Reversing Spiritual Drift

Read “Reasons for Spiritual Drift” before reading this.

In light of Elijah’s spiritual drift, let’s look now at how God intervened to turn things around.  

1. Replenishment
As we already saw, in addition to discouragement and distance, physical and emotional depletion seems to have contributed to Elijah’s despondency. In his deep despondency, he asked God to take his life. How did God respond to Elijah’s self-loathing, and self-pity? Elijah, who personally witnessed God do spectacular miracles in answer to prayer, had no reason to doubt God’s faithfulness. How did God respond? Did He rebuke Elijah for his lack of faith and order him to get back to work? He did eventually order Elijah to get back to work, but that was not His first response.

His first response was to provide Elijah with physical replenishment. After retreating into the wilderness alone, we read beginning in verse 5:  “And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God” (1 Kings 19:5-8).
 
It’s a good thing that God doesn’t always give us what we ask for. He gives us what we need. In his depressed state, Elijah asked God to take his life. Instead, God allowed for rest and provided replenishment. Sometimes we expect more of ourselves than God. God from the beginning instituted a Sabbath rest. He said that we are to work 6 days and then we are to rest. Rest is not only designed to replenish us, but also to remind us that He is in charge of the universe and we ought to trust in Him. It we don’t learn to rest well, we will crash and burn.

“We are to work and we are to Sabbath. And if we don’t Sabbath, a Sabbath will be imposed on us. So the question is not will you Sabbath. The question is will it be a happy Sabbath or an unhappy Sabbath? Those are the options. A happy Sabbath is, it’s my day off, ‘I have time to be with God, hang out with the family, maybe read a book.’ An unhappy Sabbath is, ‘I have a heart attack I have a nervous breakdown, and I get my rest laying in bed.’ I had to learn this the hard way on more than one occasion.” John Lindell

Remember fatigue makes cowards of us all. It could be that the loss of courage or a downcast spirit is our body telling us to slow down and that we need some R&R.

2. Relationship
Secondly, to help reverse Elijah’s spiritual drift, God gave him relationship. Elijah’s spiritual drift began by listening and giving attention to the wrong voices, the voice of Jezebel and his own voice. He needed to get Jezebel’s voice and his own voice out of his head.  The voices in our heads are in the form of thoughts. Our emotions are a byproduct of our thoughts. Both our thoughts and emotions dictate our actions and behaviors, which will shape our relationships, all of which will take us back to either healthy of unhealthy thoughts.  

Elijah was stuck in his own head, which kept repeating the same toxic thoughts of self-pity and lies. It’s important to note that before his spiritual drift, Elijah had been accustomed to spectacular displays of God’s power. But, as we are going to see in a moment, to get Elijah out of his own head he needed more than displays of God’s power. He needed to trust in God’s promises. He needed a fresh encounter with God Himself. He needed to be reminded of who God is, which is also our great need.

This, by the way, is why Jesus gave the church the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. The bread and the cup represent the broken body and shed blood of Jesus which He gave because of His great love to save us from our sin. When He partook of the supper with His disciples, He said to them, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). That’s what Elijah needed, to remember who God is and who he was in God’s sight.

I’ve heard it said, to remember, we need to be reminded. That’s why we need close relationships, first with God and with one another. We forget and so we drift, and to remember we need to be reminded.

After an Angel in the wilderness replenished the depleted prophet, Elijah journeyed in the strength of that food for 40 days unto Mt. Horeb. Twice, while lodging in a cave in despondency, God spoke to Elijah and asked him, “What are you doing here Elijah? (1 Kings 19:9, 13) God didn’t come to Elijah and say, “You are a disgrace Elijah. I’m ashamed of you. You have no business feeling the way you do.  Instead, God asked a question—a simple question designed to bring clarity to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Elijah came back with more self-pity: “He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away” (1 Kings 19:10). Elijah was saying in essence, “I’m all alone. I’m the only one speaking up for you and no one is listening. In fact, everyone is against me and are trying to kill me.” He believed a lie. He wasn’t alone. God was with him. There were many others in Israel who also feared God. His labors where not in vain. But even though Elijah believed a lie, God remained patient with His despondent prophet and didn’t give up on him. Instead, God kept working to draw him out of that cave and into His presence. We read in verse 11a: “And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.”

