How God Encourages Us - Part 2. (1 Kings 19: 1-21)

The Bible Project Daily Podcast is a daily, in-depth, encouraging, and uplifting study through the entire Bible,  chapter by chapter, verse by verse. 

Part two of this longer episode.

Transcript

.........................Second half of this episode transcript.

In verse 11, God speaks.

“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.

But Elijah only makes it to the mouth of the cave. He can’t bring himself to step fully out. 

Then God puts on a display.

A wind so strong it shatters rocks, an earthquake, and a fire. But the Lord is not in any of those.

Then—verse 12:

After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

A whisper, gentle stillness, and a quiet presence.

God is saying, “Elijah, I worked dramatically on Mount Carmel but I don’t always work that way. Sometimes I work in the quiet. Sometimes I speak in with a still small voice.”

And that’s important for discouraged people.

Because when you’re discouraged, you don’t necessarily need to see the fireworks.

You don’t need earthquakes.

You don’t need windstorms.

You need a gentle assurance that God is still there.

Elijah then repeats himself.

He hears the whisper, steps to the cave entrance—and repeats the same speech:

 “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.”

He didn’t get it; he’s still stuck in the same emotional loop. But God doesn’t scold him or shame him. God doesn’t say, “Elijah, didn’t you hear Me?”

Instead, God gives him something discouraged people desperately need…. Purpose.

So, God gives Elijah a new assignment. Verse 15:

15 The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, king over Israel, and anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death anyone who escapes the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death anyone who escapes the sword of Jehu.

(1 Kings 19: 15-17)

In other words:

“Elijah, you’re not done, I still have work for you, and by the way—you’re not alone.”

Verse 18:

Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

Seven thousand faithful believers. So, Elijah wasn’t alone after all, he just felt alone, and God gently corrects his perspective:

“You’re not the last one. You’re not the only one, and you’re not carrying this all by yourself.”

Then God says something Elijah didn’t expect:

“I’m going to finish the work you started—but I’m going to do it differently.”

Not through fire on Mount Carmel, not through you alone but through kings and through your successor, Elisha.”

Elisha, by the way, will go on to perform more miracles than anyone in Scripture except Jesus.

God’s plan was bigger than Elijah’s imagination.

So, verse 19 then tells us that Elijah left Horeb and went looking for the man who would take his place, and he finds Elisha out in the field, ploughing with twelve yokes of oxen. 

That little detail matters—twelve yokes of oxen mean this is a man of means. Elisha comes from a wealthy family. He’s not on the bottom rung of society; he’s doing well. And it’s this man God taps on the shoulder.

Verse 20 says Elisha left his oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” Elijah replies, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?”

That last phrase sounds a bit odd to our ears. Elijah isn’t brushing him off. He’s essentially saying, “Go ahead—do what you need to do. I haven’t put you under some kind of spell. This is between you and the Lord. Go settle things at home first if you need to, then come.” 

In other words, “I’m not forcing you. Obey what God is doing in your heart.”

Now, that sounds different from what Jesus said in the Gospels, doesn’t it? Jesus said, “Follow Me,” and when someone wanted to go back and say goodbye to family, Jesus rebuked him. So why is it different here?

The key is in today’s final verse, verse 21.

So, Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the ploughing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.

Elisha goes back, but not to stall, like the guy in the New Testament story wanted to do. Elisha goes back to burn his bridges. He takes his oxen and slaughters them, cooks the meat using the very own ploughing equipment as firewood. Then he feeds his people, and then leaves to follow Elijah and become his servant.

Do you see the difference? The man in the Gospels used “let me go back” as an excuse to delay obedience. Elisha uses “let me go back” as a way to declare his obedience. 

He’s not clinging to his old life; he’s closing the door on it. He literally sacrifices his livelihood. No more oxen. No more ploughing and no backup plan. He is all in.

So, he wasn’t like the fellow in the Gospels at all. Elisha is a picture of wholehearted surrender.

Now, that’s the last verse in this chapter we're looking at today. So let me try to pull the threads together.

Elijah was fearful, exhausted, and deeply discouraged. And how did the Lord encourage him?

He fed him, he let him sleep, and he gave him a new perspective on his situation. “You’re not alone, Elijah. There are 7,000 others.”

He gave him a new perspective on the Lord. God says, “I don’t always work in earthquakes and fire. Sometimes I work in a still small voice.”

And then He gave him something to do—go anoint kings, and go, call Elisha.

So, let me try to distil all that.

First, God cared for him physically. He let him rest. He gave him food. He sent him on a long walk. The first step out of discouragement, very often, is not always a Bible study. Sometimes it might just be a nap, a meal, and a walk.

Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is go to bed on time.

There are times when the best thing you can do for your spiritual life is get a good night’s sleep.” That’s not laziness—that’s wisdom. God designed you to sleep. If you chronically shortchange that, it will show up in your emotions, your reactions, and your resilience.

And it’s not just sleep.

When you’re really discouraged, you can stop eating, or you eat all the wrong things, or you stop moving. Sometimes you just need to eat something healthy and move your body.

So, if you’re discouraged, step one: take care of yourself physically. Sleep. Eat. And keep moving. That’s not the whole answer, but it’s often where the Lord starts.

Second, God gave Elijah a new perspective.

When you’re discouraged, you need to ask: Who am I? Where am I? And what am I doing here? Elijah’s narrative was, “I’m all alone. Everyone else has forsaken me, Lord. I’m the only one left.” And God says, “No, you’re not. There are 7,000 who haven’t bowed the knee to Baal.”

