Introduction: This morning I was in one of my favorite passages of Scripture; it’s 1 Kings 19 where the Lord speaks to Elijah to remind him that God still has His people and that His work will go on.

Questions: Why might it be that God includes episodes like this from redemptive history? Why include slice-of-life stories about a prophet like Elijah, (who is indubitably one of the most prominent prophets in the Old Testament), but include episodes like 1 Kings 19 wherein Elijah is at a low point existentially? Why expose the low points of the prophet’s life? Follow me . . .

Historical context: Some folks are hopefully at least a but familiar with 1 Kings 18. That’s where the prophets of Baal are humiliated by the Lord. They had been dancing around carved idols like the pagans they were; they were cutting themselves and making blood oblations, and more. Yet the idols didn’t respond to their petitions. Shocker. But the Lord responded to the truth-telling prophet Elijah. Holy fire fell from heaven; the wood, stones, dust, and water were all consumed by the flames of God and Elijah slaughtered the false prophets by the river (1 Kings 18:38-40). By all accounts, it is one of the most dramatic events in the Old Testament.

But then we get to 1 Kings 19 and we discover a very different side of Elijah wherein he has gone from a mountaintop experience to a spiritual valley. Wicked Queen Jezebel essentially put a bounty out for Elijah’s head. And rather than welcoming the fight, Elijah was ready to toss in the towel: “But he [Elijah] himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers” (1 Kings 19:4).

How’s that for going from zenith to nadir, from mountaintop to deepest valley? But isn’t that the way we are so often?

But God. God wasn’t going to abandon His prophet. God asked Eljah, “What are doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:9, 13b). God asked him that at least twice. Why? The answer is obvious, of course–to teach Elijah.

And God’s audible response came too: “Yet I [God] will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18).

Encouragement: God was raising up His army of faithful warriors for the gospel amidst hostile environs in demonstration that God’s will prevails through all obstacles, but it does so God’s way. 7,000 pairs of knees had not caved to idolatry, but were stalwart and steadfast. That’s good news, folks. God has His people, at all times, and His army marches on. Let us trust Him.