah had a discussion with Obadiah, who had informed
Elijah that he had rescued 100 prophets of Yahweh, and they were living in
caves. (1Kings 18:13)
Elijah already knows this.
(1 Kings
18:13 NKJV) Was it not reported to my lord what I did when
Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord,
how I hid one hundred men of the Lord’s
prophets, fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
Quiz Alert
Lesson
6. Depression distorts truth
Elijah is depressed and frankly, life looks
horrible.
Sometimes our perspective is a little off.
If we’re not careful, we can tend to look at things through the colored
glasses of our moods.
(Proverbs 15:15 NKJV) All the days of the afflicted are
evil, But he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast.
It’s not that all the days of the afflicted are really evil, but that there’s this mentality we can take on
from time to time when we label ourselves an “afflicted” person.
And it’s during those times that everything looks
bad to us.
Illustration:
There was a farmer whose neighbor was absolutely
negative, no matter what. If it
was raining, the farmer would say to his neighbor, “Boy, look at it rain, God’s sort of washing everything clean.” “Yeah, but if it keeps up it’s gonna flood.” Then the sun would come out and he’d say, “If
it keeps that up, it’s gonna just scorch the
crops.” The farmer thought, “What am I gonna do to win this guy?”
So he trained his dog to walk on water. He didn’t tell his neighbor,
he just took him duck hunting. Boom! Boom!
They brought these ducks out of the sky, and said to his dog, “Go get ‘em.” The dog went
across, picked them up, and hopped back in the boat, nothing wet—just his
paws. The farmer said, “What do you
think of that?” The neighbor said, “He
can’t swim, can he?”
Do you ever stop to listen to what comes out of
your mouth?
When we get to hearing ourselves
talk about how everything around us is getting horrible, perhaps we need a
little reality check, like Elijah.
19:11-18 Elijah on Sinai
:11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And
behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains
and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the
wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;
:12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and
after the fire a still small voice.
:11-12 wind … earthquake … fire
Play “September” – Earth, Wind, and Fire
No, sadly this is not a reference to the 70s band Earth, Wind, and Fire.
Sometimes God is in the fierce wind.
God spoke to Job out of the whirlwind (Job 38:1).
(Job 38:1 NKJV) Then the Lord
answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:
Sometimes God is in the fire or the earthquake.
When God spoke to Moses and Israel, there was fire and an earthquake on
Mount Sinai (Ex. 19:18).
(Exodus
19:18 NKJV) Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke,
because the Lord descended upon
it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the
whole mountain quaked greatly.
But sometimes God isn’t in these things.
If we are always expecting God to speak to us through some spectacular
manner, sometimes we’re going to miss it.
There’s a principle here that can be applied to our worship music.
Sometimes God works in the great big sound, full band, big drums, loud
guitars.
Yet sometimes God’s presence is in the quiet, with just a single guitar or
a quiet piano.
For Elijah, in this moment, God is going to speak through the …
:12 still small voice
voice - qowl - voice, sound, noise;
sound (of instrument)
still - d@mamah -
whisper, calm
small - daq - thin, small, fine,
gaunt
NAS: a sound of a gentle blowing
NIV: a gentle whisper
NRSV: a sound of sheer silence
John Gill: not rough, but gentle,
more like whispering than roaring; something soft, easy, and musical; the
Targum (interpretation of the Hebrew Bible) is, the voice of those that
praise God in silence
Quiz Alert
Lesson
7. Turn the volume down
Since ancient times, man has had a problem of too much noise.
The ancient prophets realized that if they were to hear from God, they
needed quiet.
Look at Jesus:
(Matthew
14:23 NKJV) And when He had sent the multitudes away,
He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone
there.
There’s quite a contrast between the “multitude” and
“being alone”.
The ancient father John Chrysostom wrote about this verse: “…showing us that solitude is good, when we have
need to pray to God. For this also He goes into the desert, and there spends
the night in prayer, to teach us that for prayer we should seek stillness both
in time and place.”
Sometimes, if we want God to speak to us, we need to slow down and listen
Sometimes, if we want God to speak to us, we need to quiet down a bit.
David wrote,
(Psalm 62:1 NKJV) Truly my soul silently waits for God; From Him comes
my salvation.
Mary learned to do this.
