Jackie Whiston is a Lay Licensed Worship Leader (LLWL) and this formed part of a joint worship service of Forest Home and Dalston-Crown Hill United Churches, held in Forest Home August 31, 2025.
Scripture Reading: (1 Kings 19: 1-15a – New King James Version)
And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the
prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the
gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by
tomorrow about this time.” 3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and
went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down
under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough!
Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”
5 Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and
said to him, “Arise and eat.” 6 Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked
on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 And the angel
of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat,
because the journey is too great for you.” 8 So he arose, and ate and drank; and he
went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the
mountain of God.
9 And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word
of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 So he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of
Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets
with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”
11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold,
the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke
the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the
wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the
earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out
and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What
are you doing here, Elijah?”
14 And he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; because the
children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your
prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”
15 Then the LORD said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus
Sermon Title: Release from Life’s “something” (Jackie Whiston)
What a story we have from the Old Testament this morning. It touches on many
different subjects: a story of power and corruption, a story of a clash of cultures and
ideologies, a story of religious conflict and terrible violence. And all of these topics are
certainly still relevant for us today. But most of all this is the story of Elijah and how he
learned what it really means to have faith in God.
The story actually starts out in 1 Kings Chapter 18 with Elijah looking as if he already
knows everything there is to know about faith in God. He looks like someone we would
hold up as an example of a great man of faith – the kind of believer we might all aspire
to be. You see, Elijah was the LORD’s man, remaining faithful even when his people
were giving up on God’s ways. The country was ruled by King Ahab, who is described
as doing more evil than all the kings who had gone before him. But the real power
belonged to Queen Jezebel who had introduced the religious practices from her
homeland, practices based around the idol worship of the god Baal, which she helped
to popularise.
The country was in total disarray and even a long, devastating drought had not
changed the direction in which society was going. And there is the courageous prophet
Elijah, remaining faithful to what he knew to be true; still speaking out even when his
words were unfashionable and unpopular. Many others who had also spoken out had
been killed. But still Elijah remains committed to doing what is right in serving God.
Then comes the moment of the big public showdown and what a triumph that turned
out to be for him. In front of King Ahab whose soldiers had been trying to kill him, in
front of the prophets of Baal whose practices he opposed, in front of the people of
Israel, he was vindicated and he was shown to be right.
Elijah had been so confident, so sure, that he had even indulged in a bit of
showboating. He had mocked the prophets of Baal for their boisterous and noisy prayers which had not produced the result they sought. “Is your god deaf”, he had
taunted, “maybe you need to shout a bit louder”. (1 Kings 18:27) Then he had people
pour water on his sacrifice just to make his challenge a bit more difficult.
Right there on that mountain Elijah was at the height of his power. So much so that
when he called fire down from heaven – fire did indeed come down from heaven, and
the crowds quickly acclaimed him as the true man of God. Elijah was in control, he
understood what God wanted and how to get things done. He looked every inch like a
great man of faith. He looked like the kind of believer we might all aspire to be; sure
and certain and able to do great things for God.
So Elijah must have felt great. Life for him must have been wonderful. Except of
course, as we have read this morning it wasn’t wonderful at all. We might like to think
that if only we could get things right and succeed as spectacularly as Elijah succeeded
then everything in our lives would go swimmingly. Then even our enemies would have
to apologise and agree with us. But we know, don’t we – that life and human nature is
not like that. Queen Jezebel did not respond to this event with apologies and respect.
She responded with fury and renewed vows to hunt down Elijah and kill him, just as
surely as her own favourite prophets had been killed by him.
So… what did Elijah do when he received Jezebel’s threatening message? He prayed
to God and asked God for direction, right? Nope! He was totally overwhelmed by
disappointment and discouragement, which lead him to despair, and despair lead him
down an unhealthy path.
Far from feeling victorious and on top of the world, in a weakness of faith, Elijah was so
afraid for his life that he ran away into the wilderness. Finally, overwhelmed with
exhaustion and deeply depressed, he dropped to the ground under a tree and prayed
that he might die. “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life!…” (vs.4)
Whatever else Elijah’s great triumphs had done, whatever else his success meant for
him, it had not brought him peace, or contentment, or joy.
