What are you doing here?

1 Kings 19:9-18

It has been one of those weeks where you seem to be constantly busy and you never seem to have even a spare minute for yourself, or a time to relax much less talk to God. I had recently been in that place. A place that seems to suck all the time from what I loosely call a schedule, the energy from my body, and the meaning out of everything around me. It is during these times that I sometimes loose the happiness and joy that I should and it is a time where I really become weak, not only physically but also spiritually. It happens from time to time and I am sure that anyone reading this has had it happens to them once if not more often than they would like. I don’t like these times that for sure, but I wonder if they are helpful more than hurtful.

You know how it happens, you extend yourself, you have way too much on your plate and you break out of your normal routine. Something at work takes your time, or something unexpected and you miss some vital time in study or in prayer, and before you know it, you just become so busy that you tell yourself that when you get this one thing done you will find some time to spend with the Lord, but it never comes because something else has come up and we eventually become too tired to make time for God. We soon become fatigued and it is then that the adversary can attack.

I am of the belief that as believers, we need to at least spend a few minutes with the Lord in the morning or some point of the day in order to be able to cope in this world. We need that quiet time to talk to Him, read His word, and listen for His voice. We are like plants or trees and just as they need water, we too need the refreshing water of the word in our lives or we would dry up.

I had hit that low last night as I went to bed. I was fatigued from such a busy week and I had not spent as much time with God as I usually do and I attempted a quick prayer as my head hit the pillow. I remember thinking that my words seemed to have fallen on deaf ears as I said them and even though I said pretty much the same thing that I do every night it still seemed like I was talking to no one but myself. I thought, “Who am I praying too anyway? Where is God? Does He even hear me if He is there? Does He even care? Am I wasting my time here on this earth believing in something and Someone who doesn’t even exist? I attempted to pray some more after that and while I was speaking silently, I couldn’t hear myself or actually put anything together to pray. My mind was filled with what I can only describe as a fog and I felt like one of those people who have had both sides of their brain switched. I could understand what I wanted to say but it would or could not come out.

I was reminded of another person who had a problem somewhat like this. He was in a terrible low in his life, he was depressed and he felt like God didn’t care about him or what was going on in his life. His name was Elijah

God reveals Himself to Elijah

1Kings 19:1-18
Elijah was on a roll in his ministry. He had known and seen the power of God (1 Kings 17-18)

He must have been ready to storm the gates of hell with bursts of water 

So what happened to Elijah?
Past success does not guarantee present peace
19:1-2 

The report Ahab told Jezebel did not cause her to repent or turn from Baal
to God. It merely leads to personal embarrassment. Her response was to issue a death warrant for Elijah
19:3-4 

Elijah understood Jezebel’s intentions and he ran for his life when he saw her response. He had expected things to change drastically but they had not. He then realized that the Lord’s victory on Mt. Carmel would not necessarily bring an end to the paganism that held the land captive so he ran for his life when he saw her response
Some versions of the Bible read “He was afraid” but Elijah was not a man of fear because he had known the power of the living God. What he could have faced was a profound disappointment
nothing had changed in his eyes  

He had seen all those miracles, yet the people, despite seeing these miracles, would soon forget and revert back to their evil ways
if he were afraid it would have been a result in a lapse of faith from such strong disappointment. Elijah had not realized that God’s timing would happen no matter what
(4) He is saying, “It is enough! I’ve had enough! Take my life, l am no good!” He was done, finished, he had given up
“God, You have failed in using me. I am no good. Kill me now.’ He wished for death, not from Jezebel but from God <o:p></o:p>

So he ran for his life from the disappointment he felt
Elijah was depressed 

He had seen all the spectacular things God had done
yet now he felt that he was alone in his service to God 

(10) Elijah had a passion fro God that made him stand against the idolatry he saw all around him and in his depression he felt that he alone was left the only person faithful to God and than when he was killed, there would be no one left to serve God 

We are not alone in weakness and despair 

If we are in Christ 

John 16:7
you are alone without Christ 

Elijah had come to a very bad place
He was depressed and disappointed in God and he wanted to die
He was as far away from God as anyone could be yet God did not tell him “Snap out of it” “Stop crying” “Get over it” <o:p></o:p>

(5-8)

God fed him and provided for his needs first. He didn’t ask him what his problem was. He was providing for Elijah’s journey <o:p></o:p>

Even if Elijah had lost faith, God did not 

2 Timothy 2:11-13 

(9-10)

What are you doing here?
Elijah went on the strength of the food God gave him for 40 days and nights He had come as far as the mountain of God, Mt Horeb – referring to Mt Sinai and he lodges in a cave on the mountain
Now God has come to visit him

He asks Elijah, ‘what are you doing here?”

