This is a copy of my talk given at Ayia Kyriaki and Saint Luke’s in the Anglican Church of Paphos on Sunday 22 June 2025. The Bible reading was 1 Kings 19:1-15a.

Prayer

Heavenly Father,
I thank You for Your word.
By the power of Your Holy Spirit,
May You speak to my heart,
And change my life.
In the precious name of Jesus I pray.
Amen.


Running Away

After the impressive and spectacular victory of Mount Carmel, by the miracle of fire and rain over the prophets of Baal in the previous chapter, the message was for Israel to return wholeheartedly to the worship of the one true God. But it’s quite clear from Jezebel’s response that this wasn’t going to happen. Nothing changed in the life of Israel. There was no constitutional turn around; no cabinet reshuffle; no reinstitution of the prophets, no call for a National Day of Prayer and penitence. No U turns. Nothing.

Elijah, who stood against a King and 400 hostile religious leaders, now cowers at the threats of Jezebel, which she communicated by a messenger, vs2: ‘May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like one of them.’ As a result, Elijah was scared witless and does a runner, vs3 to Beersheba. This is about 100 miles south of Jezreel, well outside the reach of Jezebel’s clutches.


The Provision Of God

Elijah appears to be a broken man, doesn’t he? He went running into the desert and sat under a broom tree (hoping it might sweep away his sorrows!). Elijah is exhausted, broken, understandably so, physically and emotionally, he may feel he is an utter failure too, and he falls asleep. And what does the LORD do? Rebuke him? Tell him to snap out of it and recover some of his Carmel spirit? No! He provides for Elijah, vs5 ‘All at once an angel touched him. Get up and eat’. God is not in a hurry to get Elijah out of bed before he’s ready, vs7 we read: ‘the angel of the Lord came back a second time, touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you’.

Elijah looked around and there was a cake of bread baked over hot coals – warm food, and a jug of water to drink. A hot meal, not cooked by some celebrity chef, but by an angel of the Lord. In these conditions Elijah doesn’t need a counsellor he needs a chef. It is not a time for prayer it’s a time for rest and recuperation.  How often do we look for spiritual causes to our problems when they are physical? Sometimes we just need to listen to our bodies.


What Are You Doing Here, Elijah?

I love the question that God asks Elijah in vs9 and again in v13: ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ Where is that ‘here?’ It is Horeb, or as it is better known, Mount Sinai. Remember how, 400 years before, Moses stood where Elijah stood, in order to intercede for God’s people who had broken his covenant and worshipped a golden calf. I don’t think Elijah ended up here by chance.

Moses stayed on that Mountain for 40 days and 40 nights, the same figures used here in vs8, praying that God would forgive the people’s idolatry. And during that time, he was given a unique experience of God’s presence – you can read all about it in Exodus 33 and 34. Moses was hidden in a cleft in the rock and the glory of God passed before him.

‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ In the place where the covenant was broken and renewed; where I declared myself to be a compassionate God but who, nonetheless, would not leave the guilty unpunished. This is the right place to be, Elijah if you are going to plead your case before me.’


I Am The Only One Left

Vs10: I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty … I am the only one left. How many of us have felt like Elijah here – alone, as if no-one cared. Feeling God to be absent during the hard times in our lives is not unusual or even un-Christian.  God’s love often gets hidden away under all the emotions we experience. But His love doesn’t change, or go away, just because we may feel angry and frustrated and burnt out – it’s always there.

It’s interesting how God just let Elijah talk and talk and talk.  Not once did God suggest to Elijah that he should feel differently or try to talk some sense into him.  And, when he did talk with him, he did it gently. God knew Elijah’s fragility, his need just to be able to express himself and be handled with care.  The way God treated Elijah is the way he treats us too.

 ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant.’ Just like Moses of old, Elijah has returned to confess the people’s failure to keep God’s law. And maybe, as with Moses, God would hear the plea of his servant and not abandon his people entirely. And what is the sign of God’s covenant blessing? That he is a gracious God? It is that he is present with his people.

As he was present by the cloud during the day and the pillar of fire during the night; as he was present by the cloud of glory in the Tabernacle; and the fire of glory in the temple, so God signals his presence amongst His people.


The Sound Of Silence

So, in his kindness. God promises Elijah that he will see His presence just as Moses did. But how? Where will God be found? We then have this most amazing account of what is called a ‘theophany’- an appearance of God. There is the shattering of the earth, there is the tumultuous blowing of the wind, there are the blinding effects of the fire, but God was not in any of these. Where is God to be found communicating himself to Elijah?  Vs12 in: ‘A gentle whisper’ or the ‘still small voice of calm’ as the hymn writer put it. The reality is that we don’t do silent reflection very well, do we?  It’s true.

This ‘Sound of Silence’ this still small voice of calm is not some inner mystical voice, it is something which comes to Elijah externally as did the earth, wind and fire, but it is something, which transcends all of these things. As Moses heard God speak on this Mountain so does Elijah. And when that voice spoke it didn’t boom, it didn’t shout, he experienced it as a gentle whisper. The way God makes a real difference in the lives of people is often by the gentle whisper of his Word.


The Word Of God

Do you remember what happened after Moses had experienced a theophany like this one? He came down this mountain carrying the two tablets of the law, God’s Word, The Ten Commandments, written on stone by the finger of God. This was to be a testimony to God’s people of his love and faithfulness – reminding us that we worship a God who says what he means and means what he says.

Like Elijah, we may look around us and see a church full of compromise; a society, which is literally hell bent on its own destruction … especially with all that is taking place in the Middle East – and we wonder if there is any future. We may wonder/pray about how this will ever change, but the message here is that there is only one place we are to look to, and that is God and only one place we are to turn to, his Word, that quiet still voice which endures forever.

I need God’s Word to keep me believing and going on for another week, because life can be pretty wearing at times, can’t it? And the amazing thing is that God’s voice still speaks from these pages telling us he has not changed, that his purposes have not changed. That the new Covenant he established another mount, Calvary, still remains true today.

I know that no matter what happens, no matter how I feel, God will not abandon me, as he did not abandon Elijah or his people. And if you are trusting in the Lord Jesus, you can say that too.

Isn’t it marvellous that God is more stubborn than his people? In spite of Jezebel’s threats, it is He and not her that will have the last word. He will appoint a new King and provide a new prophet in Elisha.  It is He who has secretly been at work holding in reserve 7,000 others who have remained faithful. The promise of his Word.

Tyrants like Ahab come and go, antichrists have their little victories, but they will never win in the long run. The church has often had to face dark days as in the time of Elijah, when those in power are set on the destruction of God’s people, enticing and in some cases enforcing the worship of another god.


Conclusion

I wonder, where you are on your journey of faith right now? Are you overwhelmed, stressed, discouraged, depressed? You might be experiencing your Mount Horeb for the first time and you might be in a wrestling match with God. Maybe you have been faithful, and you are disappointed, and you are experiencing your own 40 days of searching. You might be wondering when God is going to show up. You might be asking: Where is God during the difficult times?

The answer is that he’s in all of it. And remember, God will provide for you and make His presence known to you and He promises to renew all things. His mercies are new every morning.

God wants to renew your strength and to restore your body, soul and spirit. The way He revived Elijah is the way He wants to revive you, too. It is up to us to trust in His faithfulness and compassion and His word and listen for the gentle whisper of His voice. Elijah began his journey by running away from God but ended up running into His perfect presence. May that be true for each one of us today.

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER The text contained in this sermon (except where stated) is solely owned by its author, Revd Paul A. Carr. The reproduction, or distribution of this message, or any portion of it, should include the author’s name.