Stephen
Terry, Director
Free to Rest
Commentary
for the August 21, 2021, Sabbath School Lesson
"Elijah went before
the people and said, 'How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord
is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.' But the people said
nothing." 1 Kings 18:21, NIV
Our
lesson this week focuses on the story of Elijah and Mount Carmel found in 1
Kings, chapter 18. It is a dramatic story. God's people seem to be in decline in
Israel under heavy persecution from the prophets of Baal, backed politically by
King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Likely Jezebel was the greater supporter of this
apostasy for she was not a Jew but a daughter of the King of Tyre, Ithobaal.[i] According to Josephus citing
Menander of Ephesus, Ithobaal was a priest before he became king. This may have
provided the foundation for his daughter's religious zealotry on behalf of Baal
and may have been impetus for Ahab to accept Baal worship to marry her. Even
today we see individuals convert to their fiancé's faith to have a religious
wedding ceremony.
We get the
impression that Elijah is alone in opposition to the spread of Baal worship,
and he even seems to believe that [ii] But in the previous chapter,
we are told that Obadiah reported to Elijah that a hundred other worshippers of
God were being kept safe by him in two caves. And God reveals to Elijah in
response to his lament that seven thousand are still faithful. The fact is that
we are never alone when we are in a relationship with God. Elijah had little
basis for feeling abandoned. He stood on Mount Carmel in opposition to the
hundreds of prophets of Baal. Those who would have looked down on the lonely
prophet as being of little account were proven grossly wrong. The prophets of
Baal were challenged to bring down fire from their god onto their sacrificial altar.
They could not for their religion was one of political expediency to justify
the power of kings and pagan priests. Their god did not exist. We should remember
that whenever anyone tries to use religion to exercise power and control over
another. They are worshipping their own desire for power, to the detriment of
everyone else.
When
those pagan priests exhausted themselves with no result. Elijah built a stone
altar, placed wood upon it and thoroughly soaked the wood with water. Then he
called upon God to ignite the sacrifice. When he did, God not only burned the sacrifice,
but also the altar and the ground around the altar. Seeing the power of God over
Baal affirmed, the people killed the prophets of Baal, inciting the ire of Jezebel
against Elijah. After such a display of God's power over Baal worship, we have a
tough time imagining how Elijah could flee in fear before Jezebel. But are we
any better at placing our trust in God and finding rest in that trust? Do we
not claim to trust God but still find ourselves frustrated and anxious over
dozens of trivial things every day?
When I
was in the Army in Alaska. A lieutenant colonel commanding the infantry battalion
I was in wanted to send me to prison over my faith in Christ. He reduced me in
rank, docked my pay and bluntly told me if I continued to practice my faith, he
would send me to the military prison at Leavenworth, Kansas in chains. Thanks
to the help of my company commander, the Department of the Army intervened. To
forestall that intervention, the battalion commander attempted
to send me out with the artillery battery deep into the tundra where an "accident"
might happen. I was the medic supporting the
paratrooper company, but the lieutenant colonel, demanded me by name to provide
medical support for the artillery battery. This set off all sorts of alarms because
the platoon leader always made medic support assignments, not the battalion
commander. I could not disobey the order because, while inappropriate, it was
not illegal. I packed my gear and medical supplies and went to the airstrip to
go with the artillery battery into the field by Chinook helicopter. The
atmosphere was tense and quiet, showing that something unusual was afoot. When
we were loading the last howitzer onto the helicopter, the medical platoon
leader came running across the tarmac. When he reached us, he threw a satchel of
medical supplies at one of the artillery men and told them they would have to
provide for their own medical needs. Then turning to me, he told me that the Department
of the Army had ordered my immediate honorable discharge in view of the
persecution. Many had been praying on my behalf during
all of this. Not only did this discharge likely save
my life, but it also happened just in time to enroll in the Theology School at
Walla Walla College. But like Elijah, after his Mount Carmel experience, my
faith was immediately challenged.
When I
arrived at the college, I was told there were no openings in married student housing
and the waiting list for an opening was long. I would need to wait another
year. Puzzled that things did not seem to be working out, I moved to the Puget
Sound area and began working as a salesperson. Two weeks later I received a
call late at night telling me that married student housing had an opening, but
there was a catch. To enroll for the current term, I would need to complete an
English class placement exam being given the next morning. I drove most of the
night to arrive in time for the exam, completed it, and enrolled in fall
classes for 1975. While I was tempted to see only barriers, God parted the sea
for me. Despite many challenges since, I have enjoyed
years of growth in faith and development of trust in God through similar
experiences.
However,
I do not want to give the impression that God is like Superman, always arriving
just in time to save the day. My first wife was diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis shortly after I entered the pastoral ministry. While there are
medical interventions for that now, there was little that could be done then.
Despite prayers and anointing, she eventually succumbed to the disease. It was
a tragic time for our family. How does one deal with those times when the
prayers go unanswered, and the heavens seem like brass? For some, they take
this as evidence that there is no God. They claim that putting the concept of
God behind them is a sign of maturity, just like discarding the legitimacy of
tales about Easter Bunnies or Tooth Fairies. But is it maturity to expect God
to come running every time we feel the need to snap our fingers? What a small
God that would be, not even able to free himself from our demands. Even if we
could do that, how long would it be before our demands grew increasingly
trivial? We hear of stories about children praying for bicycles, but would we
pray for God to provide a candy bar or an ice cream cone? If not, why not? The
principle seems the same. Most parents do not give their children candy and ice
cream every day. Even though the children may not understand why they are being
denied, the parents in their wisdom and greater experience know it is better
for the child's health to go easy on the treats, even in the face of a nuclear,
toddler meltdown in the middle of the grocery store aisle. One might consider
this the dramatic version of an adult's rejection of God when prayer goes
unanswered when our heavenly Father acts as a spiritual parent to us instead of
a miracle vending machine.
Still, this
can be a hard concept to find rest in. What if God is not there when I really,
really need him? While we cannot even see what is around the next corner, we
too often obsess about a future we cannot see. Even when we claim to have entrusted
that future to God, our anxieties keep pushing us to take control of the
situation and prepare for things that may never happen. An extreme example of
this would be a Christian who surrounds themselves with weapons and ammo, years
of dehydrated food, and survival gear. But despite this prepping for an
expected apocalypse, they do not feel the rest, the peace that Christ offers. Instead,
they expect society to collapse and that hordes of whatever enemy they have
conjured in their mind will come to do them in. When faced with the temptation
to think like that I remember the story of Daniel's three friends, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego.
Their
story is found in Daniel, chapter three.[iii] Ordered to bow down before
a huge, golden idol by King Nebuchadnezzar, they declined. He told them that if
they would not, he would burn them to cinders in a brick kiln. Their response
showed that they were familiar with unanswered prayers, and that they were
committed to a relationship to God despite that. They told the king, "King
Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If
we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us
from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty's hand. But even if he does
not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or
worship the image of gold you have set up."
When we
are tempted to anxiety instead of rest in God, we can look to how he has cared
for us in the past. This was not the first time God had spared the three young
Hebrews. They were faced with a death decree before over a dream the king had. That
experience may have informed the faith they displayed before the fiery furnace.
But even without those experiences, God offers us rest through relationship
with him. If we come to him in prayer and give our anxieties to him, he will
give us that rest. Prayer is not about format or body position. It is simply
talking to God as to a close friend, sharing your heart with someone you trust.
It can change your life.