Elijah’s Real Need
The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” … Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days (1Kings 19:7-8)
Talks on real needs and felt needs are abundant. The feeling will not last long, but the real need must be addressed before things change. Elijah’s experience in 1Kings 19 is a demonstration of the common temptation to address felt needs rather than the real needs: The prophet had just seen victories of Jehovah, the latest being at Mt Carmel where fire came down and the people proclaimed, ‘the Lord, He is God’; but Elijah’s eyes were now temporarily closed from seeing what he needed to do, and he only heard and saw the perils in the threats hurled by Jezebel in the name of her gods! His desperation led him to pray what he thought should have been his last prayer, “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Yet the Lord still had more work for Elijah before he would take him to heaven alive.
Elijah still had the assignment of anointing successor kings for Aram and Israel, and a successor prophet, yet Elijah was discouraged and weakened beyond description. He needed a revival in order to regain his senses and responsiveness to God. God is not moved by our emotional tears and tantrums; rather, He looks deeper to our real needs. More so, He is patient with us and will wait until we gain our attentiveness to His instructions, then He will tell us what next. This kind of divine confidence shows that God cannot be distracted by evil men’s bravado – the kind that Jezebel exhibited, similar to the kind that Goliath displayed before a boy triumphed over him in the Name of the Almighty God. Whoever serves God must keep the focus on His purposes, which cannot be intercepted by anyone and anything.
Elijah was fed twice by an angel who, at the second time said. ‘the journey is too much for you.’ When Elijah ate and was strengthened, he spent forty days on his way to the retreat centre where God would meet him. By this time he was calmed and ready to listen. When you are in despair and feel like giving up life, look to God and He alone can strengthen you, and He will. Elijah then, received instructions to anoint Hazael for Aram, Jehu for Israel and Elisha to take over the prophetic ministry. This was the proper ending, as opposed to the premature one that was in his prayer of desperation. Take care to cast your anxieties upon the Lord, for He cares for you. When you lift your eyes from the sources of your felt needs, God will show you your real needs and address them fully.
God bless you.