Recently I was playfully arguing with a 20-something man about whether or not prayer works. He didn’t think it does, because he’s been led to assume that prayer is about getting what we want from God, and in his experience, that sort of prayer has been a failed enterprise. God didn’t give him the girl he wanted, or the school he wanted, or the job he wanted. So many of the big things he had prayed for had never come to pass.
When he pressed me to explain my definition of prayer, the first word that came to mind was vision: “For me” I told him, “prayer isn’t about getting what we want from God. It’s about seeing a vision of what God wants for us.”
I thought that was a pretty good answer, but he wasn’t impressed. He rattled off a few half-remembered Bible verses about God giving believers whatever we ask for, and he insisted that the Bible writers exaggerated prayer’s power. “Your version of prayer sounds weak,” he said with conviction, adding, “You might as well call it meditation.”
He spoke with such urgency and frustration that I couldn’t help thinking of Elijah in the Old Testament. Elijah – much like the young man who sat in front of me that day – walked in God’s favor all the days of his life. God took care of him, provided for him, and walked alongside him.
But Elijah lived in troubled times. The corrupt King Ahab and his wicked Queen Jezebel ruled in Israel. They didn’t worship the God of Israel, but a false god named Ba’al. The prophets of Yahweh were being killed every day. Elijah was the most famous prophet, so he was at the top of Jezebel’s Most Wanted List.
Whenever things got really dangerous, God told Elijah to go out into the wilderness where no one could find him. So Elijah went, and God met him in the wilderness, tending to his every need.
Next, God told Elijah to go into a nearby town, where a widow would be there to take him in. So Elijah went, and there was a widow in that town who took care of him.
And “After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year of the drought, saying, ‘Go, present yourself to Ahab’ So Elijah went and presented himself to Ahab.” (1 Kings 18:1-2)
Elijah had so much confidence in God that he challenged King Ahab to a Divine Duel of the Gods. Dilan Braddock, our Student Ministry Coordinator, recently shared a brilliant message about this duel.
At Elijah’s command, fire came down from heaven like a lightning bolt and consumed the offering and the altar. Elijah dropped the mic and walked off the stage, victorious. It was the highlight of Elijah’s life. He never imagined being so successful, so well-known, so close to God. He had everything he ever wanted, and more. Even King Ahab repented and turned his heart over to God.
Elijah was on top of the world, celebrating his greatest achievement as a prophet, but it didn’t take long for everything to go wrong. King Ahab went back home and told Jezebel what Elijah had done, but the queen’s heart was hard and she doubled down on her hatred of Elijah and his God. She sent a message to the prophet, saying, “Enjoy this day, because by this time tomorrow, I’ll have your head.”
With that threat, Elijah went from the mountaintop with God to the valley of the shadow of death, overnight. He knew that Jezebel meant business; she had already murdered all his friends. There’s a reason Christians today name their kids every other name in the Bible except Jezebel. I’ve met Christian kids named Barnabas, Zipporah, and Habakkuk before. I even met a kid named Judas once. But I’ve never met a Jezebel, because she embodied evil.
So Elijah, scared to death, ran into the wilderness again, but this time it wasn’t because God told him to. In fact, this time, Elijah doesn’t even stop to consider God. In the heat of the moment, under all that stress, he simply ran for his life into the wilderness and prayed for God to end his life. Elijah was so afraid and so depressed that he wanted to die.
It’s wild how one crisis, one wrong turn, one piece of bad news can make us lose all perspective of the journey we’ve been on with God. Just yesterday, Elijah was calling down fire from heaven on his enemies and declaring victory in the name of God, and now he’s laying under a tree, alone in the desert, hoping to die.
This is a great reminder of the power of adversity and stress. No matter how good your life is, or how successful you’ve been, even the tiniest bit of stress can creep in and take over in the blink of an eye.
