Elijah – the vulnerability of human nature
I Kings 19:1-21
This chapter demonstrates the truth of James 5:17 “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours”.
Sometimes we get the erroneous thinking that these OT heroes were a special breed of person, totally unlike us.
In chapter 17 and 18, Elijah was operating in the power of God. He was relying on the word of God, he was in prayer and as a result he exhibited boldness, was used to heal a widow’s son and had a great victory over the prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel. In chapter 19, we see Elijah operating by his own tactics. He is running away, afraid, wanting to die and his focus is entirely upon himself. What a complete turn around.
After reading chapter 19, we may think, “how could he do that?” or we may think “I would never have run away”. If you are thinking along these lines, remember how times we may have failed God, how many times we stayed hidden and did not put ourselves at risk like Elijah had done.
We all struggle with our weaknesses and failures, every one of us have the same sin nature as Elijah (Phil3:11-17; Gal 5:17; Rom 7:15-25). Can we experience victory in our life, YES, but not without difficulty and discipline, and none of us will ever reach perfection this side of heaven.
From this chapter we can apply the truth of II Cor 4:7 “but we have this treasure in jars of clay (that’s us), to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”
We can learn from this chapter two things. 1) do not expect perfection from any person or any church. 2) our strongest point (our focus on God) will also be our weakest.
If we fail, confess it to God (I John 1:9), get back up on your feet and continue to serve God.