When Faith Hits Rock Bottom

Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 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. Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. … 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.

1 Kings 19:1-4

As a result of the Lord's tremendous victory against the prophets of Baal, Elijah expected that Ahab and Jezebel would be shaken in their unbelief. The message from Jezebel that comes to him, threatening his very life, takes Elijah by great surprise. So tremendous has been the victory that Elijah felt that the power of evil in this country would be broken. But now comes the message from Jezebel that says, By tomorrow morning, I will have your life. As a result, Elijah fell apart at the seams.

Is it not true that most of the black moods of despair that grip us come at times when we have been disappointed in some result that we have expected? Things do not turn out as we hoped and we hit rock bottom. We feel the dark cloud of gloom pass over our spirit and we are in the grip of this despondency. But there is also a deeper reason. If you look beneath this account of Elijah, you can see that behind the unexpected results and their affect upon him is a revelation of an incomplete trust in God. What Elijah was doing was going along with God, as long as God was doing what Elijah expected him to do. There was no doubt, as you read the previous chapter of the great victory on Carmel, that Elijah knew that God was going to answer with fire. There is no shadow of doubt in his heart. But this latest event has shaken him, because he does not expect it. This is frequently the cause of our despondency, is it not? We discover that it is not that we are really reckoning upon God to do anything that He wants to do, but we are reckoning upon what we expect God to do and when He does not act the way we think he ought to act, our faith hits rock bottom.

Father, I confess that oftentimes I expect you to act in ways that I think are appropriate and right, rather than bowing before your wisdom in all things.