So, let me say this plainly:

Stop looking to others. Elijah was focused on what “they” had done. “They’ve forsaken Your covenant, they’ve torn down Your altars, they’ve killed Your prophets.” When you’re discouraged, it’s easy to fixate on what everyone else did wrong. God gently redirects him: “Elijah, I’m still at work. You’re not the only faithful one.”

Stop seeing yourself as a victim. “I alone am left.” That’s the language of self-pity. 

I don’t say that harshly, but I say it because we can all go there. I’ve talked to many people over the years who genuinely felt, “No one has ever gone through what I’m going through.” But Scripture says otherwise.

1 Corinthians 10:13 says there is no trial that has overtaken you except what is common to man. 

You are not the first person to walk this road. Others have been there. Others have survived. Others have seen God’s faithfulness in the very place you’re standing. It can be incredibly helpful to find one of those people and talk to them.

Don’t jump to conclusions. Elijah concluded, “I’m the only one left.” 

That was simply not true. We do this all the time. The car makes a noise—“The whole engine is shot.” You feel a pain—“I must have cancer.” We catastrophize. Some people get their only exercise from jumping to conclusions.

What you and I need sometimes is a dose of reality—and a dose of biblical thinking.

Who are you? You are a child of God. 

What has He promised? To provide for you. To protect you. To never leave you nor forsake you. 

So why am I living as if I’m abandoned?

Psalm 42 says,

“Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?” 

That’s honest. But the verse doesn’t stop there: “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.” When your soul is cast down, you don’t just listen to yourself—you talk to yourself. You preach truth to your own heart.

That’s what God is doing with Elijah. He’s saying, “Think differently about yourself, and think differently about Me. I’m not only the God of fire and earthquakes. I’m also the God of the quiet whisper. I don’t always move fast. I don’t always move dramatically. But I am moving.”

So, in this little scene with Elisha, God is doing one more thing for a discouraged prophet…. He’s giving him purpose. 

He’s saying, “You’re not done. I still have work for you to do. Now go anoint this young man, Elisha. Invest in him. Pour into him. I’m writing a story that goes beyond you.”

And sometimes, that’s exactly what lifts us: not just rest, not just food, not just a new perspective—but a fresh assignment from the Lord.

Now let me tell you something—and I don’t say this lightly. I think this is one of the most important principles in the entire Bible…. Are you listening?

God loves you.

Not theoretically, not theologically, but personally.

Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father.”   God is a Father who loves His children, and Scripture—from cover to cover—shouts that God wants to supply your needs.

God loves you.

He may allow difficult things into your life, but never to harm you—always to help you.

Always to purify, strengthen, and mature you.

Just read the book of Job. Job begins as a “blameless” man, and yet God allows him to walk through unimaginable suffering.

Why?

To refine him, to deepen him, and to reveal Himself to him.

At the end of it all, Job says:

“I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.”

That’s what God wants for you. He wants you to see Him—really see Him—in the middle of whatever mess you’re in, and one of the things you need to know about the Lord is this….

He has the power to do it.

That’s the point of this passage.

“I can send a wind strong enough to break rocks. I can shake the earth. I can send fire from heaven. Elijah, you’ve seen My power. Now trust Me.”

But God also says, “I don’t always work the way you expect. Sometimes I work through a whisper.” 

So, if you’re discouraged today my friend, here’s the summary:

Firstly. Take care of yourself physically.

·         Sleep.

·         Eat.

·         Rest.

·         Exercise.

You are a whole person—body and soul—and God ministers to both.

Secondly. Think biblically.

You need a new perspective on you, and a new perspective on God.

·         Stop blaming others.

·         Stop seeing yourself as the victim.

·         Stop jumping to conclusions.

·         Face reality.

Remember who you are and who God is.

3. Get focused again on your purpose.

God told Elijah, “Go anoint Elisha.”

In other words:

“Get up. I’m not done with you yet.” If you’re breathing, God still has something for you to do. You may not know what it is yet—Elijah didn’t either until God told him, but God still has a purpose for you.

So, write these three things down if you're struggling at the moment:

      I.        Take care of yourself physically.

     II.        Change your perspective.

    III.        Refocus on your purpose.

We’re all like Elijah sometimes. James, in the New Testament, says Elijah was “a man with a nature like ours.” He prayed—and God answered, and you can too.

And that’s the point; God knows how to bring you out from under the juniper tree…. And he can and will to it for you today….

Outro.

And that’s where we’ll leave Elijah for today — fed, rested, refocused, and back on his feet. A discouraged prophet restored by the patience and kindness of God.

But the story of 1 Kings doesn’t slow down here. In fact, the very next chapter takes us into a completely different kind of lesson — one that every believer needs to hear. Because tomorrow’s episode is titled:

“Don’t Let Blessing Slip Through Your Fingers,” and it is based on 1 Kings 20.

It’s a chapter about opportunity,…

about responsibility…

about how God can place victory right in someone’s hands….

And about how easily it can be wasted, ignored, or lost.

If you’ve ever wondered why some seasons of blessing seem to evaporate or why God sometimes gives us success only to watch us mishandle it, then this next episode will speak directly to that.

So, I hope you’ll join me tomorrow as we step into 1 Kings 20 and watch a king who had every advantage… and still let it slip through his fingers.

Until then, take care of yourself, keep your eyes on the Lord, and remember — He’s not done with you yet.