I think most of us have faced discouragement at one time or another? I certainly
have… No matter what it might be that we might have longed for and worked for and
sweated for, like Elijah, a successful completion of that task does not necessarily mean
that we then live happily ever after – there always seems to be ‘something’. Far more
often the outcome is the discovery that everything we always wanted is not in fact
everything we always wanted. Success does not automatically equal joy. And yet that
desire to succeed, that desire to prove that we are right, that desire to do great things
in our own strength, retains a very strong attraction. And we shouldn’t think that we are
immune to it just because we are Christians.
Have you ever had just one of those days? You know the kind, where nothing goes
right. The car you just bought left you stranded. The promotion at work was given to
the boss’s inept son instead of you. You burned the dinner you were making for
company to a crisp when you forgot to set the timer, the kids or grandkids won’t go to
bed, and the lawnmower died right in the middle of mowing your lawn.
At a recent mental health symposium, a guest speaker asked, “How would you
diagnose a person who walks back and forth screaming at the top of his lungs one
minute, then sits in a chair weeping uncontrollably the next?” A young man in the rear
of the room raised his hand and answered, “A Toronto Maple Leafs hockey coach?”
We have all had days when we’re down in the dumps. We may even get depressed.
We don’t always like the way things are going. Let’s face it, life is not always a load of
fun and is often not easy and sometimes we’ve just had enough. And so, I think we can
all understand how Elijah felt when he ran away and cried out to God in despair. He
was in a real pickle.
Experts have often speculated about Elijah’s mental state at this point in his life.
Perhaps his deep depression developed because he couldn’t stand the fact that, after
his mighty participation in the power of God, he was still so afraid for his own life in the
face of the threats by Jezebel. OR… Perhaps Elijah was simply worn out, lonely,
burned out, feeling empty, disrespected, and unappreciated… Can you relate?
At a national mental health conference, the keynote speaker asked a young lady from
Toronto, “What is the opposite of depression?” “Elation,” she replied.
“And you sir,” he said to a young man from Calgary, “what about the opposite of woe?”
The Calgarian replied, “Sir, I believe that would be ‘giddy up’ “.
Whatever caused Elijah to cry out to God to take his life, God reached out to him, fed
and rested him and sent him on a 40 day, 200 mile journey to Mount Sinai. There
Elijah goes into a cave, to spend the night and God asks him, “What are you doing
here, Elijah?” (vs.7)
Well, the 40 day walking meditation hadn’t improved Elijah’s outlook on life. So he has
a good old moan about how terrible everything is, and how he tried to do the right thing
but bad things still happen to him and how unfair it all is… Because he’s still thinking
that success should bring great rewards and in that way of thinking surely he deserves
better.
Now, God doesn’t bother to rebuke him, or even to encourage him, He just wants to
show him something. The LORD tells him to, “Go out, and stand on the mountain…”
(VS. 11 ) And Elijah is then shown all sorts of special effects which he has come to
associate with God. There is a violent earthquake – which people of his time would
associate with the judgement of God – but God wasn’t there. There is a great fire – the
very sign with which Elijah has just proved the power of God’s presence – but God
wasn’t there. And that was followed by the sound of sheer silence, which today’s
translation describes as the “still, small voice” of God. (vs.12)
It was nothing, nothing at all. Nothing powerful, nothing impressive, nothing dramatic,
just… nothing. No explanations, no instructions, no advice, just… nothing. And it was
in the silence, rather than the sounds of success and adulation; it was in the
emptiness, rather than anything he had achieved, it was in the stillness, rather than
any of his activity, that Elijah finally finds, by the grace of God, peace. So he just
covers his face, an act of humility, and he quietly leaves the mountain and the cave, in
which he had been hiding from all his fears and discouragement.
He obediently leaves because he doesn’t need to hide anymore, just as he doesn’t
need great dramas to prove how faithful he is, or great triumphs to prove how
successful he is, or great public acclaim to prove how popular he is. He is who he is
and God is who God is and Elijah has discovered that actually – that is enough.
