YOUR ELIJAH EXPERIENCE
I’ve been thinking lately of Elijah’s experience in responding to the call of God 1 Kings 17 through 19. If you follow narrative, he experienced numerous highs and lows and unexpected twists in his journey. I am especially interested in how, after what would appear to be his greatest triumph—defeat of the priests of Baal—he immediately went into what can only be described as deep depression. God interrupts the depression and leads him to Horeb. He doesn’t hear God in the dramatic ways we might expect—wind, earthquake, and fire— but in the sound of sheer silence. Then God asks what has become for me a haunting question. God asks, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?
Regardless of where you are, at the beginning of ministry, in the middle, near the end, or in retirement like I am, we need to hear that same question. “What are you doing here?” I would like to propose a form of listening with respect to your sense of God’s call, regardless of where you are in your ministerial journey.
Every couple of years, and in times of extreme stress more often, you should deliberately pause to reflect on the nature of your call that has led you to where you are presently. The first step in doing that is to choose at least a couple of hours that you can set aside and go to a quiet place. It may be a chapel in a church, a hiking trail in a park, a spot at the top of a mountain, etc. Especially if it is outside, hopefully you will have chosen a pretty day that allows you to be nurtured by the beauty of nature. However, Elijah chose a place where he experienced a windstorm, an earthquake, and fire and it still worked for him.
REMEMBERING AS FORM OF LISTENING
Once you have arrived at the spot, enter in to a brief prayer that can calm your spirit and set aside some of the stresses of your position. It would probably be helpful to do some breathing exercises to relax you as well. Then let your mind wander back to those early intimations that began to form your original sense of call. Whether you knew it at the time or not, now as you reflect on these experiences, deliberately consider God’s hand guiding you.
Then slowly move forward in your life and consider how different experiences shaped your understanding of your call. If it led to seminary and ordination, again consider how God worked in both the positive and not so positive parts of those experiences. Again with Elijah, his contest with the priests of Baal had both positive and negative elements for him.
(CONTINUED IN NEXT BLOG)
