Disquieted Souls

 I Kings 19:1-15, Psalm 42

Elijah has had his life threatened, so he runs for his life. He feels like a failure as a prophet. The Israelites have forsaken God’s covenant, thrown down the altars, and has killed God’s prophets. This failure is felt so deep that he asks the Lord to take his life. The Lord’s answer? God sends an angel to feed the fatigued Elijah. Talk about super food! After he eats and rests two times he has enough energy to last a forty-day journey to Horeb where he comes to a cave to rest.

It is then the word of the Lord comes to him asking him, “What are you doing here?” To which Elijah voices his complaint, basically: “I’m the only faithful one left and they are seeking my life.” In response God tells him to stand on the mountain before the Lord since God will pass by.

Then comes the wonderful passage of where Elijah finds God. It is not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but in the sheer silence. In this silence God directs him to return to the wilderness of Damascus.

This turmoil of the soul is told of in Psalm 42. What the psalmist feels is similar to Elijah. Tears have been his food, all God’s waves and billows have gone over him and the enemy oppresses him. Elijah and the psalmist definitely share a disquieted soul – a soul cast down within. Both are looking for the face of God. Elijah keeps looking through the wind, the earthquake, and the fire till he finds God’s voice in the silence. The psalmist is hopeful remembering the good the Lord has done for him and tells himself to hope in God, my help. Even though people question him, “Where is your God?,” he remembers how God has provided in the past. Yet he questions like Elijah – “Why have you forsaken me?” He, however, has great hope that God will return to him. So, he gives his soul a pep talk. “Why are you cut down, why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God. I shall again praise my help, my God.”

There are times when we are internally disquieted – our souls cast down by the bad things of life. May we continue to have the hope the psalmist had, remembering how good the Lord has been to us in the past. May we seek a quiet place and strive to quiet down our insecurities and failures listening to the Lord like Elijah did, for help and guidance. Amen.

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