Sermon: I Have Had Enough, Lord!
1 Kings 19:1-21
By Pastor Vincent Lui
I believe the past two weeks have been a roller coaster ride for most of us. Some may have struggled with ever-changing airport regulations. Some struggled with travel plans. Some struggled with deciding to stay or to leave. Some struggled with finding a mere face mask. Some struggled with competing with others to find goods in the grocery stores. Some just simply struggled with no idea of what was 1happening!
I know this because I experienced most of the above. We planned a joint church Greece/Turkey tour (we called it “Greecy Turkey trip”) over a year ago, and just before the trip, it was the lock-down of Wuhan. Also, my childhood mentor from my church in Hawaii had passed away and I suddenly needed to book a flight to Hawaii right after the trip to pay my respects to her. During the trip, there were ever-changing updates of the close of ports for flights from/to China, and rumors about the possibility of locking down of Shanghai. So, we had to change our trip to fly directly to Hawaii right after the trip in order make sure we would not miss the funeral of my mentor. And one of the “highlights” during the trip was to shop for facemasks after the day tour was over! (I am going to save our most challenging route to Hawaii for next week!)
Life for the past two weeks were definitely tough for most of us, leading most us of to ask the same question of, “What will the Bible say about this?”. I found that the story of Elijah in 1 Kings, particularly chapter nineteen, gave me a lot of insight on this. Hopefully we can apply these into our current situations and be encouraged by the Word of the LORD.
Sometimes we do get overwhelmed by the situation (19:1-2)
Elijah was doing great works for the LORD and I do mean GREAT works! According to 1 Kings 17-18, he prophesied an exceptional drought; he fed a widowed family with the ever-providing jar of flour and jug of oil during the drought; he resurrected a son of a woman who had just passed away; and he even single handily defeated 250 prophets of Baal!
For a prophet with such strong faith and power, when Queen Jezebel sent a messenger to tell Elijah that she would kill him, Elijah was still devastated. He was afraid! The words from the queen seemed more powerful than what he had experienced and known to be true of The LORD.
This same thing could happen to us! Regardless of how much we know His Word, how faithful we are as we serve or what we have experienced in Him, we may still get threatened by our situation, especially for the situations that are out of our control or too overwhelming that we cannot see how it will end.
Sometimes we do feel like quitting (19:3)
Because Elijah was afraid, he quit! He ran for his life!
I am not talking about those who are not in Shanghai right now or have left Shanghai recently. There are multiple reasons behind that. And I believe, eventually, all of us will be back in Shanghai and be together again.
What Elijah had done was a complete bailing out from his role, his responsibilities, and his sacred calling from God.
Have you ever committed to something that you wanted to quit? I still remember how much I wanted to leave my job and return to United States during my first summer in Shanghai. It reached over 40 degrees! I always said it should be easy to turn people to Christ during the summer in Shanghai because all we need is to just tell them that hell will be ten thousand times hotter than that!
Sometimes we do complain to the LORD (19:4)
Elijah did not only want to quit, he also complained to God, even asking for his death: “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors” (19:4).
“I have had enough, LORD!” How often have we had similar thoughts? “I have had enough with him/her!”; I have had enough with my job!”; “I have had enough with my parents!”; “I have had enough with my church!” … “I have had enough!!”
Later, Elijah further complained to the LORD, twice, with this: “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” (19:10). Elijah was telling God that His people all betrayed Him and he was the only one left amongst the whole wide world who was still following Him. And it also seemed to Elijah that the LORD did not know about this and let all these unfortunate events happen to him!
The LORD always know, and He knows ahead (19:5-8)
Indeed, the LORD knows, and He always knows. He knew what had happened to Elijah and He even knew what would happen. There is a hymn, written by Ada R. Habershon, “Are You Lonely, Very Lonely”:
Are you lonely, very lonely?
There was One more lonely still,
Jesus Christ the Man of sorrows,
As He did His Father’s will,
He was lonely in the city,
He was lonely in the crowd,
For He found no eye to pity,
And His heart in grief was bowed.
