1 Kings 19:4–5

He flees before a woman — he who had met Ahab and resisted the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal! This attitude was so unlike his earlier one. It came from Elijah forgetting, at that moment, the source of his strength. He could no longer say, "The Lord before whom I stand." He felt himself to be before Jezebel, not before the Lord. The moment a believer lets anything at all come between his soul and God, the distance becomes immeasurable.

From Jezreel he passes into Judah, where the queen could no longer reach him. He keeps running to Beersheba, the farthest border of Judah toward the wilderness, leaves his servant there, and, still not satisfied with his flight, goes a day's journey into the wilderness itself.

Here we find Elijah, the servant of God. He has lost all courage through the difficulties connected with the people of God — not his own difficulties. It is not trial in the world; it is trial among God's own people. Nothing tests the saints of God like the troubles of the people of God. Some can face their own difficulties. But difficulties connected with the testimony of the Lord often overcome them, and they give way.

He is still the man of God, but a man tired of life. That was not a feeling of faith. There is often far more faith in being willing to live than in wishing to die... Elijah wished to die, wished to get out of the trial — certainly a most unbelieving wish. The Lord never did.

A murmuring feeling rises. He asks God to take his life, saying, "I am no better than my fathers." This is not humility. He is saying that he ought to have been treated better. Since he was not, better to die — he had had enough of trial... A saint in close and peaceful communion with God never says, "It is enough." He follows the steps of the Perfect One and says, "Your will, not mine, be done."

In these last words is perhaps the secret of his failure. Who ever said he was better than his fathers? Possibly his success on Mount Carmel had inflated him. All alone he had done great things for God. Did this make him feel important, even indispensable? This is a state of mind that can easily develop in any of us, and it is fatal to our usefulness... It is an unspeakable honour for the great God to use any of us in His work; but let us never imagine He cannot do without us.

Unbelief is always unreasonable and inconsistent. If the prophet really wished to die, why did he flee from Jezebel? Why not die a martyr's death among the people of God?... How gracious of our God not to always take His poor, wayward servants at their word! God intended that Elijah should not die at all. His exit from the world would be like no one else's, before or since.

Elijah said nothing about longing to depart when he stood on Mount Carmel. There all was triumph. There he seemed to be achieving something, of some use. So he did not think of departing. But the Lord would show His servant not only what he "must do," but also what he "must suffer." We like the first well enough. We are not so ready for the second. Yet the Lord is as much glorified in a patient sufferer as in an active servant.

This is thought to refer to the Arabic ratam, the Retama raetam, and not to the juniper. It is a "broom" that grows twelve feet high. A person could sit under it for shelter. 1 Kings 19:4-5.

In 1 Kings 17 Elijah by faith could make the widow's oil and meal last. But here he is weak. He needs an angel to come, strengthen him, and give him some food. He eats, drinks, and like a man without strength lies down. But the Lord sends the angel back again, for He is rich in grace and mercy. He watches over all our ways. He feeds our souls according to our needs and all our circumstances.

Yet the Lord can graciously meet his poor servant even asleep under a juniper tree. "He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust." So He does not grant the sulky request of His hard-pressed and disappointed servant. Instead He seeks to feed and strengthen him for more work. This is not "the manner of man." It is — blessed forever be His name — the manner of God, whose ways and thoughts are not like ours. People often treat one another in a rough and harsh way. They make no allowance, and act in haste and severity. Not so God.

This was a deeper and a closer token of God's interest and care for him than the supply of the ravens or the widow's barrel. The cake baked on the coals and the jug of water at his head show him how God provides for him. But the angel is there to point them out and urge him to take them. That shows the Lord's own personal interest in him. Solitary as he was, he was not left alone or unattended.

At the prayer of Elijah, fire had fallen from heaven upon the sacrifice on Mount Carmel. Rain had fallen on the dry land, from a sky opened at the prayer of that same righteous man. But God gave him the burning coals, the hot cakes, and the jug of water without his asking. How faithful was and is our God!

Here we have a truly wonderful display of the kindness of God. An angel sent from heaven to provide a meal for a failing servant! This was a man who had left an important post of duty, and who was now completely outside the path of God's leading.

In 1 Kings 17 Elijah himself received food, and then he gave food to others. Here, in the place his lack of faith had driven him to, he had no food at all. But God does not abandon him: He thinks of him... He eats, but does not understand what God wants of him, and goes to sleep again. A second time he finds the same food. The angel says to him, "Arise, eat; for the journey is too great for you." God fed him so that he could walk. An important lesson for us!

The Lord knows better than we do what may be demanded of us. In His grace He strengthens us to match what He knows those demands to be. The prophet wished to sleep for sorrow, but the Lord wished to strengthen him and steady him for future service.