When I have given up hope
“Connecting with God” Series
August 1, 2004
1 Kings 19:1-9
1 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 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 desert. He came to a broom tree, 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 tree and fell asleep.
All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." 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.
A man was walking along our North shore mountain road and saw a First Nations man lying with his ear to the ground. As he approached the First Nations man, he heard him talking.
“Chevy pickup truck. Large tires. Green. Man driving with large German shepherd in passenger seat. Loaded with firewood. BC license plate 830 EJE”.
The other guy was just astounded at the first nations guy. He said, “You mean you can tell all that from listening to the ground?”
The first nations man replied: “Ear to the ground, nothing, That truck just ran over me.”
Many a times we feel that way, like a big truck that just ran over us. I am glad that the Bible is just super honest. In the Word of God, we find people just like that, real people who experience real pain, rejection, depression, and just have given up on life. People like the prophet, Elijah. Here he is just after experiencing great victory over the arch-enemies of God on Mount Carmel but God allowed him to taste bitter defeat at the hands of an evil woman called Jezebel, King Ahab’s queen. He was threatened with death. How would u feel if death squads were dispatched with a sole purpose of hunting u down and shooting u down like a dead dog?
Fear ran deep into Elijah’s heart as the Bible matter of factly says: "Elijah was afraid and ran for his life". He ran away as far as his legs could carry him, apparently 90 miles south of his place of victory, to Beersheba. What a turn of events. At first, he was confident, prayed like a man on fire for God, stared down and challenged the enemies of God. Now all of a sudden - Scared, defeated, alone, wishing he might die in the wilderness of a desert. Ever felt this way? One-minute victory, next your life comes crashing to a halt. Joy for a moment, then massive sorrow.
As I was preparing this message this past week, I came across this Psalm in my daily reading on Wednesday. Turn with me to Psalm 22…
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.
3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel.
4 In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
5 They cried to you and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
8 "He trusts in the LORD ;
let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him."
9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you
even at my mother’s breast.
10 From birth I was cast upon you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13 Roaring lions tearing their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted away within me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16 Dogs have surrounded me;
a band of evil men has encircled me,
they have pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing.
Wonderfully honest isn’t it? Perhaps u recognize it. Jesus Himself uttered that Psalm while on the cross. What a contrast to all those who try to deny reality! Is life is always peachy nice and everything is sweet? If you have lived long enuff, u know the real story. Experience tells us there is no heaven on earth. Even our Savior and God, Jesus, is said to be a man who, (Isaiah 53:3) “was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.”
There is one speaker who after several disappointing speeches who said: “I have discontinued long speeches on account of my throat… several people have threatened to cut it.” Indeed, our God knows how that feels. And He does not shy away from dealing with that reality and He gave us the story of Elijah and Psalm 22 to tell He is right there with us.
Scattered around His Word, God deals with our hopelessness. He tells us to deal with the myths that we have built up to bolster our sagging confidence in life’s bitter defeats. Gordon McDonald (Rebuilding Your Broken World) has been helpful to me - he points out these myths.
THE MYTHS
1. Our shattered worlds are the exception, not the rule.
We tell ourselves our “this can’t be right”, bad things can’t happen to good people. These are mere glitches in a perfectly good world. Only really bad folks, like the Hitlers, you know, real bad guys, those geeks that look funny, those who live on the streets, they deserve the bad times. Besides, it’s better to have happy, happy thoughts, “don’t worry, be happy”.
2. This sort of shattered world can never happen to me.
Very typical, especially for youngsters. Take all risks, have unprotected immoral sex, smoke the joint, get tanked up with Canadian beer, then comes the tragedy of AIDS, addiction to drugs, the car crash that you did not mean to happen while driving under the influence.
3. If my world breaks apart, I can more than handle it on my own, thanks very much!
I have enough resources, energy, influence. I can strike out now and come back later all on my lonesome. I don’t need anyone!
THE REALITY
1. ALL of God’s choice servants have gone through massive bouts of depressing and humiliating defeats.
Pages after pages of the Bible reveals to us God works best when people are really real. Adam and Eve’s broken world gave God the chance to show His grace. He could have abandoned them while they hid from Him. But God pursued a relationship with them, covered their shame and announced to them that their offspring will crush the head of the serpent who led them astray. Abraham, was a broken man, severely tested in giving up his son to be sacrificed but God made him the father of faith.
