“You can’t pour from an empty cup.”
Most of us are familiar with this saying. More to the point, we are familiar with this feeling. We’ve been there. We know what it is like to be running on empty.
That’s where Elijah was in 1 Kings 19. He had been through 3 ½ years of intense spiritual warfare with King Ahab, Queen Jezebel, and the prophets of Baal who were leading the people of Israel into all sorts of destructive behaviors. God gave Elijah a tremendous victory over them at Mt. Carmel (chapter 18), but no sooner had this happened when Elijah heard that Jezebel had a contract out on him (19:1-2).
That was it for Elijah. He was done. He found a broom tree, took refuge under it, and asked God to take his life.
But God wasn’t done with Elijah.
He sent an angel who ministered to Elijah with cycles of sleeping and eating. That makes sense because when we’re running on empty one of the reasons is usually that we haven’t been taking care of ourselves physically. Elijah was then sent on a 40-day trip to Mount Horeb—which provided him with lots of fresh air and exercise. But man does not live by bread alone and like us, Elijah needed more than just physical renewal. The spa day, retail therapy, the hunting trip are all fine as far as they go—they just don’t go far enough. They can’t. We have been created in the image of God and there is that significant part of us that cannot be fulfilled apart from communion with our Creator.
That’s why he when Elijah arrived at Horeb God told him, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by (v. 11). And with that, we get to want Elijah really needs—to spend time in the presence of the Lord—there’s just no substitute for it!
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 