Hope Seen by God and Shared Through Us
The title of our message this morning is, “When You Don't See Hope, God Still Sees You.”
We’re in the Bible, in 1 Kings 18 and 19, if you want to turn there. You’ll notice there are themes in this passage that are very pertinent to where we are as a church today in this season. You might be directly affected by some of the themes we’ll talk about. Perhaps you know someone who is. Or maybe you’re not affected at all. But these themes, these ideas, these principles are revealed to us in Scripture because they are part of the human condition.
Who knows that the world is a dark and broken place? Since the fall, there has been evil, brokenness, tragedy, crime, injustice—all sorts of things. And it can be enough to drive us to despair.
But the good news is—let me start with this so you know where we’re going—there is hope. There is hope not only in heaven, in eternity, but there is also hope for us here, before we get there.
Jesus said in John’s Gospel, “I have told you these things so that you may have peace.” Why? “Because in this world you will have trouble.” Who can relate to that? “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Thank you, Lord.
As Christians, we live in this really strange tension. We read Scripture and we read of the hope that we have. We know something of what heaven is like, don’t we? We certainly know that it is better than here. The Bible reveals this to us. Heaven is a place where there is no more pain, no more suffering, no more injustice. So of course we want to be there, because it’s better than here. Why would we not want to be somewhere that is better than where we currently are?
But the reality is that we are not there. We are here. We are not there; we are here, in a place that the Bible acknowledges is broken and bruised. And if you reflect on that for any length of time, it might seem that God is being mean, perhaps even cruel, to leave us here when we know there is somewhere better.
And perhaps it would be mean. Perhaps it would be cruel—were it not for the fact that we are here for a significant reason and a significant purpose. Amen.
We’re here now so that more people can be there, aren’t we? Isn’t that our purpose in this world? It is our ministry on earth, the purpose of our lives: to be a big signpost that points to Jesus. Did you know that is the purpose of your life? To be a big signpost that points to Jesus.
Yes, that happens through the obvious things—through church, through preaching, through outreach, through what we’re doing today. But it’s also through the non-obvious, the subtle things: how we live, how we lead our families and our children, how we conduct ourselves, how we treat our friends, our work colleagues, our bosses. All these things that make up our lives are meant to be a signpost pointing to Christ.
This is our purpose while we are here. For here is where we will find many troubles. In the outworking of our mission to point to Jesus, we will encounter many, many troubles, just as Jesus said. But behold, He has overcome the world. Thank you, Lord. So we can push through—not in our own strength, but in His; not for our own glory, but for His; not for our name’s sake, but for His.
He doesn’t leave us in a broken place just for a laugh or without reason. Instead, He dwells with us in a broken place that He has overcome, for a significant, eternal reason. Thank you, Lord.
So we know—don’t we—that this is a heavy message this morning. Are you already feeling that weight? Hopefully, if you stay all the way to the end, you’ll see where the hope is.
It’s fairly obvious that the world is broken. The world gives us, if you like, tangible reasons for despair. There are real, concrete things we can observe that stir up emotional and mental responses in us. We can see that things are broken. We can see that things are wrong, and it affects us.
But it’s not always just the tangible things that elicit an emotional or mental response. There are other forces at play. We’re going to explore that today. And it’s worth us being aware so that we can prepare.
And that rhymes, so you know it’s true.
Elijah’s Courage and God’s Power
First Kings 18. Many of you will know the story, but I'll just recap briefly.
It’s the account of a man called Elijah. Elijah is the last remaining prophet of God, or at least the only one who is not in hiding. Everyone else in Israel at the time has turned to worship a false god called Baal. Even the king of Israel and the queen have turned to Baal worship. So Elijah is here as the last remaining faithful prophet of the Lord, and he’s not willing to stand for what’s happening.
He challenges the king, the prophets, and the worshipers of Baal to an ultimate showdown: which god is truly all-powerful? He says, we’re going to set up two altars, and on each altar there will be a bull. We will each call upon our god, and whoever’s god sends down fire to burn up the bull offering— that God is the true God. That’s the test.
The Baal worshipers go first. They go through this whole song and dance, trying to get Baal to burn up the bull. They keep going for a long time. There’s dancing and all sorts of strange behavior, but nothing happens. The bull remains unburnt.
