18.Mar.2009 3 Keys to Remption and Resurrection

I Kings 19:9b-10
But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”

How quickly Elijah turns from faith to fear after two great supernatural victories in a row. He has destroyed the prophets of Baal and broken a three year drought, and yet, once Jezebel threatens him, he runs away. However, he runs straight to God. He travels forty days straight to reach Mt. Sinai, and there, he meets with His God.

And God asks him, “What are doing here?”

In verse ten, Elijah lists three grievances that burden his heart: the people have broken covenant; the alters have been torn down; and the prophets of God are dead. He feels so alone in the midst of voices of despair and doom, and yet, unlike so many, he turns to God, the voice of hope and redemption! The entire Word of God, from Genesis to Revelations, is about Redemption!

The three burdens he bore reflect the nature of the world even now. The first he listed was the breaking of the covenant with God. In modern day, we have forgotten the importance of a covenant. A covenant is the most powerful form of relationship. It is to have a piece of another person in side of you and to have a piece of you inside that other person. To break covenant was a grave travesty in those times, and it still is in these times. Yet, we have become desensitized to the importance of covenant. Covenant is relationship. It is too easy to break relationships these days. Marriage is a covenant! Two people come together as one. Why do you think God warns against having sex before marriage? It is because that union is a sacred covenant, and sex outside of marriage devalues that covenant. Yes, there is grace. There is love and forgiveness. But, with each encounter, with each partner, the importance of the covenant is devalued and soon forgotten. And the relationships break. Elijah was carrying a burden for broken relationships.

The second burden was for the alters of God that had been torn down. The alter is a place of sacrifice. It is, in modern day, a place in the heart where the conflict of “I want…I need!” verses God’s pressing of His will comes to a head. If the alter is torn down, there is no sacrifice. And without sacrifice, there is no growth. It is easy to tear down the alter of God; it is very difficult to rebuild. The rebuilding of the alter is harder than the conflict of me verses God. Yet, even in hard times, we need to sacrifice, for it is the sacrifices we make that will bring the deliverance we desire. Elijah is carrying a burden for sacrifice.

The last burden is the death of the prophets. The prophets were the voice of God for the people of Israel. God has stopped speaking. There is no access to the voice of God. This is terrible because God desperately desires access to His sons and His daughters. He does all in His power to reach us. He is our Father, and a father–a good father who did his duty–imparts wisdom to his children. God, like a parent, imparts wisdom and direction to us. If He sees us heading into disaster, He gets in front of us and tries to stop us. Yet, like children, we have a will of our own, and, more often than not, we choose to ignore God’s warning and keep going. When that happens, God allows the pain to come from the choices we make in order to teach us. A lot of people get angry with God because they think He is all about “Do’s” and “Don’t’s.” Well…He is. He’s God! He knows everything! It is a good idea to listen to His “Do’s” and “Don’t’s.” Yet, the voices of God have been silenced. Elijah is carrying a burden for hearing the voice of God.

These three areas are key in living a redemptive life. If things are going hard, there is a good chance one of these three areas is struggling. Somehow, you have diverted from the path of God in one or more of these areas and are heading into disaster. What do you do? Speak into your world! We have the authority to speak into our world and bring it back into alignment with God. Will you listen to the voice of God when He corrects you? Will you come humble and broken before Him and repent? Will you allow Him to realign you with His will? Deliverance comes when these three areas are in place. Allow the Holy Spirit to show you if there are areas in your world that you need to realign with God in and listen to Him.