Eventually, Elijah took shelter in a cave, where he proceeded to throw himself a pity party, but the word of the Lord came to the prophet and said, “Elijah, come out of the cave, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Elijah walked out of the cave and looked for God. And suddenly, there was a windstorm so violent and chaotic that it cracked the rocks. Elijah looked for God in the chaos of the wind, but God wasn’t there.
Then there was an earthquake; the ground trembled beneath the prophet’s feet. Elijah looked for God in the earthquake, but God was not there.
Next, Elijah saw a wildfire burning all around him. He looked for God in the fire, but God was not there either.
To this point in the story, Elijah has done exactly what most of us do when life falls apart. He gave into the chaos and ran aimlessly, without seeking God’s guidance. He isolated himself, hiding in fear like a coward. And then he started looking for God in places where God is not found.
Most of us do all the same things when stress, fear, and disappointment take over. The young man who didn’t get the girl, or the school, or the job he wanted reacted to his disappointment and frustration much like Elijah did. He was looking for God to perform in the chaos and noise of his life, just like Elijah looked for God in the chaos and noise of the storm, the quake, and the fire.
But only after the winds died down, the ground stopped shaking, and the fires went out could Elijah experience the presence of God.
…after the fire [there was] a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “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.
In the short-term urgency of his own emergency, Elijah lost sight of God’s bigger vision for his life. He forgot all about the ways God looked after him and provided for him all those years, and even forgot how God showed up for him just yesterday against the prophets of Ba’al. He was too busy being stressed and afraid to remember how God had never let him down and had brought him this far in the first place.
It’s so easy for us to do the same thing when things get messy. We get sucked into the chaos and surround ourselves with noise, and then we wonder why God’s not there. Sometimes we even get angry when God doesn’t speak over the noise we never turn off. And then, one day, you find yourself in a coffeeshop, arguing with your pastor about all the reasons why prayer doesn’t work.
Meanwhile, God has been there all along, waiting for us to hear him in the silence.
We get into the habit of telling ourselves there’s no time for silence, but it’s not like God requires us to take a lifelong vow of silence and solitude. All we really need is a few quiet minutes a day with God to completely change our perspective.
If you would stop each day for five minutes of silent stillness, you would begin to see everything differently: yourself, your friends and family, your enemies, and God. You will be reminded of all the times God has taken care of you in the past, and you will see a vision of what God wants for your future.
When I stop in silence and look back on my own life, it’s so clear to me: God has looked after me at every moment. Like anyone, I’ve had my share of struggles and heartache, but I can look back and see how there was always something to keep me going. There was always some provision or protection from God that I couldn’t even see at the time. Just five minutes of silent stillness with God is enough to remind me that God has always been, and always will be, faithful and true.
Sometimes, to see a vision of what God has in store for you, you have to escape the chaos of the world around you. That’s especially true when your life feels extra-stressful. No matter how chaotic things get, there are three very simple things that I try to do every day. They’re so easy for me to remember, and it’s incredibly helpful to have something simple to hold onto when things feel like they’re spinning out of control.
First, I reflect. This means I simply stop for a moment to ponder the wonders of God. As the Bible says in the psalms, I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. (Psalm 143:5)
Second, I repent. I acknowledge my sin before God, and I ask for the grace to overcome sin’s power in my life. Jesus’ first sermon was very simple: he said, “Repent of your sin, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)
And third, I rejoice. Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice!” Rejoicing happens in a number of ways. Sometimes, rejoicing looks as simple as me saying “Thank you, thank you, thank you” over and over to God. But other times it looks like me turning up my favorite worship song and dancing in the driver’s seat of my car while stuck in traffic. Whatever it looks like, it’s never forced. Once I’ve spent a moment reflecting on God’s goodness, and repenting of my own sin, I find it impossible not to rejoice!
If you’re looking for a way to escape the chaos and the noise of everyday life, I hope you’ll find these three daily habits helpful, and I hope you’ll put them to use in your walk with God. Through it all, no matter how bad things may seem, or how stressed you may feel, remember that God has been, and always will be, faithful and true!
