What Are You Doing Here?
Have you ever felt so discouraged that you just couldn’t continue on? You get lethargic and depressed and you feel as if the whole world is against you and there is nothing more for you on this earth. Elijah, one of God’s great prophets, felt this way, too. The word discouragement comes from the root word courage. The prefix dis- means “the opposite of.” So discouragement is the opposite of courage. When we are discouraged, we feel hopeless and lose our motivation to continue forward. We lose “courage” to continue. Elijah, in 1 Kings chapter 18, had just experienced a great triumph for God. He “won” the contest with the prophets of Baal and proved to the people that there is only ONE TRUE GOD. He prayed for rain to return to the parched land of Israel, and it did. He outran Ahab back to the city of Jezreel.
What a picture of triumph. What a glorious victory for the Lord. Perhaps Elijah thought that this one victory would greatly affect the leadership and the whole country to return to the worship of the one true God. But, instead of respect and a regeneration of the people’s religious fervor for the Lord, Elijah met anger and a threat to take his very life. In 1 Kings 19: 2, we read, “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.’"
How overwhelmed Elijah must have been because he “was afraid and arose and ran for his life” (1 Kings 19:3). This begins probably the lowest point in Elijah’s career. He is so discouraged that he travels alone into the wilderness and sits under a juniper tree and says, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers." But God sends His angel to provide Elijah with sustenance, and then, he travels on for forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb. God is quiet, silently letting Elijah rest and eat and drink. But in 1 Kings 19: 9, God asks Elijah, “What are you doing here?” God is not accusing Elijah, rather the Lord wants Elijah to think and to answer honestly with his thoughts and feelings.
1 Kings 19:9-13: 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?” He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” So He said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Twice God has asked Elijah this question. The question was for Elijah’s benefit, not God’s.
Seriously! God is sovereign! Elijah’s circumstances are no surprise to Him. And twice Elijah responds with the same answer. Elijah complained of his discouragement. He had done everything he could for the Lord, and look what it had done for him. He’s a hunted man, discouraged and depressed over the reception of God’s people to the great demonstration of God’s power shown to them on Mount Carmel. The Lord gave him the answers. He declares that the wicked house of Ahab shall be rooted out, that the people of Israel shall be punished for their sins. He let Elijah know that he was not alone as he had supposed. God was also going to provide a helper for Elijah. Thus, all his complaints are answered and provided for. God answered him not according to his folly. God was so far from letting him die that He not only kept him alive, He provided that he should never die, but be translated. In essence He says, “You’re not done with your work, Elijah. Get up and get busy!”
How many times do we become discouraged in doing the Lord’s work so that we sit down and don’t do anything else. Discouragement can lead us into apathy and apathy into sin. James 4:17 says, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” Perhaps this is the point of Elijah’s situation. Perhaps the quiet comes so that we can remember we are on a team. Maybe the important thing is, after we've rested and been reminded of who God is, to remember that He has a plan and that it is far bigger than ourselves alone.
My husband and I are part of a very, very small congregation in a state that has very few congregations. It would be very easy to be discouraged and throw up our hands, sit under a tree, and do nothing. But there is patience needed in the evil day. Elijah had worked hard but had not seen the results he had desired from his good work. We need to persevere in doing good during such times: “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (Galatians 6:9-10).
As long as we live in this world, there are going to be some dark days for us. Satan will see to that. Being a Christian does not insulate us from hardship and heartache; only a robot could experience the sadness of this world without emotional distress. In the Scriptures, what we see is that great opportunity is almost always accompanied by great opposition. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Corinthians 16:8,9). This shouldn’t come as a surprise to us, for Peter said, “Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
When we are trying to grow spiritually and do the Lord’s work, there is only one way to avoid discouragement, and that is to do nothing with any risk attached to it. Unfortunately, that is how many people live their lives. But that is not an option if we are going to choose to be God’s servants. In the end, when the kingdom is delivered up to the Father, that is when our joy will reach new heights far beyond present expectations. We need to be refreshed and up and doing for the Lord. As the hymn says, “Heaven will surely be worth it all.”
Are you up and working for the Lord, or are you discouraged and filled with despair and gloom? Are you sitting idly by, waiting for an easy task that requires little or no effort? Whenever we walk by sight, we forfeit a great deal of God’s blessing and provision. This does not mean He forsakes us. God did not forsake Elijah. Indeed, He sought him out and ministered to him. During our times of unbelief, however, we forfeit God’s best. We cannot lose sight of the fact that God is always at work for His purposes, not ours. Even when we feel like giving up, God doesn’t want us to give up. Should the Lord come today and ask you, “What are you doing here?”, how will you answer?