Where is the God of Elijah?
By Pastor Joseph Urbina, Jr.
Elijah. One thing we know about Elijah is that he was passionate. He was passionate for the work and purposes of the Lord in his generation. His response to the Lord in I Kings 19:10 reveals his devotion: And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
The New Testament echoes the same testimony: “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months”(James 5:17).
When people sought to elevate the Apostle Paul to god status in Acts 14:15, he cries out: “Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein.”
There used to be a time when young men were prompted to withhold their emotions, but it’s considered terribly wrong these days if men don’t display their emotions freely. In Scripture, we see that passion played an important part in God’s servants.
Elijah’s miracles were bombastic. From the drought in I Kings 17:1 to the multiplication of the meal and oil in I Kings 17:14; from the child restored to life (I Kings 17:22) to the sacrifice consumed by fire (I Kings 18:38); from the captains and their men slain by fire (2 Kings 1:10) to torrential rain (I Kings 18:41) and the dividing of the Jordan.
God called a passionate man and endued Elijah with this as his divine calling card to a generation apathetic to Jehovah God and sympathetic to the gods of convenience and self-gratification.
Such was my generation. I was seven years old in Mexico when my padrino (godfather) prepared me for my first holy communion. As he drilled me in the required questions and answers, one concept kept coming up: miracles. “Who made the Heavens and the Earth?” he asked.
“God made the Heavens and the Earth!” we chirped.
From the onset of my religious training, miracles were the concept I remember most: God’s supernatural power manifested in His creation. I was so interested in the possibilities of God. My desire to see and experience miracles in my life would remain for the rest of my life.
I progressed toward maturity, and with it came cynicism and sin. In times of lucidity, I would ask myself, what happened to the miracles my godfather taught me about? Mass was in Latin back then. I didn’t understand the Bible. This left a gap of ignorance about the miraculous God who could do wondrous things in my life.
In Judges 2:10-12 we read this sobering scripture: “And another generation came after them, having no knowledge of the Lord or of the things which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord and became servants to the Baals. And they gave up the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had taken them out of the land of Egypt, and went after other gods, the gods of the peoples round about them, worshipping them and moving the Lord to wrath.”
This passage speaks of a heart condition much like mine was: having left its first love to pursue other lovers. Verse 7 of that same passage speaks of Joshua, who saw firsthand the power of God displayed in judgment against Egypt. But the next group is the generation that was born in the desert as Israel traveled to the Promised Land. On the way, they saw God’s amazing love in provision and protection. But here we have those who came after them.
These did not see. No one showed them, neither had they diligently inquired of religious authorities about the God of wonders and what He meant to their people and culture, so they went astray.
This passage disturbed me. Why did they not know the Lord? Was there no one who had the scriptures? Pastor Warner pointed to this other generation in a recent message as those who did not believe that the God who had liberated their ancestors in a display of power was the same God who could now bring them victory against the pagans who had remained in the land. It was easier for them to conform to the nations around them.
Conformity is doing what you are told without regard to what you know is right. Morality is doing what is right no matter what you are told. The truth must come into play in your decisions.
“If you don’t read, you’re uninformed,” actor Denzel Washington remarked in an interview. “If you read, you’re misinformed. [Reporters] only care about getting the information out, the more salacious the better… because they don’t care about the truth.”
The Apostle Paul warns us about this in Romans 12:2: “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Somewhere, someone had failed to transfer the witness of the Lord to the next generation. Elijah stood in front of them and said, "How much longer will you try to have things both ways? If the Lord is God, worship Him! But if Baal is God, worship him!” The people didn’t answer a word.
What does it take to convince you that God is real? This is one of the most difficult challenges the church faces in modern times: how to reach a distracted, apathetic generation of youth.
Youth pastor Gabe Rubi recently gave out Tony Reinke’s book, 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You. Benefits of modern technology aside, it is difficult to deny that the modern phone has become a huge source of distraction to today’s young people. A wakeup call is in order. We need men of passion like Elijah to awaken our present generation to the reality of a loving and merciful God who longs to display Himself in the miraculous.
Where is the God of miracles? That is the cry of those who hunger for the God of our forefathers. This was my cry when I prepared for that first communion and, whether they want to admit it or not, this is the cry of our present generation.
God desires to be among His creatures. This is evident throughout the Bible. God appears to His people in a burning bush and atop a mountain. Then he gives detailed plans for His people to build a portable tabernacle where He can meet with them. When they settle in the Promised Land, a stationary Temple takes the tabernacle’s place. God’s ultimate aim is to inhabit the hearts of men and women who want Him in their lives, even when He yet seems so distant to them.
Each generation must cry out for the God of miracles. Generations past in my own experience have seen the God of miracles at work in the ministry of men like Billy Graham, T.L. Osborne, Reinhard Bonnke, Wayman Mitchell, and so many others.
I recently saw a documentary on the life and ministry of Billy Graham. Many criticized him for his simple style, lack of orthodoxy and homiletics, and the content of his sermons. He just didn’t follow the cookie-cutter approach of the preacher factories. Yet few have matched his tremendous success in reaching the lost for Christ! One critic dissected Billy’s sermons and wrote about how bad they were in form and content but finally had to accept that the response given to those simple messages and the transformation, hope, and peace they brought to troubled souls had to be miraculous. It was.
About two weeks before my father-in-law died, he sat in front of his old television surfing channels, and just happened upon a Billy Graham crusade. There he sat, mesmerized by God’s Word, and at the invitation, he bowed his head in prayer. My wife said the change in his character and demeanor from that point on was undeniable; that something had happened in her father’s heart that was supernatural.
As for Elisha, God knew his heart also. There may have been others who could succeed Elijah, but God chose him from among his peers because of his similar heart and passion. Both Elijah and Elisha were men of faith. Both were men of prayer. Both were men of God. Both were men of courage.
When Elijah throws his mantle on Elisha as he is at work plowing a field, his response is immediate. “And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him” (1 Kings 19:20-21).
This passionate heart and soul for God must be evident in our future generations. They, too, must run after their Elijahs. They must rise up and take the mantle. But how? Only the Almighty can provide the Spirit who will seize the mantle and cry out, “Where is the God of Elijah?” Where is the God of our forefathers?
Young person, will you arise and let God use you as an Elijah for your own generation? May God give us men of passion, our Elijahs for each generation who will awaken our hearts for God and His Word.