RUNNING IN FEAR

Related imageJames 5:17 reminds me that Elijah was a man with the same human qualities that I possess...you possess.  Today in the reading of 1 Kings 19, I see the same weakness which we both share...FEAR.  We were created to experience love, security, purpose, and worship of God, but because of Adam and Eve's choice, wanting to be like God, we now are born with fear and insecurity as our primal emotions. 

Elijah has moved each time with a word from Jehovah, but when he gets the message of Jezebel's threat against his life, without a word, he runs "for his life". He runs south from Jezreel, Ahab's winter home...anywhere beyond the reach of Jezebel!  In exhaustion from his trip, he lays down under a scrubby Juniper tree with the request to the Lord that He let Elijah die. Elijah is weary and when weariness sets in, the spirit of fear is ready to move in as the next resident of hopelessness, next close buddy, to move into Elijah...you or me!  God graciously provides an angel, a baked cake, and a jar of water for Elijah.  Elijah is refreshed from the rest, cake, and the water and returns to his running for 40 days and nights to get to Mount Horeb/Sinai to hide in a cave.  Why he chooses that location, Scripture does not tell us.  Just as he is settling into the life of hiding and anonymity in a cave, "the word of the Lord came to him, and HE said to him, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?"

How like Father God to question us!  HE certainly knows why Elijah is in the cave, perhaps does the Lord God want Elijah to admit that he has run because he does not trust God to protect him any longer?  When God questions, it is His heart that you and I be willing to humble ourselves and confess our sin of disobedience.  Psalm 139 shouts loudly..."Cheryl, I have searched you, I know you. I know your thought before you even think it. I know your path. I know your lying down at night, and I am intimately acquainted with all your ways.  Cheryl, you cannot go ANYPLACE where I am not.  I even knew you before your parent's sperm and egg came together to form you in your Mother's womb.  Don't your realize that you are fearfully and wonderfully made and I know the number of days that have been set aside for your lifetime?"  I am so grateful that I am well known by the Lord God of Heaven and Earth!  I declare that I will trust in YOU with my whole heart and I will not lean into my own shallow and finite understanding.  Ever learning!  In process, still!  #IHAVETHREESONS

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