What Are You Doing Here?

Elijah’s moment of despair illustrates how God relates to us when we do the right thing but things still go wrong. He does not rebuke Elijah but leads him with gentleness and compassion, ministering to Elijah’s physical exhaustion with sleep and bread and water. And when Elijah begins to doubt the effectiveness of God’s Word, God gives him a special manifestation of his word in the form of a “low whisper.” Then God gives him a new job to do that will enlist the help of others, including a pagan king and his own soon-to-be successor, Elisha. Finally, God reminds Elijah that he is not actually alone, because God has kept 7,000 faithful in Israel. In Romans 11, Paul cites these verses as evidence of the “remnant, chosen by grace” who are included in God’s eternal family through person and work of Jesus.