Heavenly Hunger: 1 Kings 19:4-8 - 12th Sunday after Pentecost

⁴[Elijah] 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.”⁵Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” ⁶He 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. ⁷The 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.” ⁸He 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. (NRSV)

Communion in the Desert by Transguyjay on flickr.  CC BY-NC 2.0 

It’s 1987.  Super Bowl XXI.  The New York Giants have just defeated the Denver Broncos.  An unseen man approaches quarterback Phil Simms and says, “you’ve just won the Super Bowl.  What are you doing next?”  He says, “I’m going to Disney World!”

Thus began the famous advertising campaign that made us 80s kids want to go to Disney World that much more. 

The Old Testament prophet Elijah just had an even greater triumph.  He had just gone head-to-head in a showdown with 950 false prophets and two of the bible’s greatest villains: King Ahab and his wife, Queen Jezebel.

These two were beyond fanatical in their worship of the false god Ba’al and its wife, the fertility goddess Asherah.  So God raised up the prophet Elijah to call the people to return to God—and he certainly has his work cut out for him.  God sends a drought to punish these rulers and their subjects, and show them that only God can make it rain.  But the king and queen fight back.  Jezebel starts killing off God’s prophets.  Ahab calls Elijah “a troubler of Israel.”

So Elijah throws the gauntlet down: he challenges Ahab to assemble 450 prophets of Ba’al and 400 prophets of Asherah on Mount Carmel and see which God can send rain. 

With all of Israel watching, God wins.  The drought ends.  Elijah is vindicated; Ahab is humiliated.  The people seize the false prophets and call them. 

For Elijah, this is an even bigger victory than when David killed Goliath.  But once Jezebel learns what happened, she resolves to kill Elijah.  Elijah is forced to flee to the desert, and that’s where we find him today.

Underneath the broom tree, he is having a meltdown.  He is completely spent, in body, mind, and spirit.  He’s begging God to let him die. 

It may seem silly that he’s so deathly afraid after such a dramatic victory.  It’s not too hard to imagine what modern people would say about him:

• “He’s emotionally unstable.  A basket case”
• “He’s not up to the task.”
• “God picked the wrong man for the job.”

I think of all the times I’ve heard it said, “God never gives you more than you can handle.”  God clearly gave Elijah more than he could handle.  All Elijah wants now is for God to end it all.

But that’s one prayer God won’t answer.  So he falls asleep.  Then, an angel wakes him up and tells him, “get up and eat.”  He does, and then he falls back to sleep.  The angel awakens him a second time, and says, “get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.”  He eats again—and this time, he moves forward on the strength of that food.

There you have it: God acknowledged giving Elijah more than he could handle—but God fed him.  Sometimes, it takes a meltdown to realize just how much you also need to be fed by God.  And not just in a meltdown, but in every single day and hour of your life.

God feeds.  The only question is, do you eat? 

That’s where this gets problematic.  We gorge ourselves on so much other stuff, believing it will satisfy our souls.  We strive for success and build monuments to our achievement with our homes, vehicles, and lifestyles; we want to do all the kinds of things that will make our Facebook friends say, “wow.”  We have sports and entertainment; people we need to please; pleasures and quick fixes to dull the stress of it all.  But when God wants to feed you, you’re not hungry. 

I think of how often I choose to eat junk food and fast food—because it’s cheap, convenient, and delicious.  It’s a lot easier to eat a bag of chips than slice up a cantaloupe or pretend that cauliflower tastes good. 

Skipping meals and eating on-the-go is what hard workers do.  It takes time for God to feed you, and yet, you see that as time you can’t afford to lose.

It’s even easier to believe that you know better than God what you’re really hungry for.

Sometimes, it takes a meltdown to realize how much you also need to be fed by God.  Spiritual hunger is real, no matter what your circumstances.  So don’t wait for disaster when Jesus is calling you to his table today.

The plainest and most visible heavenly food is served right here: the body and blood of Jesus; the bread that is God’s Word of Truth.  Anytime we come together as God’s family, we feed each other with our prayers; our encouragements; our testimony of God’s work in our lives.

But God’s feeding activity isn’t limited to church.  God delivers heavenly food to your homes; your schools; your workplaces; God feeds in the stressful times and the boring times too.

A little-known fact about the life of discipleship is that you get fed when you feed others.  A food bank volunteer recently said, “the people we feed actually feed me.”  Because God is most visible when grace is given and received.

And one more thing: God fed Elijah with food, but God also fed him with sleep.  Most people don’t get nearly enough of it.  It’s not a sign of strength, dear Christian, for you to run on no sleep or lie awake instead of giving your cares to God.   And there are other times you can sleep other than Sunday mornings!

“Dieting” is certainly a bad word, but God wants to put you on a diet—to eat less of the foods that ravage your body as well as your soul—and eat your fill of the foods that will really satisfy.  Life’s journeys will be too much for you if you’re not eating what God feeds you.  Remember that God’s always readier to feed you than you are to eat.  So eat the food that endures for eternal life.  Rest in the promises of God.  Taste and see the goodness of God.