Spiritual Letdowns

Reading over the story of Elijah's encounter with the “still, small voice” of God in 1 Kings 19, I was struck, as I almost always am, by how this episode comes immediately after what most people would consider Elijah’s greatest triumph.

According to 1 Kings 18, the kingdom is in the third year of a God-ordained drought, a drought meant to bring the people to their senses and leave off the worship of Baal. Baal-worship, you may remember, had been introduced by King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. Apparently now the time is ripe for a direct confrontation between Elijah, the one prophet of Israel’s God, and the 450 prophets of Baal.

This is a vivid, memorable story: the construction of the two altars, the preparation of the two sacrifices, the prophets of Baal “limping” around the altar (1 Kings 18:26, NRSV), crying out to their god, cutting themselves “as was their custom” and being mocked by Elijah: “Cry aloud! Surely he is a god; either he is meditating, or he has wandered away, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” (1 Kings 18:27 NRS) The writer concludes, “Midday passed, and they ranted on until the time when the offering is presented; but there was no voice, no answer, no sign of attention.” (1 Kings 18:29 NJB)

You remember the rest: unlike the unresponsive Baal, the Lord answered with fire that burned up not only the offering, but the very stones of the altar. This was followed by a bloodbath as the people seized the Baal-prophets at Elijah’s instigation and slaughtered them to a man. Then Elijah prayed, and the rains came (1 Kings 18:41ff., a passage cited by James 5:17-18 to illustrate the power of prayer).

Elijah should have been on top of the world. He had demonstrated decisively who was the true God in Israel, and had established himself as God’s prophet. But when Jezebel sent word that she was planning to have him killed for his part in the challenge to the state religion, Elijah went into a funk. He ran off to the desert and hid in a cave. When God challenged him, he whined, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” (1 Kings 19:10 NRS)

I don’t know about you, but that’s been true to my experience, though on a much smaller scale. I’ve been part of something really good in the church—a baptism, a Confirmation Class, a special service of some kind—and felt blessed and lifted up by it. Then I come down to earth and start feeling sorry for myself, and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because, like Elijah, I expect God’s voice to come out of the wind, earthquake, and fire, and I’m disappointed that it’s only “a sound of sheer silence.” (1 Kings 19:12, NRSV) But that's often the way God chooses to speak to me, and who am I to tell God how to communicate?

The other thing about the story, of course, is that Elijah thinks he’s all alone, the last man standing, the only faithful follower in Israel. No, says God; I have chosen a king to succeed Ahab, I have chosen a prophet to succeed you, and I have seven thousand faithful people. Not many, in terms of the whole population, but enough. God is still at work, whether we know it or not. And that’s the good news.