(Luke 10:38–42
NKJV) —38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and
a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had
a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him
and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” 41 And Jesus
answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about
many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary
has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Illustration
Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food.
Icehouses had thick walls, no windows, and a tightly fitted door. In winter,
when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the
icehouses, and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the
summer. One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched
diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn’t find it.
His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small
boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the
noon hour and soon emerged with the watch. Amazed, the men asked him how he
found it. “I closed the door,” the boy replied, “lay down in the sawdust, and
kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking.”
Often the question is not whether God is speaking, but whether we are being
still enough, and quiet enough, to hear.
Amy Carmichael wrote, “God always answers us in the deeps, never in the
shallows of our soul.”
:13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle
and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to
him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
:14 And he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts;
because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your
altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek
to take my life.”
:14 killed Your prophets
Paul quotes from this passage and says that Elijah was pleading with God “against
Israel” (Rom. 11:2-3). There is more here than just complaining. Elijah is
asking God for judgment on Israel.
(Romans 11:2–3
NKJV) —2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not
know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against
Israel, saying, 3 “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your
altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”?
While it would be correct to say that Jezebel was after Elijah, it would be
incorrect to say that all of Israel was against him.
In Romans 11, Paul is teaching that God is NOT against Israel. He has NOT cast ALL of them away.
Yet keep this idea in mind – Elijah is asking God to judge the nation.
:15 Then the LORD said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of
Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria.
:16 Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah
you shall anoint as prophet in your place.
:15-16 Hazael … Jehu … Elisha
Quiz Alert
Lesson
8. You’re not finished
Elijah wants his life to be over.
But God still has things for him to do.
He still has places to go, things to do, people to see.
Sometimes depression freezes us in our tracks.
We think that life is over.
It’s not.
Some of Elijah’s mission has to do with raising up
the next generation of leaders.
Some of the things on Elijah’s “to do list” won’t be accomplished by him,
but by those he raises up to take his place. Others will finish what he’s
started.
As we mature in life, we may not always be able to do all the things we
used to do.
Yet hopefully we have acquired this thing called “wisdom” that we can pass
on to those who will follow after us.
You’re not done yet. There is more
ahead for you to do.
Hazael is an interesting choice.
He will be the next king of Syria, a long time
enemy of Israel.
Yet the Syrians seemed to have some sort of respect for
the God of Israel and its prophets.
Elijah won’t actually be the one “anointing”
Hazael as the next king of Syria, Elisha will (2Kings 8:7-15)
(2 Kings 8:7–15
NKJV) —7 Then Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Syria was sick;
and it was told him, saying, “The man of God has come here.” 8 And the king said to Hazael, “Take a present in your hand, and go
to meet the man of God, and inquire of the Lord
by him, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this disease?’ ” 9 So Hazael went to meet him and took a present with him, of every
good thing of Damascus, forty camel-loads; and he came and stood before him,
and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Shall
I recover from this disease?’ ” 10 And Elisha said to him, “Go, say to
him, ‘You shall certainly recover.’ However the Lord has shown me that he will really
die.” 11 Then he set his countenance in a stare until he was ashamed; and
the man of God wept. 12 And Hazael said, “Why is my lord
weeping?” He answered,
“Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel: Their
strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the
sword; and you will dash their children, and rip open their women with child.” 13 So Hazael
said, “But what is your servant—a dog, that he should do this gross
thing?” And Elisha
answered, “The Lord has shown me
that you will become king over Syria.” 14 Then he departed from Elisha, and
came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he
answered, “He told me you would surely recover.” 15 But it
happened on the next day that he took a thick cloth and dipped it in water, and spread it over his face so that he died;
and Hazael reigned in his place.
Jehu is also interesting.
