God's Burn-Out Recipe
a sermon based on 1 Kings 19:1-15a
by Rev. Frank Schaefer 

Today's message is especially for those who may go through a wilderness time in their lives; maybe you are burnt out, maybe you face a confusing situation, a painful situation, or you are frustrated or depressed, or maybe you are re-evaluating your life thinking "what am I doing here anyhow?" What's my life about?" "What's my purpose?" 

In our Scripture reading this morning, we read about Elijah, a prophet of God, reaching that point in his life.  He is burnt out, frustrated, depressed.  In fact, he crawls under a bush and says to God: "Lord, that's it.  I don't want to live any longer.  Take my life from me.  Let me die."  Elijah has a death wish.

How did this happen? How did this man, not any man mind you, but the great, legendary and mighty prophet of God, Elijah get to this low point in his life?  First, isn't it refreshing to see that even the faith heroes are struggling at times?  I certainly gives us hope that with God’s help we can accomplish great things.

We need to back up a little and see what led to Elijah's defeatist attitude. . . .

As the story goes, Elijah was on the run from the wrath of the king and queen.  What did he do to draw their wrath on him?  It was an event which you may remember from Sunday school.  He challenged the priests of the Canaan god Baal to a little competition.  He built an altar complete with fire wood and a sacrificial animal, and said to the priests: “let’s find out which God is true God?  Your god, Baal, or my God, Yahweh. Whoever can get their God to send fire from the sky to consume the sacrifice on the altar is the true God.

So the Baal priests started to pray, dance around the altar to invoke the attention of their god for several hours and…nothing happened.

Then it was Elijah’s turn. To make things even more convincing, he even poured several buckets of water over the whole sacrifice and the wood underneath.  Then he said one little prayer and immediately fire came out of the sky and consumed the sacrifice.

You see, Elijah thought this was a great victory; however, the queen was a believer in the Baal religion and put Elijah on the “most wanted” list. What looked like a big victory one moment turned into a seeming defeat later on.

So here is Elijah under the tree.  Sitting there feeling like his whole life was a waste.  God himself had called him to be the defender of the true religion; he had worked hard to convince the people; he had preached; he had performed miracles, he had even successfully challenged the king and the priests of Baal, and . . . nothing.  No success.  On the contrary: thanks to the queen the cult of Baal was alive and powerful, most of God's prophets were dead; he was on the run, fearing for his life.  Maybe he questioned his calling; maybe he had misunderstood God; maybe he had just failed; maybe he had disappointed God.

Have you ever faced such nagging doubts and questions about your life?  Have you ever wondered whether your life is successful?  Have you ever wondered whether you were really living in the calling of God?  Whether you missed your true calling in life?  Perhaps you look back over your life and say: "I had all these dreams and aspirations, I wanted to accomplish so much, I wanted to make a difference in this place . . . but never had time or opportunity.

Or you may be at the beginning of your life or career and maybe wondering if what you chose as a major is what you are supposed to do in life.

Or perhaps you thought that you were on your way to achieving your purpose in life and now you are facing a set back.  And you feel like Elijah and just want to throw in the towel.  Want to call it quits.

So what happened? Let's look at how God answers Elijah's prayer--the prayer: "take my life Lord!":  First, God says: "what are you doing here, Elijah?"  I know that question: I ask my kids sometimes: what are you doing?  Meaning: you surprise me.  I know you know better.  I know you can do better.  I expect more/better from you. 

And then God sends an angel with an extraordinary meal.  Quite the recipe!! On the strength of that meal Elijah walks 40 days and nights through the desert.

What happens next?  God shows himself to Elijah.  God refreshes him spiritually as well as physically by letting him witness just how powerful God is.  The glimpse of the power and holiness of God would have certainly given him a new perspective.  Sometimes we need to see things from God’s perspective for a while to get our spirits out of the gutter.  

But, if you think about it, there really isn't a happy ending for Elijah.  During his entire life-time Elijah was ministering in a very hostile situation. He never saw the success of his preaching and ministering.  King Ahab and his pagan queen were still on the throne when he departed.  The Baal fertility cult was still striving.  Unlike the Hollywood movies we’re used to there was never a happy ending in Elijah’s story. No satisfaction with a job well done for Elijah.

Of course: it's all a matter of perspective:  from God's perspective, Elijah did just wonderful; he did what he was supposed to do.  Elijah's ministry was vital in the life of Israel so much so that he became a major figure in Jewish history.  He was the prophet who fought and stood up for God when most people were ready to give up on God.  Elijah is important to the Christian church too; he was one of the people that appeared to Peter, James and John on the mountain when Jesus was transfigured.  He has a place in God’s “salvation history.”

So what can we learn from all this?  I think the most prominent message here is that we need to trust God and try to see things from God’s perspective.  Elijah's mistake--if you want to call it that--was that he failed to see the big picture.  He got discouraged because he did not see success.  All the while he was doing the right thing, but he thought he had failed.  He was doing what he was supposed to do. And yet, he got frustrated because he did not see the fruit of his labor.

There are many examples in the bible as well as in culture about people who made great contributions, but never got to see the fruit of their labor:

·  Moses--never saw the people get into the promised land, just went in circles for 40 years in the wilderness.

·  Isaiah (I) --never saw his people return from captivity in Babylon.

· Jeremiah--the weeping prophet, was always persecuted even by his own people.

· Mozart--the most gifted musician and composer died a poor man.

· van Gogh--sold only one of his paintings to a relative for a small sum of money.  His work was completely misunderstood by his contemporaries.  He committed suicide.  Today his paintings go for millions a piece.

  Well, never did God or Jesus say that being a believer is easy.  In fact, it can be hard.  This morning, God wants to encourage us in our situation.  He wants us to know that following his lead is never the wrong thing.  When the going gets rough, God wants us to refrain from making judgments; God does not want us to be hard on ourselves.  He says: let me worry about the outcome.  You just do what you're supposed to do.  And if you're not sure what to do; I will let you know.  I will send you my burn out recipe too.  Amen.