lectio divina:: 1 kings 19

when I was in seminary, my hebrew class was pretty dry. the professor was brilliant, but during this time, he had some major health and personal issues and wasn't very engaged in the class. but in one class, he taught a devotional on 1 kings 19 that has stayed with me ever since. I read it in my daily reading today and was reminded of his devotional.

some backstory first:
israel's king was the wicked ahab and his wife jezebel. they both worshipped baal and ashera. God sent elijah, and elijah told them that there would be no rain on the land until elijah had allowed it. and he was right. the land went through a severe famine: the crops died, the animals died, and the people died off in droves. ahab put a price on elijah's head, but elijah wasn't afraid. 

elijah met ahab on mt. carmel along with 400 prophets of baal and a crowd of israelites. there, elijah famously challenged the prophets of baal to call on their god to burn up a sacrifice. baal was the god of fire- so this would be no problem for baal. the prophets called, but no answer. they wailed and cut their skin, but no answer. finally elijah asked that a trench would be dug around the altar and filled with water. in a drought-stricken-land, this was outrageous. but they did, and elijah called on God, and God zapped the sacrifice, the altar and all of the water with a burst of lightning. 

elijah called on the spectators to kill all of the prophets of baal, and they did. and then it began to rain.

jezebel, the queen sent a messenger to elijah with this message: "may the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them (the prophets of baal).”

so what does elijah do in response? does he say, "bring it on!"? does he say, "good luck with that!"? the bible says, "elijah was afraid and ran for his life."

why is he afraid? he has seen the power of almighty God over and over again in his life. for some reason, jezebel's power exceeded God's power in his mind at that moment. so he ran.
while he was running, he was so depressed, that he prayed that God would end his life.

then he travels for 40 days to a place called horeb, the mountain of God. what was so special about horeb? what is in horeb that is worth traveling for 6 weeks to get there?

my seminary prof said that the mountain of God was referring to mount sinai- and that elijah was looking at mount sinai for the same thing that moses found when he was there.

way back in exodus 33, the bible says that God spoke to moses at mt. sinai, face to face- like a man speaks to his friend.in exodus 34, moses hid in a cave while the glory of the LORD passed in front of him, and left his face glowing for weeks after. 

my prof suggested that this is what elijah was looking for: something incredible, supernatural, fantastic, that would leave his face glowing.

back to 1 kings 19: elijah arrives at the mountain. he finds the cave. he sleeps in it and waits for the morning. the bible says in 1 kings 19:1 "And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

it has always amazed me that God would address elijah tenderly and with a question. God knows why he's there- but He allows elijah to give his answer.

elijah says, "I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn 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.”

basically he is telling God that the queen's power exceeds God's power. then God says this: "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

this is what he came for- to experience what moses experienced and to glow like moses did.

the story goes on and says, "then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind."

what?! I'm sure that elijah thought that this was the amazing thing that would happen and that God would declare something epic after this hurricane level wind; but God was not in the wind. 

"After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire."

all of these crazy, natural disasters are happening right in front of elijah's eyes. he is expecting to hear the booming, powerful voice of God strengthening him and giving him instructions on how to defeat jezebel; but God was not in the earthquake, and God was not in the fire. and then something unexpected happens:

"And after the fire came a gentle whisper."

what did it sound like? instead of booming, God whispered elijah's name and called him to come close. I remember reading this in hebrew class and slowly sounding out the words, and fumbling through my translation in front of the class. when I got to that sentence, the hairs on my arms stood up: "and after the fire came a gentle whisper." can you imagine God whispering your name after these violent acts of nature?

"When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave."

I'm sure he trembled as he walked. again, God gently repeats His question, and elijah fearfully repeats his answer: 

"What are you doing here, Elijah?”

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn 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.”

God realizes that elijah feared jezebel more than Himself, and that wasn't going to change- not after the miracles, not after the fire from heaven, not after the wind and the earthquake. God very gently told elijah that he was fired.

He says, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet."

I love this story- I love the wild acts of nature, I love the plot twists, but most of all, I love the gentle nature of God who whispers for elijah and gently replaces him only after several opportunities to change his thinking.

when God disciplines, He does it gently, and with love. He doesn't shout or rage, He asks questions, and listens for our answer.

and faith is always what has impressed Him more than anything else.

these are good lessons for these days:

that God is bigger than the bullies in front of us. 

and when its our job to discipline, we are like God when we discipline with gentleness instead of disappointment and anger.

