Elijah Flees to Horeb

19 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 wilderness. He came to a broom bush, 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 bush 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 some 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.

The Lord Appears to Elijah

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

10 He 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.”

11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

14 He 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.”

15 The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

The Call of Elisha

19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”

“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”

21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.

Horeb – dryness, desolate

Lessons Learned At Horeb

1. The Christian Life is Filled with Battles

• “A Christian who tries to avoid the battle will always lose the war.”

- Anonymous 

2. After Great Victories Come Great Trials

• “After great victories, the devil makes his fiercest attacks.”

- Charles Spurgeon

3. Small People Can Bring Down Giant Leaders

Jezebel – Baal is exalted, unchaste, impure

•  “Even a mosquito can annoy the king.”

- African Proverb

• “Great leaders are rarely felled by great enemies. They are worn down by small, negative people who stay close enough to whisper and just long enough to wound leadership.”

- Anonymous

4. Our Feelings of Despair and Isolation are Often Exaggerated

Horeb – desolated wilderness

• “The devil loves to make a molehill of a sin and a mountain of our loneliness. In truth, you are never so alone as you feel in the dark.”

- C. S. Lewis

5. In Your Times of Dryness, God Will Show Up and Give You Natural Rest

• “Rest is not a luxury, but a spiritual discipline. When you sleep, you declare trust in the God who never slumbers.”

- Ruth Haley Barton

•  “The body, weary and worn, cannot carry a strong spirit. A tired soul fights poorly. Sleep is God’s gift to restore both muscle and faith.”

- Paraphrase of Various Puritan Writings

• “The body’s needs are the soul’s alarm clock.”

 - Dallas Willard

6. In Your Darkest Moments, God Will Whisper the Loudest

• “Do not fear the darkness. It is not a place where God is absent, but where He whispers secrets to your soul that you could never hear in the light.”

- Anonymous

•  “In the darkness, God does not shout, He whispers. Not because He is distant, but because He is near – so near that a breath is enough.”

- Anonymous

7. Once You Hear His Voice, God Will Ask You to Go Back to the Place You Were Running From

• “God often asks us to go back to the place we ran from. Not to punish us, but to heal us and show us that He is there, too.”

- Anonymous

In Case You Missed It …

Answers:

1. Battles
2. Victories
3. Small
4. Isolation
5. Natural
6. Whisper
7. Go Back