Elijah was a human being, even as we are. – James 5:17a, NLT
Do you find it strange to see Elijah described as being like you and me? Of all the people named in the Old Testament, surely Elijah had it all figured out and deserves to be put on a pedestal. And yet when we pay close attention while reading about him, we start to see similarities between our life and his. We see the ups and the downs, the highs and lows.
If we continue reading today’s verse you’ll see that he prayed and it did not rain for 3.5 years. Then he prayed and it started raining again. This is where we decide Elijah was nothing like us. We remember all the times we prayed that rain won’t spoil our plans and even though there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky before we started praying, somehow it immediately starts pouring by the time we’re finished. Maybe we’re not comparing the right things though.
Elijah prayed and declared the drought in 1 Kings 17. If that wasn’t enough, the same chapter is where we see Elijah raising someone from the dead and showing a widow who had given up how to have an endless supply of food during the drought. If these aren’t enough mountaintop experiences, in 1 Kings 18 Elijah literally has a mountaintop experience against the prophets of Baal. It isn’t until the beginning of chapter 19 that we start seeing ourselves.
Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there. – 1 Kings 19:1-3, NIV
Now that’s something we can related to. We have a mountaintop experience and we immediately forget it as we run as fast as we can into the valley. In the midst of our self pity and fear we forget that God was still watching over us and providing (1 Kings 19:5-8) even though we may have been running in the wrong direction (1 Kings 19:15). Find hope in knowing that just like with Elijah, God’s not finished with us yet.