Moses was well connected with the powers of Egypt, well-educated, dined with royalty like a prince of Egypt, but it all came to nothing one day, he ran for his life, after his act of murder was discovered. Until he experienced that bitter defeat, until he went through the wilderness, it was then the burning bush experience came and He was commissioned by God to lead His people out of Egypt by God’s mighty hand.
The bitterness and stress of nothing having a child, and the taunting of her rivals, drove Hannah to tears and to God, and from her brokenness, God gave her the child Samuel, who became the anointer of kings, the one who anointed David the greatest king of Israel. Who can forget the terrible experiences of David, pursued by mad king Saul, and when he fell into sin with Bathsheba. Yet God rebuilt him and promised a dynasty after him that will rule forever, realized in the person of Jesus Christ, the king of kings.
Who can deny Jesus’ experience on the cross, what brokenness, what bitterness, what sorrow, what humiliation, what defeat, the awesome stench of death, but who can deny it was because of this defeat, that God gave us victory over sin and death! Then, the most prolific writer of the New Testament also, went through numerous beatings, tortures, imprisonment, ridiculed, spat on, accusations of his teaching, someone even fell asleep and died while he was preaching, yet God used him to bring to us the precious writings of the NT.
The Bible gives us an accurate picture of reality. Sin messed up our world, it afflicts us whether we are God’s people or not. But if you stay true to God’s Word, it is not the end of the story. For me, the real question is why does God even bother to deal with my mess, and to deal with me so kindly, better than I deserve.
Hence, the testimony of the Bible rips apart the myths that we have built up to make sense of our world. All the great people of the Bible went through experiences that tear apart their souls in a sin-soaked world, but it reveals also their great dependence on God. They all proclaimed and hung on to faith in God who used their lives to point to a higher purpose, and not fix their hope in mediocre earthly things that evaporate like the morning dew.
Anyone heard of Donnie Moore’s tragic story? In 1986, had just signed a multi million dollar deal with the California Angels, the first big money contract of his career. He is best known for a single pitch: the one-strike-away-from-the-World-Series home run ball to Dave Henderson in the ninth inning of game five of the 1986 ALCS. Someone observed what happened after that:
After the series however, not only was Moore tough on himself, but the fans were also brutal. He was booed in subsequent appearances, and while he was on the DL for part of the 87 season, he was criticized by the press and even Angels management as malingering, especially after signing such a large contract. He was out of baseball after the ’88 season, and there were no teams that were interested in giving him a chance. Moore’s life continued to unravel, he had fallen back into problems with alcohol and his marriage was failing. While most of these events still go back to the Henderson pitch in 1986, Moore’s brooding was compounded by criticism from fans, teammates and team management who should have supported him. They as well as Moore should have remembered that Baseball is still only a game.
Perhaps, today, people did not give you a chance, given into navel-gazing, self-condemnation, things are spiralling downward in your life, feel like running away… don’t be like Donnie Moore… who ended his life!
Look again at God’s Word…will you? Look at Elijah’s story…
He came to a broom tree, 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 tree and fell asleep.
ALL AT ONCE an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
Elijah felt like a Donnie Moore. He was booed mercilessly, no one was on his side, he felt alone - classic depression. But wait - look, see, how God responded!
God responds to Elijah! The care of God is seen here with the supply of sweet smelling freshly baked bread and water. But Elijah is just down, he had his fill and slept again! Still, God did not abandon him to his despair… but came back another time.
7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." 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.
Why? Because God’s purpose for Elijah has not ended yet. God led him on a special trip, just him and God, a 40 days and 40 nights to the mountain of God. Road trips are always special, isn’t it? Time to renew relationship, time to be with another on a personal basis.
2. All of God’ broken people comes to grips with a GRACEFUL PERSONAL GOD
If you know the history of Israel, this mountain of God where Elijah was led to, is special - The mountain where God dealt specially with Moses, the cleft of the rock. It is the same cave where God revealed Himself, where God’s presence pass by Moses, in the cleft of the rock. It was a deep and life-changing experience for Moses that fed His consciousness of God’s grace. You see, God wanted Elijah to know He is dealing graciously with this despondent prophet, who perhaps had victory in his sights but saw it all slipped away in Jezebel’s vengeful oath “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."
