Enjoy Life, Enjoy God

ALL ALONE?

January 21, 2010

Feeling isolated, abandoned, or going it alone, can be a pretty dark experience for many of us, and it's not uncommon. There's a story in the Elijah-Ahab/Jezebel drama that lifts my spirits every time I read it.

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[Elijah] 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."

"Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel---all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him."
- 1 Kings 19:10,18 TNIV
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Elijah has just been part of a great triumph in the Bible--the defeat of the 450 prophets of Baal--he's won the biblical Super Bowl! But Ahab & Jezebel don't take defeat lightly, and vow to kill Elijah. Which puts Elijah into the greatest blue funk in human history. He cries to God: "I'm all alone; I'm the only one who cares, and I'm the only worshipper left." To which God whispers in Elijah's ears, "Not quite. Seven thousand are still with you, so get on with it."

One of the joys of routine Bible reading is to re-immerse oneself in the words of God to encourage us when we feel all alone. Because we are not...all alone that is, no matter how we feel. Figuratively you stand amidst a great cloud of witnesses, and seven thousand who have yet to bow the knee to Baal.
Joyfully,

Dale Patterson