How Will God Vote?

I Kings 19:1-4, 8-15a

 

We are entering into a dangerous time in the history of our nation. How do I know? The prediction of doom can be heard on both CNN and Fox News. This is as rare as Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton finding common ground. The most astute political minds I regularly encounter, my Friday morning golf group, warn me Hillary will blindly lead us down the road to economic ruin. These are smart guys so they must be right. Yet when The Donald speaks, those who desperately want Trump to be our next President wring their hands in utter embarrassment.

Who would God have us choose? Now there is an interesting question. History tells us that truth, particularly God’s truth, regularly gets twisted and manipulated until it would appear God supports the conclusions we reached before consulting the Almighty. The one truth of which I am certain is that humanity does a brilliant job of fooling itself concerning any wisdom God might offer. We claim to follow the will of God. Yet we stick to the wide road most often taken even though the Bible reminds us God’s path is narrow, complex and demanding, consistently sending us where we would  rather not go. Even Elijah discovered the “way of the Lord” to be very complicated.

The relationship between Elijah and Jezebel has no rival when it comes to two people hating each other. The Queen represented Power. Elijah represented God. I suspect it is a whole lot easier to represent power than God. Jezebel answered to no one, not even her husband. Jezebel did not worry about small things such as truth. When she spoke, she expected everyone, including Elijah, to respond. When she ruled, she expected everyone, especially Elijah, to obey. And when she worshipped, which was interesting because she worshipped herself, she expected everyone to say, “Amen”.

But Elijah was on a roll. He entered the desert and God pronounced him worthy. At a time when there was no food, God commanded the ravens to bring the prophet his daily bread. When the son of the widow died, Elijah stood on both feet and demanded God defy death. Then there was Mount Carmel. Playing odds that were 450 to 1, Elijah stood his ground before Baal. When the lightening of the All Mighty lit up the alter, Elijah truly believed his struggle with Jezebel was over. Someone forgot to tell him people of power don’t play by conventional rules.

With the flames still roaring on Mount Carmel, Elijah ran toward the city of Bethel to claim his victory. Now only one person stood between him and the abolishment of Baal in the land of Abraham. When Elijah reached the edge of Bethel, he was met by a messenger of the Queen. Jezebel’s words were brief, “Elijah, you shall die before the sun sets.”

This great prophet, fueled by the word of God, was defeated by a single sentence. Fear of the Lord was trumped by his dread of the raging Queen. Without a second thought, and certainly without any thought of God, Elijah did a 180 and fled to the wilderness where he spent the next 40 days hiding from Jezebel. But Elijah couldn’t hide from God.

This is an amazing passage. Elijah runs from death yet concludes death is the only solution to his dilemma. It is amazing the insights we reach when our lives are driven by fear. Hours after seeing Mount Carmel go up in smoke Elijah’s vision is blurred by panic. He forgets what God has done and can only imagine what Jezebel will do. He runs from his calling, he runs from his adversary, he runs from himself and runs right into the resolve of God. Let me tell you from experience, that is not always the most comfortable place to land.

My second congregation was a small church in Virginia Beach. I was anxious to have my own church after five years as an associate and Bow Creek was desperate for any one. Their last three ministers had been removed by Presbytery. One had an affair with the secretary, one had an alcohol problem and one refused to pay his taxes. I love my wife, paid my taxes and don’t drink so it seemed to be a match made in heaven.  I soon discovered what had led my fellow clergy to drink, love and tax evasion. We were a stone’s throw from three other Presbyterian Churches.  Our potential for growth was almost non-existent. I visited every member three times in the first year. I revamped many programs. I had a session retreat for no apparent reason. I did all the right things and found myself bored out of my mind. So I prayed, “God, show me a new direction, a new ministry.” It was 1987. God introduced me to folks dying with Aids.

God didn’t care that at the time I was probably homophobic. God didn’t care that I was totally ignorant of the disease. God did not care that I lacked the empathy necessary to comfort people I found disgusting. All that mattered was God’s children were dying alone. Since I had some time on my hands, I was the next guy up.

Likewise God didn’t care that Elijah was afraid of Jezebel. God didn’t care that Elijah was running for his life. God didn’t care that Elijah was having a moment of quiet reflection to understand the events of the past few days. All God cared about was Elijah was not where he was supposed to be. If this were a New Testament story we would expect Jesus to come to Elijah and quietly say something like, “Come unto me and I will give you rest.” But Yahweh lacked the refined edges of his son to be. The God of Abraham roared, “Elijah, what are you doing here?”

Elijah became defensive. “I have been your guy. I have done everything you have asked. But Jezebel wants me dead and nothing can protect me from her wrath.”

God responded, “I don’t care about Jezebel. Who is she compared to me? Go stand on the mountain of the Lord and remember who I am.”

I probably first heard this story when I was a kid at Vacation Bible School. The writers of VBS materials love stuff like this. They know that VBS teachers will do anything for a moment of peace and quiet. Bible School not only takes place during the hottest week of the summer, it is usually composed of all the rowdy kids in the neighborhood who have been dropped off by mothers also longing for a little peace and quiet.  

My first memory of this story went something like this. God said to Elijah, “Go stand on the mountain.” A great wind blew. Our teacher would tell us to blow as loud as we could. And then she would say, “Is God in the wind?”

And we would all say, “No, Mrs. Cartledge.” 

Then there was a great earthquake. We were all told to shake as hard as we could. Then our teacher would say, “Is God in the earthquake?”

Again we would respond, “No, Mrs. Cartledge.”

The fire would appear. We were told to wave our hands around like tongues of fire. Our teacher would again ask, “Is God in the fire?”

“No, Mrs. Cartledge.”

The Mrs. Cartledge would say, “Suddenly it became quiet. How quiet can you become? See if you can become so quiet that all you hear is your heart beating. When you hear your heart you are quiet enough to hear God. And that is when God will speak to you.” As extra incentive, she would also say, “If you can quietly listen for God for five minutes, I will let you go outside and have some Kool-Aid and cookies.”

The lesson for the day was the path to God, or Kool-Aid was through quietness. But that is not what Elijah learned. Nothing frightened primitive man more than the elements. Rain could mean floods. Earthquakes would destroy towns. Fire could seldom be controlled. Each represented chaos and each presented the greatest fears imaginable. Elijah stood on the mountain in the midst of everything that frightened him the most, and he was unharmed. Then when the anarchy of nature had done its best, God caused the chaos to vanish. A silence emerged that was so deep Elijah’s ears ached. Then God spoke, “Elijah, what are you doing here? If I can protect you against the wind, the rain and fire, why do you fear Jezebel?”   (Stop)

So let’s return to my original question. How will God vote in November of 2016? Will God be most impressed with pompous grandeur or crafty deceptions? Will God withdraw from the bedlam our political connoisseurs predict? Will God create a third party ticket led by the likes of Peter and Paul? Or will God quietly wait, wondering why God’s most intelligent species always runs toward chaos.

I have no idea what will happen in the next five months but I do believe this. When all the dust settles God will still be God. And that gives me hope.                      Amen.