• Vers. 1-8.-The Prophet's Despair. I. ELIJA.H's WEAKNESS. 1. His disappoint- ment. With the hand of the Lord upon him he had come to·Jezreel (eh. xviii. 46), Was it not because a further success for God awaited him there l' Could Carmel's wonders and the mercy of God in the rain now flooding the earth be resisted l' J ezebel's message, displaying only determined and increased hostility, rudely dispels the dream. The blighting of the long-expected fruit of prayer and waiting and mightiest effort is worse to bear than all the hardships which went before. Other trials may depress, but under this the spirit is utterly broken. 2. His flight. He shows no trust in Him who was mightier than Jezebel. He flees to the south of Judah. Even there it does not seem to him that he is in safety, and he goes a day's journey into tlie wilderness; but neither at Jezreel nor at Beersheba does he seek direction from the Lord. The overthrow of hope is also the overthrow of faith. Ceasing to hope in God we cease to wait on God. 8. His prayer. (1) Its incon- si6tency. He had fled for his life, and now he prays God that he may die. We are not fittest for heaven when we are most tired of earth. We must "enter his gates ••~the gates of the city that hu.th foundations-'' with praise," not with com- plaints and accusations. (2) Its unbelief. God's work is abandoned as impossible; nothin,.remains for Him but to take back the life of His defeated servant I Many a nobl; heart besides has lifted up the same cry of despair. The noblest of man- kind are nothing when once the fire of trust is quenched in the soul. " The just shall live by faith;" when faith dies, every good and noble thing dies with it. II. How Gon BINDS UP THE BROKEN-HEARTED. 1. He gives rest. "He lay and slept." Even in the desert to which we flee unbidden, God gives shelter and rest. "For so he giveth his beloved sleep." 2. He imparts strength for the onward way to where light will b7:eak_upon the darkness '!""'d a new mission_will be given . .Elijah is fed once and agam w1th angel food, and m the strength of 1t goes "forty 11ays and forty nights unto Horeb, the mount of God." We are revivecl. with tender heavenly ministrations : we see His goodness in the land of the living, and pass onward to the place where we shall meet with Him and hear His voice.-J. U Vere. 9-18.-Elijah at Horeb. I. How GOD DEALS WITH THE DESPAIRING, 1. Elijah'a mi$take. Because Jezebel's enmity remained unsubdued the struggle was at once given over as hopeless ; "and he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there." The same mistake is made by those who labour on with unexpectant toil, whose wrestling with God is given up, whose feeble thought and listless tones proclaim their hopelessness : by those who have laid down the work to which CB, XIX. 1-21.l THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 481
God co.lled them-preachers in retirement or in other spheres, teachers, &c.- nnd those who have ceased to strive ago.inst their own sin. 2. God's remedy. (1) The hen.rt is searched. " Who.t doest thou here, Elijah?" A prophet in the desert? A living man illumined with the light of the knowledge of God, a. companion of rocks and stones and solitude; and death and sin crying to be visited with the rebuke of God, and hearts fainting for lack of His light and consolations? Was it for this God endowed and co.lled thee? A word for those who h11,ve left the vine- yard ; for those who have not yet entered ; for the worldly and the sinful. To hear this voice is preparation for entering the path of life and of service. Till it be heard there is no possibility of eHher. (2) {)' n belief is unveiled. When God's voice is heo.rd, and the reasons for the wilderness flight are named, it is seen that He has been shut out of eight. He mentions his own zeal, and Israel's sin, but of God there is nothing said. It is unbelief alone which can kill prayer and earnest, hopeful toil. It was only when Peter ceased to gaze on Jesus that the stormy waves engulfed him. If we are in the wilderness, forgetfulness of God h!l.s set us there. II. THE PATH OF DELIVERANCE FOR THE HOPELESS. 1. The vision of God. Elijah's thoughts of God's way were corrected. (1) God was not in the whirlwind, or the earthquake, or the fire. What had failed to turn Isro.el o.nd subdue Jezebel was not what was really God's power unto salvation, but what Elijah erroneously conceived to be this. We despair because certain methods, influences, arguments fail; but thoy can only fail because God is not in them. (2) God was in the still small voice that awoke within the heo.rt. The power which now held o.nd searched the prophet's own soul was the mo.nifestation of what was power for the souls of others. 2. The recognition of ou,rsewea aa only part of the manifold agency of God. Other hands as well as his were to carry on the work of judgment and of mercy (vers. 15-17). To feel our brotherhood with the servants of God fills us with joy and power. 3. The assurance that God never works in vai11 (ver. 18). The results mo.y be hid from us, but they are known to Him.-J. U. Vere. 19-21.-The Prophet's Call. I. TnE CALL TO SERVICE. 1. W7ierc it fo1i11d him-in the field engaged in laborious, careful toil. The Master chooses servants for higher trusts who have been faithful in lower. 2. How it came. The mantle cast upon him was a sign of o.doption. It was a call to sho.re the prophet's home and love. Elijo.h wns to find a son in the newly-called servant of God, and Elishn. o father in the great prophet of Israel We pe.ss into God's sel'Vice through union with llis people. _II. INDECISION REBUKED (ver. 20). 1. The req1test. He '' ro.n o.fter Elijah," yet with entreaty for permission to go back nnd kiss father and mother. The new ties ~d the old were both binding him, o.nd the vo.in o.ttompt wn.s made to comply wit~ both. God's call must from the first ho.ve the mo.stery. The seeming severity w~1ch we are on.lied upon to exercise will yield fruits of joy. God, fully chosen, will be fully known; and the.breaking of lower ties may preo.ch the claims of Gou to those we love best. 2. The answer. " Go back a.gain, for who.t ho.vo I done to thoe 'l " The gift neglected is taken away. As we vo.lue it nml so.crifice for it, in that ~ensure is it given to us. Treat God's grace e.s nothing, and to you it becomes nothmg. III. T~ CHOICE MADE. 1. The paat was broken with. His own yoke of oxen were slo.m, the instruments of his toil consumed. 2. It was done with glad- nes!. He ~e.de e. feast for the people. 8. He took the place wh-ich God meanwhile assigned hi"!". "Thon he arose, e.nd went after Elijah, and ministered unto him." Humble, loving companionship with God's peoplt. is prepo.ro.tion for taking up their work.-J. U.