Now Elijah knows that he is not really in control of anything. It is in his weakness that
he realizes that God is his strength. And now Elijah knows that it is fine to be like that.
God, with love and grace, released Elijah from his need to hide in fear and told him to
get up and get going again. (vs.15)
Psychiatrists say that depression is the most common mental illness in our culture
today. Depression’s basic component is a loss of hope. To have hope is to believe that
something will get better, make sense, or end up okay. Unfortunately, lots of people in
today’s society don’t have much hope.
A brick carrier, sick of his job and weary of life, sighed audibly as he started up the
ladder with his next load of bricks, “I wish I was dead.” he moaned.
Another worker high up in the building overheard his wish and, being of a mind to
accommodate him, dropped a load of bricks on his head.
When the fellow came to, he exclaimed, “Lord, I thought you could take a joke!”
It is a good thing that God can take a joke, or rather, that he does not take us at our
word in times of depression and discouragement.
Time and again I have heard people agonize over the state of the world today: the
corruption, the opioid crisis, homelessness, the seemingly endless areas of poverty,
war, natural disasters, suffering, horrible acts of violence; and the scathing political
rhetoric we hear from parties of all political persuasions. We have too much information
about how messed up things are and too little power to change anything.
The challenge for many is everything’s always okay, except for “something.” There
always seems to be “something” … “something” to keep us from being free to
joyously live out and celebrate our lives…”
Sometimes the “something” is small and not terribly hurtful; sometimes the
“something” is so life destroying that it can cause us sleepless nights and rob us of
our health and life and peace and joy. The message we are invited to hear from the
scriptures is the promise that God wants to release us from that “something,” from
whatever it is that binds us; from whatever keeps us from being able to live our lives in
such a way as to glorify God and fully use and appreciate the blessings and fruits of
the Spirit, God has given us.
On that sacred mountaintop, God taught Elijah, when Elijah was overwhelmed by life,
to “Be still and know that I am God.” (Ps 46:10) Too often we struggle in our own
strength or rush around and guess. We hurry to get past our troubles or to blot them
out of our consciousness, and maybe we sort of take our own religious “stabs” at trying
to figure out what part we think God should have in our lives.
Sometime our emotional state may also be affected by extreme non-realities? “I’m the
only one who’s suffering this badly.” “No one cares about me”. “Everyone’s against
me.” “It’ll never get any better.” Elijah says in verse 10 of this morning’s passage “I
alone am left.” Actually, there were still thousands of faithful people and Elijah had been told that they had helped hide 100 of the prophets safely away in caves to protect
them from Jezebel. These type of extreme statements are built upon emotionally
skewed perspectives. I’ve heard this referred to as “stinkin’ thinkin’”.
So we need God to come along and give us the facts; show us the reality. And
sometimes, God opens our eyes to see things in a different perspective. The LORD
reveals Himself to us in a teachable moment like He did for Elijah in the “whisper”. God
doesn’t scold Elijah but instead demonstrates to Elijah that God isn’t just seen in the
powerful ways displayed on Mount Carmel but also in a soft, quiet whisper, in the
“stillness”.
As I was driving home the other day, I stopped to watch a local Little League baseball
game that was being played across from the DQ. As I sat down behind the bench on
the first-base line, I asked one of the little boys what the score was.
“We’re behind 14 to nothing,” he answered with a huge smile.
“Really,” I said. “I have to say you don’t look very discouraged.” “Discouraged?” the
boy, asked with a puzzled look on his face. “Why should we be discouraged? We
haven’t been up to bat yet.”
Like Elijah, we can have great spiritual mountaintop moments followed by crushing
blows of spiritual depletion. So, we run and hide and want to give up. Then the LORD
comes along and revives us and teaches us something about God and about the
situation we’re confused about and tells us to get back in the game – because we’re not
finished yet – it’s only the first inning and we haven’t been up to bat yet. Elijah was a
great man of God who was bold and courageous at certain times but fearful,
discouraged and downcast in others. You see, Elijah was just like us; like you and me.
