Zeal is not that special
This week is on 1 Kings 19:14-18:
Elijah here is talking to God, making sure he has job security. He compares his zeal for God with the pagan Baal worship the country was involved in, and then mentions the threats against him. His basic argument is "Look God, I'm the only guy you've got, or at least the best one. Everyone else is off doing their own thing and being used by the devil. Therefore you need me, and can't let these people kill me." The argument doesn't go over so well with God.
First, God reminds him that his days are numbered and that both Elijah and his enemies will eventually die and be replaced by a new generation. In other words, this is just a tiny part of eternity and whether he lives or dies makes little difference in God's eternal plan. Elijah isn't the whole solution by himself. God has Elijah anoint the next generation, perhaps as a sort of way of driving his point home. "Oh you're irreplaceable? Meet Suresh. He has two doctorates and works for a quarter of what you make. You retire in ten years, right? That gives you some time to get to know each other."
Second, God mentions that there are thousands of people like Elijah out there. He is not unique. God is doing Elijah a favor, not the other way around. Zeal is fairly widespread, even if not necessarily widely known. God picked Elijah, but he could just as easily pick Elisha or anyone else. He has a whole team of people Elijah knows nothing about, and a solid plan to solve the Baal problem.
On the surface, these verses seem to just be about God and Elijah, sorting out some facts. But on a deeper level, the verses speak to us as well. Mankind doesn't change that quickly.
Elijah's view that he's all God has is not that uncommon. I've seen churches, and pastors of churches, who think they're the last best hope God has. When the only Christians you hang out with are in your church, it's easy to think you're the only game in town. You find yourself praying prayers that the other churches would become more like you, or hoping that the other Christians in town would wake up and come to your church instead of the benighted, useless, Pharisaical places they probably go to now.
When God gives us so much favor, and all we see is what he gives us, it is easy to imagine that we deserve it. We imagine ourselves to be special and use it as a bargaining chip. "The reason things haven't changed is because *I* didn't pray for it yet. Just those other folks. I happen to have God's favor." Imagine if God showed you how many other people have his favor. Elijah was special to God, but not on a comparative sense. There were thousands of other people who were also special to God.
Putting ourselves in Elijah's shoes is humbling. He worked really hard on his ministry and made a lot of sacrifices. He was well known. And now his whole bubble is burst because he hasn't earned any more favor than God gives freely. "But I'm on fire for you, God!" isn't going to get you bumped to the front of the line.
The other thing to contemplate is what was going on in Israel at the time. The country was deep in sin. People were universalists who worshipped false gods, like Baal, who was a kind of god of climate control. The nation was run by a shadow government, a sort of deep state in the form of a heavily empowered and immoral woman who used her husband as a figurehead to enact her private agenda. People who didn't bow to Baal were persecuted. Meanwhile, despite their worship of this false god, they were experiencing serious climate change in the form of a severe famine.
So picture yourself as a believer in those days. Your neighbors are trying to get you to sign their petition to Baal to bring the rain back, and now they're blaming you for causing the famine because of your refusal to cooperate. "Come on, just worship him. Tell everyone that he'll fix things and he'll do it. Why are you being so divisive?" People scowl at you in the market. Your kids get beaten up in school and worse things are threatened. People you know are disappearing and you don't know if they're alive or dead. How long can you hold out? I think most people in their mind would rationalise going along with things, liking Baal's Facebook page, throwing in a few #baal hashtags and telling themselves it's for the common good. But these believers were strong! And there were thousands of them!
They even stood up for God in the midst of the collective punishment. Despite working for team God, protesting the immorality and the corruption and false religion, they were hit by the famine too. They understood it wasn't personal. It's something to think about when your prayers for a nation aren't answered and you're suffering along with the people who aren't praying or who are worshiping the wrong thing. If you're that strong, God has already counted you. You're certainly not alone.
If you're zealous and dedicated like Elijah, good for you! You are special. But so are plenty of other Christians you don't know about, so don't let it keep you from being humble. And on the other side of things, if you're not feeling very special because the world is collapsing around you, maybe you're still special anyway. We are special because God loves us, not because we've made ourselves indispensable.
