Worship Service July 4th, 2010 from Richard Waldschmidt on Vimeo.
Blessed Is the Nation Whose God is the Lord. May Your Unfailing Love Rest Upon Us O Lord, Even As We Put Our Hope In You. Amen.
I Kings 19:14-18
Just When You Think…
I. You are all alone, God encourages you.
II. Things are out of control, God has a plan.
In the name of Jesus dear friends set free by the Savior,
This weekend there will be thousands of fireworks displays across our country. If the prophet Elijah would hear the bangs and see the pops and flashes I suppose it would remind him of a fireworks display that God put many years ago on a mountain. It declared that God was indeed the true God. God lit up the altar of sacrifice with fire from heaven while the altar to the false God Baal remained cold with even less fire than when I try to start my grill with charcoal I left in the rain. God’s fireworks burned up not only the sacrifice but also the water in the trench and even the stones of the altar. It was quite a grand finale. God’s prophet Elijah called for the people to put to death the 450 despicable prophets of the idol Baal. Just when a person might have thought that the Israelites would never again run after an idol, Queen Jezebel raised her head. She wasn’t happy about the prophets of her idol being killed so she made a vow that she would kill Elijah. Elijah ran for his life. He stopped by a cave feeling like He was all alone and that things were out of control. On some days we can feel that way, even living in this beautiful country the Lord has blessed us with. We can feel like we are all alone with wickedness all around and at times seem very much out of control. But just when you think … I. You are all alone, God encourages you. II. Things are out of control, God has a plan.
Some years ago my wife’s aunt had a stroke. She had a winsome personality so going to visit her was always very interesting but after she had a stroke it was even more so. You see, the stroke damaged the area of the brain that processes what we see. In effect she had a hole in what she was able to see in her side vision. The brain would fill in that hole. Sometimes her brain would fill it in right and other times it would fill it in wrong. She might say, “Come and sit down on this chair over here and be right or she might say, “Careful not to sit on that pumpkin there” and be wrong. As Elijah ran away from Queen Jezebel, his brain and his heart were filling in the picture around him all wrong. He thought he was all alone.
With shoulders slumped, Elijah left his servant in Beersheba and journeyed out into the desert. He sat down under a broom tree and pouted, “I’ve had enough Lord, take my life. The Lord sent angels to strengthen Elijah and he was able to journey on to a cave on Mt. Horeb. In that dark and dingy cave God had a message of warmth and comfort for Elijah. Just when he thought he was all alone God encouraged him.
God asked Elijah, “What are you doing here Elijah?” And Elijah just poured out his heart to God, “I have been very zealous for the Lord Almighty. The Israelites have broken down your altars and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left and now they are trying to kill me too!” Elijah wasn’t seeing things right. He wasn’t alone. The Lord was with him. God would be with him in his struggles, and if God is with you, nothing else really matters. God says in Psalm 1, “The wicked are like chaff that the wind blows away . . . The Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”
The Lord told Elijah to go outside because the Lord was about to pass by. The Bible tells us this amazing account, “Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountain apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out to the mouth of the cave. Then the still small voice said to Elijah, “What are you doing here Elijah?” Notice that the Lord didn’t cuff Elijah on the back of his head with a lightning bolt as a reminder that he was big and powerful and He was with Elijah. He didn’t huff and puff with his power and say, “Elijah, what are you thinking! Don’t you remember how I poured down fire from heaven and won the contest with Baal? Don’t you think that I can protect you from that wicked queen Jezebel?” No, instead the Lord Almighty assured Elijah in a still small voice that he was not alone. In that gentle whisper God asked again, “What are you doing here Elijah?”
You can almost wring the self pity and the self righteousness out of words and he repeats his “woe is me” speech to His Creator and loving Father. “I have been very zealous for the Lord Almighty. The Israelites have broken down your altars and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left and now they are trying to kill me too!” Elijah had left a trail of self pity up the mountain side that day and in the mouth of the cave. He thought that he was all alone. But he was seeing things wrong. Elijah had been concentrating so much on those who had rejected the Lord that he had forgotten about all those who had remained faithful to the true God and who still needed his guidance as a prophet from the Lord. There were not just two or three of them. God told Elijah, “Yet I have reserved 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.”
And then there was some self righteousness there too. “I’m the only good one left.” He wasn’t realizing that it was only because of God’s grace that He used him on there in that showdown with the prophets of Baal and it was only because of God’s grace that a sinner like him was not consumed in that fireball of God’s holiness.