God’s goodness and love is present and at work even in situations where, in our
experience, it seems most utterly absent.
Several years ago, I was joyfully immersed in my studies to become a Lay Worship
Leader when I suddenly became ill. I developed opthalmic shingles on the left side of
my face, my head and in my eye. Unfortunately, it was misdiagnosed and therefore
became untreatable. The pain was excruciating and debilitating. So much so that I
wasn’t able to do anything but to be totally still, in the dark (I couldn’t stand any light,
movement, sound or stimulation). I would sit with my eyes closed, in agony and in total
silence and isolation. Now, I have never been good with being “still” and was definitely
not a fan of “silence” but God used these circumstances to totally change my
perspective on that.
Although, I was so very ill and had to be isolated, surprisingly I never felt truly alone.
By the grace of God, I eventually learned during that time to “be still” and in that quiet
time with my eyes closed, I experienced a peace that totally exceeds my
understanding, and in the silence heard the “still small voice” of our Lord, encouraging
me, comforting me and assuring me that Jesus was with me. My illness actually
became an incredible opportunity for me to grow closer to God. The shingles virus and
the pain was relentless, I was out of commission and off work for a long time, but
God’s loving Presence was steadfast.
God’s timing for healing and relief from that excruciating pain wasn’t even close to my
expectations. But, as I released my circumstances to Jesus, God’s answer was to
comfort me and to strengthen me to endure the pain while bestowing me with the
incredible gift of “peace in the midst” of my suffering. That experience surprisingly
strengthened my faith in Jesus.
Many people in today’s world are struggling – they feel cut off, isolated, lonely and
even hopeless. They need release from “something” and hope. “Be still and know that
I am God.” (Ps.46:10) Thankfully, God knows us and sees us, the person underneath
all the dark clouds, discouragement and disappointments of life. Be still. Hope is more
than just a “way out” when there seems only confusion or crisis, it is a way of proceeding through the day-to-day “somethings” of life. It is knowing that we are not
alone and God still loves us. Be still. It is understanding that our lives are part of
something far larger than what we can see.
The LORD does not give up on us nearly as easily as we give up on God! The LORD
came to Elijah in the desert in the midst of his despair. While Elijah may have had
enough of God, God had not had enough of Elijah! God went to Elijah in the time of his
great need, fed and rested him, and then challenged him to get up and keep going.
God can also meet us where we are, no matter what “something” we are dealing with,
and release us into hopeful, purposeful living. The LORD graciously sustains us. When
we are frightened, lonely, frustrated, depressed, or overwhelmed with reminders of our
failures, Jesus reminds us that we are never outside of God’s grace. God is always
with us. And when we don’t look to ourselves when we’re feeling weak and low, but to
Jesus, God gives us the same strength and release granted to Elijah. Romans 8:28
reminds us “…that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, and
have been called according to His purposes”
Though at times our help may not be as spectacular as it was in the case of Elijah, with
miraculous food from an angel and then a life changing mountain top experience,
God’s help for us is nonetheless still very much real. Be still. God still provides us with
food and shelter and grants us rest. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus tells us “come to Me, all
you that are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”. Be still. God still refreshes
us and sustains us every day giving us new strength and peace in the midst of all our
“somethings”.
Being still and hearing the Silence is no easy task. Not for Elijah, or for us. But when
the Silence speaks, and we listen, there comes as well the strength to carry on. The
strength that came to Elijah when he was feeling totally dejected and in despair. That
same strength is abundantly available to all of us. Isaiah 40:31 “But those who trust in
the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Listen to the Silence and in faith
accept the strength.
God knows us, and God calls us “to be still and know” that we belong to God. Our
lives, yours and mine, are part of a divine plan that is far beyond what we can define,
see or even begin to imagine. God has the power to release each and every one of us
from whatever “something” we are facing and to give us peace, so that we can live the
abundant life Jesus came to give us. From the silence, God is speaking to each of us.
Thanks be to God! AMEN.
Jackie Whiston, August 31, 2025