Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20030921.htm

1 AND 2 KINGS: ENJOYING GOD'S BLESSINGS IN AN APOSTATE ERA
Part XXIV: Learning To FOLLOW God Over Relying On Our OWN IDEAS
(1 Kings 19:1-18)
  1. Introduction
    1. We learned in our last lesson to rely on God's power rather than our own strength for ministry success.
    2. However, beyond relying on God's power, we must follow God versus relying on our own IDEAS of what constitutes reality, a lesson Elijah had to learn in a difficult way in 1 Kings 19:1-18 as follows:
  2. Learning To FOLLOW God Over Relying On Our OWN IDEAS, 1 Kings 19:1-18.
    1. As we learned in our last lesson, Elijah fled from Jezebel's threat to his life because he viewed the visible power by which he served God with notable, visible miracles as his own power, so he fled when he was threatened by Jezebel who had greater "human power" as a queen than he did, 1 Kings 19:1-3, 4.
    2. Yet, besides relying on his own visible power, Elijah's request for God to take his life revealed he relied on his own errant ideas that arose out of his misguided preoccupation with visible power:
      1. In saying he was as unfit to live as were all of his fathers, Elijah implied he was a ministry failure for failing to eradicate Baal worship from Israel as had his fathers, Bible Know. Com., O.T., p. 528.
      2. Later, when God asked Elijah what he was doing at Horeb where Moses generations before him had served the Lord, Elijah explained he had served God fervently, but fled for his life as he alone in Israel was still dedicated to the Lord, 1 Kings 19:9b-10, 13b-14.
      3. Apparently, based on his preoccupation with the externally impressive miracles God let him do, Elijah had formed certain ideas, and assumed them to be facts when they were actually false and hurtful:
        1. In the dramatic, visibly powerful miracles of calling fire down from heaven, calling for a great storm to end the drought and running ahead of Ahab's chariot, Elijah assumed God would impact Israel to depart from Baalism by his visibly dramatic miracles.
        2. With this preoccupation with these external evidences of God's power, Elijah assumed his mission was to eradicate Baalism via dramatic tactics with visibly powerful miracles.
        3. With himself visibly alone representing God's cause on Mount Carmel, Elijah assumed he alone loved the Lord, and was committed to Him as the last fortress in Israel of human allegiance to God!
        4. Thus, when Jezebel as a queen threatened his life with greater visible power than he had, Elijah felt God's work was jeopardized by his own inability to handle Jezebel, and so fled in disillusionment!
    3. God graciously led Elijah back to FOLLOW Him rather than RELY on his own ERRANT thinking:
      1. In grace, God took Elijah back to the basics of feeding him miraculously (as at Cherith and Zarepath) to remind him that his power had always come from God, not from Elijah himself, 1 Kings 19:5-8a.
      2. [Though a trip on foot from Beersheba to Sinai normally took about 14 days, God graciously allowed room for the despondent, wandering prophet, Elijah to take 40 days and nights, 1 Kings 19:8b; Ibid.]
      3. Then, at Sinai, God used visible demonstrations of power without revealing Himself in them to teach Elijah He often works in QUIET ways, 19:9-13. This corrected the errant assumption God was LIMITED to using ONLY public and dramatic tactics in Elijah's ministry!
      4. God then revealed parts of His plan that critiqued Elijah's errant ideas that arose from his preoccupation with the dramatic (as follows):
        1. God revealed He did not call Elijah to eradicate Baalism in Israel, but planned for Hazael of Syria, Jehu of Israel and Elisha, Elijah's successor together to attain that goal, 1 Kings 19:15-17.
        2. Then, contrary to Elijah's conclusion he alone worshipped God, the Lord revealed there were 7,000 weak but true believers in Israel who had at least not bowed the knee to Baal, 1 Kings 19:18.
      5. Hence, God revealed ALL of Elijah's REASONS to FLEE from Jezebel were FUTILE, 19:4,10,14!
Lesson: Elijah became so infatuated by the VISIBLE MIRACLES God did through him that he based his view of REALITY on what he could SEE and NOT on WHAT GOD'S WORD said; THAT led to ERRANT views that, in time of evil opposition produced DISILLUSIONMENT and FAILURE for him.

Application: Our OWN GOOD JUDGMENT based on what we VISIBLY SEE can lead to ERROR, so we must not let EVEN our OWN good judgment hold sway ABOVE what GOD'S WORD says to us, cf. Deuteronomy 13:1-5 and 2 Timothy 3:13-17! Always opt for SCRIPTURE above even our OWN ideas!