mepastormike

My reading today took me to the book of 1 Kings, chapter 19. I read of the prophet Elijah running for his life; and this after witnessing the power of God first hand while on Mount Carmel. I noticed something different today as I read and studied... Verse 3 begins with "Elijah was afraid..." (NIV). This can literally be translated "Elijah saw...". The verse finishes by with "... and ran for his life." Interesting isn't it... how Elijah could see what was coming; that his life would be threatened and how that drove him to a place he wasn't suppose to be. I know he was not in the right place because God asked him twice (in verses 9 & 13) "What are you doing here...?". God only asks 'what are you doing here' when you're not in the right place. For me, God doesn't even have to ask the question... I think he waits until I ask myself. And it comes out in many different forms, like: What are you doing? What have you done? What are you doing here? Are you nuts?!
I've noticed in myself that I can 'see' (that is imagine) all kinds of things coming my way and turns out I can worry about nothing pretty good. In fact it surprises me sometimes how much I can be preoccupied with nothing!
Perhaps one of the scariest things that God instructed Elijah to do was in verse 15, "The Lord said to him, 'Go back the way you came,...'". Wow! Could God actually expect Elijah to have to go back and face the very things he was running from? Does God ever call me to go face my fears head on, and place myself in positions that are very uncomfortable? Maybe I'll go back when I'm certain God is speaking to me... like he did with Elijah with a powerful wind, or earthquake, or tremendous fire! No... wait a minute. Scripture tells me that God was not in any of those. God was in the gentle whisper that was unmistakable to Elijah. In fact, when he heard the gentle whisper he covered his head (you know... when you don't want to see or be seen). I guess Elijah could see what was coming!