Calling

Calling

(1 Kings 19:11-21)

Yearly Theme:  “Goodness is… Glorious”

Series Title:  “Beyond the Noise”

November 17^th, 2024

Something to think about:

There comes a point in time, when we have spent time alone in solitude and silence with GOD, when we have to return to the community from which we came.  Our purpose for spending this time with the Father is not only for communion with Him, but also for a filling from Him for work yet to be done.

Ruth Haley Barton writes,

“The practices of solitude and silence do, in time, bring us full circle – back into life in the human community.  Whether we have been away for half an hour of solitude, had an extended retreat time, or have dropped completely out of sight for a while, God, in his time, does eventually bring us back to the life he has given us.  Perhaps nothing in our external circumstances has changed, but we have changed, and that what our world needs more than anything.”[1]

So as we wind down this series over the next couple of weeks, we come full circle to Elijah’s story once again.  If you remember where we started back in September; Elijah had just experienced one of the greatest victories over the pagan prophets of Baal in the Northern Kingdom and had over 400 of them put to death for their deception and treachery over the people of Israel.  However, when Queen Jezebel heard that he had put her prophets to death, she was incensed and put a death warrant out for him.  In fear for his life, Elijah, discouraged and seeking refuge, ran south into the wilderness by himself.  All alone GOD met with him there.  After feeding him and allowing him to rest, GOD sent Elijah further into the wilderness to Mount Sinai to wait on Him there.  The following instructions that GOD give him is where we pick up the rest of the story…

Turn in your Bible to:  1 Kings 19:11-21

After a time of rest, nourishment, and communion with GOD, it was time for Elijah to get back to his calling within the community.

Key Point:  “Our time spent in solitude and silence with GOD prepares us for genuine participation in community.”

What can we learn from Elijah’s experience of being alone with GOD?  Let’s take a closer look:

• Time spent with GOD  the  on our life.

1 Kings 19:12b-13, 15

• Time spent with GOD  us for the  .

1 Kings 19:15b-16

• Time spent with GOD  us to  those who come after us.

1 Kings 19:19-21

Something to take home:

In his book, Life Together, the late Deitrich Bonhoeffer, writes, “Let him who cannot be alone beware of community… [and] Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.”[2]

He goes further to explain,

“We recognize, then, that only as we are within the fellowship can we be alone, and only he that is alone can live in the fellowship.  Only in the fellowship do we learn to live rightly in fellowship.  It is not as though the one preceded the other; both begin at the same time, namely, with the call of Jesus Christ.

“Each by itself has profound pitfalls and perils.  One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair.

“[Again] Let Him who cannot be alone beware of community.  Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.”[3]

Key Point:  “Our time spent in solitude and silence with GOD prepares us for genuine participation in community.”

[1] Ruth Haley Barton, Invitation to Solitude and Silence, (InterVarsity Press:  Downers Grove, Illinois; 2010), 131.

[2] Deitrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community, (Harper One:  New York, New York; 1954), 77.

[3] Ibid., 77-78.