Are you weary, often weary?
There was One more weary still,
As He trod His earthly journey,
On His way to Calv’ry’s hill.
He was weary in the nigh-time,
For He had no place of rest,
As He spent the hours of darkness,
Praying on the mountain crest.
Are you laden, heavy laden?
There was One more laden still
He can bear your sin and sorrow,
And your heart with comfort fill.
For He took the sorest burden,
That has ever yet been borne,
And He died beneath that burden
When He wore the crown of thorn.
Are you eager, very eager?
There is One more eager still,
For the long expected moment,
When His word He will fulfill,
For the heart that loves so truly,
Never can be satisfied,
Till around Himself He gathers,
All the souls for whom He died.
This hymn reminds us that when we are feeling lonely, heavy laden, lacking of strength to go further (“I have had enough!”), and nobody knows, no one understands; actually, Jesus knows and He understands because He has already gone through all these things, just for you and me.
The LORD always finds us, even we tried to hide (19:9)
Elijah had ran as far as he could to get away from Jezebel, but no matter where he went, the LORD was still able to find him. This is how God loves us: He will always find us.
At this very moment, it seems like we’ve been trapped in our homes and nobody can visit us and we cannot visit others. The virus is making us “hide” from each other, but our Christ is way above all these restrictions—He is more than happy to come to meet us.
During those ordinary days before this time, we were busy with business trips, meetings, homework, examinations, shopping, gathering with friends and relatives, traveling during holiday, preparing for Sunday services, serving at church, opening our house for small groups, etc. etc. But, at this very moment, all these are paused. Hence, why don’t we utilize this temporary and unproductive period to produce some spiritual fruits with eternal values? Let Jesus find us!
The LORD always listens, even to our complaints (19:9-10)
God listened to Elijah, even to his complaints. God did not correct Elijah but told him that he was not alone. He had prepared seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed to Baal. Also, God had prepared Elijah’s successor.
The Book of Psalms is a collection of Psalms from different authors with different genres. Amazingly, there is a substantial number of Psalms under the genre of “lament,” which means to mourn, to grieve, or to express sorrow. It also could mean to regret deeply or to feel sincere regret. In those laments, the Psalm writers expressed their deepest pains, their sufferings, even their doubts upon God’s fairness. The main thing is that they were transparent to God; they told the LORD their real thoughts and feelings without hiding or pretending.
Therefore, we can come to the LORD, tell Him all our sorrows, our sufferings, our loneliness, our anxieties and our worries. He will listen and He will answer us.
The LORD is always present, it is just a matter of seeking (19:11-12)
11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (19:11-13)
These verses remind us that many times, it is not that God is not present, but many times, God’s voice is in “whispering mode”. We may not able to hear Him in the most crowded churches, in the most dramatic worships or through the celebrity preachers. The only way is to quiet down our hearts and focus on Him, then we will hear God’s whispering to our ears.
The LORD never gives up on us, even when we are ready to quit (19:13-14)
Although Elijah gave up on himself, thinking that the whole tribe of Israelites had betrayed God, and that God had abandoned him, the LORD had never given up on him.
Maybe there are times we feel the same as Elijah, but indeed, God will never give up on us. He is always giving us the best.
The LORD always delivers, it just may not be the way we think (19:15-21)
This story started with Elijah’s fear of death from Jezebel; in the end, God had delivered Elijah from the persecution of Jezebel. Furthermore, Elijah was one of the two persons recorded in the Bible that never faced death (2 Kings 2:1-18); the other one is Enoch (Jesus is different, He had faced death and He had defeated it).
Our LORD always delivers and His plans are always beyond our imaginations and always the best.
In conclusion, because we are all now in a situation where we may be stuck in our homes, bound by rules and restrictions and out of our normal routines for an indefinite amount of time, this may be the best time ever to seek God’s voice. Let us use this time to reconnect with God and come to Him with our struggles and believe that God will surely bring deliverance in His time.