“Looking for God in all the Wrong Places”
1st Kings 19:1-3
Perhaps you’ve heard the story of the man who had lost his keys and he was standing at the edge of the street right underneath a street lamp looking for his keys. A neighbor saw him and walked over to help. After a few minutes he said to him, “exactly where was it you dropped your keys?” He says well I was in my house. He says well then why are you looking out here? He says because the lights are better out here. It is a truth that we have known for a long time ... you will never find what you are looking for unless you look in the right place. Many people today are looking for God but they are looking for Him in all the wrong places.
All of us have difficult times we go through when we begin to feel a bit lost; we need direction on this road of life. We sometimes live such driven lives that we honestly do not know how to slow down. This seemed to be the case with Elijah in our text today. He is so driven, so desperate, do discouraged that the Bible tells us that he came to a broom tree which is pictures here on the screen...Elijah sat down under the tree and prayed that he might die. Elijah is considered to be one of the most powerful prophets, preachers in all the OT.
In the previous chapter we have what has been referred to as the God contest. Elijah went before the people and said to them, “how long will you waver between two opinions?” He says, “if the Lord is God then follow Him, if Baal is God then follow him. The people then became suddenly quiet. Elijah then says I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has 450 prophets. So he challenges them and says bring two bulls to be sacrificed. Stack a large pile of wood and place them on it but don’t set fire to it. Then you call on your god and I’ll call on my God and we will see which one will send fire down from heaven to consume this sacrifice. So they agreed to do it.
Those who worshiped Baal had the first chance. They brought the sacrifices. They built the altar and called on Baal until noon that day. No response. Elijah is so confident that he actually begins to taunt him. He says, “shout louder to your god, maybe your god is in deep thought or maybe he’s busy or maybe he is on a trip and not here right now or maybe he is just asleep. The people continued to shout to their god, now it was evening. No response. No answer. Just silence.
Then Elijah says take 12 stones and build an altar to God. Then he dug a trench around it to hold water. H then tells them to fill it up, then again and again a 3rd time and so now the trench is filled with water. Then he prayed to our God and asked God to send down fire from heaven. Then we see what happens in 18:38-39. Now Elijah leaves this scene and the scripture says that the power of the Lord came upon Elijah. Elijah took his cloak, tucked it into his belt and ran all the way to the city of Jezreel. Word gets out of Elijah’s experience on Mt. Carmel and then Jezebel threatens to kill Elijah. Elijah is so afraid that he runs for his life .... he goes a day’s journey into the desert, comes to this broom tree and he sat down and prayed that he might die, now write this truth down.
1. Standing for God sometimes makes us feel like we are standing alone. There are more of us who are lonely than would like to admit it. We think no one understands us and we cry out inside for someone who will understand. Many people feel they have no one to talk to. It is said that over 1/3 of Americans deal with these feelings at some time. I think it’s more like 90-100% who deal with it.
2. A 2nd truth is this. God takes over when our strength is gone. We are weak when God is at His best. You and I serve a God who is very practical. Elijah is down, he’s weak, he’s tired so God sends a messenger, an angel who touches him and then says get up and eat. Elijah looked around and there by his head in the place where he was resting was a cake of hot bread and a jar of water. So he ate and then he laid down again. Then the angel comes back and touches him again and says, get up and eat and drink and he did and he had so much strength then that he traveled 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb which is known as the Mt. Of God and he goes into a cave and spends the night. Now let me ask you a question ... has there ever been a time in your life when you felt like the journey was too much to bear? You felt alone, you were weak, perhaps hurt by the actions of someone and you thought I can’t do this anymore. If you can identify with that feeling then you really need to listen to this next point.
3. When we lose our direction, if we will listen, God will always speak. The day after Elijah arrived at the cave, spent the night .. the next day God spoke to him and asked a question. Elijah, what are you doing here? This reminds me of when God came to Adam in the garden and said Adam, where are you? Do you ever ask questions that you already know the answer to? The reason we do that is because we want them to learn to think for themselves. The answer may be obvious but they have to think. God obviously knew where Elijah was. God knew where Adam was. But He wanted them to examine their lives and take inventory. If you own a business at the end of each year you have to take inventory. You count all your supplies and you make a list of what you need and then you purchase those things, then you move into the New Year. Now it’s simple I know but you don’t place the order until you know what you need. You can’t move forward until you know where you’re going. You can’t find God until you know where to look.
