Now here we are then at the great moment in the story where you expect there’s going to be more joy and triumph than ever before and what you find is that this extraordinary darkness comes over Elijah’s soul. He felt as the apostle Paul once put it, utterly unbearably crushed. Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick and Colin, as we look at the life of Elijah, we see highs and lows. We see Carmel and Chereth and I think all of us have probably experienced that spiritual high and then there’s the other side of that. Yeah, that’s right, but sometimes it’s a surprise. You know, you’ve got this moment at Mount Carmel where Elijah’s calling people to repentance and the extraordinary event of God’s power being revealed and you think, well, this is absolutely marvellous. Where do we go from here? And the answer is that he goes into this experience of great darkness and you may have gone through an experience in your life. You may be right there now where the question is, where did this come from? This strange discouragement, this darkness that has come. You’ve been extending yourself in working for the Lord. You’ve been pushing yourself as a servant for Christ and now you’re finding this strange experience. Well, the great encouragement and help is to know that other believers, wonderful believers have been there before you. Elijah’s an example and this really helps me. Sometimes the days of darkness catch me by surprise and we’re going to look at what that was like for Elijah. He was an honourably wounded believer and God never leaves his honourably wounded on the field of battle. He ministers to them and he raises them up again. That is an important word of encouragement for today and if you can, join us in the first book of Kings, chapter 19, as we begin the message, honourably wounded. Here’s Colin. Today we come to an experience that will be familiar, I think, to many of you. Elijah has been on an extraordinary journey for three and a half years as we’ve followed the story. It has led him to confront a king in the palace. It has led him to leave his homeland and to live in another culture. He has seen God at work in remarkable ways. Fire fell from heaven. Prayers have been answered for a widow’s son, for the provision of daily needs. Now, as we saw last time, the blessing of God has returned in a new way in the wonderful gift of rain that had not fallen for over three years. And at the end of chapter 18, where we got to last week, we have this marvellous picture, if you can compose it in your mind, of Elijah the prophet sort of hitching up his long gown and he’s running. And he’s running to this town of Jezreel and it’s absolutely pouring rain across a land that has not seen a drop of water for three and a half years. And he’s going to this place, Jezreel, in order to catch up with Ahab, who has the advantage of going there in a chariot. Elijah has to run, except that going in a chariot when it’s pouring rain on really dry ground is more difficult and Elijah arrives there first and then Ahab arrives after him. Well, that’s where we got to at the end of last week. And it seems now, then, that this is going to be the moment that Elijah has worked and prayed for all of his life. His whole life has been about this driving vision and purpose for national revival. Here is a man who, as much as anyone ever could, has extended himself to see the nation change, to see God glorified. He’s spent himself for this. And now you think, surely the moment has come. The people, chapter 18 and verse 39, have confessed when they saw the fire fall from heaven that the Lord is God. The prophets of Baal are dead now on the Kishon Valley. The long, dry years of God’s judgment are over. Showers of blessing are falling on Elijah even as he runs. Surely now, chapter 19, is going to be the story of a new day, a new beginning, the fruition of a whole life of sacrifice and service from the man of God. Then we come to chapter 19 and this is what we read. Verse 1, Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword and Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods do to me and more also if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow. And we read verse 3 that Elijah was afraid. Some writers make a huge deal about how, quote, surprising this is. And they say, and you may have heard this, you know, here’s Elijah, this great man of faith and he’s been calling down fire on Mount Carmel and now he’s running in fear from one woman and so forth and so on. Well, some woman, I’ll tell you. I don’t find it surprising that he ran at all. Jezebel is a powerful and a vicious enemy. She has made a credible threat. That’s what our security forces would call it today, isn’t it? A credible threat, timed. Your life will be gone within the next 24 hours if I have anything to do with it, she says, and it is not surprising to me at all that Elijah, the great man of God, ran. What happens next in verse 4 is not in the least surprising to me either and I don’t think it will be surprising to you if you have extended yourself in the work of God. He went today’s journey, verse 4, into the wilderness and he came and he sat down under a broom tree and he asked that he might die, saying, it is enough. Now, O Lord, take away my life for I am no better than my father’s. Now, here we are then at the great moment in the story where you expect there’s going to be more joy and triumph than ever before and what you find is that this extraordinary darkness comes over Elijah’s soul. He felt, as the apostle Paul once put it, utterly, unbearably crushed. Now, the Bible is a wonderful book, my friends. It speaks to every circumstance of life. Whatever you face, whatever you go through in your life, you will find at least one character in the Bible who has been someplace similar through whom God is able to speak to you. And when you find yourself in a great darkness of soul, you will find that this very passage of Scripture may be one of the most helpful in all of the Bible to you and therefore I have looked forward to the great privilege of this time that we share in it together today. I want you to realize that Elijah’s sense of failure, which is very, very strong here and not uncommon amongst those who extend themselves in the service of God, his sense of failure reflects the size of his vision and it reflects the heart and the strength of his passion. Twice he says it in this chapter, verse 10 and then verse 14. He says, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. This is what my life has been about. I have wanted the honor of God’s name. It has been a beating passion that has run right through my life. Elijah has poured his whole life into this. He has given himself in sacrifice, in faith and in obedience. He has looked at the nation. He has seen the idolatry. He has longed to see a turning of the tide. He wants to see people come in faith and in repentance to God in their thousands. He longs that God’s name would be honored in a way that is different from what he has seen in his lifetime. And when it doesn’t happen, he falls apart and he finds himself in this extraordinary darkness, a place you may have been, where you say, well, what then was my life all about? Elijah was broken, friends, because he cared. Casual Christians will never know what Elijah is going through here, but those who extend themselves in the service of Jesus Christ recognize the experience. I’m going to describe it this way. Elijah was honorably wounded, honorably wounded. But the wounds are real, even when they are honorable. