Sermon on 1 Kings 19:11-21, for the 5th Sunday, "What are you doing here?"

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Our Old Testament reading from 1 Kings is a couple of verses short, because someone took out the repetition of a question and answer between God and Elijah. The prophet Elijah meets God on Mount Horeb, another name for Mount Sinai. So what is the repeated question and answer? God asks: “What are you doing here Elijah?” The first time God asks this, Elijah has arrived on the mountain and is staying in a cave. The second time is after God has beckoned him outside of the cave, to witness the tearing wind, the earthquake, the fire, and the gentle whisper. Then God repeats the question, in the gentle whisper: “What are you doing here Elijah?” Both times Elijah answers exactly the same: “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

Loneliness and the sound of defeat echo from Elijah’s answer. You might even consider it self-pity. The question and repetition invites Elijah’s self-reflection. What am I doing here? It’s a question that untold numbers of people have wrestled with in their own lives. In the midst of loneliness or crisis or struggle or seeming defeat, have you ever cried out: What am I doing here? We explore the meaning of our existence, the meaning of the events of our lives, and where God fits into it all. It’s an arresting question for us to ponder. But it’s hard to answer meaningfully when we’re trapped in our own smallish view of life and of our troubles.

Zoom out for the big picture; and from the wide angle, Elijah’s perspective doesn’t quite seem to fit. A chapter earlier, Elijah had a dramatic showdown with 450 prophets of Baal, the Canaanite idol the Israelites had regressed into worshipping. Elijah alone stood for the Lord God. Both sides agreed that the true god would show himself by sending fire from heaven to burn up sacrifices on an altar prepared to that god. Baal, of course, did nothing. But the Lord God dramatically sent fire to consume not only the sacrifice, but also the stones and the water-filled trench Elijah had poured over the sacrifice for good measure. This was a tremendous blow against the false worship of the Israelites. There were few more dramatic evidences of God’s existence than this—at least until the resurrection of Jesus—which of course surpasses it by far. But nevertheless, you would’ve expected Elijah to be confident or pleased coming off that victory. Except the rest of the story had him down.

Because Elijah and the Israelites killed those 450 Baal-worshipping prophets, as a judgment against the outrageous idolatry in the land, the Queen Jezebel had vowed to kill Elijah in return. This was why Elijah was on the run to Mount Horeb/Mt. Sinai, and was in such low spirits. Before the forty day journey, he also was miraculously fed by the angels, God again demonstrating to Elijah, beyond his own belief, that He would provide for him and protect Him. So again, in the wider angle view, Elijah’s own sense of defeat doesn’t quite match up with the facts.

When we are swirling in our own small vision of life and our place in this world, that can consume our thoughts and bring us down to self-pity and a sense of defeat. Even when we have witnessed God’s tremendous care and provision in the past— in the present we often waver in our trust in God, just like Elijah. And it’s vitally important that we don’t surrender to fear or doubt or defeat, when answering that question: “What are you doing here?” That we don’t fall for the devil’s hopeless answers—“Life is meaningless”, “You don’t matter to anyone”, “God has abandoned you” or similar bleak thoughts. The devil is pleased when our perspective is small and distorted, and God is missing from our bigger picture. He would like nothing better than for us to surrender to self-pity, defeat, and despair, like Elijah experienced. We need God to gently raise us to a clearer picture of life.

It’s noticeable how God treats Elijah with “kid gloves”. He gives hope and new information to Elijah that contradicts his loneliness and despair—there are 7,000 faithful followers of the true God preserved in Israel, and you are not alone! Not only was God guarding Elijah’s life, but also 7,000 other true believers in hiding. Elijah’s complaint: “I, even I only am left” was false! Sometimes, when we’re wrapped up in a false narrative about our life, all it takes is some new and true information from God’s Word, to break us out of that dark web of despair. We need God’s loving contradiction to our despair, and the assurance of His love and protection—and that we are not alone. It doesn’t mean that life immediately gets “fixed”—but we are rescued from our despair.

Even with God’s care for the faithful remnant, things were still sliding downhill for the people of Israel. In the years after this encounter between God and Elijah, many more would die in wars, political coups, assassinations, revenge killings, and other needless slaughter between Israel and its neighbors. These were God’s grim words: “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death.” The history in 1 & 2 Kings goes on to record all these events, and that goes beyond this sermon. But note just two things: first, Elijah only anoints 1 of these 3 people before he’s taken to heaven. Elisha, his replacement.