God is love.-rev-rob

thoughts on the billion-

recently there was a mega-million lottery prize for 1.6 billion dollars. I never play the lottery, but I bought one ticket; and when there wasn't a winner I bought another one. 

I didn't win. 

I was sure that I was going to win. I was sure that God wanted me to win, and that He wanted to bless me and use me to bless others. it turns out that He wants to do both of those things without making me filthy rich.

just like everyone else, I started thinking about what I would do with the billion. I started asking questions like, "would I quit my job?" "would I keep my lifestyle or start living lavishly?" "would I share? how much? with who? would I start an organization to help people? would I just hand out cash?"

I started dreaming some big dreams, and spending some big bucks in my mind.

I got this thought that has been following me around- I was driving, and I thought to myself,
"if I won the billion, I would work at a church, but I wouldn't ever worry about my future.
why worry?!
I've got my billion! if that church didn't like me I would just go and work somewhere else.
and when I do work there, I would work with such a happy, care-free attitude- 
I would be friendly- and easy to work with, and patient-
because I would be taken care of! I would have all of the money in the world.
so why stress?! why have drama? why be territorial, or protective of my rights?
why not just love everyone and have a great time working,
because my money would always be there to provide for me needs.
my money would remind me that there is nothing to stress about."

as I was driving I felt like God was whispering to me,
"I've got more than $1.6 billion- and I'll take care of you.
so go ahead and work- and have fun, and be stress-free and drama-free and love everyone; because you're covered.
I'll be your safety-net. you don't need to worry about the future."

if I had a pile of cash, I think it would be a lot easier to put my security and trust in it than in God.
but God's resources are even bigger.
and His love is more genuine.
and He is for me and my future.

so I'm going to just operate as though I won the billion.
I'm going to be fun to be around, and easy to work with.
I'm not going to be territorial, or protective, or impatient.
I'm going to be low-key and friendly, and interested in others.
and I'm going to trust that He has me, my future, and my family covered. 

but I'm going to keep driving the same car.

God is love.
-rev-rob

quick story-

many years ago, when I was much younger, I worked at a church that spent (what seemed to me) quite a bit of the church service on the announcement time. the many in charge of the announcements was a bit verbose, and when he shared announcement, he didn't leave out a single detail. the announcement time turned into a weekly 20 minute radio program that I felt was too long.

one time we were in staff meeting and the topic of the announcement time got brought up. I said that I thought it was too long. he pushed back. and in my immaturity, I sternly stated in front of the church staff a statement that went something to the effect of,
"THESE PEOPLE DIDN'T COME TO CHURCH TO HEAR YOU TALK, BRO.
THEY CAME TO MEET WITH GOD."

needless to say, things were never really great between me and the announcement guy. and that certainly wasn't the last time that I said something that I regretted in a staff meeting.

flash forward to present day.

new church, new role. now I'm a kids pastor, and I need to repaint a room for preschoolers. I have been getting to know these preschoolers- and I can see that they are passionate about dinosaurs, superheroes, lightning mcqueen and legos. so I thought, "let's paint these things on the preschool room wall! the kids will be thrilled. parents will be thrilled."

so I contacted a mural painter and made some plans.

last night I was driving in my car and I say to my daughter jane,
"hey- I'm going to paint the preschool room walls.
I think I'm going to put dinosaurs on the walls.
and lightning mcqueen.
and mickey mouse."

and my kid starts out chill, but then she gets more and more passionate. she says,
"what?! we don't need that on the walls! these kids need bible characters on the walls! and bible verses!"

I gave her a little more of my reasoning and then she turns and sterly says to me,
 "THESE KIDS DIDN'T COME TO CHURCH TO LOOK AT MICKEY MOUSE, DAD.
THEY CAME TO GROW IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD."

it was practically eerie.
and slightly funny.
but I could hear my own voice coming through my teenage girl.
on one level, I wanted to prove my point, but on another level, I couldn't argue with that.

I lost the argument, but I didn't care. I was so proud of my kid.

God is love.
-rev-rob