Feeling like Elijah (after he rested)

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Take care of yourself”

Our Bible verse for today: “I have had enough! Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers. Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree.” 1 Kings 19:4-5 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Feeling like Elijah (after he rested)”

If’ you’re familiar with the story of Elijah in 1 Kings chapters 18 and 19, then you know that in chapter 18 Elijah engaged in a great ministry battle with 450 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Literally, it was 450 against 1, and Elijah won. (Well, it was 450 against 1 + God, so Elijah did have a little help.) But just the same, it was a tremendous spiritual battle and a great victory for Elijah and for God.

But as the story unfolds from there, we find that Elijah was physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually drained and as a result, his follow-on ministry after that great victory was not so good. Read about it in 1 Kings 19. Long story short, Elijah melts down and runs away from everyone and everything and he ends up in a cave in the desert. An angel of the Lord then appeared to him and made him sleep and eat. Then, rested and refreshed, Elijah had a very special encounter with God which fired him up and prepared him to get on with his ministry. The entire episode proves once again that sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is to take a nap!

Fortunately, my story is a little less dramatic than Elijah’s. For one thing, I did not do battle with 450 prophets of Baal, nor did I have a spiritual victory of Biblical proportions – but I also didn’t melt down and run away to a cave in the desert. Instead, I just went away on a two-week family vacation. Now I am back and yes, I do feel a little like Elijah after-the-fact in that I am renewed and refreshed and ready to get back to work.

I hope you have allowed yourself some downtime recently, or you plan to do so soon. We all need to do that periodically. Sometimes we are reluctant to take that time because we have the mistaken belief that we will miss too much, or that the world will stop turning without our active participation. But the fact is (as I discovered), the world will go on just fine without us while we are resting, and we will actually be more effective carrying out our role in it once we are well-rested again.

Thank you for your patience over these last two weeks while there have been no daily devotional messages from me. For the rest of this month, we will continue exploring this subject of taking better care of ourselves.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

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