Second, years later Elisha would anoint Hazael and Jehu. These kings were literally bloody rulers and did not fear God. But did Elisha put anyone to death? It doesn’t say that he had a sword, and we never read of anyone that Elisha put to death. We get a clue from the prophet Hosea approximately a hundred years later. It’s the bottom of Northern Israel’s decline into wickedness. One more urgent call to repentance: “Come, let us return to the Lord, for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up…” then God reflects on what to do about faithless Israel, and continues: “therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth.” (Hosea 6:1, 5). From this verse we see the likely answer. The word of the Lord was the sword in the mouth of the prophets, to cut down the injustice, idolatry, and wickedness in the land. The truth is mightier than the sword, as many throughout history have known. Jesus fought with the same sword of truth, instead of violence and physical force. And He called His disciples to do the same to spread his kingdom. Both Martin Luther, the German Reformer 500 years ago, and Martin Luther King Jr, named after him, believed in that same idea that the truth of God’s Word was the most powerful weapon against evil. And Hosea’s prophecy further shows that when God brings about a great leveling, it’s so that He may rebuild, heal, and restore. A doctor cuts a cancerous tumor out of a body not to wound, but to prevent cancer from spreading to the rest of the body. It’s to restore health and wholeness. 

But let’s circle back. God asked Elijah twice: “What are you doing here?” We can relate to how his short-sightedness and limited knowledge led to his defeatism and despair. God makes a terrifying wind tear away rocks from the face of the mountain around Elijah. But the Lord was not in the wind. Then an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. Finally the sound of a low whisper, or a still small voice. This is how God asks the second time “What are you doing here?” Elijah had seen God’s might in the fire from heaven. Others in Scripture, like Job, got to hear God speak from the whirlwind. Witnesses of Jesus’ death and resurrection would experience two highly specifically timed earthquakes. But in this instance, when Elijah’s faith is at its lowest tide, the Lord is not in any of these terrifying displays of power, but in the still, small voice.

Here we could flip the question and ask God, “What are you doing here?” There’s another beloved prophecy, that speaks of Jesus’ ministry. Isaiah 42:3 says, “a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.” God does not snap those who are weak, or snuff out the lingering traces of faith in those who are struggling and weak. Rather, Jesus gently infuses new life and His Spirit to those who are weak, like Elijah. If you doubt your place, or wonder at God’s plan, or need the assurance of God’s love, as you ponder: “Why am I doing here?”, Jesus is here in His gifts of Word and Sacrament to give you His life and His Spirit. Here you are loving us, pouring out your life for ours that we may be filled. When we need our narrow angle view of life broadened or challenged to see things from God’s heavenly perspective, Jesus does so with faithfulness and justice. When self-pity and false perspectives creep in and fill our hearts with doubt or distrust toward God, Jesus throws open the curtains and shines the light of His truth into our lives. We’re reminded that however lonely we may feel, we’re never truly alone, when we believe and trust in Christ. Jesus said He would never leave us nor forsake us, and promised His ever present Spirit. And the Holy Spirit calls and gathers us into the body of the church, to be surrounded by other believers to encourage and build each other up in the Word of God.

And God doesn’t leave us to our idleness—just like Elijah, He calls us back into service. Even Elisha was called to serve the Lord, not out of his idleness, but out of a handsomely large farming task in progress. Martin Luther also experienced great bouts of depression, but busyness and work drove away the worries and fears that occupied him in times of idleness. What are you doing here? is not only a question of our existence, but it can also be a call or prompt to action. What would God have you do—here and now—where you are in this place? If we stop to listen to God’s Word, what is He calling and sending us to do? Help and serve your neighbor? Teach and share the love of Christ? Pray for and encourage those who need your prayers? And by the grace of Jesus, we can confidently say to every person, that your life matters and that God has a plan and purpose for you. That there is no reason to give into the devil’s words of discouragement and fear, but every reason to trust that the One who shed His blood for us will still teach, lead, love and protect us all the days of our life. Our existence and all our doings and life find meaning and purpose in Him. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Sermon Talking Points

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1.                  Read 1 Kings 19:9-14. What question and answer is repeated? What is God gently inviting Elijah to explore, and how does He draw him out of his defeatism and despair?

2.                  Have you ever reflected on the question: “What are you doing here?” What about Elijah’s answer doesn’t quite fit with the facts/context? Read 1 Kings 18. Why did he have reason to be more confident and trusting? What prevented him from this? How did God approach to remedy this?

3.                  What kind of answers would the devil try to supply us, to the question of “What are you doing here?” What does God have to do to fix that for us?

4.                  Elijah is told to anoint 3 people, but he only ends up anointing 1, Elisha. Elisha then anoints the other two. God describes people falling to death at the hands of all 3—but Elisha is never described as killing anyone. What may resolve this difficulty? Hosea 6:1, 5). What “weapon” did the prophets carry? Cf. Hebrews 4:12. How did Jesus choose this weapon, over against force or violence?

5.                  According to Hosea 6:1-5, why does God sometimes “tear” or “strike down”? What is His purpose or aim?

6.                  How does God’s visit to Elijah compare to the theology of Isaiah 42:3. How does God treat those whose faith is a dim ember?

7.                  How does God’s question: “What are you doing here?” also serve as a call to action? What may Christ be calling you to do?