“What brought you here?”
“How did you come from where you were to where you are now?”

(11-12)

God tells Elijah to go outside the cave and stand before Him

Then the Lord passed by
1) A tempest The Lord was not in the tempest
2) An earthquake The Lord was not in the earthquake
3) A fire The Lord was not in the fire
4) A still small voice God was in the still, small, voice
It is the Spirit who decides how He will reveal Himself to us and although each of these things mentioned could signify the presence of God, He was not in them. Elijah learned that God is not just the God of the spectacular
At times the work of God is expressed in a still, small, voice

Elijah had called down fire from heaven; he had called for lightening, and national revival

What Elijah did not see was that God was working in the lives of many people (18)

(13-18) There were still many people who were faithful to God.7, 000 had not bowed down to Baal

God may not speak in an audible voice to us but He still speaks in many ways to let us know that He is there. One such way is through nature. Romans chapter 1 says that we have an example of God through everything around us, and that we have no excuse to say that He is not there. The Lord speaks to us in the very fact that we are here on this planet, the only planet able to sustain life and the very fact that we are able to communicate with each other and with our Master. You can’t tell me that we are here by mistake and that we evolved from mud or an alien species without a smile on you face because if you believe that then you have totally outright denied what is right there in front of you and for that supposed logical theory we as a people tell our Creator “I am sorry, You don’t matter enough to be real. You don’t make logical sense to me so I will come up with my own ideas because You won’t fit into what I want.”

Let us put our school textbooks aside and learn the real history of this earth because it truly is “HIS story”

What was Elijah looking for?

Where was he seeking God?

Wherever it was he was not looking for Him in the right place at that time. 

Do I do that?

Do you?

God was not where Elijah thought He was or perhaps thought He should be. God can’t be placed in a box or shaped to fit what I think about Him.

Have you ever heard someone say, “Well my God wouldn’t…”

When we say these things we are putting God second and placing what we think is important over our Lord. We make ourselves gods when we say such things.

God is speaking to us, whether it is the moving of the Spirit in our lives, an audible voice or just through the nature around us. The things that Elijah faced were illustrative of things that we as humans could never control. Things out of our range

He controls what we could never and we should trust that He is after our own good. A friend of mine sent me this and I wanted to share it with you because it so easily explains this point

 I heard a guy once say:  “I am out of control, He is in control and I like it that way.

 (Chad Davis) I am free falling in the physical but someone is in control. That is where we find rest.  Knowing God is working the plan and purpose for our life. We have a birthright. Last week (at Church) we talked about what we deserve. Our flesh deserves death, however because of what Jesus did we have a Birthright of Joy. Find the Joy in this moment right now. Ask God to grant it to you. The deception of the world has us looking for the next thing to make us happy. I get caught up in that almost everyday, but today I am going to ask God to sustain us and Lift us up with His Power to overcome every adversity. What can separate us from the love of God?  Let’s find peace in that today.

Exodus 4:2 

“What is in your hand?”

A friend of mine asked me this question not too long ago. I had actually been doing the same thing that Moses had because I felt that I was not qualified to teach a Bible study.

Moses had done what he thought was right at the beginning of this story. He knew that God was going to deliver the children of Israel by Moses and he thought that it was right then. He acts abruptly and kills an Egyptian and to add insult to injury, his people reject him. Moses would soon learn that God would be using him in a much different way to deliver Israel. 

Now we see Moses in the dessert. He had spent 40 years in this isolated place thinking that he had been a failure and a fool, a nobody and what he had once believed about himself had vanished into the distance like the rest of the life he had once known. 

Yet now God was coming to him and telling him “I want you! I want to use you!” and at one time Moses would have jumped up and done exactly what was asked of him, but now things had changed. Now he had a different answer for God. Once he had known exactly what God had wanted him to do, or so he thought, and now he was not so sure if he knew anything at all and he begins to give some excuses to God. Excuses as to why God should not or could not use him. The amazing thing in all this is the fact that we still use the same excuses today.

I’m not good enough

Exodus 3:11

Who am I?

I’m a nobody. You can’t use me God. I am too much of a sinner. I don’t pray enough. I am not the same person. Moses must have been second guessing himself and his calling because he had not known failure in Egypt and now he is under the impression that God can do nothing with him. Do we do this? Have you ever thought this? I have. But God has a different view of you and I 

Is God powerful enough to use Moses (us)?

