Compassion Not Criticism

1 Kings 19:9-18: The great prophet Elijah is discouraged. God comes to him to encourage and rejuvenate him for his next task.

In the previous chapter Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal and is in fear of his life. He ran to the desert, found a tree to sit under and prayed to God to take his life and then went to sleep. Two times an angel woke him and fed him, he then traveled 40 days to Mt. Horeb (Mt. Sanai where God appeared to Moses), found a cave and went inside. At this point Elijah is seriously spent and I love how God lifts him up. This passage makes me think about my relationship to my children and how that affects my view of God, specifically my relationship with God as His child. There are many parallels in these 2 relationships. In my humanity I sometimes forget the differences, but this difference really matters!

In the beginning of this passage, 1 Kings 19:9, God speaks to Elijah and says “what are you doing here?” Elijah’s response is so broken, he expresses that the work he’s been doing is out of his passion for God, but no one listens and in fact he is hated. He says to God “I am the only one left & now they’re trying to kill me, too.” He is so raw, so vulnerable, so relatable. And God responds to this. He tells Elijah to go out to the mountain because He is about to pass by. God’s desire is to be close to Elijah during his vulnerable state. What happens next is so amazing! A great wind comes and rips through the mountains, but God is not there. Next an earthquake shakes the land, but God is not there. After that there is a fire, but God is not there either. While God has appeared in the bible many times in one of these powerful ways, His character cannot be solely defined by His power, it’s just one aspect of His entirety. Read verse 12- “after the fire came a gentle whisper”. I think a greater indicator of God’s character is His desire to have a relationship with people, an intimate knowing of the heart. God saw the fragile state that Elijah was in and in His love for His child He came to Elijah and restrained His power into a gentle whisper. I know for myself that it can be hard to cry out to God when I’m vulnerable. I have a fear that in my weakened state God will heap on judgement and condemnation. I’m certain that He’ll run with the criticism that has already begun in my own thoughts and reflections about the previous events. I place God on the same human level as myself, as my “parent self”, expecting His reaction to be the same as mine if my child had come to me. But God is not human in His thinking or in His parenting logic. My human-ness is -at best- a stab in the dark level of understanding what my child is truly feeling. After which comes a dialogue (let’s face it- a monologue) of how he could’ve better handled the situation. My expectation is that God would then remove me from His work, from His purposes, because He gave me too much responsibility, after all, this is how I would handle a similar situation with my child. As you know if you’re a parent, there’s a constant give and take with the responsibilities and privileges with your children. But God doesn’t do life according to Beth- thankfully! God fully knows what He is doing all the time! In His infinite wisdom He sees all the moving parts and puts us in His ultimate plan not because He thinks we know what we’re doing, or are fully prepared for the work, but simply because He wants that working relationship with us. Afterword- like Elijah- we (feel like we) messed things up and are (feeling) washed up, but God doesn’t see it that way at all. He is tender with us, He rejuvenates us, preparing us for the next task. Take a look at verse 15, God begins instructing Elijah about where to go next, who to find and what to do. God is far from done with Elijah at this point, much like He is far from done with you and me, too! To top it off, in verse 18 God encourages Elijah by telling him there are 7,000 others in Israel who have not worshipped Baal. What an encouragement to Elijah that he is NOT the only one left and that God is not finished with him yet.

This story is an encouragement to me to know that God’s view of me is not harsh or critical. That when I seemingly make a mess of things He doesn’t see it that way. That when I feel used up is just when He’s feeding me, preparing me for the next task.

Dear Heavenly Father- I am in awe that you use such brokenness for Your purpose and ultimately for Your Glory. Thank You for Your continuing love and compassionate power in my life. ~Beth