I love this story because Elijah gives us a great example of what it looks like to give 100% in the power of God and the stark contrast of what it looks like when we do life on our own. He also challenges us with the important principle of living life in balance. 

Some of us are just like Elijah! We live from Wow! to Wow! and then are extremely depressed and basically unusable in between those peaks. However, some of us are so complacent and happy to be in the common places that we are not too keen on taking on anything more exciting than sitting in a different row in church on Sunday mornings.

When we approach God’s Letter, the Bible, it should be done with reverence, awe, and wonder. We should never be so comfortable with God’s Word that we read it casually like the Sunday morning comics. On the other hand, if every time we read God’s Word with the expectation of lightning bolts and thunder claps, we will be cruelly disappointed and miss the everyday, life-changing, gentle blowing wind of God. 

The Bible, all of it, is God giving Himself to us. As my pastor says, “The Bible is not just a book about God; it is a Book by God.” The Bible is God giving ALL that He is to us mere humans. In the Bible, God shares Who He is and what He thinks. The Bible is God pleading with us to come into an eternal relationship with Him and His plan for making that happen. It is one colossal eternal love letter to us written with the precious blood of Jesus, God’s Son. These basic truths should motivate us to read and re-read His Words contained in this Book. 

You may wonder why I have taken the space for all this. The reason is simple. If we don’t get the Who that is giving us the Letter in John 13, we will never get the loving one another thing right. And we will not get the Who right if we don’t grasp the eternal purpose of His Words to us, both the “Wow!” purpose and the gentle breeze purpose. 

May we be in awe of His extra ordinary days and of His every ordinary days!

Discussion

It’s time to go back to your list at the beginning of this chapter and also re-read John 13:34-35. 

Is being thankful for the Bible one of the things on your top ten list? Let’s take that a step further. Is being thankful for God’s commandments and laws found in the Bible on your top ten list? One step further: have we ever thought of God’s commandments as a gift? Would God’s commandments and laws show up anywhere on a list of things we are thankful for? Just some questions to ponder as we continue our study on loving one another.

Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. I Kings 19:2

Here he was, a tad bit tired from outpacing Ahab’s chariot, no supporters, no fans, and no groupies around him. Only his servant was with him. (I think he probably had to hang around.) Then, he gets the news that Jezebel has this contract out on him. The text says he ran for his life to Beersheba and left his servant there (there goes the last hope for any moral support). Then he ran into the wilderness and collapsed under a juniper tree where he requested that he might die. 

It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers. I Kings 19:4c

It’s hard to believe that this mighty prophet of God went from the high of carrying out one of the most remarkable achievements in the entire Bible to a low so deep that he was despondent and wanted God to take his life. Then again, maybe it isn’t all that hard to believe. Maybe most of us have been there to some degree.

 But God wasn’t finished with this runaway prophet and He isn’t done with us either. I know because I am still here writing and you are still here reading. So we aren’t done with whatever God has for us to do. Let’s remember that!

Elijah wasn’t done either, but he was exhausted, hungry, scared, and had no one. Elijah was just done in! God knew all of this, including Jezebel’s threats and massive man hunt. It was all part of His plan to speak to Elijah in the most intimate way. 

So under the juniper tree, after a few visits from the angel of the Lord, some sleep, and some food, Elijah was good to go. I mean he was good to go for forty long days. I love the last statement from the angel of the Lord before Elijah left for this long trek, “Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you.” (I Kings 19:7b). Talk about an understatement!

 Elijah conquered the prophets of Baal on God’s strength and with God’s power. He ran from Jezebel on his own without listening for God. The next forty days he survived on God’s provision from the food and rest back in the wilderness. Is this a lesson for us? 

Finally, he arrived at Mount Horeb, the Mountain of God. But was he ready to listen to God…God’s way? God wants to give Elijah some instruction. You can read the whole story in I Kings 19.

God: What are you doing here, Elijah?

Elijah: I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

God: Go forth and stand on the mountain before the LORD.

Now here is where it gets interesting…as if standing before God on His Mountain and talking with Him isn’t interesting enough. But, trust me, it gets better! So Elijah hangs out in the cave and waits for God to speak to him again. 

Suddenly a great and strong wind ripped at the mountain, and the rocks were torn in pieces. Elijah thought for sure that this was God. But God was not in the wind. Then an earthquake came and then a fire and Elijah thought surely this was God. Nope, He was not in the fire.

