We see him in his mature years, not filled with thanksgiving, not filled with joy, but marked by disappointment, marked by discouragement, marked by frustration, and marked by exhaustion. And I look at that and I say, that could be me. And that could be you. Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick, and Colin, if we ask a group of Christians to be honest and raise their hands, some of them would raise their hands and agree, yes, that’s me. Yeah. Well, it was Elijah, and we’re in the middle of the story of Elijah, and here’s this person who has served the Lord so faithfully. He’s seen remarkable things happen through his ministry. He’s given himself to be a servant of the Lord. And yet we find that this darkness, this discouragement, has sort of overtaken him. And he finds himself, you know, I, even I only am left, and he’s out of sorts with himself. He’s out of sorts even with Almighty God. And so I look at that and I say, boy, if that can happen to this righteous man, that is an experience that could come to any Christian. And it does. And here’s the good news, that God never leaves one of his servants in that kind of darkness. He draws near and he ministers. And we’re going to see how graciously and kindly God ministered to Elijah. I’ve known that touch of God in my own life. And those who go through darkness may know this, that Christ will never leave you there, but he will graciously come alongside you and he will restore you. And perhaps today will just be the means of his grace to begin doing that in your life. So we’re in the first book of Kings, chapter 19, so I hope you’ll open your Bible if you can and join us as we continue our message, Honorably Wounded. Here’s Colin. Friends, here is wonderfully good news. And this may be the single truth that one person here needs to take home today. God never abandons his wounded. He never leaves his wounded on the field of battle. And we live in a world of business and candidly sometimes of ministry where sometimes it seems that the work matters, but the people who do it don’t. And it is so important for us to hear from the Word that God cares about his servants as much as he cares about his work. He loves you, not just what you do for him. He never leaves his wounded and when Elijah is spent, when Elijah’s best years are behind him, which is the case here, he’s coming towards the end of his life and his career and his ministry, he discovers again in the most wonderful way that he still matters to God. Now notice how God ministers to him in this most wonderful way. God’s wise and tender care for his honorably wounded servant begins with food, rest, and sleep. Food, rest, and sleep. You see through verse five to eight, an angel of the Lord comes and makes him a hot breakfast. Isn’t that wonderful? God sends an angel to cook him a breakfast. Hot cakes baked on a stone and a jar of water and what happens? Elijah eats and he drinks and then he goes back to sleep. He rests some more. The guy is exhausted and God gives him time. God knows our frame, the psalmist says, and he remembers that we are dust. A wise friend said to me years ago, and I found this so helpful, he said, Colin, try never in your life to make a major life decision at a time when you are fatigued, discouraged, and exhausted. That has been marvelous advice because if you do that, you are very likely to make that decision on the basis of a mood rather than on the basis of wisdom. And God has many things to bring to Elijah, but not while he is this exhausted. God is not going to speak until Elijah is in a place where he can hear. This is the tender compassion of God. He knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. And so God gives Elijah no less than 40 days in which the man travels and the man rests and during this time the food that God has given to him sustains him. He is recovering energies physically. God has work for this man to do and soon God will meet with him in a fresh and in a wonderful way, but God does not speak until Elijah is able to hear. And God not only gives him this wonderful gift of strength, but very wonderfully gives to him as his strength recovers a fresh encounter with God himself. Verses 9 through 14, after 40 days Elijah arrives at Horeb. Now Horeb in the Bible is simply another name that is used for Sinai, which of course was the mountain where God met with Moses and gave the Ten Commandments. This is the place where Moses prayed that great prayer, oh God show me your glory. And you remember Moses went up the mountain and God hid Moses in the cleft of a rock and God’s presence passed by the mountain and Moses was able to see, as it were, the afterburn of the glory of the Lord. Now here, centuries later, we have Elijah and he makes this journey through the wilderness to precisely the same place. I wonder if in the back of his mind he’s thinking, I want to go to the place where Moses met with God and maybe God will meet with me afresh also. We’re not told that, but I wonder if that was not in his mind. He came to a cave, verse 9, when he got to this great and this holy mountain and he lodged in it. And the word of the Lord came to him, verse 9, what are you doing here Elijah? By the way, that is a powerful question, isn’t it? Put your name against that question, what are you doing here? Put your name in there. Imagine God asking you that question. The question, of course, has great force. Elijah was a prophet. The work of a prophet is to speak the word of God to people. He’s gone to a place, a cave on a mountain in a desert, where there isn’t a soul to be seen. He cannot fulfill ministry in this place. What are you doing here Elijah? Is this really a time, the Lord would be saying, for you to step back? When there are so many needs and so many opportunities all around and you have withdrawn and you have come to a place where it is more comfortable for you, but where you cannot fulfill the work that I’ve given you to do. What are you doing here? I don’t think Elijah knew how to answer that question. He certainly doesn’t answer the question, he didn’t know how to. So what he does is he says, well here’s the thing, I’ve