In the solitary exile on the mountain of God, God reminded Elijah personally , in the same fashion of the great Moses who defined Israel’s history, that even He does not always deal with people in spectacular mind-blowing, face-melting ways like fearsome windstorms, ground-shaking earthquakes, towering infernos, but comes in a still small voice (19:11-13).
So don’t always look out for major out of this world victories, there may be some major knockdowns. Don’t count on earth-shattering events to bolster your faith. Even God Himself does not reveal always reveal Himself in some specatuclar special effects, surround sound, way. Here He comes in the still small voice to Elijah. Showing this side of a personal God who responds to hopelessness of Elijah with a revelation of Himself that shows He is not out to destroy but to care for him. Because God is not after wins, worldly achievements, major successes, He is after people, quality people, who will love Him and personally give their hearts to Him. God is building a people after his heart , not an empire of unthinking, unfeeling robots who will just merely follow orders like Hitler’s SS soldiers as they wreaked havoc and caused untold suffering and murder.
Perhaps today, just like Elijah, you know you are sent by God, to do battle for the good. But the wounds you suffer, you say is too much to handle. Feel like giving up. Feel like it’s all coming down on you, feel like dying, just like Elijah, u cry "Taaake my life". You’re running away from it all.
3. God will still use YOUR BROKEN LIVES for HIS KINGDOM
Let me say this - Nobody else can be you. You are you, specially made for a purpose. You are God’s special man or woman created for good works in Christ. You are with your bad broken down world, now saved eternally in Christ, are being perfected, to become God’s holy agent of light to devastate the darkness that threatens this world. You are, with your broken shattred world experiences, God’s secret weapons to obliterate the powers of sin. You are shining examples of what God’s power and grace perfected in weakness can do.
If you read on in 1 Kings 19 you will find that God was NOT done with Elijah, eventhough Elijah felt it was time to pack it in and just die. Elijah still had a job to do. God had to remind of his purpose and so ask him twice in v.9 and v.13 ""What are you doing here, Elijah?" And both times Elijah failed to grasp what God is doing in and through him as he replied in both instances to the same question:
He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken 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."
Elijah was navel-gazing, he was just absorbed in his losses, absorbed in his own little world, failing to see the big picture of the kingdom of God. God wants to use him to impact the world, to bring good news to badly out of whack world. But Elijah was wrapped up in his humiliation.
If you read on in the Bible in 1 Kings 19:15-18, you’ll see that God still wants him to influence international, national, and spiritual life of Israel which I do not have time today to dwell on . Point here is this: the reason you’re alive today is this - God has a KINGDOM-SIZED job for YOU to do, He is definitely NOT finished with you yet.
Rick Warren in the Purpose Driven Life said this:
“If you really desire to be used by God, you must understand a powerful truth: The very experiences that you have resented or regretted most in life – the ones you’ve wanted to hide and forget – are the experiences God wants to use to help others. They are your ministry.”
God is glorified when He is allowed to use your failures, weaknesses to share God’s grace that was enough for you in our shattered experiences. Your life is not a wasted life. Your expereinces are not a waste to God. Your life, your testimony is the living epistle, that God can change lives! Share your experiences of pain, failure, and you will discover like Elijah that God will not abandon you. Tell me if God is not glorified in Elijah’s life today? Tell me if God has not inspired you and I today thru the broken down navel gazing prophet? Tell me, if God is not glorified and are we not ministered and challenged to be God’s people because of this personally embarrassing defeat of Elijah?
Elijahs, friends, people of God, my brothers and sisters, even in your defeats, embarrassment, and failures, God will not abandon His purpose for you. You were made to impact this world, to get out the good news that God loves people and wants broken sin-stained people to love Him back, if they will trust He has taken away sin through the work of the cross.
The story has not changed since the time of 1 Kings. What a massive defeat it was that Christ died like a criminal. Even dogs were treated better in those days. Christ’s disciples scattered like the cowards they were in the face of mighty Rome and the Jewish religious authorities who called for Jesus’ execution. They tasted bitter defeat. But out the ashes, God pulled out a surprise, out of a hopeless seemingly dead corpse, comes resurrection!
Believe today, if your hope is dying out, flamed out, burnt out, believe today in the resurrection power of Christ! Go on with faith in Christ who says the prayer of a tax collector who knows he cannot make it but says "have mercy on me a sinner", can go home today justified over the believer who says He has done everything right.
