Elijah replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”—1 Kings 19:10
I’ve wanted to “do great things for God” as long as I can remember. I think that’s a good thing. I love my church, and I love encouraging and inspiring her to be part of what God is doing in our city—proclaiming the gospel and enlarging the Kingdom. I believe in speaking up for truth. I was young when I first heard my pastor say, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” I did not want (nor do I want) evil to triumph, so I resolved at an early age to actively do something.
The danger of working hard for God is that you can quickly believe that if you stop working hard for God, then God will somehow lose the battle. Mystery is at play here. We are called to be laborers in the field for God. We are told to take the gospel far and near. And yet we also know that God can work through donkeys (Numbers 22), fish (Jonah 1), worms (Jonah 4), the wind (Exodus 14), and countless other vessels. God absolutely asks us to join Him in the redemption of creation (2 Corinthians 5).
Yet God absolutely can achieve His purposes without us.
I’m reminded of Elijah in 1 Kings 19. Having faithfully served God to the point of being chased by the blood thirsty queen Jezebel, Elijah flees to a cave. The Lord comes to Elijah and gently asks, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah’s response is telling:
Elijah replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”—1 Kings 19:10
“I’m zealous for you, God,” Elijah says, “but the rest of the Israelites aren’t.” Elijah believes he alone is hauling the spiritual load for Israel. He’s doing great things for God. But no one else is. Elijah has constructed a universe in which he is the center.
God calls Elijah outside. A wind comes that destroys mountains. Then a massive earthquake. Then a great fire. God is found in none of them.
Instead, God meets the worker in a whisper. His very manifestation reminds Elijah, “I am gentle towards you.”
Elijah is certain he is the lone remaining faithful Israelite. The Lord surprises him: I have 7,000 more who are just as faithful as you are, Elijah. God is not displeased with Elijah’s faithfulness, but neither is He dependent upon it. God’s purposes will not be thwarted if Elijah ceases his work. As if to drive home the point, the Lord commands him to anoint his successor, Elisha, in this very conversation. Your faithfulness is good, the Lord seems to say, but I can use many others, as well.
As Amber Benson points out, the Mordecai tells Esther the same: “If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place” (Esther 4:14). God will advance His purposes, either because of—or in spite of—Esther and Elijah. And us.
We tend to overestimate our importance in the advancement of the Kingdom. God invites us to participate. But He will achieve what He chooses, whether we accept His invitation or not.
Graveyards are full of indispensable people.
This message is difficult for some of us. We wring our hands because we know what happens when we do not do the laundry, or pay the bills, or cook dinner, or show up to work. If we choose to procrastinate or avoid, things go undone. We struggle to realize that this is not our mission, but this is His mission. We are invited in, to help, to participate. When we participate, we experience a deep joy from finding our created purpose. When we join in, we bring glory to God, reflecting His character throughout the world.
Both we and God enjoy our participation in the divine work of reconciliation.
But God does not need us.
There will be days where we are tired, where we are broken. There will be moments when we are sick or sinful. Our foibles and failures will place our human frailty on display far more publicly than we would like. And on those days, God will continue to be God. Mercifully. Thankfully. Yes, God wants us to join Him. But He does not need us. He will continue to be God, no matter what we say or do.
This is the good news. Our God meets us, pursues us, loves us, dies for us, conquers death for us, and imparts His Spirit. He does all of these things—things which we could never do. He does these things to remind us of His unique divinity.
What is Sabbath if not a reminder that God is at work, even when we are not?
There may be 7,000 others who could do the work of Elijah, but there is only one Lord.
In the back of my Bible, I wrote myself a reminder: “Preach the gospel. Trust God with the results.”
Rest in Him today, even as you work hard.