We are about three-quarters of the way through our current message series, “Liars, Cheaters, Cowards & Other Bible Heroes.”  In this series we have been looking how God works with people who have very human flaws, faults, and foibles to accomplish some truly amazing things.  The series has also been going through the Old Testament in chronological order, so we are also getting to see the larger story of Salvation History. Just a reminder, if you missed a week or if you are a visitor who finds today’s message interesting, all the past messages in this series are available on the parish website under “Fr. JC’s Blog”.

Last week I spoke about King David, one of the most important persons in the Old Testament.  While not the first king of Israel, David was a king who had a heart after God’s own heart. While not without mistakes, and even a serious sin, David always turned to God, whether in seeking His guidance or in seeking His mercy.  Because of David’s faithfulness, God promised him that his dynasty would last forever, and from his descendants, God would raise up the Messiah.

David’s son, Solomon, succeed him as king.  While renown for his wisdom, Solomon did not have a heart quite as good as his father.  Solomon became very used to living in luxury and he seems to have never met a woman he did not like.  It is reported that he had 700 wives, most of them foreigners who brought the worship of their false gods into the palace.  Solomon ended up abandoning the Covenant, and God said that he would bring punishment upon Israel because of this. When Solomon’s son became king, he ignored the advice of his senior councilors to reduce the taxes, which were high to pay for the building of the Temple under his father.  Rehoboam (Solomon’s son) actually did the opposite and raised the taxes. This led to a revolt, resulting in the formation of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (which had most of the 12 tribes) and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, ruled by the House of David. The Books of 1st and 2nd Kings in the Bible covers the adventures of both of these kingdoms, so when reading those books you need to pay close attention to which kingdom they are talking about.

While both kingdoms had good and bad kings, the Northern Kingdom of Israel had mostly bad kings who worshipped false gods.  The worse of those kings was Ahab, who with his wife Jezebel, strongly promoted the worship of Baal, a truly evil religion.

That brings us to today’s hero, the prophet Elijah, who we hear about in today’s first reading.  The story of Elijah offers us a lesson on how do we know when it is time to quit something. We are not talking about quitting something like smoking.  Rather, how do we know when it is time to quit something that has been a major part of your life? Perhaps it is a relationship, or a career?

Elijah steps out of obscurity and tells Ahab that he is leading the nation astray and as a punishment God is going to send a drought.  For three years no rain fell on Israel. Elijah survives by first going to a brook where God provides for him. Then God tells him to go to a widow in the town of Zarephath, and God provides for Elijah, the widow, and her son.

God finally tells Elijah to go back to King Ahab to challenge him.  Elijah tells Ahab to gather the 450 prophets of Baal and he is going to have a contest with them.  They will take a cow, kill and cut it up, and place it on an altar. Elijah will do the same. The prophets of Baal will call upon Baal to send down fire to burn up the sacrifice, and Elijah will call on the Lord.  Ahab and all the Israelites are there to see who will win. The prophets of Baal call out for hours, but nothing happens. Elijah then says a prayer to the Lord, and immediately fire comes down, consuming the sacrifice.  The people cry out, “The Lord is God!” and Elijah tells them to seize the prophets of Baal, and he kills all of them. After that, Queen Jezebel is very angry and says that she is going to kill Elijah.

Elijah is afraid and runs for his life.  He goes into the desert, lies down under a broom tree and prays for death.  He wants to quit; to just give up. The Lord wakes him up, feeds him, and tells him to walk for 40 days to Mount Horeb.  God asks him why is he there, and Elijah says that he has been zealous for the Lord, but all the Israelites have forsaken the Covenant, and now seek his life.  This is an exaggeration, for there are some who are still faithful to God, but Elijah is feeling very alone and overwhelmed. I am sure all of us can relate to such feelings of being alone and overwhelmed.

God tells Elijah to go to the mouth of the cave where he has taken shelter for He will be coming by.  There is a strong wind, but God is not in the wind. There is an earthquake, but God is not in the earthquake.  There is a fire, but God is not in the fire. Finally, there is a still, small voice, and Elijah hides his face for he knows that it is the voice of God.  God tells Elijah to go back to Israel, that there is still work for him to do. He is going to go to Damascus and anoint Hazael king of Aram. He will then anoint Jehu as the next king of Israel, and Elisha as prophet to succeed him.

In this we see how we know when it is time to quit.  It is time when God tells us to quit. There will be times when each of us will feel overwhelmed and alone.  We will want to quit. We will think that everything is on our shoulders, forgetting that it is God who carries us.  We quit and move on only when God tells us to and not before. Too often in life we run away from something rather than running towards God’s will for our lives.  We need to remember to go back into prayer; to listen to that small, still voice.

This week I encourage you to read 1st Kings chapter 19 which recounts Elijah’s experience.  Then take 10-15 minutes to be still and listen to God’s voice. God wants to direct our lives.  He wants to lead us on paths where we will accomplish amazing things for Him. Wanting to quit, that feeling, is going to happen at times.  When we feel that, we need to listen for that still, small voice of God.