Hope for Anyone Who Feels Stuck

There was nothing like feeling trapped in the mountains of the Andes, not breathing, needing reprieve, yet finding no oxygen…no help.

A moment that stands monumental, as one I will remember, forever.

Limbs numb, air dwindling, mind fogged and this life seemingly lost at an elevation my body physically couldn’t maintian.

And I can relate to Elijah as He sat in a cave, warried from an epic battle, declaring His God as King and yet now, struggling to strive, clinging for each and every breath he breathed.

“It is finished. I did what you called me to do. I conquered Baal and God, I magnified you with every single last ounce of energy, and yet now I feel week?” I wonder if that’s what Elijah was thinking?

Did Elijah assume He had “checked off some box” and now deserved something more in return than the armies of Jezebel chasing him?

Did his despair come from being so physically exhausted; manifesting fire on wet wood, challenging Baal, and yet now wondering why an army rallied again him as he ran into the wilderness for his life?

When we follow God, is it wrong to expect only “good” as a reward after a time of victory?

Yet, I can relate to Elijah. Can’t you? Sliding off the mountain of great success. Tipping off the peek of a great missions trip, spiritual battle, victory in your life, your children or family…

Yet, now wondering why you’re deflated like a hot cake hitting air too quickly.

I Kings 19:3 says, “He [Elijah] was afraid and arose and went for his life”.

Elijah ran.

Scripture says Elijah went a “day’s journey into the wilderness” & sat under a juniper tree.

He sat. Sat. After the battle was over, Elijah just sat.

Let’s break this down…There is a big difference between “sitting” in rest to wait upon the Lord and “sitting” in bitter exhaustion because things aren’t going our way.

Yet, by grace, there in his overwhelmed state of fear and complaints, an angel touched Elijah and said to him, “Rise & eat”.

I love how God unwaveringly and undeservingly never fails to meet us.

God doesn’t just let us sit in our pity, wallow in our pain, fall in exhaustion after some victory.

God nourishes our souls; restores, comes near to rejuvinate us, preparing us for what is to come. All the while reminding us of the truth of His promises, despite how we may feel in the moment.

I read about the Apostle Paul this morning. Paul had his own kind of battle in Acts 18. It wasn’t as loud and dramatic as Elijah’s grand symphany of memorable proportions…but it was a battle nevertheless.

Acts 18 tells us Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. There, Paul was “completely engrossed with preaching, earnest arguing and testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ”.

And sometimes battles can be loud and public, intense and dramatic; other times, our greatest battles can be amidst quiet converstions and in private places, tangled in relationships or our minds, where others don’t see.

Nevertheless, where the supremacy of the Gospel and sole authority of Jesus is being declared or defended, there is often great spiritual warfare.

Like Elijah, Paul encountered truth straight from God after the war with a Jezebel spirit in the synogogue.

In Acts 18:10 God reminds Paul, “I am with you, and no man shall assault you to harm you, for I have many people in the this city.”

I wonder if often we avoid conflict because we forget there is a God that steps in, supports, encourages, redeems and restores His people?

I wonder how often we wallow in complaint or isolation because the enemy has convinced us, we are all alone?

Do we fail, in the crevasses of our minds, to remember our God met Moses at the parting sea, Esther at the feet of a Kingdom moment…and He meets us at the point of our greatest need?

God never leads us to dead ends where His love fails or is insufficient. A bruised reed will be broken in two.

God came in the night to Paul. Paul had a vision. Angels ministered to Elijah in His weakness and despair. It seems logical to conclude, God wants to meet with you and me as well.

We serve a God who has legends of angels ready to battle at His expense. And must we not forget, God placed in us the same power that raised Jesus from the dead….

And yet, there are seasons where we can feel like a helium baloon deflated from lifes circumstances, retreating, isolating or complaining in our minds.

I Kings 19:9 says “Elijah came to a cave and lodged himself in it.”

“Lodged” in Hebrew means the same things as “to fall flat like grain”. “To be obstinate (especially in words, to complain).”

Just imagine….Elijah won a great battle in front of all the powers of the land. And yet, He flees and hides and justifies his own reasons to hide, embittered and complaining.

How can a man that would live down in history and be spoken about with great faith generation after generation find himself exhausted, fearful and grumbling about the state of his current circumstances?

Clearly, God uses Elijah’s story to remind us that all of us are human. God shows us there is nothing we can do apart from Him. He is the sustainer of all our needs.

God gentlely and lovingly reminds Elijah, “The journey is too great for you.” 

Elijah needed God, not just in the fire sending, world watching moments, but in the unseen refreshing of His soul, moments spent craving, lost in hunger and thirst.

What do we expect when a battle is won? What vision do we have after seasons of victories? Have we ever run to the the wilderness to hide?

Incredibly, God speaks not through the wind, an earthquake or fire…but through a still, small voice. (1 King 19:11)

Afterwards Elijah covered his face in His mantle and STANDS in the entrance of the cave. When God speaks to His children in hard seasons, often He calls us to stand.

God speaks to Elijah in that moment; a moment of standing and surrendering, covering and recognizing God is God and Elijah is not.

Oh how fear can grip us in the battle. Attacks, like what Paul faced can disillusion us into thinking we are alone in the city or alone in our faith.

Yet, God tells Elijah, “7000” have not kneeled to Baal. God also shows up in a vision to Paul and says, “I have many in the city”.

Friends, we are not alone.

We are not alone in the sufficating circumstances of our lives. We are not alone in the wrestling of our mind, the battles we face with pride or in the wondering why victory looks different that we thought.

We are not alone in our valleys of condemnation. We can stand and walk, persevering forward, in the way God has called us.

God has a history of calling His people from low places.

Paul was obedient to stay where God had called him, for one and half years. Elijah stood from his pity party and went back the way he came, through the wilderness.

Where is God calling you? Have you encountered Him in the night time, or heard his still, small whisper in the dark?

If you have been through an epic battle or just feel stuck at this present moment…you are not alone.

There are many believers around you, unseen. He wants to meet you where you are. Ask Him. He will speak to you. Seek Him and He will come to you.

And when He does, rise. Rise and fix your eyes on Him. He empowers us, to be who we were created to be.

And whether we see them or not…many are standing with us.