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Flesh & Blood Spirituality
Sacred Rhythms - Part 4
Sunday, January 24, 2021
1 Kings 19:1-13, Philippians 4:8, Romans 12:1-2, Genesis 1:26-31,
Psalm 139, 2 Corinthians 4:7-12
The Lord’s messenger returned a second time and tapped him. “Get up!” the messenger said. “Eat something, because you have a difficult road ahead of you.” Elijah got up, ate and drank, and went refreshed by that food for forty days and nights until he arrived at Horeb, God’s mountain.
1 Kings 19:7-8
As a prophet, Elijah just had one of the greatest days he could imagine. He literally called down God’s fire from heaven to demonstrate the powerlessness of the prophets of Baal. Not everyone, however, saw this as a good thing. By chapter 19, we see Elijah fleeing into the desert for his life. After a long day’s journey he collapses under a tree and begins to pray much like Job or even Jonah… “Lord, take my life” (1 Kings 19:4).
As Elijah falls asleep under the tree, he hopes it will be the last time. He does not want to wake up… ever. It would probably not be too far a stretch to say that Elijah would have checked all the boxes to be diagnosed with severe clinical depression, perhaps even to the point of being put on suicide watch. Because scripture is written for a concise theological purpose we don’t get the in depth look into Elijah’s mental and emotional state that modern readers might want. Nevertheless, we must be careful not to gloss over these few verses about his collapse in the desert as though he was simply taking a peaceful nap and moving on with his ministry. Elijah, like every other Biblical figure, was fully human, and that meant dealing with all of the same mental, emotional, physical and even spiritual limitations and struggles we all face today. The fact that the writers show us a picture of Elijah in this broken state at all indicates that it represented a crucial moment his life and his spiritual journey.
So why this interlude? Why do we see an angel of the Lord waking Elijah twice from his rest? Why not simply move from the victory on Mt. Carmel to his encounter with God on Mt. Hermon?
The answer comes in verse 7. The second time Elijah is awoken, the angel says, “Eat something, because you have a difficult road ahead of you.”
I find it interesting that this “difficult road” is actually a forty day journey through the wilderness to the Mountain of the Lord. He’s going to Mt. Horeb, also known as Mt. Sinai, the very place where Moses encountered God in the burning bush. How is it that Elijah does not have enough strength for the journey to enter God’s presence? A journey to meet God doesn’t seem like it should be so difficult. Even if it is, we might ask why God doesn’t simply meet Elijah right there in the desert and give him strength instead of waiting for him on a mountain so far away. And yet, through the angel, God does exactly that.
But God doesn’t do anything miraculous to fix Elijah’s problems in that moment. Instead, the angel simply awakens him twice to eat and regain his strength, and then allows him to rest again before beginning his journey. Eat and sleep. Sounds like the miracle cure our grandmother’s prescribed for every cold, flu, or other sickness we had as children. Eat and sleep. It’s so ordinary. How could this be all God offers Elijah in this, the lowest moment of his life?
The truth is that we have all had times when we did not even have the strength to lift of head toward heaven. There are times as we saw in Romans 8:26 last week that we do not know what to pray and the Spirit intercedes for us with sighs and groans too deep for words. These are the moments we most want God to do a miracle. We are helpless. We are weak. For some, the greatest miracle would just be the ability to curl up and die in their sleep. That’s where Elijah found himself under that tree. Perhaps like George Bailey, he wishes he had never been born.
And the best God has to offer in that moment is to wake him up not once, but twice, to eat something, and then allows him to go back to sleep.
Faith and spirituality is lived out in the flesh. We do not exist as disembodied souls. Our physical bodies and our minds both matter greatly to God. We cannot love God and love others if our minds and our bodies are too broken. That is why sometimes our journey into God’s presence seems too difficult. That is why sometimes our prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling when we are looking for a miracle. It could be that we are looking for a spiritual cure to a physical problem. Before getting down to the business of our spiritual lives, could it be that God first wants to take care of our bodies and our minds? Could it be that God is like the father who invites the prodigal son back into his home by offering him clean robes and a good meal?
I’m not your grandmother. I’m not saying that food and sleep alone is the cure all. But I am saying that if we are made in the image of God and we have been given the gift of minds and bodies, the least we can do as stewards of God’s creation is to take care of them. This is our spiritual act of worship, to present our bodies as living sacrifices for we are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Paul writes to the Romans,
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2
… and to the Philippians,
From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise.
Philippians 4:8
Let us consider then what it means to care for whole selves… body, mind and soul, for this is an act of worship. To care for ourselves is not a selfish act, as some have claimed, but rather it is an act of love toward one who is beloved by our Creator. Loving our neighbor as ourselves doesn’t mean much if we do not love ourselves, not in a narcissistic way, but as good stewards of the gifts of mind and body which God has given us for the sake of others, so that all might know the love of God.
If you are tired and weary, if you feel like you can’t take another step… try starting with a nap and a hot meal, or a walk in the woods or a hot shower or a cup of tea or coffee with good book. Start with whatever little thing might bring you a sense of joy. Receive those moments, no matter how small, as gifts from God. They might just be the things you need to remember how much God cares for you. They might be the first steps of many into the presence of the one who can make you whole.
Listen to this week’s sermon here:
Video of the complete worship service available at http://asburyumc-huntersville.com/live