Exodus 3:12

Here, in this verse we see God’s promise to Moses and to us. “I will be with you, If I send you – I will sustain you and help you” He is telling Moses “You will have a successful ministry”<

We need to be careful how we measure success

Success in God’s terms is not the same as the worlds. We might see things as a huge failure, but God sees a chance to build us up. He sees a way to help us grow and to learn to trust in Him.  (Revelation 5:9-10)

Always remember that if I want to know my value I don’t look at my reflection or at my brother.

I need to look at the cross!!!!!

John 3:16

I don’t know enough

Exodus 3:13

Who are You?

If I go to them, they won’t believe me. They will think that I am crazy. They won’t listen to me. Here God unveils a very special name to Moses “I AM that I AM” and here we are introduced to His name – Jehovah – Yahweh – YHWH “When the people want to know who sent you tell them I AM sent you.”

I will direct your steps

I have filled your mouth with My words

When we speak of God we say “He is”

He is the only true God

“I AM” is an incomplete statement because He is everything to the believer. We could in a sense leave a blank after ‘I AM” and fill it up with anything because He is our strength. He is our help. He sustains us and He keeps us (Romans 8:28)

I AM your sufficiency

I AM your strength

I’m not confident enough

Exodus 4:1

I am not confident enough

40 years before Moses had thought that he was ready to deliver his people and he was ready to be used by God, but now he did not know if he was ready to fail again. He is saying “I went to them and they rejected me!”

“Will they reject me again?”

All the confidence that he had once had is gone and he is afraid of failing.

I’m not gifted enough

Exodus 4:10

They won’t believe me!

God says “What do you have in your hand?”

The first 2 signs given to Moses came in response to his faulty faith

A) The rod

An indication of the presence of God

God will not leave you if He has called you and he will not leave you empty handed

The rod became the authority of God to Moses

He took the rod with him everywhere he went and through the rod God lets Moses know that He will be with him everywhere he goes no matter what people said to him.

All authority is in Christ Matthew 28:18. 

We have the authority of God through the death of Jesus and in much the same way, we have His presence through the Holy Spirit. We receive the Spirit when we are saved. Jesus Christ died on the cross so that we might live. He died so that we would have life and a life more abundantly.  

B) The leprous hand

The power of God

This was the same hand that had put down the rod. God can change our circumstances no matter what the situation. Jesus healed leprosy in the Gospels and each healing was not only for the sick but also to glorify God. He heals the leprosy of sin in our lives today. He makes us whole through His death and resurrection. Death loses it sting when eternal death is taken away. 

We receive power from God when we are filled with the Spirit for ministry (Acts 1:8) This power is for the glory of God because the Spirit does not come to speak on His own behalf, but only to glorify Jesus! (John 16:5-15)

C) Water to blood

The purpose of God

His purpose was to bring judgment on Egypt and deliver His people

We see the blood of the firstborn (Egypt) and we see the blood of redemption (Israel)

I AM with you

My Presence will enable My power for you and I will bring My purpose to Israel

The serpent was a profound figure of worship in Egypt and the Nile River was a central point of Egypt. God was getting ready to overthrow and overcome all of the difficulties of Israel and at the same time  bring judgment to Egypt.

Jesus Christ became a serpent for us. He became a serpent of sin, so to speak (John 3:16-21) and He took our sin, our shame, our death, our hell, and our separation from God and He paid the price for us. Now we have a new relationship with the Father. A relationship that can only come through faith in Jesus. A faith that accepts the price He paid. A faith that turns from sin and accepts Him as Savior. God sees us through His precious blood that was shed for you and for me. Revelation 1:5 

 We are reconciled through His blood Ephesians 2:13

We are brought closer to the Father through His blood – 1 Peter 1:2

We are cleansed through His blood – 1 John 1:7

Notice that God had already let Moses know what was going to happen. (Exodus 3:12)

How many times have we argued with God?

How many times have we just ignored that bush in our own lives?

Do you feel like you are not qualified to minister, to preach, or just to help out in some way? We need to look in our own lives and remember that what we need or what we think we are lacking is already there, in our hearts and in our hands. All God wants from us is trust and obedience. Trust Him today and let Him have His way in your life. You won’t regret it. Moses didn’t!!!

Genesis 18:14

 

“Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

 

That is a fairly simple question. Is anything too hard for Him?

