Reading 61 | The Bible in 100 Passages

Thursday, November 13, 2025  

Today's Scripture
1 Kings 19:1–13

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (NRSV)

Reflection

What punctuates Elijah’s predicament, along with fear, is, as the saga unfolds, isolation. Leaving his servants in Beer-sheba, Elijah ventures alone into the wilderness space (read: isolation) and collapses under what we’re told is a “solitary” broom tree. Amid the prospect of annihilation, the prophet sits alone.

Stark as it may be, there is one benefit to Elijah’s solitude: the absence of mindless platitudes. Imagine if at his most pressing hour he had been surrounded by voices shouting, “Press on, prophet — God doesn’t give you more than you can handle!” or “What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger!” or other seemingly well-meaning yet ultimately vacuous observations.

The author of 1 Kings gives us insight into the depths of the prophet’s desperation, which bears the weight of generational trauma. “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” God knows that this prophetic burden is more than poor Elijah can bear, to the extent that God sends an angel of mercy with bread for the journey and the promise of rest for his weary bones. With God’s help, Elijah will carry on.

What is true, contrary to the notion that “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle,” is that “God’s grace working through us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). There will be rest for our weariness; serenity in our silence; accompaniment in our solitude.

Prayer

Dear God, when we are weary and full of fear, may we collapse into the comfort of your grace, find rest in your blessed assurance, and gain strength from your nourishing wisdom as we listen for your “still, small voice.” Amen.

Written by Nancy Benson-Nicol, Associate Pastor

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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