You Don’t Know Me

When the prophet Elijah claimed victory over the prophets of Baal on the mountain of Mt. Carmel, he told King Ahab to “eat and drink, for there is the “sound of abundance of rain.” (1 Kings 18:41). In other words, the drought was coming to an end. But then “the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain.”  I believe this is an important distinction because rain can be present without the looming threat of a storm trailing behind. So, I ask myself, “what is the real message?” Because immediately after, Ahab told Jezebel what happened on the mountain and that the prophet Elijah had ordered the execution of the 450 prophets of Baal. She then declared that she would pursue Elijah until his life had become like those of the prophets he executed.

In the parable of the wheat and the tares found in the book of Matthew 13 Jesus says let both the wheat and tares grow together unless in their goodwill to pull away the tares they uproot the wheat as well. Amid Elijah’s despair God poses the question, “What are you doing here, Elijah? This question twice posed should have alerted the prophet to the presence of God but instead because Elijah was so heavy with hopelessness, he completely failed to notice that God was with him the whole time. But Elijah did indeed respond. The prophet says to God “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life. God allows the tares to come up with the wheat because it is often difficult to differentiate between the two because they pull from the same resources and live in the same environment until…. they began to produce fruit. If Elijah had held on to the belief that all of Israel had turned away from God, he might have continued in this presumptuous attitude of thinking that he was the only servant that remained among the Israelites. He even calls himself zealous which means he possessed a certain level of intensity for the work and will of God. However, in the midst of the prophet’s self-pity, God tells Elijah to get up and finish what God had already started in him. But the most beautiful part in this whole story is when God speaks these last words to Elijah before sending him off. “Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:18) King Ahab, Jezebel, the false prophets of Baal, and the seven thousand were all planted in the same soil, yet they were not the same.  In the context of Matthew 13, “to gather up” means to draw closer. If the prophet had decided to abandon his assignment believing all who were in Israel had forsaken the God of Israel, then he would have falsely assumed they were all tares. The “abundance of rain” indicates that rain would not simply be sent for the restoration of the land’s crops but for the exposure of God’s remnant to Elijah so he knew he would not be shouldering the weight of what God was calling him to do on his own. I have never seen a cloud of rain just hover above one person and begin pouring or the sun give its’ light to a select organization of a few worthy individuals. Instead, what you’re going through is not because of you but is in light of God’s bigger plan. So, remember rain or shine to discern the true nature behind the season you’re in. These seasons are an indication that God is shifting atmospheres. In due time, all will be revealed.