Make it firm in your hearts to follow hard after Him, the repairer of broken lives, who loved you and never gave up on you and died for your hopeless broken life and paid the price of your sin. Let your troubles today draw you to God alone who is the hope for the hopeless. Pray like you really want to hear from Him… tell Him. Perhaps use the Psalm 22 as model to tell God of your troubles. And let not your experiences go to waste. Let it be your ministry, your story to tell the world, that God is good! A great adventure awaits you. What is the surprise God is pulling out from the ashes of your life? What is just around the corner as you entrust yourself to the care of God? Maybe He’s taking you on a journey to establish His purpose in your life, maybe He is just letting you experience exile to care for you to enable you to use your life as a ministry a help a comfort to others. Let today be a day where you will reconnect to God, to His purpose and His plan for your life. Will you?
-end sermon-
An added resource
The A to Z guide to a purpose-driven life
by Tobin Perry
Editor’s note: You may freely adapt this article for use in your congregation.
If you are looking to grow deeper spiritually in the coming months, try one of the following next steps!
You were Planned for God’s Pleasure
Ask God to help you find purpose - You’ll never find purpose until you’ve made the most important decision imaginable – make God the CEO of your life. If you’ve never made that commitment to Christ, go here and Rick Warren will walk you through that important step.
Breath Prayers - God wants us to connect with Him on a moment-by-moment basis. When we pray once a week or even once a day, we fail to take advantage of everything God has for us! Breath prayers are a great way to keep in contact with our Heavenly Father throughout our day. Just repeat short heart-felt prayers, such as “You are my God,” “I love you Lord,” and “Thank You, Jesus.” Consult Chapter 10 of The Purpose-Driven Life for more information.
Commit it all to God - Your Heavenly Father wants every bit of your life, even the parts you don’t want to give – especially the parts you don’t want to give! Take a look at your life and find the areas you haven’t really given over to Him. Make a commitment to surrender those areas now. Where do you start? Start with the one part of your life that came to your mind when you were asked to commit it all to God. The area you least want to give up is the area He most wants you to give up. That may be your wallet, your children, your career - anything you’re unwilling to give up. Do it today!
Devote your job to serving God - You weren’t simply designed to worship God while in church; you were designed to worship Him around the clock. You worship with the day-to-day details of your life. You can worship God by giving your best at work, teaching a child to write his name, or sweeping a floor.
Express your worship by writing a prayer to God - Have you ever read an old love letter from your spouse? Writing is a great way to express your admiration for another person; it’s also a good way to express your love for God. Try writing a prayer to God. Whether you imagine yourself a writer or not, the process of putting a prayer together will help you think through what you want to tell God about what He is doing in your life.
You were Formed for God’s Family
Focus on the relationships in your life - By the year 2014, your key memories of 2004 probably won’t be your successes or your failures, but instead they will be the people who are close to you. Don’t let another year go by without making an intentional effort to focus on the relationships in your life.
Go deeper with a Christian friend - God never asked us to build a Rolodex of church friends ... He asked us to be a part of His family. He is more concerned with the depth of our relationships than the breadth. Make the commitment this year to go deeper in at least one of your same-sex Christian friendships. Maybe even ask a friend to be an accountability partner with you, so you can encourage one another to grow in your relationship with God.
Heal broken relationships - Determine today that you’ll actively try to mend the relationships in your life that are broken. When Jesus was asked about the most important commandment, He connected loving God with loving others. Why? It’s hard to have a good relationship with God when we don’t have peace with the people in our lives.
Institute a no-gossip rule for yourself and your family - Nothing destroys a friendship like gossip. Make a commitment between you and anyone else you have influence over not to indulge in gossip. Don’t spread hurtful information. For that matter, choose not to listen to gossip as well. Make a point to walk out of the room or confront the gossip.
Join a small group Bible study - God designed the church to be a family. If you’re not building relationships with fellow believers, you’re not fulfilling one of God’s five purposes for your life – fellowship. You were never meant to live an isolated life. One of the best ways to establish relationships is by studying the Bible with a small group of friends.
You were Created to be Like Christ
Keep God’s Word in your mind - Try to pick out a verse every week to memorize. You can begin with verses that focus around issues you’re dealing with, for instance, if you’re struggling with temptation, memorize 1 Corinthians 10:13. Struggling to forgive yourself for a past sin? Try Romans 8:1. Regardless of the verse you choose, you’ll grow as you hide God’s Word in your heart.
