When Enough is Enough
1Kings 19 NIV
19 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "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."
3 Elijah was afraid[a] and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, Lord," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." 5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.
8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.
And the word of the Lord came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
10 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."
Mount Horeb
The name Horeb: Summary
Meaning
Arid, Dryness
Etymology
From the verb חרב (hareb), to dry up or lay waste.
The name Horeb in the Bible
Horeb (a.k.a. Sinai, and the Mountain of God) is the mountain where Moses fasts for two times forty days back to back, as he receives the Law (Exodus 3:1). Later Elijah the Tishbite also spends forty days fasting on Horeb (1 Kings 19:8), after which he has his famous conversation with God in the cave (1 Kings 19:9-18). Arguably thought where Obadiah hid 100 prophets in 2 caves while jezebel slaughtered the prophets.
1 Kings 19 kjv
8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.
Exodus 6:17 kjv
6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
In Exodus
The children of Israel were fed in Egypt for a little while. But then they needed to be FREED FROM the place they were FED IN.
Exodus 16
8 And Moses said, This shall be, when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord."
Exodus 17
3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
As the nation is exiting a drought Elijah is entering a spiritual drought.
Running from the rain his faith had called running to a dry and desolate wilderness.
What do you do when you're called to a dry place after you've called for and have seen an end to the drought in everyone else's life around you?
Elijah was guided to Ahab to declare the drought
Guided to the Kerith Ravine and fed by ravens
Guided to the widow to provide a miracle for her, her home and for himself
Guided to raise her son from the dead
Guided to Obadiah
Guided to Mount Carmel
Guided to slay 450 prophets and challenge Baal
Often times the most hurt and disappointed of all people in the church are not the people paying for disobedience.
1 Kings 19
8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.
The Lord Appears to Elijah
And the word of the Lord came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
10 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."
We can understand Elijah running being afraid and being done with it all if
1. He called for a drought and it kept raining
2. He starved in the Kerith Ravine like everyone else
3. The widow made him a cake first and then she and her son starved to death.
4. Elijah just performed the funeral and preached the eulogy for her son.
5. Ahab killed Obadiah
6. The bull prepared by Baals prophets was consumed with fire with Baal did the electric slide on Mount Carmel
BUT I DID EVERYTHING YOU TOLD ME TO DO AND THEY STILL DONT LIKE ME!
THEY STILL WONT LISTEN
THEY REJECT YOU AND TORE DOWN YOUR ALTARS
THEY STILL SAY IM TOO CHURCHY
IM NOT KEEPING IT 100
I'm still the crazy one
I'm still getting the short end of the stick
IM Done!
I'm DRY. Bone dry. Arid. Dried up. Laid to waste.
I'm at Horeb.
I have arrived at the place of ENOUGH!
Just like the children of Israel in Exodus….Elijah murmured. At the same place of enough Horeb.
While the SAME children of Israel were enjoying the rain falling after a 3 year drought.
Elijah found himself in spiritual drought at the place of the miracle of their thirst.
When the Lord asked Elijah at the Place of Enough or Horeb, "Elijah, what are you doing here?"
Instead of all of that deep medicretional malarkey Elijah gave…..the truth was…
His expectations were unmet. He was disappointed.
The people hadn't changed and Jebezel was still trying to kill him.
Nothing changed.
What's the point?
What's the use?
Why bother?
Often when we expect God to bring change, God brings challenges
Where He releases Rain, he often also reveals our hidden Resistance
Where He prepares our provision, He projects our private problems
Where He celebrates and showcases our scars, He often reopens our secret wounds.
GOD DID NOT DIE TO BE THE LORD OF YOUR LIST
HE DIED TO BE THE LORD OF YOUR LIFE
Which is EXACTLY WHERE HE WANTS
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