A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. “Behold, the Word of the Lord came to [Elijah], and He said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He said, ‘I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away’” (1 Kings 19:9b-10). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! The words can be some of the most intimidating words: “What are you doing?” Then add the word, here, as in “What are you doing here ?” and it just ramps up the tension. “What are you doing here? You said you would be home right after work!” “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at church?” “What are you doing here? I told you to stay out of my room!” Then think how much worse it would be if it were the voice of the Lord you hear. “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah should know better. He has expe...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! St. Paul writes in Romans 11:1-5: “ I ask, then, has God rejected His people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how He appeals to God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have demolished Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. ” “A remnant chosen by grace.” Whenever I hear the word “remnant” a slight shiver still goes up the back of my neck, though it’s been over fifty years. With its wonderful assortment of candy and toys, the Ben Franklin store in Flandreau was usually a great place for a...

Marc Chagall - The Lord appears to Elijah at the entrance to the cave in which  he took refuge (I Kings, XIX, 9, 13), 1956 Click here to listen to this sermon. “And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’” (1 Kings 19:9b). Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Elijah is running for his life—trying to hide from God, like Adam in the garden and Jonah sailing from Joppa. Oh, that’s not what he says he’s doing; it’s probably not even what he thinks he’s doing. He thinks he’s running away from Jezebel, Ahab’s evil wife, who has vowed to have him killed. But, in reality, Elijah’s been running away from the Lord Himself. As our text begins, he’s now about 300 miles away from home, having traveled all the way on foot, most of it through inhospitable desert. The last food he’s eaten is the bread and water the Lord provided him forty days ago. He cowers in a cave at Mount Horeb. And the Word...