In A Tight Place

I Kings 19:11-18
He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

__________

The astute among you would think that this passage sounds familiar. Well, it should sound familiar, because it's a common passage, but it should also sound similar because I preached on this text this past summer. The last time I preached on this text, I emphasized the silence and finding that silence in your own lives. This morning we're going in a different direction. This morning we are going to take a look at the time Elijah spent in the cave wondering what to do next because we all know what it's like to be in that confined place.

Not one of us here this morning would want to be in Elijah's position. Elijah is a man on the run, a refugee, a disgraced prophet, a renegade, a man who spoke truth to an earthly political power who refused to hear the truth. You might think that Elijah was lauded for his work, his work of speaking truth to power, but instead, we find that he is forced to flee. It's a fight or flight scenario. It's a position that we too, have known. Can you remember that feeling? Maybe it was something that happened a long time ago or something that happened recently, but can you recall a time when you felt like you had to flee for doing something you thought would be innocent or helpful?

None of us, I don't think, set out in the morning hoping that we have a target on our back, but the reality is that on some days that is exactly what will happen to us, intentionally or unintentionally. And on those days we will find that we have a choice. We can either run or we can we stand firm knowing that in God, we are more than enough, and in God's love we live, move, and have our being. But standing strong isn't always easy, because as you might know, our lives are often confronted with hurdles, hurts, and pains that might run so deep they are a constant source of fear and anguish.

That kind of fear and pain can manifest in very real and debilitating ways. While not precisely the same, I think you know what kind of fear and pain I'm talking about. I'm talking about that classic scene out of an old school horror movie where one of the characters are being chased, and they reach a point where they don't know where to go, and so they stand for a moment gripped by weight of their situation. I imagine that that kind of fear gripped Elijah. The fear of not knowing what was going to come next. The fear of being stuck in a hard place.

The place that that kind of fear and pain takes us is also constraining. It is a place where, instead of being free, we are instead held captive. What's worse is that we sometimes bring ourselves to these places of constraint, because like Elijah, we feel like we have nowhere else to run to. Throughout the course of World War II, the Nazis implemented many forms of torture. One such method included the use of a standing cell. These cells were just small enough so that a person couldn't lie down. You could curl up in a ball, but you couldn't sleep straight, and after a while, it got to the point where your muscles were agonizing in pain. And that is how our souls feel when they are burdened and worn down day after day without being filled.

How many times have we come under fire or persecuted, or forced into that confining place, for something that seemed minor or pardonable? How many of us have sought refuge in the wilderness, in the hidden corners of our souls? How many of us have had to dive deep within the deep dark caves of our hearts so that we can avoid any feelings of pain that might be inflicted upon us? All that running, all that hiding, all that being tucked away is exhausting and tiring work. And if we aren't paying attention then our weary souls will be even more susceptible to the onslaught of voices that tell us, "You aren't good enough," "You aren't worthy," "You won't amount to anything," "You should just give up."

God breaks through the voices, the forces, pressing in on us. God finds us in darkness, in the wilderness, and the caves where we have tried to find shelter. Once God finds us, the voices will cease, and we'll be left with sheer silence. And out of the sheer silence, we hear the voice of God calling out to us, "What are you doing here?" In that question, we hear what God is really saying. God tells us to say, "I am good enough," "I am worthy," "I am whole and created in the image of God," "I will keep on going in love and faith." When we think we are on the precipice, the edge, of feeling like things are too much to bear God bursts in and reminds us of our call, our call to be our true selves, our valued selves, our selves that were created to reflect the light of the Lord.

In this story of Elijah, and in the story of our lives, God is like a well-seasoned traveler. God is like the person who comes and meets us in our tight confined place and says, "Hey, I know what it's like to be here. Let me show you the way out." It doesn't come in the form of lightning bolts, earthquakes, or fireballs, but in the silence of our hearts, the silence where we feel that God is near. When we experience that moment we are set free, and our souls are fed, they are filled, they are lifted up high because they have been reminded what it means to be treasured by their creator. That kind of self-affirmation isn't greedy, and it isn't narcissistic. I mean it can be if we get too full of ourselves, but for the most part, we need to be reminded that we are whole and that we are complete as God has made us be.

We are enough, we are worthy, we are everything, and so we keep on living in love and faith because when the forces of self-doubt and external darkness push us into the place of confinement, God calls out to us and pulls us out reaffirming our purpose in life. Because you better believe that we still have a role to play in creation. God calls Elijah out of the cave and says, "Hey! Don't you remember your purpose? Don't you remember who I created you to be? Come on! You still have a vital role to play in this unfolding narrative of creation." And as God reminded Elijah of his call, his vocation, we too are reminded with a refreshed soul when we are affirmed as people whom God has chosen for such a time as this.

Last week I was attending a retreat put on by the Presbyterian Board of Pensions called CREDO. It was a retreat that was aimed at pastors who were "newly" ordained and to spend time doing intense work listening to where it was God was moving in our lives and ministry. It wasn't as restful as I would have hoped, but I've come back with a renewed sense of where God is leading me and where God is leading us as a whole. It was a moment of moving into that constrained place, a place of discomfort, and coming out hearing God calling out. All the reflection was good; it was hard but good. And I'm sure that if we looked back things that happened this past week would find that there were probably moments where we could have used some time to listen to the reaffirming words that God has to offer.

There will be days when it seems like the armies of the world are chasing after us. Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but there will be days when it feels like there is just too much on our plate or the feeling of everyone is out to get us. And on those days we can certainly run and hide in the dark places we have set aside for ourselves, but at some point, God will break in and fill our hearts with peace. We may find that God breaks into our lives in the form of kind gesture someone does for us, or someone offering a kind word, or it may even come in the form of us reminding ourselves that we are enough and we are complete and whole and have a purpose that was divinely ordained.

So don't forget that you were called, that you ordained, that you were put on this earth as someone whose worth cannot be judged by the world. And as we know what it is like to be in that place of confinement, that tight and constraining place, we should make it part of our mission to liberate others as well. The work of liberation can be messy, as we are reminded by the reading this morning. Yet it is work that is satisfying, not only because it makes us feel good, but because we are called to be part of that redeeming, sanctifying, and loving work, of walking with others out of their caves and into the light so that we no longer have to dwell in darkness. Amen.