God with Us in the Wilderness

We are on part two of our message series called “God with us.” We’re letting a verse from the Christmas story be an anchor for us. In Matthew’s gospel, 1:23, it says, “Look, the virgin will conceive a child. She’ll give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means, “God with us.” 

Last week we learned if we’re in the valley, in hard times, and we think God is not with us, maybe we put too much faith in our trouble. We focus on what’s wrong. We need to place more faith in God than in our troubles. God is still with us when we walk through the valley of tears. He’ll help us pass through to a better place. 

Today, we’re talking about the wilderness. The wilderness is a desolate place where you can feel all alone.  We’re thinking about times when we are afraid, exhausted, overwhelmed, and we feel alone. We feel nobody understands us, nobody supports us. 

What’s so strange, is that wilderness experiences often follow mountaintop experiences. Take Jesus for example, he was baptized by his cousin John the Baptist, while God’s voice came from heaven saying, “This is my beloved son, with him I am well pleased.” It was a mountaintop moment. But the next thing you know, the Holy Spirit sends Jesus into the wilderness, to go without food and water for 40 days! 

Or the Israelites had a mountaintop experience when God split the Red Sea and they escaped from slavery in Egypt. Pharaoh and his army couldn’t catch them. But next thing you know, they are wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. It was mountaintop, followed by wilderness. 

We’re all in a bit of a wilderness time now with Covid. Social distancing can make you feel more alone, unless your adult children move back home. It’s like we’re in the wilderness, and we don’t know when we’ll get back to normal. Besides Covid there are many wilderness experiences. You lose a job, and you feel like you’re in the wilderness. You have financial burdens and you’re in the wilderness. Divorce can make you feel you are alone.  

In the wilderness you try to tell people how you feel, but they don’t seem to understand. You can feel desperate for someone who understands.  

That’s how it was for the prophet Elijah. God had done amazing things through Elijah. He had just had a mountaintop experience on an actual mountaintop: Mount Carmel. He had showed that the false God, Baal, couldn’t do anything when his followers called on him. But when Elijah called on God, He sent down fire to burn up the sacrifice Elijah had prepared! The people saw this and said, “The Lord, he is God!” 

So that was Elijah’s mountaintop experience. But the Queen of Israel, she followed the false god, Baal. She heard about all Elijah had done. Jezebel, threatens to kill Elijah, and he feels all alone and scared. He’s been threatened before, but his time Jezebel’s threat really spooks him. He suddenly feels like he is in the wilderness. Elijah is afraid and runs for his life. 

Elijah did a good job of getting away. He ran over 100 miles. He left his servant, and just kept going. Kind of like Forrest Gump, Elijah just kept running. Finally, he’s just exhausted. He sits down under a tree and prays he would die. In 1 Kings 19:4-5 Elijah says to God, “’I have had enough, Lord,’ he said. ‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.’ ⁵Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.” 

Next God sends an angel to Elijah. God knows what he needs. The angel gives Elijah a cake of bread and some water and tells him to eat. If you listen to God, he may tell you to go eat a hoagie! Elijah eats and drinks, then lays down and sleeps some more. Then the angel gives him more food. 

You can see, God is with Elijah here. He keeps coming back with a nudge to eat. Elijah feels afraid and all alone, but God is with him, caring for him. God knew Elijah didn’t need a talking to, or some Bible verses. He needed to eat and sleep. 

Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is eat, sleep, and take a breather. Eat stuff that’s good for you. This week I had a long week. At one point, I heard some leftover Halloween candy calling my name and I ate a lot of it, which didn’t help! I didn’t feel good. So, eat good food. Anyway, eating and sleeping helped Elijah some, but it didn’t get him out of this wilderness feeling: “I’m all alone. The world is against me.” So, Elijah headed off for another mountain, to get mountaintop help. He travelled 40 days and 40 nights to Mount Horeb. 

When he gets there, God asks, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Why are you running away from people? 

Notice, Elijah has made some progress. Back when he sat down under the tree, he wanted God to let him die. But now he’s not giving up. He walked 40 days to talk to God on the mountain. 

He says, Lord, I’ve been a hard-working prophet, telling people what you want them to do, even when they don’t want to hear it. But the Israelites rejected your covenant, tore down your altars, and put your prophets to death by the sword. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me too! 

He’s saying, I’ve been working so hard. Why don’t you hear my prayer, God? Why don’t you make my work easier?  

Elijah is in need. But here’s a thought about how Elijah got through his wilderness experience: Your deepest need, however hard it is, becomes a gift, when it drives you to depend on God. 

God is with Elijah. God has been reaching out to him in his deepest need. Sometimes the wilderness drives us closer to God. We realize we can’t do life on our own, we need Him. God brings healing in the middle of hurt. 

God is with Elijah and keeps reaching out to him in the wilderness. I love verse 11, God says, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord.” Elijah is thinking, this is what I need, the presence of the Lord. 

Then a terrible wind comes, shattering rocks. It’s so powerful, Elijah thinks God will be in the wind. But the Lord is not in the wind. Then there is an earthquake, an act of God, where you might look for God to make an entrance. But God is not in the earthquake. Finally, there is a fire. But God is not in the fire. 

After that, there is a gentle whisper. Elijah knows this is God, and he goes and stands at the entrance of the cave, to be with Him. 

Why, in life, is God’s voice so quiet? Why is he so gentle? Why does he whisper to us? He whispers because he is so close. God is right there with us. Sometimes, if we expect God to send a lightning bolt, or an earthquake to get our attention, we have to adjust our expectations. We need to listen for God in gentleness and stillness. Like Psalm 46 says, “Be still and know that I am God.”  

We are all in a Covid 19 wilderness. There’s a lot to be unhappy about, and we could wonder, “Why God,” or tell God, “I can’t take it anymore!” It’s horrible that people are sick and dying. But still, there is a gift somewhere here. That we can realize we need to rely on God. Just as Elijah ran to the wilderness, and found God and comfort, God is with us and for us. We aren’t alone. We’re all experiencing the same thing, at a 6-foot or more distance from each other. We’re with each other. And God is with us. 

My homework for you this week is to ask yourself, “What do I need from God right now?” Whether it’s to take a nap or take a break, to sit down to a good meal, or to take time to sit and listen to God. “What do I need from God right now?” 

The wilderness, that place where we are lonely, afraid, exhausted and overwhelmed, it’s not where any of us want to be. But our deepest need becomes a gift, when it drives us to depend on God. Amen.