As wonderful as our country is there are times when we look around see the way that people act, we might be tempted to think that, like Elijah, we are the only ones left. Christians might look around at the world and think they are the only ones left who believe that sex outside of marriage is wrong, that you should be careful about the music that goes into your ears or the TV shows you watch or that we should pray for the authorities God has established in government. When we see the way that the unbelieving world acts, we dare not pat ourselves on the back and say, “Well I’ve done a pretty good job of resisting this or that sin.” No, all of us have sinned and bowed the knee to sin and Satan with our thoughts and words and actions. We deserve nothing but punishment from God. But God sent His Son Jesus and punished him in our place, so that we would not spend eternity alone in the agony of hell, but rather that we would live with Him forever in heaven. It is God’s great love for us shown in Jesus that gives us the strength to continue to resist temptation while the world goes on worshiping its idols.
When we feel alone in our fight against sin, let’s remember that Jesus has not only paid for all our sins, but also promised to be with us wherever we go. Our God is with us. Our God is the one who put himself between the advancing enemies and His people in a pillar of fire on the shores of the Red Sea. Jesus put himself in between God’s righteous anger over sin and us. He paid the penalty we deserved. God is an ever-present help in times of trouble and we will never be alone in our battles.
When we feel like we are the only ones left, let’s not lose sight of our fellow believers. Many of these Christians are faced with the same problems and temptations as we are. They need our support and encouragement as much as we need their help. As Children of God we are a family. As St. Paul says, “You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and member’s of God’s household.” Let’s pray for one another, encourage one another from God’s Word and provide for each other during times of need. Just when you think you are all alone, God encourages you. On this 4th of July weekend let’s thank God for the country we live in where we are free to gather together as believers to encourage one another.
Ever feel life your life can’t get any more complicated and then it does? Christian, you can take heart because God has a plan for your complicated life. In fact, God is so wonderful and great that he can take the jumbled mess we make of our lives and work a wonderful blessing for us. Just like Elijah learned that he was not alone in a hostile, heathen world, God also assured him that He had a plan. Just when you think things are out of control God has a plan.
God told Elijah, “Go back the way you came and go to the desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, king over Israel, and anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah, to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu.” At a time when Elijah thought that God’s church was dead, God had a plan to rescue his church from the prophets of Baal and the wicked leaders of Israel, Ahab and Jezebel. According to his plan, God would use the king of Aram to destroy Ahab. God’s judgment fell upon Ahab when he was killed in battle and the dogs licked up his blood. God used Jehu as an instrument of His judgment on Jezebel. Remember that at Jehu’s order, wicked Jezebel, who was trying to kill Elijah, was thrown down from the tower of her palace. God’s plan for the relief of Elijah also included anointing Elisha as Elijah’s successor. God had granted Elisha a double portion of the spiritual eagerness and wisdom of Elijah. Under the leadership of Elisha and Jehu, the temples of Baal were destroyed.
Although Satan tries to blind us to this fact, God has a plan for our lives. In Jeremiah God says, “I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you hope and a future.” The fact that God has a plan for our relief gives us reason to take heart when those annoying little things happen in our lives, such as the car not starting or needing a new brake job, or our children falling down and hurting themselves, or when we are sick with a cold or the stomach flu. God’s planning for our relief also gives us reason to take heart when the major catastrophes of life come along like the death of a spouse, a fire, a disaster in our homes or financial ruin.
That’s not to say that God’s plan always goes the way we expect. Sometimes God brings blessings on paths where we would not expect blessings. In the 1780's, part of Wrentham, Massachusetts was a brand new city and had very little money and no bell in their church. They used the church building in their city as the center of their life. With no bell in the church, there was no way to summon the farmers for services or for emergencies such as fire. As a result, they came up with a clever plan. They named their new town "Franklin", and wrote a letter to Benjamin Franklin asking him to donate a bell. However, Dr. Franklin was not so inclined. "Sense being preferable to sound," Dr. Franklin sent the good farmers a crate of books instead, and suggested they start a library. They did. It's still operating. It is the oldest public library in the United States. That’s an important lesson for us to remember about God’s plan for our lives. God always has in mind to bless us even when things seem out of control. God’s plan for Elijah’s relief also included the day when the Lord would take him up to heaven in the flaming chariot. God’s plan for our relief also includes the day when the Lord will relieve us of all our troubles and takes us home to heaven where nothing is out of control.
Let’s thank God that as part of his wonderful plan for us is that he has us living at this time in this wonderful and blessed country. Elijah did not enjoy the freedoms we enjoy. Yet there is much we can learn from how God treated Elijah when he was on the run from Queen Jezebel. Just when you think you are all alone, God encourages you. Just when you think things are out of control God has a plan. Amen.
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