He answered, “I have been absolutely loyal to the Lord, the sovereign God, even though the Israelites have abandoned the agreement they made with you, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and now they want to take my life.” The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came and then head for the Desert of Damascus. Go and anoint Hazael king over Syria. You must anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to take your place as prophet. Jehu will kill anyone who escapes Hazael’s sword, and Elisha will kill anyone who escapes Jehu’s sword. I still have left in Israel seven thousand followers who have not bowed their knees to Baal or kissed the images of him.”
Elijah here is talking to God, making sure he has job security. He compares his zeal for God with the pagan Baal worship the country was involved in, and then mentions the threats against him. His basic argument is "Look God, I'm the only guy you've got, or at least the best one. Everyone else is off doing their own thing and being used by the devil. Therefore you need me, and can't let these people kill me." The argument doesn't go over so well with God.
First, God reminds him that his days are numbered and that both Elijah and his enemies will eventually die and be replaced by a new generation. In other words, this is just a tiny part of eternity and whether he lives or dies makes little difference in God's eternal plan. Elijah isn't the whole solution by himself. God has Elijah anoint the next generation, perhaps as a sort of way of driving his point home. "Oh you're irreplaceable? Meet Suresh. He has two doctorates and works for a quarter of what you make. You retire in ten years, right? That gives you some time to get to know each other."
Second, God mentions that there are thousands of people like Elijah out there. He is not unique. God is doing Elijah a favor, not the other way around. Zeal is fairly widespread, even if not necessarily widely known. God picked Elijah, but he could just as easily pick Elisha or anyone else. He has a whole team of people Elijah knows nothing about, and a solid plan to solve the Baal problem.
On the surface, these verses seem to just be about God and Elijah, sorting out some facts. But on a deeper level, the verses speak to us as well. Mankind doesn't change that quickly.
Elijah's view that he's all God has is not that uncommon. I've seen churches, and pastors of churches, who think they're the last best hope God has. When the only Christians you hang out with are in your church, it's easy to think you're the only game in town. You find yourself praying prayers that the other churches would become more like you, or hoping that the other Christians in town would wake up and come to your church instead of the benighted, useless, Pharisaical places they probably go to now.
When God gives us so much favor, and all we see is what he gives us, it is easy to imagine that we deserve it. We imagine ourselves to be special and use it as a bargaining chip. "The reason things haven't changed is because *I* didn't pray for it yet. Just those other folks. I happen to have God's favor." Imagine if God showed you how many other people have his favor. Elijah was special to God, but not on a comparative sense. There were thousands of other people who were also special to God.
Putting ourselves in Elijah's shoes is humbling. He worked really hard on his ministry and made a lot of sacrifices. He was well known. And now his whole bubble is burst because he hasn't earned any more favor than God gives freely. "But I'm on fire for you, God!" isn't going to get you bumped to the front of the line.
The other thing to contemplate is what was going on in Israel at the time. The country was deep in sin. People were universalists who worshipped false gods, like Baal, who was a kind of god of climate control. The nation was run by a shadow government, a sort of deep state in the form of a heavily empowered and immoral woman who used her husband as a figurehead to enact her private agenda. People who didn't bow to Baal were persecuted. Meanwhile, despite their worship of this false god, they were experiencing serious climate change in the form of a severe famine.
So picture yourself as a believer in those days. Your neighbors are trying to get you to sign their petition to Baal to bring the rain back, and now they're blaming you for causing the famine because of your refusal to cooperate. "Come on, just worship him. Tell everyone that he'll fix things and he'll do it. Why are you being so divisive?" People scowl at you in the market. Your kids get beaten up in school and worse things are threatened. People you know are disappearing and you don't know if they're alive or dead. How long can you hold out? I think most people in their mind would rationalise going along with things, liking Baal's Facebook page, throwing in a few #baal hashtags and telling themselves it's for the common good. But these believers were strong! And there were thousands of them!
They even stood up for God in the midst of the collective punishment. Despite working for team God, protesting the immorality and the corruption and false religion, they were hit by the famine too. They understood it wasn't personal. It's something to think about when your prayers for a nation aren't answered and you're suffering along with the people who aren't praying or who are worshiping the wrong thing. If you're that strong, God has already counted you. You're certainly not alone.
If you're zealous and dedicated like Elijah, good for you! You are special. But so are plenty of other Christians you don't know about, so don't let it keep you from being humble. And on the other side of things, if you're not feeling very special because the world is collapsing around you, maybe you're still special anyway. We are special because God loves us, not because we've made ourselves indispensable.
Comments
Post a Comment