Then it’s Elijah’s turn. He stands up and says, essentially, “Now I’m going to call on God, the actual God—Yahweh.” And he makes it even more difficult. He asks the Baal worshipers to pour water over the bull. Some of you will know this, but water actually extinguishes fire. Fire and water don’t really mix. So he says, “Just pour the water on. Let’s see what happens.”
Then he calls upon the name of the Lord, and fire comes down from heaven. It says in 1 Kings that the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the soil, and even licked up all the water in the trench. This is an incredible story that shows and proves the authority of Yahweh, the one true living God.
Everyone around at this point acknowledges that Yahweh is the one true God. They begin to worship Him. But the queen, Jezebel, is furious about what has happened. Ahab tells Jezebel everything Elijah has done and how he has killed all the prophets with the sword—because after the altar showdown, it gets violent. So Jezebel sends a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like one of them.”
Jezebel wants to kill Elijah. It’s not a great situation. Elijah runs away, which you might say is a pretty suitable response to a death threat.
But let’s pause for a moment and acknowledge what has just happened. How is Elijah feeling? And what do the circumstances suggest he should be feeling?
Imagine you are Elijah. He has challenged his enemies. He has called down the fire of God. He has humiliated his enemies and then defeated them. It seems in this moment that Elijah is pretty unstoppable, doesn’t it? He’s just going from one victory to the next. Everything seems to be coming up Elijah. He’s flying high under the favor and power of God. Nothing can stop him—except something does.
Jezebel sends this threatening message. But think about what she actually says: “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely…” Which gods? The very gods whose impotence has just been publicly exposed. We’ve just seen that these so-called gods have no power and no authority at all, because Elijah has called upon the name of the Lord and God has sent down fire from heaven to burn up a soaking wet bull. Who’s really in charge?
And yet, Elijah still runs away. In this time where he should be feeling on top of the world and undefeatable, Elijah is afraid and runs for his life.
Then it gets worse for Elijah. It gets darker. He goes out into the wilderness, on his own, and he throws himself down on the ground and prays.
The Roots and Remedy of Elijah’s Despair
He actually prays for death. He says, “I have had enough, Lord. Take my life. I am no better than my ancestors.” It’s a heavy prayer. A really heavy prayer.
What I want to do is draw a contrast here. Because given Elijah’s external circumstances – the victory, the power he has just acted under as a prophet of Yahweh – his response doesn’t really make any sense. It’s not informed by his reality, because his reality is good, powerful, and victorious. So there is something else at play beyond his circumstances. There is a sense of hopelessness and despair that appears to be for no obvious reason.
I wonder if you’ve ever had anything like that. Where you have this sense of despair or sadness, but you can’t really figure out why. Have you ever had that?
I’ll just tell you this: I have had that. I’ve been in situations where there is something in me that is just sad, that perhaps causes anxiety or a feeling of dread. And I sit and think, “I can’t figure this out. Work’s going fairly well. Church is going well. Sam’s great. Sophie’s good. The bank account isn’t too bad. Why do I feel this way? I can’t figure it out.” Has anyone had that?
There’s a lot going on here, because the human mind is vastly complex. Our emotional and mental state is multifaceted. There’s psychology and chemistry involved that, frankly, I am ill-equipped to fully speak into. But we all recognise the scenario. It’s easy to identify an observable, tangible circumstance that is the reason for despair. It’s far more complicated to identify an unknown, internal reason for despair.
As I say, there are many elements, and much of it – the chemical, psychological, all of that – I can’t speak into in detail. But what happens next for Elijah reveals an element of this internalised despair. It reveals a root cause and also, thankfully, a solution.
There is this turnaround moment in Elijah’s story. In 1 Kings 19 we read:
“All at once an angel touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.’”
This comes directly after Elijah has prayed for the Lord to take his life. And this is God’s response. He doesn’t rebuke Elijah for those feelings or for that request. He doesn’t shame Elijah. He doesn’t tell him to just pull himself together and crack on. But He also doesn’t whisk him up into heaven to permanently remove the burden.
Instead, the Lord provides what is needed and offers hope.
Let me remind you of the title of this message: even when you don’t see hope, God still sees you.
Elijah is weary from the journey and weary in anticipation of the journey still to come. And so the Lord offers a way forward. The solution comes in three component parts.