What is anything?

Is it math problems?

Is it housework?

Our work?

Our job?

Our family?

Our relationships?

The answer is actually anything.

We can put a blank in the place of anything with respect of what God will do.

Many times God tells us who He is by these two words. “I AM”

and that can be an incomplete sentence for the believer because to a Christian,(one who is called according to His purpose) Romans 8:28 = All Things are possible. All things that we ask within His will and that pertain to His will for us.

John 16:23-24.

We shouldn’t just sprinkle His name in prayer for just anything. This should mean that we mean business. This is something that we need. Something to honor God and help others, not for an expensive car, or a bigger house. “I Am” does not include “a genie” and we shouldn’t treat God this way. he is not our 24 hour wish granter.

Our anything can be something we don’t like to do

Our anything might hurt us

God will accomplish anything in our lives that we will allow Him to and we must remember that sometimes anything hurts, but it is for our greater good if we are in Christ.

Our anything can also be our mistakes.

Romans 8:28 says “With God, anything, everything, ALL THINGS are possible” even when we screw up, when we come to God with the right heart, He can make our wrongs right so we can’t dwell on that mistake we made all those years ago or that sin that we acted on last night. The important thing is this: “Did you make it right with the Lord?”

Our anything is nothing without God (Mark 10:27)

“Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

God asked this question in Genesis and we get the answer in the birth of Jesus(Luke 1:37)

With God NOTHING is impossible!!!!!!!

Genesis 4:9

Where is your brother?

 

Of course we all know what happened here. Cain and Abel came to worship and give the fruits of their labor to God. We obviously know that they had been given some sort of place and possible time for this worship, either by Adam or directly from God. Well the time came and they brought their offerings, Cain’s offering was some of his produce and Abel’s was the firstborn of his flock. God respected Abel’s offering but He did not respect Cain’s and this made Cain angry.

Here are some reasons why God may not  have respected Cain’s offering

1) It was fruit from the ground which had already been cursed.

2) Abel came with the first fruit of his offering and it does not say that Cain did the same.

3) It was a bloodless sacrifice.

4) Was it that his attitude was wrong?

Did he come to God for the wrong reasons?

Did Cain come to God with what he wanted or he thought God should have?

He obviously felt that it was what God deserved from him?

Have you done that at church or in your life?

Recently I have tried to come to terms with my attitude with the Lord.

My wife and I also had a lengthy discussion about church that really opened my eyes toward the whole thing.

Why am I going to the church that I attend?

What reasons am I going?

What are my motives?

I am called to teach in a Bible study setting or possibly preaching/teaching in some way. The only problem I am having is that sometimes I am not at all sure that I am attending the right church. I attend a church that is much like the former denomination I found myself in even though I don’t agree with that certain denomination. I wonder sometimes if I didn’t start going there because I felt safe because it was all the things that I remember about church but not the legalistic stuff. The traditional taught stuff that man screwed up.

Did I start going there just because I wouldn’t get any hassle from my grandmother?

I am almost ashamed to think that I might be going there just because she might be ok with it.

Am I going there just because I want to teach and they will let me every once in a while?

Is that the only reason I am going?

If you will notice, like I just have, God is not mentioned in any of these questions.

Praise and worship to God is the beginning of the whole reason for church.

We go to worship and praise God in a community fashion as well as uplift and serve our brothers and sisters in Jesus, those folks who are in the same boat.

If I go just because I want to do something, even if it is what I am called to do then I do a disservice to God, myself, and everyone around me.

If I come to God with any motive other than straight out love than I might as well as not come at all.

When I come to church with myself in mind, when I come expecting a blessing. When I come with my own needs and wants in mind, I have come for the wrong reasons and it will show itself in my interactions with others. My relationship with my fellow brethren will not be right and there will be something missing.

I should come out of pure love. Love for Jesus and a love for others.

Do I love others like I am supposed to?

Do I love others like I say I do?

Do I love Jesus like I say that I do?

God tried to warn Cain that he had the wrong motives, the wrong mindset and it was going to lead to something worse. He was trying to warn Cain.

In Matthew 5:21-26 Jesus gives us almost the exact same scenario.

He tells us that if we are at the altar, bringing our gift and the Spirit brings to mind the fact that someone has something against us then we need to stop what we are doing and go make it right before we finish giving our gift to God.

It is a heart thing. Anger leads to murder, not just physically but also spiritually in separation, either in our relationships or with God. If we don’t take care of the problem, no matter how small, when God brings it to us, then it will grow into something more and it will be a bigger problem that might handle us in the end.