been jealous for God, and then he complains about what he’s been up against and how difficult it all has been, and people don’t have faith, and they live ungodly lives, and they have no time for God, and they’re unresponsive to the word, so what’s the point in speaking it anyway? And then he says, so I, even I only, am left. You just feel the discouragement is pouring out of him. And I love the fact that God doesn’t argue with him. God simply draws near, this is the grace of God. He says, verse 11, go out and stand on the mount before the Lord. And we’re told that the Lord passed by, just as he had done with Moses. By the way, God knows when you need a fresh touch from him in your life. He knows, and he will draw near to you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. What I want us to notice here, and I think what we’re meant to notice here, is not only the wonderful fact that God drew near to him, but how God drew near to him in this fresh encounter. You know the story well, I’m sure. We’re told that there was, verse 11, a great and a strong wind that tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord. Now imagine Elijah, he’s in this cave, he’s perhaps been there a few days, and he comes out to the edge of the cave, and there’s this wind, and it’s whipping through the valley, but below the mountain. And rocks are beginning to fall, and it’s like a tornado, or hurricane. The wind almost sucks him out of the cave, and then seems to be pushing him back. And then we read this, but God was not in the wind. Now I understand that to mean that the wind did nothing to bring Elijah nearer to God. This is his problem. He’s dejected, he’s despondent, he’s lost hope, he’s hungry and thirsty for God. He’s now got some physical energy, but he feels surrounded by this darkness, and there’s this great wind, but it doesn’t make him feel any nearer to God. Then you know how the story goes on. Elijah hears a rumble, there are tremors, they’re running through the ground. Elijah looks out the edge of his cave again, and he sees that the earth itself is moving. On the floor of the desert below, there’s an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake. Same thing, the earthquake did nothing to bring Elijah nearer to God. Elijah must have wondered what in the world’s going to happen next. And guess what it was? His favorite phenomenon. He looks out of his cave, and there is a ball of fire, a divine fire, a fire sent from heaven, just like he’d seen on Mount Carmel. And this miracle that had been so powerful on the mountain, he sees this fireball that’s moving through the ravine beside the mountain, and Elijah surely must have retreated back into the cave as he feels the heat going past the front piece of the rock. But God was not in the fire. The fire did nothing to bring Elijah nearer to God. Now friends, do you see the significance of this? Elijah had called down fire from heaven. The people had seen this demonstration of the divine power that was absolutely staggering and made them say, well clearly the Lord, he is God, but they were not changed by it. And now Elijah has the same experience with precisely the same result. God was not in the fire. It didn’t change him either. Then verse 12, after the fire, the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak, and he went out and he stood at the entrance to the cave, and Elijah hears the voice of God. Now the point here is very simple. Elijah had counted on God working through the fire, shaking the earth with some headline-grabbing event that would grab the attention of the nation and therefore would change the hearts of the people, and God can do that, but it is not his usual way of working. The normal means of God’s work is that he speaks, and he does it in a low whisper. Not through attention-grabbing headlines, but through the quiet work of the Holy Spirit awakening ordinary people to their need of Jesus Christ and showing the glories of Christ to them. Chances are changed, friends, and people are drawn to God not by extraordinary displays of power, but by the love and mercy of God poured out in Jesus Christ. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and our message, Honorably Wounded, part of our series, The Surprising Influence of a Godly Life, and we’ll get right back to the message shortly. If you have to leave early or you missed the early part of this broadcast, remember you can always catch up online. Go to openthebible.org.uk and you can stream any of our previous messages, including this one, from the website. Now back to the message, here’s Colin. Hearts are changed, friends, and people are drawn to God not by extraordinary displays of power, but by the love and mercy of God poured out in Jesus Christ. One of my preaching heroes from an earlier generation, a Scottish guy by the name of Thomas Boston. Boston was in his early 20s when he became a pastor. And he says in his memoirs, in his early 20s when he began preaching, he said, my preaching was of a strain, he means a type or a style, my preaching was of a strain, he says, in which it was as if I was attempting to set the devil’s nest alight. Now you know what he’s saying by that. I gave it to him, fire and brimstone, my eye attacked every sin in the book and laid it on the line. I really was preaching in a way that was going to set alight the devil’s nest. The week after he was ordained to the pastoral ministry, licensed to preach, an elderly pastor who heard him speak came up to him and said, Thomas, if you were to preach Christ, you would find it very pleasant. And Boston writes this in his memoirs, he’s just 22, 23 years old. He says, it affected me deeply and after that I changed my strain. I love that. I just began to see that what matters, what’s at the center, what’s really life changing is not thundering condemnation from Sinai and from the law, not earthquakes, not fire, not great gust of wind, but the grace and the mercy that are in Jesus Christ poured out through the cross. Friend, here’s the reality. The promises of Jesus in the gospel are much more powerful in your battle against sin than any threats or penalties that ever