The first is nourishment. The angel of the Lord is intent on Elijah eating. He wakes him up twice to get him to eat something. Because the journey Elijah has been on has been intense. It’s been challenging, it’s been filled with victory, but it has also been exhausting. And those two things aren’t mutually exclusive, are they? Elijah has been running on adrenaline this whole time, and that is not a long-term solution. More is needed. Sustenance is required in order to be sustained.
Christ the Nourishment of the Weary
When you think about it, it makes sense, doesn’t it? Sustenance is required to be sustained. It’s so important that the angel of the Lord wakes Elijah up twice to be nourished—to be nourished.
It strikes me that when we feel hopelessness, despair, sadness, or other things that seem to come from nowhere—especially when our external circumstances appear to be relatively good in the grand scheme of things—we have to ask a question: what is our sustenance? What are we relying on to be sustained? Is it adrenaline, or busyness, or even victory? Because those things can only carry us so far.
We need replenishment for what we’ve already done, and a charging up for what comes next—even in the exertion of our spiritual battles. That’s really what we’re talking about here. Because who knows if what we’re facing is, in fact, a spiritual battle?
We’re talking about nourishment in the spiritual realm as well. As Christians, you and I live lives where, as we mentioned at the start, our ultimate purpose on this planet is to point to Jesus. That means every single aspect of our life is part of that signpost. Every single part of our lives is pointing to Him. And if that’s true, then every single part of our lives is under attack by the enemy. Therefore, every single part of our lives forms part of a spiritual battle. Does that make sense? Every single part of our lives is part of a spiritual battle.
Jesus says, “Man does not live on bread alone.” So when we’re talking about nourishment, we’re talking about nourishment for our souls. We’re talking about nourishment for that which is not physical.
Who knows that Jesus is the bread of life? Jesus is the strength for the weary. Jesus is our nourishment. And we’ll talk a bit later about what that means in practical terms.
God’s Rest for the Weary Soul
The second thing that Elijah experiences in this time of hopelessness and despair is rest.
The angel of the Lord doesn’t command Elijah to sleep, but he does let Elijah sleep. Elijah finds rest from what has been expended and for what will be expended.
Can I be honest with you, church? Rest is not something I’m good at—both in the physical, which isn’t really what we’re talking about, but also in the spiritual. Rest is not easy. It sounds like it should be easy, doesn’t it? You just lie on the sofa and that’s rest. But that’s not really rest. You lie down to go to sleep and think, “Well, that’s rest; there’s nothing to do, so that’s easy.” But true rest is not easy.
Rest is not something that I am particularly good at. It’s something I acknowledge is so crucial and so important for the journey that we’re on, but it’s something that I certainly—and likely you as well—need to become better at. Is that fair? Is that a fair challenge?
Rest isn’t just physical. We all know that late nights and early mornings don’t work well together, don’t we? And as you get older, that really does begin to bite quite a lot. Taking the time not to be physically exerting yourself is important for the body. But our souls need rest as well—time where our spirit, the very essence of who we are, is not exerting itself but instead is being renewed. That’s time spent in the presence of the Lord.
Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
I don’t have the answers on rest because, as I said, I’m on that journey myself. But I know the importance of it. We need to be able to find rest for our souls through Christ, whatever that looks like for us, because rest is so important for the mission and the journey that we’re on. And the lack of rest—and the lack of nourishment as well—can lead us to this place of despair and hopelessness.
The Gentle Presence of God
Sally did give you the warning, didn’t she, that it was a bit weighty?
The third thing Elijah acknowledges or experiences in this time of overwhelming hopelessness is the presence of God, which goes hand in hand with the other two: nourishment and rest. It’s interesting that all of this took place in a secluded place. It was just Elijah by himself, except for the presence of the divine.
The angel of the Lord, who is here in the Old Testament, often represents the presence of the Lord who is with Elijah. There’s nothing else—just Elijah and the presence of God in this place, with nourishment and with rest.
After Elijah’s time of being nourished and rested in the presence of God, we come to one of the most incredible passages of Scripture, because it is so revealing about the nature of God. It also highlights the difference between what we might be looking for and what is actually being presented to us and available to us.
I’ll read it for you. It’s still in 1 Kings 19:
“The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.”
What does this mean? This is incredible.
If you think about Elijah’s story up to this point—what he has seen and experienced—Elijah already knows the almighty power and authority of God. He has witnessed it firsthand. He has even called down the fire of God, hasn’t he? He has experienced such power and might.