God wants obedience and not showy ritual(Hosea 6:6).

God wants our heart and when He says “stop what you are doing and make it right”, He not only means with others, but also with Himself. All we need to do is listen and keep our mouths shut.

Jesus said that others will know that I am His, not by how theologically sound I am, not by how good I am, but by how much I love (John 13:34-35)

And my question to you as well as myself is: “Am I showing that kind of love?”

 

Genesis 3:11

“Who told you that you were naked?“

 

Adam and Eve had taken the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They had given in to the temptation from the serpent and now their eyes were opened. Now they knew what sin was. They knew what it meant to be against God, to be out of fellowship with Him.

They now had knowledge but it was not the kind of knowledge that God wanted them to know. This was not the knowledge that they would have gained by just being with God, having the right fellowship with Him. They wanted what they didn’t need. They wanted to be like God. They felt that He was holding something back from them, and actually He was, and they wanted it no matter the cost.

So they took the easy way. They took what seemed to be a short cut, if you will and now they were completely in sin, but we can’t beat them up.

When God placed Adam in the garden, He supplied everything for him. Adam lived in complete existence with God. He didn’t need anything, but something had to happen. God placed man in the garden, He supplied for his every need, yet something was missing, and the tree was a symbol for it. Man needed to make a choice otherwise how could man have free will. God placed the tree in the garden and told Adam not to eat the fruit from it. Now there is no way to guess just how many probable different trees that were in the garden or the probable endless variety of fruit for Adam and his wife. Man now had to make a choice. Either it was for God or for his own needs, his own wants and man made that choice.

The serpent told them “You will be like God! You will know what God knows!”

“You will know what He is hiding from you!”

So they took the fruit and they ate it and now their eyes were wide open yet now they were blinded by sin and now they were dying and headed for eternal seperation from God.

 

How do we know sin?

 

Through the Law.

The Law is the knowledge of sin.

Romans 3:20

We know sin through the Law.

 

The Law revives sin

Romans 7:5

 

The Law strengthens sin

1 Corinthians 15:56

 

and now every man and woman born from Adam and Eve on is born under sin and marked for death.

 

 We can’t get mad at Adam or blame them because we would have done the same thing or maybe even worse for that matter, the point is that God knew what choice man would make even though man has free will. He knows the end from the beginning and He supplied a Lamb for us. Jesus Christ is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

 

The curse of the tree; the curse on the tree

Now we are in sin, we are not only like the serpent in that we are against God because of sin. We are snakes of sin and we have not only been infected by the venom of transgression we are the snakes because we are sin and we have no way of saving ourselves because we don’t have the antidote.

We are made free from the Law through Jesus Christ(Romans 8:2-4)

1 Peter 2:24

Notice that in Scripture that the cross is called a tree (Galatians 3:10-13)

Jesus came to this earth to die for us. He came to redeem us from the curse of the Law. He became sin, He became a curse for us.

Read John 3:14-18

and Numbers 21:4-9

The children of Israel had been saved by God. He had taken them out of Egypt. He had supplied their way and their provisions, but they continued to complain and whine. So God gives them something to complain about. He sends snakes among them. Fiery snakes (this either refers to their color or the burning of their venom) Many people were bit and many died. They came to Moses and exclaimed “We have sinned against God! Please pray for us and ask God to take these snakes away!” So Moses prayed and God told him to make a serpent and set it upon a pole and anyone who looked at the serpent on the pole would be saved from death.

 

The Law is like the snakes venom. It teaches us a lesson. Paul calls the Law our schoolmaster (Galatians 3:24-25) The Law is there to make us realize that we are sinners and that we are in need of a Savior because we can’t save ourselves.

And like the children of Israel looked to the serpent on the pole, the snake of sin, we need to look to Jesus (Who became sin for us) because He is the only way to salvation. Jesus took many things for us on the cross.

He took our sins. He became sin for us.

He took our suffering. The suffering that we deserved.

He took our seperation. The seperation that we were destined for

He took it all for us when He was nailed to the cross.

He heals the death, the sting of sin, but that is just the beginning.

Jesus Christ lives!!! He is not dead. He was raised up from the grave and He lives at the Fathers’ Right Hand. And we live now because He lives. When you accept Jesus as your savior, you are freed from the sting of sin and the hurt of death. He gives us newness of Life. Accept His payment for your sins today and live through Him. Praise the name of Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!