Then Elijah heard “a sound of gentle blowing.” We’re told that when Elijah heard this gentle breeze, he just knew it was God. Jehovah opened his mind and his heart, and he knew the Creator was in the gentle blowing. Elijah wrapped his mantle around his face and finally did what God told him to do. He went out of the cave and stood on the mountain before the Lord. There he and God repeated the first conversation with one important difference: 

Elijah was ready to listen to God in God’s way. And he was ready for God’s instruction. The assignment wasn’t nearly as dramatic or astonishing as some of the previous ones. God simply asked him to anoint a new ruler over Aram, a new king over Judah, and a new prophet to replace himself, none other than Elisha. God also reminded the prophet that he was not alone. God had a remnant, a 7000 strong remnant that did not bow their knee to Baal.

Discussion

• Look up the following familiar passages. Ask God to show you His gentle wind blowing presence in these Scriptures and to show you something new for the every day.
• John 3:16
• Psalm 23
• Isaiah 40:31
• Isaiah 9:6
• Matthew 28:18-20
• Matthew 28:5-7

The ability to communicate with words is a precious gift from God that we often take for granted and quite frankly, rarely use successfully. Words, both verbal and written, allow us to give a part of ourselves to someone else. With words, we not only share what we think, we share who we are and Whose we are. Every time we speak or write, say a letter, we are giving away a piece of ourselves. Yes, non-verbal communication does have influence, and grunts and growls have their place in the animal world, but words define nuances, shape minds, and even alter history. 

Contrary to Darwin elitists, God gave the gift of words only to humans from the beginning. We know this because Adam was told to name the animals. Names require the use of words. Plus, we know Adam and Eve understood God’s instructions given to them immediately after they were created. Add to that the very first words recorded of man are Adam’s words upon being introduced to Eve.

The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 

Genesis 2:23

A tad bit more meaningful than the grovels, grunts, and howls the evolutionists ask us to believe were the first communications of man. And it didn’t take long before a conversation of words changed human history for all time (Genesis 3). Yes, words are a gift. The written word is timeless. And God’s Words are eternal!

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. 

Matthew 24:35

If our meager written words were a crucial lifeline to my son, shouldn’t the everlasting Words of God be treated as Life itself communicating with us? Shouldn’t we be excited that we are getting eternal mail when we read our Bibles? Shouldn’t we open that mail every day? And shouldn’t we read and re-read these amazing letters relentlessly for our own good and for the benefit of those around us? 

The obvious answer to all these questions is a resounding, “Yes!” and we are not alone in our desire to hear, know, and understand the Words of God. The Bible is full of examples of people who longed to hear God. One of my favorites is Elijah!

In the Old Testament, we read about a remarkable prophet whose name was Elijah. He was quite the man of God and served Him faithfully during a very dark time in Israel’s history. In fact, he was so connected with God that he experienced some pretty amazing God-sized moments: 

• Elijah was given the ability to stop the rain (I Kings 17:1).
• Elijah, a widow and her son ate unlimited bread while he lodged with them during the time of draught 

(I Kings 17:9-16).  

• Elijah was given power to raise the widow’s son from the dead (I Kings 17:17-24).
• Elijah was given power to defeat 450 prophets of Baal in a god-test (I Kings 18). 
• Elijah was given the ability to make it rain again 

(I Kings 18:45).

• Elijah was given the speed and endurance to outpace Ahab’s chariot and beat him to Jezreel (I Kings 18:46).
• Elijah was fed miraculously by God and the angel of the Lord ministered personally to him (I Kings 19:6-7).
• Elijah traveled for forty days to a mountain on those one day provisions (I Kings 19:8).
• Elijah spoke directly to God on Mount Horeb, The Mountain of God (I Kings 19:9-15).
• Elijah was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire 

(II Kings 2:11).

• Elisha smote the waters of Jordan with Elijah’s mantel which fell off when he was taken away to heaven in the chariot of fire. The waters were separated and Elisha crossed over on dry ground (II Kings 11-14).

Like many of our heroes in the Bible, Elijah struggled with keeping a balanced perspective in between these Wow! moments. Queen Jezebel had a particularly adverse effect on him and he allowed one threat made by this malicious woman to knock him off his feet.

