To the question: where is the God of Elijah? we answer: well, where he has always been: on his throne! But where are the Elijahs of God?
We know that Elijah was a man of passions similar to ours, but, alas, we are not men of prayer like him. Today God seems to forget the men of prayer; not because we are too ignorant, but because we are too self-sufficient. Brothers, our abilities are our impediments, and our talents are stumbling blocks!
Elijah came out of the darkness to the Old Testament stage as a mature man. Queen Jezebel, that daughter of hell, had destroyed the prophets of God by replacing them with priests of false divinities. Spiritual darkness covered the earth. The people were blind and drank iniquity like water. Every day new pagan temples were built, where cruel rites were practiced in which innocent human victims perished: children and maidens.
All this happened in a town that called Abraham his father, and whose ancestors had cried out to God in their tribulations and had been freed from all their anguish. The Lord of glory seemed absent and the salt had lost its flavor. Gold had become scum. However, out of that deep apostasy God raised up a man-not a committee, not a sect, not an angel, but a MAN.
Like Abraham in ancient times, so now Elijah was before the Lord. This is why the Holy Spirit could write his biography in two words: Elijah prayed. No one can do anything more important for God and for men. If the Church had as many ardent intercessors today as it has diligent counselors, we would see the universal awakening within a year.
Such men of prayer are always national benefactors. Elijah was one of these. He heard a voice, saw a vision, experienced a power, faced an enemy and, counting on God as an ally, won a great victory.
The tears she shed, the anguish she suffered and the groans she uttered are written in the book of the chronicles of God. Finally, Elijah emerged with the infallibility of a prophet. He knew the mind of God. Therefore, a single man conquered a nation and altered the course of nature. This waste of men stood firm and unshakeable like the mountains of Gilead when he closed the heavens with his word.
Brothers, if we do the work of God, in God's way, in the time of God and with the power of God, we will have the blessing of God and the curses of the devil.
When God opens the windows of heaven to bless us, the devil opens the gates of hell to attack us. The smile of God means the frown of the devil. Simple preachers can not help or harm anyone; but the prophets move the whole world and make some despair.
The preacher usually goes with the crowd, the prophet goes against. A poor man, but ardent and full of God, will be branded a bad patriot because he speaks against the sins of his nation; of severe, because his tongue is a two-edged sword; of unbalanced, because the weight of opinion is against you. The preacher will be exalted, the prophet booed.
Juan el Bautista was able to stay in prison for six months; but he and Elijah could not stay six weeks on the street of a modern city. They would be locked in an asylum for reprimanding sin and not silencing their message.
Have you come to rivers that seem invadable? Are you facing mountains impossible to cross? God is a specialist in impossible things for all other powers.
But the price is high. God does not want to be our associate but on condition of owning.
Elijah lived with God. He considered the sins of the nation as sins against God; he grieved over such sins as God himself, and spoke against them as God. He was as passionate in his prayers as in his denunciation of evil. His preaching was like fire and the hearts of men like molten metal.
But "the steps of man are ordained by the Lord" (See Psalm 37:23). The Lord said to Elijah, "Hide," and later said, "Show yourself." It would have been a great mistake to hide when I had to rebuke kings for the love of God, and dangerous to challenge them without express order from the Lord. It is a mistake to preach if the Spirit commands us to wait on the Lord. We must learn to say like David: "My soul, in God only rests" (Psalm 62: 5). Who will dare to ask God to cut off all our own supports? His ways are hidden, but He reveals them to us through the Holy Spirit.
We try to help God get out of difficulties. Remember that Abraham tried, and to this day the world suffers its error because of Ishmael. Instead, Elijah tried to make things more and more difficult for God. He asked for fire and had the water altar soaked! God wants to see us bold in our prayers. "Ask of Me, and I will give you as an inheritance the nations, and as your possession the ends of the earth" (Psalm 2: 8).
Oh, brothers, ministers! Most of our prayers are warnings and advice to God. Our prayer is tinged with selfishness, whether for ourselves, for our denomination or for our group. Perish such a thought! Our goal must be only God. It is his honor that is at stake. His blessed Son who is despised and ignored. His laws, broken. His name, desecrated; his book, forgotten, and his house, turned into a circle of recreational activities.
God needs a lot of patience for the prayers of his people. We tell him what he has to do and how. We make judgments and make judgments when we pray.