THE JOURNEY IS TOO GREAT FOR YOU!

Elijah had two incredible victories on Mount Carmel. First was the great battle between Elijah, empowered by the Spirit of the Lord, and the prophets of Baal and Asherah. Demonic activity abounded but the fire of God fell and a great victory was won. The second victory followed quickly after the first as Elijah entered into intercessory prayer and the drought of three years was broken.

1 Kings 18:46 says the hand of the Lord (an indirect reference to the Holy Spirit) came upon Elijah and he was so energized that he outran Ahab’s horse-drawn chariot on the way to Jezreel. Elijah was so supernaturally strengthened by “the hand of the Lord” after these great victories that he surpassed Ahab’s horses over a twenty-five-mile distance. The brother was pumped!

At Jezreel, the strangest thing happened. Jezebel, King Ahab’s wife, sent a threatening message to Elijah: “By this time tomorrow, Elijah, I will see to it that you are dead!” (see 1 Kings 19:2). Elijah, who had just seen God bring about two incredible victories, reacted in fear and ran for his life (v. 3). On the other side of a “high moment” there will always be a “low” and Elijah was not prepared for it; the “low” threw him into fear.

I know what it is like in the days following a very powerful and supernatural time of ministry. Sometimes there were thousands of people in attendance and sometimes the crowds were tiny, but the ministry time was marked by the power and presence of God. You spend your days in a whirlwind of ministry and serving and then suddenly it’s all over. You head home for rest and suddenly the high is gone and you are extremely tired, feel wasted, and sometimes even get depressed! I know what that is like.

So Elijah ran! And he pushed away his servant, further revealing that he was in a “low” period. Elijah’s servant was the one person who had walked with him through every circumstance; he was faithful and loyal and he knew how to help him regain his composure. Yet, Elijah left him in a strange city (see 1 Kings 19:3).

Elijah went off alone into the wilderness where he sat down under a tree and began to complain and despair of life. Finally he lay down under the tree and went to sleep. An angel of the Lord awakened him and said, “Arise and eat!” Elijah sat up and saw freshly baked bread and a jar of water beside him so he ate and drank. Then he lay down and went right back to sleep. The angel of the Lord came a second time, awakened Elijah and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you” (1 Kings 19:7).

Commentators often say this statement about the journey is referring to what lay ahead, as Elijah would travel for forty more days before he reached Mount Horeb. This is correct, but I believe it misses a large part of the purpose of the angel’s ministry assignment to Elijah. I think the angel was referring to the “journey” as being the whole pathway of Elijah’s life from start to finish.

I believe the angel was saying to Elijah, “Stop trying to do this alone; you know better than this. You have run in fear as though God was no longer with you. You have complained and despaired as if God has let you down—and you know better than that! So get up off the ground and eat. God has not forgotten you or left you alone! See, He has supernaturally provided nourishment for you.” God not only reassured Elijah of His immediate presence but promised him that He would be there through the whole “journey” because otherwise the journey would be too difficult for him.

The act of eating is symbolic of receiving from the Lord. It is also symbolic of our need for daily communication with the Lord in prayer and in His communication with us through the Word. The apostle Paul used the very same symbolism in Acts 27. On his journey to Rome, the ship he was on encountered a severe storm. Paul said to everyone on the ship, “Today is the fourteenth day you have waited and continued without food, and eaten nothing. Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival” (Acts 27:33-34).

One thing I have found myself doing (or have been tempted to do) when coming down off the high of intense ministry was breaking the rhythm of my personal devotional pattern. Instead of spending time with the Lord daily, I would say to myself, “I’m just too tired for that right now.” Or in my negative frame of mind I would think, “I don’t know why I do that so much, anyhow.”

I wonder how often we have done just the same as Elijah and the people on Paul’s ship did. We try to handle everything on our own and the journey becomes too great for us. The apostle and the angel of the Lord have a message for us: “Arise and eat! This is for your survival.”