Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, November 7, 2021
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: When God calls, sometimes the best way through the fear is to run straight at it with purpose and resolve.
Not to sound too judgmental, but Elijah sounds a little like a whining child. He lopes out to the wilderness to end his own life because Jezebel has threatened to kill him. (Does that even make any sense?) Then he complains to the Lord that, “I alone am left,” even though God promises to save the “seven thousand in Israel” who remain faithful to God. He complains at the mountaintop, and when he doesn’t get the answer he wants, he waits through a strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire. He then complains the same complaint, hoping for someone to indulge his whining and tell him he’s right. Instead, the Lord sends him back out to finish the work God has laid out for him. There will be no coddling for Elijah.
God, on the other hand, is patient and encouraging. God does not come at Elijah like an upset parent, an angry storm of wind, earthquake, or fire. Instead, God comes with a whisper that breaks the sheer silence surrounding a worn out Elijah. Although God knows the answer, God gives Elijah the chance to get it all out, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” God hears him out. God picks him up, brushes him off, looks him square in the face, and gives him a solid direction, one that shakes Elijah out of his self-pity and back to his resolve to do as God asks. Sometimes the best way to redirect a temper tantrum is to give that energy a new purpose.
Years ago, I had a terrible accident with my then 3-year-old baby boy. I accidentally slammed his finger into the hinge of an industrial van’s side door. Due to his screaming and uncontrollable bleeding, we decided to take him to the hospital. As I set him back in the car seat I checked the van door’s hinge to see where I might have caught his finger. I opened the door and my baby’s fingertip fell into my palm. Now I was screaming and crying all the way to the emergency room. In the ER, I continued to scream and cry until a nurse took me by the shoulders, looked straight into my eyes, and said firmly, “You are not helping him. You need to keep calm.” Immediately I felt the panic slip away and I was able to refocus on the task at hand – being a calming presence to a very scared little boy. My boy is 18 now and has all 10 fingers. I will never forget the moment I realized that the best way to alleviate fear is to run straight at it with a purpose. When God calls, there is nearly always fear. But we can run at it with purpose and resolve, running through the fear toward the end goal. God will hold us by the shoulders, look us straight in the eye, and speak with words of comfort and courage.
![1 Kings 17:1-16 [17-24], God’s Care for the Widow](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56b39b61ab48de92d991a40a/bf37035e-33d5-439f-a0d6-a68b02d0f1bc/24-11-03.jpg)