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called Honorably Wounded, and it’s part of our series, The Surprising Influence of a Godly Life. And if you tuned in late or you have to leave early and you want to hear the rest of the message, you can always go to our website, that’s openthebible.org.uk, and there you can also find all our previous messages, which you’re free to download and listen to from the website. You can also find Pastor Colin Smith’s messages as podcasts, and these are available on all the usual podcasting sites. Just search for Open the Bible UK. Open the Bible is available to be listened to on the radio, on the internet, as podcasts, all kinds of different ways. And it’s entirely due to the generosity of listeners like you. And this month, if you feel you’d like to donate to the work of Open the Bible, we’d like to thank you by sending you a book. It’s called The Fight, and it’s by John White. It’s one of Colin’s favorite books, and he’ll be talking a little bit about it after this message. So I hope you’ll be able to stay tuned. Back to the message now. Here’s Colin. I want to do two things today. The first is just to give you a very simple profile of an honorably wounded believer, right out of this passage, and then for us to see together how Christ deals with honorably wounded servants, because he cares for his wounded. Let’s begin here then, a profile of the honorably wounded believer. Verses three and four, I’m drawing this from, five distinct marks. They’re fairly obvious. The first, of course, is that the man is exhausted. He says to God, it is enough. I’ve had all I can take of this. You have given me this work. I have extended myself in what you gave me to do. I’ve given it my best shot, but I’ve had it. I can’t do any more. And you may have come to a place also where something that God has distinctly called you to do, you have come to the place of saying, I feel like I’m done. I don’t have it in me anymore. Second, in his depleted state, he withdraws, and you will recognize this experience also. Verse three, he goes to Bathsheba, and of course his servant has been with him, but very significant, he leaves the servant there. And when this kind of darkness comes upon you, everyone who has experienced darkness of soul knows what this is about. You feel low. You don’t want people around. You get an invitation to go to some party with some group of people. You don’t want to be there. You’re not in the mood for conversation. He withdraws. He just wants to be on his own. Leave me alone. And as he withdraws, he finds that he can’t settle. There’s a restlessness that now begins to come into his heart. He’s going, verse four, into the wilderness now, and he wanders until eventually he falls down exhausted. He’s just moving. He can’t settle. And you may recognize this. It may be going on in your heart right now. You had a certain peace, but now there’s an unsettlement that has come, and it’s part of a great darkness that has clouded over your soul. Fourthly, he feels defeated. Verse four, take away my life. I am no better than my father’s. Elijah is not trying to take his own life here. He would just be very happy if God did that for him. Just take me home, please. I’ve given everything to this task. What has come of this effort? What have I accomplished? I set out, Lord, to do something great for you. It hasn’t happened. So what is the use? What is the point of me continuing? It’s quite clear I’m not getting anywhere. You feel the darkness. You know what this is like. Most of all, number five, he is disappointed. Deep, deep disappointment runs right throughout this very important chapter. And I want to point this out to you, that Satan has some special snares that are uniquely designed for the most committed believers. The casual Christian doesn’t get trapped in these snares, but he does have a snare for the most committed believers, for the mother who really prays and teaches her children and seeks to guard them, for the father who serves, the leader who makes deep sacrifices and goes on doing that for years, for the student who takes a stand when it was very unpopular, for the person in business who took a stand in ethics and in morality and it proved to be very costly, for the person who has extended themselves. If you love Jesus Christ, if you are passionate about the gospel, if you are seeking to live in obedience and in integrity, Satan has a snare specially designed for you, and this is it. It is deep disappointment that God didn’t do more through your ministry. That’s what it is. And that’s where Elijah is here. Nobody could have given more to the service of God than Elijah did, but as he’s moving into his later years, we do not find this man giving thanks for the faithfulness of God. We do not find this man filled with joy at the blessing of God. We find Elijah disappointed that God had not done more. And twice he says then, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, verse 10 and verse 14. Oh God, I wanted to see thousands turning in repentance and faith, he’s saying. I wanted to see homes and families transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. I wanted to see your name honored, glorified across the nation. And he has called the nation to repentance. And God has sent the fire. And when the people saw it, they did say, the Lord, he is God, but when they went home after the spectacular event, as we saw in chapter 18, little changed. They were, in Matthew Henry’s words, convinced but not converted. Converted. And so are you really surprised that Elijah then finds himself saying, what is all this