4th truth. Most of us never really discover God’s will because we look in all the wrong places. It’s really not even the right question to ask when we say God what is your will for my life? When we do that we are really trying to pull God down to our level. The better question is simply Lord, what is your will? Period. In other words, Lord what are you up to? Once we know what He’s doing then we can jump in; we can join Him. But the truth is one of the reasons we really struggle with this is that we often get the voice of the world and the voice of God confused. We don’t seem to know the difference. Why? Because we keep looking in the wrong places.
Some years ago I had been leading a Bible conference in another state. I had spent several days helping a church train some leaders and helping them get some new Bible classes started in their church. I finished up the last night, felt good so I decided to drive home...I was several hours away. I got home pretty late, around 2:00 in the morning and now wanting to wake anyone I brought my things in very quietly, set my briefcase down and went to our upstairs bathroom to get ready for bed. I turned on the water in the sink and as God is my witness I began to hear a voice. I’m thinking I must be more tired than I realized. But I kept hearing it. All 4 of our children slept upstairs and I started thinking maybe one of them left the radio on. I checked the bedrooms, no radio. Standing there in the hallway I could still hear it. I started down the stairs and I realized the voice was louder. Then a strange thing happened. I realized that I recognized the voice I was hearing. The voice was mine. I kept walking in the direction of the voice and I realized that it was coming from by briefcase. I opened it and there was my recorder, a dictaphone. When I drive I sometimes record thoughts i want to remember and I had done that and when I set down my briefcase it set it off and started playing.
Perhaps you feel like I do sometimes in that there are many voices out there competing for our attention. People who mean well often give us advice or direction even when we’re not asking for it. On the other hand many times we are at fault simply because we go looking in all the wrong places. Look with me at the places where Elijah went to find God’s voice.
V. 11 First Elijah looked in the wind. In the NT Paul tells us not to like spiritual children, don’t be immature like those who get carried away by every wind of doctrine. People who wait to see which way the wind is blowing before they decide what to do. They wake up in a new world every day; they listen for the next greatest thing, the newest teaching and they flop back and forth never really growing in their faith. James says this is the kind of man who doubts God and he is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. Then he says these words “that man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord. Why? He is double minded. Listen, the Bible says there is wisdom in many counselors but don’t listen to all of them. When you get too much advice especially if the advice is conflicting advice you will be in trouble because yo cannot go in two directions at once.
Look at verse 11 again. (2) Elijah looked in the earthquake. There are many situations in life when our world is completely shaken. And it seems as though it’s falling apart. We lose our job, we become very sick or we lose someone we love very much. During those times many people start analyzing these events and they never stop. They keep looking at this event or tragedy that has taken place. Listen, when our world falls part, don’t overanalyze the event that causes it. Because it doesn’t do any good. You can ask all the questions, what if, what if, what if? This is what I call the paralysis of analysis. You overanalyze your situation and it will paralyze you. And in your drivenness to find an answer you could like Elijah just collapse.
Now look at verse 12. (3) Elijah looked in the fire. All of us have those times we refer to as being tested by fire when we are sort of in God’s furnace and God shows us what we are really made of because fire will either destroy you or it will strengthen you. It all depends on what you’re made of. Finally Elijah hears God’s voice. “After the fire came a gentle whisper. Elijah stopped looking in all of the noise, the clutter, the drivenness of life he got quiet before God and guess what God spoke.
God speaks through the power of the Holy Spirit and He will speak to us in at least 4 ways.
(1) The Bible. If you want a word from God open His book.
(2) Prayer. Prayer is a way we talk to God. It is also a time for Him to talk with us. (3) The church. People. Everyone telling you the same thing.
(4) Circumstances. God is at work all around us, every day. Don’t separate this because it doesn’t sound spiritual. This is an area where God really works.
