Bad news can make things seem so urgent. Some news can be so bad it just makes us want to run and hide. And in some cases, the news is so terrible it gives us a feeling of urgency such that we feel we must react immediately or something bad will happen. But what happens when we rush or move in a hurry?
We are continuing our examination of the Life of Christ and others from the perspective of Living in a Crucible.
Symbolically, a crucible is the fiery trials we experience as we grow and develop.
Crucibles are painful, they are uncomfortable, and they hurt, but they are beneficial in developing our character.
From the Sabbath School Adult Bible Study Guide 2022 Quarter 3: Sabbath.School
See also Hope Sabbath School and 3ABN Sabbath School
Inviting the Holy Spirit’s Presence
Heavenly Father, bad things do happen. In those times we are helpless without you. Teach us how to wait on you regardless of how bad it gets. In Jesus Name Amen.
Have you ever been there? You were so elated. Your heart was filled with excitement and joy. You thought nothing could pierce that moment. Then you get news that is so terrible that everything inside you start to tremble. What did you do? Well, let me tell you what Elijah did.
There was this big showdown between God and Baal. It happened on top of a high mountain called Mount Carmel. 1 Kings 18 tells us that Fire came down from heaven. All the people at this showdown were so amazed about what happened, they acknowledged God of heaven and earth as the true God. And the one performing in the showdown, Elijah, the true prophet of God commanded the people to kill all the false prophet. The false prophets were worshippers of Baal. These were false teachers, priests, or spiritual leaders. In this showdown, Elijah demonstrated to the people that God was supreme and the only One they should worship. Now after all of that you would think that nothing could take Elijah down.
But suddenly, Elijah hears something that scares him nearly to death. The information was so terrible he wanted to die right there! Here is what 1 Kings 19:1–9 says about the incident.
1 Kings 19:1-9
1 Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.”
3 And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.”
5 He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, “Arise, eat.”
6 Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.
7 The angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you.”
8 So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.
9 Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:1-9).
How quickly we forget. This man had just seen fire come down from heaven. He had all the false prophets killed, now he is afraid and on the run?
So, Elijah runs and according to 1 Kings 19:9 runs and hides in a cave. “Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?’ ” (1 Kings 19:9, NKJV). God’s question shows us that Elijah is in the wrong place. Fear has led him to run to the wrong place.
You know fear will do that to us.
You would think that after such a powerful intervention by God on Mount Carmel, Elijah would have been full of faith and trust; but no! Instead, he ran in fear for his life.
What does the incident with Elijah tell us?
It tells us that when we rush, we can very easily find ourselves in the wrong place. We can find ourselves in a place God did not intend for us. In the case of Elijah’s fear caused him to get so upset that he ran right into the desert. He became so depressed he wished he never was born. But, fear is not the only thing that can cause us to run away from what God has plan for us. Below are some other who rushed outside of what God had for their lives.
Genesis 16:1-3
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.
2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
3 After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. (Genesis 16:1-3)
Numbers 20:10-12
10 and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?”
11 Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” (Numbers 20:10-12)
Judges 14:1-3
1 Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.
2 So he came back and told his father and mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.”
3 Then his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she looks good to me.” (Judges 14:1-3)
Matthew 20:20-21
20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him.
21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.” (Matthew 20:20-21)
Luke 9:52-56
52 and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him.
53 But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem.
54 When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”
55 But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of;
56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] And they went on to another village. (Luke 9:52-56)
And, finally Acts 9:1
1 Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, (Acts 9:1)
We can see from these incidents that there are many reason we may find ourselves in a place that God has not intend us to be.
Some other things that can cause us to rush ahead of God and end up in the wrong place include selfish ambition, anger, sensual passion. No one is immune to this danger.
So, to avoid running in to the wrong place or find ourselves in the wrong arms, we must develop trust in God and learn to have faith in His grace and mercy. Our God is good. He loves us and wants what’s best for us.
Remember that prayer is the source of your strength. A worker cannot gain success while he hurries through his prayers and rushes away to look after something that he fears may be neglected or forgotten.
He gives only a few hurried thoughts to God; he does not take time to think, to pray, to wait upon the Lord for a renewal of physical and spiritual strength. He soon becomes weary. He does not feel the uplifting, inspiring influence of God’s Spirit. He is not quickened by fresh life. His jaded frame and tired brain are not soothed by personal contact with Christ.
. . . There are those who work all day and far into the night to do what seems to them must be done. The Lord looks pityingly upon these weary, heavy-laden burden bearers and says to them: “Come unto Me, . . . and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28.—Testimonies for the Church, vol. 7, pp. 243, 244.
It is true, his plan for our lives doesn’t happen overnight, it is not automatic. Faith is a gift that God gives us, but for it to be effective it must be developed, must be cultivated, and jealously guarded by getting to know him through prayer and studying his word the Bible. It is our duty to take care of this precious gift that God offers us.
When circumstances get really bad as in the case of Elijah, we are tempted to run away. But God wants us to do something different. What is that?
Find out in Day 6: Learning to Take Delight in the Lord