about? It was the same at the palace. Remember Ahab, the king, had been at Mount Carmel. Ahab saw the Lord’s fire. Ahab was driving home as Elijah was praying for rain to return, and there had not been a drop on the ground for three and a half years, and then the rain came. And it seems simply from Ahab’s acceptance of what goes on at Mount Carmel, I mean, he was there, and he was the powerful king, and he evidently witnessed this, and he took no action against it. There seems some evidence at least of at least some temporary softening of Ahab’s heart. Elijah as a prophet would have prayed for the salvation of the king. And perhaps it even crossed his mind too that there would be that ultimate miracle of Jezebel herself being gloriously transformed. Well, that would get everybody’s attention, wouldn’t it? And what happens as Ahab arrives home with the blessing of God’s rain restored? He tells Jezebel what has happened, and absolutely nothing has changed. This kind of darkness, this kind of disappointment can come very, very close to our lives. It can happen like this. You pour yourself into raising a family. You’ve seen that people have tried to do this in different ways, and you have said, oh God, with everything in me, I am going to seek to do this to the best of my ability. And as time goes on and you extend yourself in this, you find to your surprise that one or more of your children are unresponsive to your efforts. And then you find to your astonishment and to your alarm that a son or a daughter chooses a path that you would never have imagined in your wildest nightmares. It can happen like this. You make a choice of a career, and then you find yourself in middle life stuck. And you’re in a position where what you are doing is no longer fulfilling to you. And it seems no longer to be appreciated. The more you look at it, the more you feel it is not even significant. And yet God has given you responsibilities. Here you are, you have a family, you have other commitments, you are locked into that, and you find yourself saying it is enough. And you say sometimes in the back of your mind, though you may not say it out loud, Lord, why don’t you just take me home and at least the family would have the insurance money? You’d be surprised if there are not a good number of us who’ve said that at one point or another. It’s enough. And when the darkness descends, the finger of blame begins to move and points sometimes towards God. It is enough. Why have you loaded me with all this? And then sometimes it points back at the self. What a miserable failure I am. And you say, Elijah does both. Neither are helpful. It’s enough. He’s blaming God. And why have you put all this on me? Then he says, I am no better than my fathers. It is my fault. I didn’t achieve. Of course, the problem that’s going on here is there never was a deal. There never was a quid pro quo that if you get it right, if you extend yourself, God will give you the dream for your life or for your family or for your ministry. God has not tied himself to a mechanical system of cause and effect. What he has done is he has called you, as he calls me, to a life of discipleship. And in his providence, he has made life unpredictable. Surprising effects come from initial causes that you say, I just don’t see the connection. It makes sense. And so we find ourselves in this position that we have to walk by faith and not by sight because it’s not making sense to us. We experience disappointment, hopes and dreams and expectations that are simply not realized in this life. And everyone tastes that somewhere. And we join, as it were, Elijah in his cave, and we say, I didn’t think it was going to be like this. Well, I wonder how many times that phrase or something similar has crossed our mind. I didn’t think it was going to be like this. You’ve been listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called Honorably Wounded. It’s part of our series, The Surprising Influence of a Godly Life. It’s about the story of Elijah. And Elijah lived at a time when God sent him to the nation of Israel, calling them to repent and to turn from their idols. Of course, they didn’t do that. They continued to follow the idols. And we’ve been looking at how God and Elijah responded to that, seeking lessons that we can learn from Elijah’s story and applying it to our lives today. If you ever miss one of our messages, remember you can always go online, go to our website, openthebible.org.uk. You can go back, listen to any of the previous messages or listen to this message again. You can also hear Open the Bible messages as podcasts. Go to your usual podcast site, search for Open the Bible UK. And if you subscribe, you’ll receive regular updates. Open the Bible relies on its listeners to keep this program on the radio and on the internet. People like you. This month, if you’re able to commit to a new regular monthly donation of five pounds or more, we would like to thank you by sending a copy of John White’s book, The Fight. Colin, who is this book written for? Well, it’s for every Christian who wants to grow and that has to be every Christian. I mean, it’s every one of us. This is just a practical handbook on how to grow in the Christian life. It has been helpful to me over many years. I first read it as a young Christian when I was a student in college. It’s still valuable for me today. John White just goes through some of the basics of the Christian life, how to pray, how to live a life of faith, how to pray, how to grow in holiness, how to seek the guidance and the will of God. Very practical, laid out very clearly and drawn wonderfully from his deep understanding of Scripture. It’s written in a compelling manner. And so if you’re looking for something that will help you grow in the Christian life or something that you could give to someone who needs to grow in the Christian life, this is a really helpful, practical, accessible and biblical handbook. And The Fight has stood the years of time and I’m just delighted that there is a new edition available now that we’re able to make available to all of our listeners. So this book, The Fight, is our gift to you this month if you’re able to start a new monthly donation to open the Bible of five pounds per month or more. You can find details on our website openthebible.org.uk. For Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick. Thanks for listening and I hope you’ll join us again soon. Elijah was exhausted, withdrawn, restless, defeated and disappointed. Find out how God draws near to his servant in this condition, next time on Open the Bible.