Laugh more this year - You might not realize it, but laughing can be considered a spiritual discipline. The Christian life was never meant to be a somber funeral but instead should be a joyous celebration. In the Sermon on the Mount, as Jesus is going through different characteristics of Kingdom living, He mentions laughter as the ultimate destiny for those grieving in this world (Luke 6:21). Jesus really resembled a lover of life more than a stoic religious zealot (Matt 11:19; Luke 7:34). If you want to become like Christ, you’ll need to learn to take God more seriously and yourself less seriously.
Make Bible study a constant habit - If the only time you open your Bible each week is when you show up at church on the weekends or at your small group, you’ll never become the Christ-like follower God wants you to become. The Bible teaches that you were created to be like Christ. An important step toward Christ-like-ness is absorbing the truth of His Word. Make Bible study as regular as brushing your teeth. (We’ll go out on limb and say that is a regular part of your life already! Ha!)
“Nip temptation in the bud” - Temptation is one of the greatest spiritual killers out there. If you want to escape the snare of temptation, try letting a fellow Christian in on your struggle. If you have a Celebrate Recovery program in your church, that’s a good place to start!
Open your heart to God’s surgical maneuvers - When you become a follower of Christ, He starts a grand surgical procedure on you as He forms your heart into His image. Pain is often a sign that Jesus has His surgical knife on your heart. Although it might hurt for awhile, ultimately, it is a part of God shaping your heart. Take stock of the pain and trials in your life right now and allow God to use them to transform you.
You were SHAPE’d to Serve God
Pitch in and help out at church - Try volunteering at your church. It doesn’t matter if you are a brand-new Christian or a seasoned believer, there is a place for you to serve somewhere at your church. Talk to the pastor or volunteer director at your church.
Question your beliefs about success - God’s standard of success isn’t the same as ours. Jesus tells us that the greatest in the Kingdom of God is the one who serves. Ask yourself, “How do I measure success?”
Reach out to a church member in need - You don’t have to go across the ocean to find people in need. If you have a small group, be sensitive to ways you can help your fellow church members in real and practical ways. Maybe you can buy a group member groceries, give her a ride to a doctor’s appointment or just provide a shoulder to cry on.
Search for your God-given SHAPE - God has especially designed you to serve Him in ministry. He gives you unique spiritual gifts, heart (passion), abilities, personality and experiences that He expects you to use in ministry. Spend some time trying to discover your SHAPE this year and begin using that SHAPE in ministry! CLASS 301 and the SHAPE interview afterwards provide wonderful tools to start you on this process. Go here to get more information about bringing CLASS 301 to your church.
Test your SHAPE by getting involved in a ministry - You’ll never know what ministry God SHAPE’d you for until you give it a try. Make the commitment to do that this year. You’ll be able to tell quickly if it isn’t for you. Then you can try something new! Eventually, you’ll find a good fit.
You were Made for a Mission!
Understand God’s global plan - Since the day Adam first sinned, God has been reconciling the world to Himself. Currently, God is working through people just like you to make Himself known in cultures across the globe. Does God want to use you to reach the nations? Pray about what your part will be in God’s global plan.
Visit a neighbor with the intention of sharing Christ - Most of us have neighbors, friends or relatives who don’t know Christ. Make a commitment to visit them and tell your story about what God has done in your life!
Write out your life message - Each of us have a special story about how God changed our life. Your story is unique to you. Take the time to write it out in 1, 3 and 5-minute versions. Then have the courage to share your story whenever God gives you an opportunity.
eXpress the Good News in your actions and words - We must learn to share our faith in Christ both verbally and in the way we live. One way is no more important than the other. Even though we might feel more comfortable sharing our faith in a particular manner, it doesn’t excuse us from doing it the other way. Using words without actions will seem shallow. Using actions without words will seem timid. Make it a point to express your faith to one person a month in the coming year.
Yield your rights to help lead a person to Christ - If you only lead people to Christ on your terms, you aren’t living up to your biblical responsibility. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul tells us that we must forfeit even what we consider rights so others might come to know Christ. Take a look at the list of people in your life that need a life-changing relationship with God. What will you have to give up to see them make that commitment?
Zzzz…zzzz…get some rest! - Worshipping, building relationships, growing spiritually, serving and sharing your faith requires a rested soul!