God was drawing Elijah out of the dark cave of his despondency to stand in the light of His presence. God was saying, “before my presence is the place to be encouraged. Forget Jezebel. Get out of your head and get your eyes on Me, Elijah. You are not alone. I’m with you and I always will be.”

After the Lord called him out of the cave to stand before His presence, we read: “And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke 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. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” (1 King 19:11b-14)

We see here that the Lord passed by with spectacular displays of His power in a strong wind, earthquake and fire, but the Lord was not in those phenomenons. In other words, the essence of who God is wasn’t captured therein.  It was a gentle whisper from the Lord that began to draw Elijah out of the cave of his self pity, discouragement and depression. Once out of the cave, God asked him again, “What are you doing here Elijah?

Once more Elijah came back with the same self-pitying explanation. But this time, God gave Elijah some clarification on how matters in the kingdom really stood. In addition to the fact that Elijah still had work to do for the Lord, He clarified that he was not alone in the work, but there were 7000 others who had not bowed their knees to Baal (1 Kings 19:18).  

If you’re saved, what you need most, what’s going to anchor your soul is to grow in intimacy with God. We grow in intimacy with God by hearing His voice through His Word, responding with prayers of worship and surrender, and following Jesus wherever he leads.

3. Recommission
Elijah, who, as we saw earlier, felt like he couldn’t measure up to his forefathers, was recommissioned by God and restored back into service. Notice that God’s plan for Elijah involved calling 3 other men into service that God would use along with Elijah to lead the nation back to himself: “And the Lord said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. 16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.” (1 Kings 19:15-16)

Remember that after Elijah’s victory against the false prophets, he expected everyone to turn to God. Instead, Jezebel turned against him. As a result, he became discouraged. It appears that he was more focused on the results of his ministry than on his calling. Consequently, he lost his sense of purpose and his will to live.  

God saved us in Christ not just to go to heaven, but to serve. If we are not serving Him with the gifts and talents that He gives to every believer, we will not know the fullness of Christ in our lives. There’s a supernatural grace and energy that will fill your life when you begin to use your gifts for His purpose and glory. Furthermore, as we serve the Lord, our focus must be on being faithful to God. We must be careful not to focus on the results or compare ourselves to others. To avoid spiritual drift we must find our identity not in what we do or in what we achieve, but in who we are in Christ. Focus on the depth of your ministry and God will take care of the breadth.

It’s important to note also that Elijah’s recommissioning involved coming out of isolation and reconnecting with others. One of the men that he was called to anoint into service was Elisha, who become his assistant and in time his successor. Remember one of the reasons that contributed to Elijah’s spiritual drift was that he isolated himself. He left his previous assistant behind at a time when he needed him the most. So, as part of reversing his spiritual drift, God brought Elijah back into a close relationship with another servant of God.

Elijah needed a friend. He needed people around him to keep from drifting and so do we. This is why we need the church. We need to be close to one another to grow spiritually and stay healthy. Social distancing made being the church very challenging. To be the church, we must be together. And we are called not only to gathered together to worship for one hour on Sunday, but to be in community throughout the week. We are called to serve one another, care for one another, and encourage one another in the Lord. We need each other.          

Where are you today? Are you growing in the Lord and impacting others for Christ? Or have you drifted? Can I tell you, you’re either drawing close or drifting away.

If you’ve been drifting, I pray that you’ve heard God’s gentle whisper drawing you back to himself, drawing you to find rest in all that God is for you in Christ, drawing you back into a close relationship with Him and His people and recommissioning you back into service in His kingdom. Stay close to stave off spiritual drift.

In your service,
Pastor Marco