Not Alone 1 Kings 19:9b–21; Galatians 5:1, 13–25; Luke 9:51–62 

 

Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God, our Father, and our Lord, Jesus Christ, who has promised to be with us always.

 

Not Alone is our message.

 

There are a lot of things in life that can make us feel alone. Even in a crowd, with people all around us, shoulder to shoulder, we can still feel alone.

 

The troubles of life can do that, make us feel alone, like we’re bearing a burden no else has or can relate to.

 

While it’s true that we all must bear our burdens in this imperfect world, it’s not true that we have to bear them alone.

 

First, we have our Maker to help us; and then the people He’s made; our Redeemer, and the people He has redeemed.

 

Our Creator didn’t abandon us even after we fell away from Him. 

 

When Adam and Eve disobeyed, and then hid, trying to isolate themselves from their Maker, He went looking for them. 

 

God found them, and restored them with the promise that He would redeem them through His Son. 

 

In our Old Testament, it was Elijah’s faithfulness to God that led to his being persecuted and feeling alone. 

 

And in his loneliness and grief, he exaggerated the situation, telling God that he was the only one who still believed in Him. 

 

He wasn’t, but that’s how it felt to him.  

Trouble and grief can do that, make us feel like we’re all alone, like no one understands what we’re going through, and no one can help. 

 

But the truth is, God knows, and He will always provide ways and opportunities for us to be helped, and the people to help us.

 

Elijah needed lots of help because he had a tough job, or “calling”. 

 

God sent him to confront the notoriously ruthless, evil, murderous King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, who were using their positions of power to lead the people away from God.

 

That may be the gravest error a leader can commit, to use his or her power and position to make policies and decisions, and take actions intended to steer people away from God and His Word and salvation. 

 

In the place of worshipping and serving the Lord, Ahab and Jezebel were promoting Baalism, the worship of the Canaanite idol, Baal, whom Jezebel was named for… 

 

… and the worship of Baal’s supposed wife, Asherah 

 

Jezebel despised everything about the Lord and the worship of Him. She made it her mission in life to rid Israel of the love and worship of the Lord, and more than that, wipe it off the face of the earth.

 

But God had other plans, and so all these years later, here we are, trusting, loving, serving, worshipping, and rejoicing in the Lord. 

 

To keep faith in the Lord from becoming extinct, God sent His prophet Elijah, to confront mighty Ahab and conniving Jezebel, about the evil and harm they were bringing upon the land and the people.

 

After an extended time of severe drought, which had been sent as a wake up call, so that the people would repent and return to the Lord…

… God had Elijah challenge the prophets of Baal and Asherah, 850 of them, to a duel on Mount Carmel. 

 

Just Elijah against 850, but Elijah had the Lord on his side…

 

… so actually it wasn’t Elijah, but the prophets of Baal who were greatly outnumbered, overmatched by the power of the Lord.

 

They were to sacrifice a bull and then pray for fire from Heaven to burn it up.

 

The prophets of Baal and Asherah went first. They placed the slaughtered bull on the altar and prayed and shouted to Baal to send fire to burn it up, but nothing happened.

 

Elijah couldn’t help himself, he had to prod them a little. 

 

He said, “Shout louder; maybe he’s taking a nap and you have to wake him up; or maybe he’s out of town on a trip.” 

 

They shouted louder, and danced wildly, even cut themselves, but still nothing happened. 

 

There was no Baal to hear them; Baal was just an idol, fashioned by people, and so they prayed in vain.

 

Next it was Elijah’s turn, or rather, God’s turn. 

 

Elijah had a bull placed on an altar of stones, he had everything drenched with water, and then he prayed. 

 

God sent fire from Heaven that burned the sacrifice and the wood, evaporated the water, and disintegrated the stones.

 

The people saw who really is the true God; they seized the prophets of Baal who had deceived them, and put them to death. 

 

Then the heavens opened, and it poured rain for the first time in years.

 

King Ahab went home and told Jezebel what had happened, and Jezebel 

took a vow to have Elijah killed, and that if he was still alive in 24 hours, she would take her own life, which she reneged on, she didn’t actually do.

 

Elijah took off running into the desert to try to get away from her. 

 

He sat down by a little broom tree and prayed for God to take his life; he was physically and emotionally exhausted; he felt like he had nothing left to give, like he couldn’t go on.

 

But God still had things for Elijah to do; and as it turned out, God would take him into heaven in a much more spectacular way, in a whirlwind, riding on a chariot and horses of fire.

 

Alone in the desert, Elijah needed food, water and rest, and God gave it to him, along with instructions of what to do next.

 

Elijah fell asleep, and suddenly someone touched him; it was the angel of the Lord, which was actually not an angel but the Lord Himself.

 

He had cooked some bread over a fire, and told Elijah to eat. Elijah did and then fell back asleep. 

 

The Lord woke him again, and told him to eat some more, and then to go to Mount Horeb, also known in the Bible as Mount Sinai, where God had given Moses the Ten Commandments. 

 

Elijah traveled to Horeb, and there, as we read in our Old Testament lesson, God met him.

 

God met him not in the mighty wind, nor in the violent earthquake, nor in the raging fire, but in a soft sound, a gentle whisper that Elijah had to strain to hear.

 

The Lord asked Elijah what he was doing here on the mountain, and Elijah said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord… but the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, killed your prophets, and I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.” 

 

And the Lord said, “No you’re not; you’re not alone. I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

 

The Lord let Elijah know that he wasn’t alone. He was with him, and there was still a fellowship of the faithful remaining. 

 

The Lord had Elijah anoint Elisha, to be his companion and then successor, and the ministry of the Word of God would carry on through Elisha and the next generation of prophets.

 

And so the ministry of God’s Word and Sacraments carries on to this day through the “sons of the prophets”, as we sing in the hymn, through called pastors and teachers and church workers, and all who serve the Lord; we don’t serve alone. 

 

So when you feel like you are alone, you’re not. God is with you! 

 

He has plans for you, and He has a fellowship of the faithful for you, to befriend and support you, to encourage you in the love of God, in the strength of His Word, in the comfort of Christ’s true body and blood, given and shed for you, and in the renewal of holy Baptism.

 

In Christ we’re not alone; we have Him, His Gospel, and His family, uplifting us and refreshing us along the way, as serve and follow Him.

 

Since we’re not alone, let us make known to others that they’re not alone, that we and the Lord would be with them.

 

Let us make ourselves available to others, especially when they feel like they’re all alone and have no one to turn to.

 

Let us be to them, that gentle voice of love and hope that the Lord was to Elijah on the mountain, and is to us in the Gospel, and would be to all.

 

And finally may His gentle but powerful word of peace, the peace that passes understanding, guard our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus our Lord, who is always beside us. Amen.