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Elijah Recovers from Despair

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I Kings 19:18

"Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel-all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him."

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The great prophet of Israel, Elijah had a sad moment in his life that he felt like dying.
It was because of Jezebel, the queen of Israel, who was trying to murder him.

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Elijah was so scared. He ran to Beersheba so that Jezebel couldn't find him.

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Elijah walked all day through the desert and arrived under a certain juniper tree.
Elijah prayed to God to take him because he was so scared.
He lost every confidence in himself.

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Elijah was so tired that he fell asleep under the juniper tree.
While Elijah was sleeping, an angel of God came to Elijah and said," Elijah, wake up and eat." There was a loaf of baked bread and a jar of water for him to eat and drink.

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Elijah woke up and ate the bread and drank the water, then he laid down again.
However, the angel came back and said, "Elijah wake up and eat. You need to travel a long way and you can`t walk without eating. Wake up and eat again."

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Elijah woke up again and drank the water and ate the bread. And with the guidance of God he walked 40 days and arrived at Mount Sinai. This mountain was where Moses had lead the Israelites out of Egypt and had met with God.

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When Elijah arrived at the Sinai mountain, he went inside of a small cave and slept there. At that time God talked to Elijah.
"Elijah, why are you here?"

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"God, I have worked so hard for you. But the Israelites have abandoned God, and King Ahab has killed all of the prophets and now he is trying to kill me. So I ran away and hid here."

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God told Elijah to get out of the cave and to stand in front of the mountain. Elijah obeyed God and stood in front of the mountain. A strong wind blew and separated the mountains and shattered the rocks. However, God did not appear there.

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Next, a strong earthquake came. However, God still did not appear there.
After the earthquake a big fire was there. However, LORD was not there.

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After the fire died, there was a small sound. Elijah covered his face with his robe and stood up in front of the cave. God said to Elijah again.
"Elijah, why are you standing here?"

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Elijah said the same thing as before.
"God, I have worked hard for you. The Israelites have abandoned God, and King Ahab has killed all of the prophets and he`s trying to kill me now. So I ran away and hid here."

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God said to Elijah." Elijah you go back to Israel. You still have work to do. I left 700 people who did not bow down to the idol of Baal. They have never bowed down to Baal. "

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Elijah felt stronger after he heard what God said to him. Elijah who asked God to kill him met God and gained strength so that he could follow what God told him to do.

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Sometimes we also get disappointed when we live as children of God. However, God knows we are going through difficulties. Whenever we are having difficulties in our lives we should go to God first and pray then He will give us strength to live to be His obedient children.

(You can change the conclusion of this sermon best suiting to your listeners of this sermon. We want to make it clear that the provided conclusion is only a sample conclusion provided by CTM.)