But just as God is powerful, so he is gentle. Just as he is in the busy and the exciting and the impressive, his voice is also heard in the quiet. He may very well make big statements to display his power, but we meet with him for sustenance in the quiet place.
When you think about the voice of God, you’re thinking about the most powerful, the loudest, the most authoritative voice in the universe—and beyond the universe. The voice that commands mountains to move. The voice that calls the storm to be still. The voice that commands the stone to roll away and the grave to yield. The voice that, in the first place, commanded everything we see into existence.
That most powerful voice comes as a whisper.
You might be waiting for a big loud bang and a dramatic display—earthquake, fire, wind. But the question is: are we missing the gentle whisper? Are we missing the gentle whisper?
It is from this place—after nourishment and rest in the presence of the Lord, after meeting with God in the quiet and hearing the gentle whisper—that Elijah continues on his mission.
I just want to remind you what that mission is: Elijah is a broken person, walking through a broken world, upheld by a mighty God and living for a divine purpose.
And I think that’s a lot like yours, don’t you?
Resting in the Nourishing Presence of God
We're going to take some time to be in the presence of God. Is that okay? We're going to be in the presence of God. We're going to take communion in a few minutes as well. The kids are going to come in and join us for communion.
There are a few practical things. I need Sam back to play the piano. And then Steve's going to go and tell the kids team, because we're going to take communion together. When we do that, just on a practical level, when the kids come back in the kids team are going to hold them at the back. So if you have kids, can you go and get them and then bring them to where you're sat? And then it's up to you whether or not they take communion. That's on you as a parent, but it is available.
As we do that, we're going to take some time in the presence of God, calling upon his name. The strange thing about preaching on a Sunday is that you're speaking to a whole lot of people who are all in different situations and different circumstances.
There are people in this room who are on top of the world and perhaps have heard the message this morning and thought, “Dom, that just doesn’t really speak to where I am now. I’m high-flying. This is great. You talk about hopelessness and despair—you’ve made me sad.” And there are other people in this place for whom the Lord has spoken very directly this morning through the scripture. That’s just the complexity of where we are.
But regardless of where you find yourself this morning, and what you’re bringing in, what you’re carrying, the need to come to God—to be nourished by him, by his word, by his scripture; to be at rest, a true rest, not just a physical rest but a soulful rest; to spend time in the presence of God and to listen for the gentle whisper of God—these things apply and are for all of us, are they not, regardless of where we find ourselves?
So I’m going to pray, and we’re going to pray into four situations. You might be in all four or in none of them. Just receive prayer wherever you are.
Lord, we thank you. We thank you that you are here, that you are good. We thank you that you are the one from whom we find nourishment. We thank you, Lord, that you command us to eat, to be nourished. We know that’s important in the physical, and the physical is just a picture, an image of how important it is in the spiritual—for our souls.
Led by God Into Rest
Lord, there are many of us in this place this morning who are running on adrenaline. Some of us feel like we’re going from victory to victory. Some of us feel like we’re just surviving, but barely.
There are many of us here, Lord, who need to be nourished by you, who need that nutrition, that sustenance, so that we may be sustained in the mission we’re on.
So, Lord, for our brothers and sisters in this place, would you help us? Holy Spirit, would you convict us this week? Help us to be the ones who instigate that nourishment: to pick up your Scripture, to pick up your Word, to reach out to brothers and sisters in Christ; to be nourished, to be built up, to be encouraged; to know your truth in our lives; to hear the promises spoken over us that your Scripture gives to us.
And, Lord, for those of us who are tired—not just physically tired—for those of us who haven’t yet figured out the right rhythm of rest, would you help us? Would you lead us and guide us? Would you give us wisdom? Your Scripture says that for those who call on your name for wisdom, it will be given to us. And so, Lord, would you lead us? Would you lead us, through wisdom, into your rest? Would our souls be rested so that we are set up for the journey that we’re on?
And, Lord, for those of us who need to spend time in your presence, carving out time in our busy schedules and our busy lives, would you help us to acknowledge that you are actually more important than all of that? Help us to see that spending time in your presence is exactly where we need to be.
Finally, Lord, we thank you for your voice in our lives. We thank you for the most authoritative voice—the one that commands existence, calms storms, moves mountains; the most powerful voice, the one to whom everything submits. Lord, would you help us to hear your voice in our lives, in the gentle whisper?
Thank you, Lord.
Amen. Amen.