Discussion

Discuss living from “Wow!” spiritual experience to “Wow!” spiritual experience? How do you feel in between these times? Ask God to show you how to thrive in the ordinary every day routines that make up the majority of our time and space while we are living on Earth.

Do This First…

Before you read this chapter, I have a task for you. At the top of this page, list the top ten things Jesus Christ has given you. Just take one minute to write the very first things that come to your mind. Please do not read any further until you have this list completed.

My middle child shipped out to be a Marine Corps officer at the ripe young age of 27. He arrived at Quantico Base on a Friday at which point he and the other officer candidates handed over all electronics…all of them. They knew this was coming. They were warned prior to arrival that for three weeks they would have no contact with the outside world except through letters delivered the old fashioned way via the USPS. 

I don’t think my son has been without access to a cell phone and/or email since before the turn of the century. And I would imagine some of the younger Marine officer candidates couldn’t even remember a time when they were without electronic connections. Had they ever written a letter with paper and ink, placed it in an envelope with mailing and return address, plunked a stamp on it, and then walked it to the mailbox? Probably not, but on their second day, each officer candidate was given paper, pen, and envelopes and told to write home. 

Our son wrote to his wife, his parents, his siblings, and his grandparents in that order. He was a good boy! Now, we couldn’t write back until we got these letters telling us his exact address, and for some reason, it took seven days for any of us to get his letters. Then it took five days for him to get ours. By this point, it’s been almost two weeks since he has had any communication with family. Mail call was so hard when there were no letters for him. 

In today’s texting world, two weeks seemed like a lifetime to our son and his morale slipped into a pretty deep cavern. He had no outside world contact…none. His whole world was his rack mates and the officers shaping him into a Marine!

Eventually, he received all our letters, usually in bunches. His wife wrote every day since he left and was just waiting for his first letter. He shared with us how he clung to every word of every letter when her stack was placed in his hands. I can only imagine the salve her words provided. He would write back as he could (2:00AM by flashlight), but now that we had the exact address, we made sure he had a letter from one of us every day. He had little time to read them so we kept them short.

After those first three weeks, he got his cell phone back and during liberty, he could make calls. A friend let him borrow his laptop and he Skyped his wife. (That sounds bad, but it wasn’t…trust me!) He was worn…dejected…exhausted and wasn’t sure he could make it. But after talking with his wife for many hours and to us for not quite that long, he decided to do one more week. It was a critical week. Again, he would be without any direct communication with those he cared about. His only connection would be through handwritten letters. We wrote furiously and prayed a lot!

Our letters kept going out, often two or three a day. We wanted him to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we knew he could do it, that God would provide, and that we loved him so much! The next call came the following weekend. It wasn’t the same man on the other end of the line. He was still exhausted and still trying to catch up all the time, but he was hopeful and determined to finish out the ten weeks. After we hung up, I cried because he said, “If it wasn’t for everyone’s letters, I know I would have requested to be sent back home.”

Our son did graduate and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps! He attended Basic School where he said, “They try to kill us every day” and he wasn’t talking about the enemy. Then he attended Infantry Officer Training School and one long year later, he was shipped to his first assignment.

All of this to prepare him to be a leader in combat against some of the worst enemies the United States has ever faced. He was and is ready to serve his God, his fellow man, and his country. A few short letters, written by hand and with a lot of love, were all that stood between wearing the classic dress blues or going home in khakis and a polo shirt.

Discussion

Have you physically written a letter in the past week, the past month, the past year? Here is a challenge. Write a physical letter on an actual sheet of paper or stationary or a card to someone in your circle of influence. Put it in an envelope, write the address of the person whom you wrote to on the envelop with your return address and put a stamp on the letter. Then Mail It! You will be amazed the encouragement your recipient of the written letter will receive and just how blessed you will both feel!

You’ve Got Mail: Defined

A new commandment I GIVE TO YOU, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. 

John 13:34-35

Give – didōmi (verb) (G1325)

1. to give
2. to give something to someone
   1. of one’s own accord to give one something, to his advantage
      1. to bestow a gift
   1. to grant, give to one asking, let have
   1. to supply, furnish, necessary things
   1. to give over, deliver
      1. to reach out, extend, present
      1. of a writing
      1. to give over to one’s care, entrust, commit
         1. something to be administered
         1. to give or commit to someone something to be religiously observed
   1. to give what is due or obligatory, to pay: wages or reward
   1. to furnish, endue