A mountain of concern

“Why are you here?”

This is the question the Lord asks Elijah as he was running away to save his life. After all, he had just ticked off the queen by killing all the prophets of Baal, so of course he was on her hit list.

“Why are you here?”

As if God doesn’t know?

I love this story, because it echoes of the question Adam and Eve are asked in the garden, when they are doing the same thing: hiding.

Elijah replies, pouring out his complaint: Your own people have decided they don’t want you, they’ve torn down the altars and killed your prophets. I’m the only one and now they’re out to get me.

I imagine this first response comes with frustration, anger, fear, and a host of emotions with the bottom line of “I’ve been the person you asked me to be, done what you asked me to do, and now this? Come on! Seriously, God?

But God doesn’t answer with comfort or any verbal reply that will satisfy Elijah’s frustration, nor give him any hope – at least not initially. Instead, he asks Elijah to go stand on the mountain. Now, just so we are clear, this is Mount Horeb, or Mount Sinai – the same place that God revealed himself to Moses when the Israelites had escaped from slavery in Egypt.

I’m guessing part of the “why” Elijah came with was great expectation that God would meet him there.

“Go stand on the mountain before me,” God tells him. What proceeds after this is every natural disaster (except flood) you can think of: a windstorm that broke rocks loose, an earthquake, and a fire. I’m not sure I’d want to be on that mountain… I mean, have you ever heard the crack of lightning when you are on a mountain? It’s so loud it will make you jump. It’s scary. Granted, Mt. Sinai isn’t anywhere near the height of the mountains I live near, but still.

For me, this story raises a lot of practical questions: If the wind was so strong that it broke rocks off, how was Elijah able to stand on the mountain? Was the earthquake just a small one, or did that come with the wind and that’s why the rocks broke? Where exactly did Elijah go to hide from the fire, and what kind was it? Are we talking a forest fire or lightning from the sky that started just a small brush fire?

Those questions are all well and good – but that’s not the point of the story. The point is to get the hearer of the story to process the fact that all of these huge things display the power of creation – but God didn’t show up in power to demand something of Elijah. He was in the whisper after all of it…. in the quiet.

Then God asks the question one more time: Why are you here?

I imagine this time it is closer, more intimate, like a parent asking a child what’s wrong and inviting them to draw near.

Elijah repeats the same story, but I imagine this time there is some defeat in his voice. I imagine he really wants to say “I’m tired, so tired, of doing all this. Isn’t there hope? You are supposed to be our hope, God, but it seems our people, our nation has just gone their own way and have lost sight of who you are and what you really want. I don’t know if I can do it any more. I’m old and its time to pass the mantle along. Isn’t there anyone else that can step in?”

God graciously gives him directions to annoint his successor and the next two kings. He reminds him that not everyone has given up, there are still some who worship him in truth and are not corrupted by the god everyone else is following.

This can be such a familiar story that sometimes we forget the mere humanity of Elijah and how much we relate to him at different times in our lives. We vent our frustrations, hoping for an answer and some direction. Sometimes it comes – and when it does, it’s exactly what we need. Other times it doesn’t, and the question is this: Can we wait through the turbulence and quiet to pay attention, to find him in the quiet whisper?

How he meets us in the whisper is as unique as we are. At times for me it has been in the rustling of the wind in the trees, or a deep sense of peace when I have a few minutes to step away from the craziness of work. When my kids were young it was in their laughter and delight. Sometimes its been in a song, one whose lyrics hit me when I least expected it.

I know there’s a parallel here for some of you with this story, in our own nation. It can seem like things are spinning out of control, and you wonder who is really paying attention. It might feel like an earthquake at times with all that is shaking. I am under no illusion that our leader is someone God ‘annointed’ for this time in history, nor was I with the previous administration. Leaders can claim faith, but their actions and how they speak to and treat people betray any proclamation of faith. Where is the one who is humble before God?

What I can tell you is God knows all the feelings and frustrations, just like he knew how Elijah felt about who was at the helm of his nation at the time. In the midst of it all, I know that God longs to bring you peace and remind you that he is near.

Let him tell you what you need to let go of, what mantle you need to drop because it’s too much to bear, what fear is holding you captive.

Your peace is worth it, and he’ll be with you in in all!