He will rule the northern kingdom. Elijah won’t won’t
anoint Jehu either. Elisha will have one of his intern-prophets
do it. (2Kings 9:1-10)
(2 Kings 9:1–10
NKJV) —1 And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and
said to him, “Get yourself ready, take this flask of oil in your hand, and go
to Ramoth Gilead. 2 Now when you arrive at that place,
look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, and go in and
make him rise up from among his associates, and take
him to an inner room. 3 Then take the flask of oil, and pour
it on his head, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I have anointed you king over Israel.” ’ Then open the door and flee, and do not delay.” 4 So the young
man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. 5 And when he
arrived, there were the captains of the army sitting; and he said, “I
have a message for you, Commander.” Jehu said, “For which one of us?” And he said,
“For you, Commander.” 6 Then he arose and went into the
house. And he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I have anointed
you king over the people of the Lord,
over Israel. 7 You shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants
the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel. 8 For the
whole house of Ahab shall perish; and I will cut off from Ahab all the males in
Israel, both bond and free. 9 So I will make the house of Ahab
like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the
son of Ahijah. 10 The dogs shall eat Jezebel on the
plot of ground at Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her.’ ” And he opened the door and fled.
Elisha, the next prophet, will be the only one that Elijah will actually “anoint”.
But the point is this – if you are still breathing, God isn’t finished with
you.
He still has you here for a purpose.
You have places to go, things to do, people to see.
:17 It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill;
and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill.
:17 …will kill
God will be bringing judgment to Israel, just as Elijah had been asking for,
but it’s not going to be Elijah’s job.
These three men would be instrumental in eradicating the worship of Baal in
the northern kingdom of Israel.
:18 Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not
bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
:18 seven thousand in Israel
Elijah is not alone, not like he thinks.
You too are not alone.
Even when we don’t know of any person that’s “on our side”, God is always
on our side. He will never leave us of forsake us. He is “for us”, not “against us”.
(Psalm 27:10 NKJV) When my father and my mother forsake
me, Then the Lord will take care of me.
19:19-21 Finding Elisha
I’m not going to spend too much time on this next paragraph because I want
to spend a little more time talking about Elijah raising up a successor in our
last class.
:19 So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was
plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he
was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him.
:19 found Elisha
Show map
Elisha was from the town of Abel Meholah (“meadow of dancing”) (19:16). Abel Meholah is along the Jordan river, about
260 miles north of Mount Sinai (where Elijah is at the moment).
Elijah – “my God is Jehovah”
Elisha – “God is salvation”
:19 twelve yoke of oxen
The family apparently owned twelve sets of oxen, with twelve plows, all
being used to plow up their fields. Elisha is working with the last set of
oxen.
This is an indication that Elisha came from a well-to-do family.
It also shows that Elisha was a man who knew how to work.
From Mathew Henry:
Elijah found Elisha by Divine direction, not in the schools of the
prophets, but in the field; not reading, or praying, or sacrificing, but
ploughing. Idleness is no man’s honour, nor is
husbandry any man’s disgrace. An honest calling in the world, does not put us
out of the way of our heavenly calling, any more than it did Elisha.
:19 threw his mantle on him
BKC: Throwing a prophet’s cloak
around a person symbolized the passing of the power and authority of the
office to that individual.[1]
:20 And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me
kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him,
“Go back again, for what have I done to you?”
:20 Go back again, for what have I done to you?
(1 Kings
19:20 NLT) …Elijah replied, “Go on back, but think about
what I have done to you.”
:20 let me kiss my father and my mother
Doesn’t this sound a little like some of the excuses when Jesus asked
people to follow Him?
(Luke 9:61–62 NKJV)
—61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first
go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 62 But Jesus
said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit
for the kingdom of God.”
Jesus is talking about people who make up excuses and actually
never get around to following Him.
For Elisha, it’s good to say “goodbye” to his parents,
but just follow Elijah.
:21 So Elisha turned back from him, and took a
yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s
equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.
:21 became his servant
Elisha won’t spend too much time saying his “goodbyes”. He makes a
sacrifice and heads off to follow Elijah.
Elisha will be spending the next 3-4 years “training” for the
ministry. He will “train” by being a
servant.
NOT a Quiz Alert
Lesson
Ministry starts and ends with
serving
Elisha will “start” his ministry by being a servant. But it never really changes. It’s always about being a servant.
(Mark 10:45 NKJV) For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,
and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Quiz
From the lecture (10pts):
2. We all get afraid
3. We all get discouraged
4. Watch your health
5. Time with Jesus
6. Depression distorts truth
7. Turn the volume down
8. You’re not finished
Homework
Read Swindoll: Chapter 8: When God says, “That’s enough!”
(Optional: Chapter 9: Watch Out for the Enemy)
Memorize/review James 5:16-18
Pray
Blessing