come from the law. You will find it to be so. That your own heart is drawn and your own heart is changed, not by the fear of some consequences of doing something that is wrong, but by the redeeming blood and love of Jesus Christ reaching out to you. And that’s what Elijah gets right here. And it now has to be shaping for his ministry and for ours. And here’s the very last thing. God gives to him not only the gift of strength, not only does God in his incredible mercy give him a fresh encounter, but now he has a fresh ministry purpose. Let me just touch this very briefly. Elijah’s sense of purpose had been his great motive, I want to do something that’s more than my father’s. By the way, that may be a good motive to say, I want to do something great for God. But to say I want to do something more than my father’s is not actually a very wise goal, don’t you think? If your goal is to do better than your father did, that’s probably going to be crushing, or your mother. But you’ve just chosen the wrong goal. Better to try and be better than someone who came before you, or he wants to do it for the glory of God, it’s a great motive, but it’s not a great goal. Elijah really had been driven in a life in which he felt that his life could only have meaning and a value if he accomplished more than others did. I have to do more. I have to do more. I wonder if you recognize that in your own life. If you do, then grasp this in these last moments. When God gives Elijah a fresh ministry purpose, it goes like this. He says, look, there’s work for you to do, and here’s what it is, verse 16. It’s all about anointing other people for ministry. That’s what it is for you now. Elisha, you shall anoint, verse 16, to be the prophet in your place. Elijah, this is not going to be changing the nation. It never was about that. But you can find one man, and you can equip him, and you can mentor him, and you can encourage him, and God gives his wounded servant fresh work, fresh purpose for this new season of his life. And here’s the great irony of it. Elisha accomplished much more than Elijah ever did. Much more. Much more. And so here’s what God is saying. Elijah, you wanted to accomplish more than your fathers. Now go and appoint someone who will accomplish more than you. It’s beautiful. Elijah, pour your remaining years into calling, and equipping, and encouraging others who will do more for my glory than you ever did. And I think it wasn’t easy for Elijah to hear these words. The best days are now behind him. There is something ahead of him. But it’s about others who are going to do more than he did. And yet there’s more ahead of him. Because this man, who was so disappointed that God had not done more, became the man who was raptured into heaven, and along with Moses, out of all the Old Testament faithful saints, was privileged to stand on the mountain of transfiguration with the Son of God and see his unveiled glory. Elijah wanted to do more for God than others had done. God did more for Elijah than he had done for others. Elisha, for sure, accomplished more than Elijah ever did. But read on into the New Testament, and Elijah is the one who is given the higher honor. So don’t judge the value of your service for God by the visible results. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. And he always cares for his wounded servants. He knows your need, and in his time he will give you that fresh gift of strength. He will give you that fresh encounter with him. And he will give you that fresh ministry purpose. And he will speak to you, not in the thundering rebuke of condemnation, but in the grace and in the truth that streams to you through Jesus Christ. I think many of us need to hear this today. Many of us have been, as Colin says, honorably wounded, and it’s good to be reminded of those truths that God cares for his wounded servants, and he will, in his time, give us a fresh gift of strength, ministry, and purpose. And he speaks to us through Jesus, not in a thundering rebuke, but in a gentle whisper. You’ve been listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and the message Honorably Wounded, part of our series, The Surprising Influence of a Godly Life. And you can hear more of this series in the next program. And of course you can always go back and listen to previous messages on our website, openthebible.org.uk. And now you can also hear the message of Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith as a podcast. Go to your favorite podcast site, search for Open the Bible UK. Open the Bible is able to remain on this station and on the internet because of the generosity of our listeners. This month, if you’re able to begin a new monthly donation to Open the Bible of five pounds or more, we would love to send you the book, The Fight, by John White. Colin, give us a sample of this book. It is warm in the way that it’s expressed, and it’s very practical in taking us through what it means to live the Christian life. So, for example, in his chapter on prayer, which I think is just outstanding, he gives several principles as to how we can grasp God’s will in prayer. For example, he says it’s always God’s will that we praise him. It’s always God’s will that we open up the longings of our hearts and speak to him, tell him how it is. It’s always, he says, God’s will that we pray for our enemies. He applies that scripture really powerfully. He says it’s always God’s will that when we don’t know what his will is, we should ask. Really practical, wisdom given in a warm and a fatherly way. Anyone who reads this book is going to be helped to grow in the Christian life. Again, the book is The Fight, and it’s our gift to you when you set up a new monthly donation to Open the Bible of five pounds or more. You can find details of this offer and lots more information about Open the Bible at openthebible.org.uk. For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick, and I very much hope you’ll join us again soon. In your life and ministry, it’s quite possible you’ll achieve less than you hope to, but at the same time accomplish more than you realize. Find out why next time on Open the Bible.