God is Never Finished with us

By Garold Andersen

I want to remind you of how wonderful ministry is. A little outreach from people can bless someone so deeply. The kindness that we can extend to people is a body of living water. It doesn’t have to be extreme, it is simply kindness. If you give a cup of water in Jesus’ name, your reward will be eternal.

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My background is theatre, so when I communicate from the Gospel I like to bring it to life. I think this is one of the most theatrical moments in the Bible, in 1 Kings 18.

The people of Israel have been pulled away from worshipping God. The prophet Elijah said God was going to cause a drought in the land, and it happened. In Chapter 18 Elijah comes back and meets with the people of God who are serving the gods of the land they are in. Baal was one of these gods. They had a god for everything. And Elijah was calling them back to the one true God. he comes to the people and says, ‘Who do you want to serve? All these foreign, stone gods? Or the one true God?’

Then Elijah tells the prophets of Baal to sacrifice to their gods, and if fire comes down and consumes the sacrifice, it will prove that their gods are real. They tried everything they could. They danced; they even began to cut themselves, but nothing happened. Then Elijah pours water on the sacrifice, prays, and fire consumes the offering, the water, and the stones. Then Elijah destroyed the prophets who had been misleading the people. He then prays for rain, and rain begins to come.

Now we get to Chapter 19. Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done, so she sent a messenger to Elijah.

1 Kings 19:2

She would sacrifice her own life to destroy his.

1 Kings 19:3-5

Imagine that you are at this scene, and Elijah knows that God is real. He knows what God has spoken to him, and he brings the word of the Lord to the people. But the words of Jezebel struck fear in his heart. As he ran something happened in his heart. He thought he had failed God.

Sometimes when we’re facing the things that we believe God has called us to, we think we only have one chance. We think that if we fail now, it’s over. Elijah has just experienced the power of God in the greatest moment of his life, and the fear of the enemy gripped his heart. Now he says to God that he is worthless.

Consider the response of God. Elijah is asleep, and all his energy was gone. He feels fear, failure, depression, and he is sleeping.

1 Kings 19:5

What’s the most spiritual thing that can happen to him now? An angel tells him to get up and eat some food. We think ministry is the moment where Elijah is calling down the fire from heaven, but now the angel is ministering to Elijah simply with kindness.

1 Kings 19:6-7

In the reality of what this scripture is saying, in Elijah’s exhaustion, he needed food. Sometimes the greatest ministry is to find out what people need.

I once met a couple in Germany who were having terrible problems in their marriage, and my wife went to their house, and they were living in a construction zone. Their floor was cement and the carpet was a roll in the corner. The sink wasn’t working so the wife had to wash the dishes in the bathtub. What these people didn’t need was counselling of some spiritual kind. They needed someone to fix their sink and lay their carpet, and so we did. It transformed their lives. Sometimes ministry isn’t something supernatural. It’s giving someone a ride somewhere. It’s something simple.

Elijah is refreshed, and he knows where he’s going. There has been this fascinating miracle with fire coming down, and now fear is in his heart so he runs to the wilderness. He could run on to Mount Horeb to meet with God, but he doesn’t want to because he feels like he’s really let God down. And this God brought down fire from heaven.

God had told him to come to Mount Horeb to meet him, but Elijah sat there wondering for forty days.

1 Kings 19:9

I often find a question comes into my heart from God when he has a task for me to do. God isn’t going to give Elijah an easy answer because the answers we need are already within ourselves. Questions bring them out of us.

In France we have a house where we invite people who are going through difficult times. It’s a ministry of hospitality and asking questions. When people are really stuck and they don’t know which way to turn, they need to listen to the question.

Elijah finally arrives at the mountain, and God speaks to him and says, ‘What are you doing here?’

1 Kings 19:10

Elijah’s response doesn’t answer God’s question. He talks about all the terrible things that have just happened to him. But God is asking what he is doing here. What is this moment about and how do we go on from here?

I find it so beautiful that the angel ministers to him through food, and the first thing that God does is ask him a question.

1 Kings 19:11-12

One pastor in America, A W Tozer, said that nothing twists or distorts the soul like a misunderstanding of who God is. When we fail, if we understand who God really is, that he is a God of compassion, love and mercy, we are drawn to him. But in this moment, Elijah thinks he is the fire, the earthquake and the wind. God was certainly able to use these things to demonstrate his power, and to lead the children of Israel, but when Elijah comes here feeling so desperate and so down, he lets the wind come, and Elijah realises the power of the wind is not the nature of God.

1 Kgs 19:12-13

Now his heart has been prepared, because in that soft voice he heard the voice of God. Elijah realises it’s not over.

It’s the same question, and Elijah gives the same response, but something has changed. Because now Elijah isn’t trying to defend himself, he is talking about the nature of God towards him.

1 Kgs 19:15-16

There are many people who have said Elijah disappointed God and so God was replacing him. But no. This was the highlight of Elijah’s life.

God said, ‘What are you doing here?’ And then God tells him what he is doing here. He was here to receive the next orders. He wasn’t over. He was getting ready to set up a system that was going to take over from the corruptness. Elijah had not failed, he had done a great work.

If we see God as the heavy task master, we are so fearful of coming to him. Elijah was encouraged by the angel and he faced his fear. He faced the wind and the earthquake and the fire. But God wasn’t in that.

It is so important that we understand the heart and the nature of God. One of the greatest things that Jesus did when he spoke to people was to communicate to them who God is.

Luke 12:36-37

The God that we serve, the God that Elijah went to face, is not a God who is looking to curse us. He is a God who calls us to do great things. When fear is in our heart, God is a God of mercy and compassion. He is a God of service. Elijah came to hear the voice of God, and it is in a whisper that gives him courage.

I don’t know what dreams and thoughts that you have had in your life. I don’t know if you think that you have missed your opportunities. I want to remind you that the reality of God is to be ready with service in your heart. We might think that we’ve failed, but we are ready to do the next thing. The master brings the food and serves us.

Elijah saw a God of power. But he comes down upon his knees to whisper to his children and to ask us questions and to encourage us. That is our awesome God.
God is never finished with us.