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Episode Transcript:
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Now here's Pastor Chris. This week I was asked a question that I had never thought about before. And the question was this. What role has pain played in your life? I never thought about that. In fact, there's part of me that thinks of thinking about pain as maybe a little self serving or oh, I don't know.
Along the way, I think I have conflated the bearing of pain with the bearing of across, and I'm fairly sure they're not always the same thing because some pains can have a power over us. That is not good.
The person asked me what role has pain played in your life? So I wanna I wanna ask you that today, in part because I'm not sure how to answer the question. But this person also shared with me a couple of quotes.
One of them is from C. S. Lewis, who said Pain insists on being attended to God, whispers to us in our pleasures speaks to us in our conscience but shouts to us in our pain. It is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world.
I hadn't thought about that before. And then this particular phrase, whether our pain is caused by victimization or by our own missed aches or wrong choices. We have a natural tendency to rely on ourselves to get out of a painful situation.
And our immediate reaction is to escape our pain and look for an antidote which usually leads us down. A destructive path of denial or defeat or bitterness or compulsive behavior. The best course of action.
Check this out. This is a Carol Kent from a book called Tom. Your Fears. The best course of action, even though we don't often see it at first, is to allow pain toe lead us back to God. Okay. He thought about that before allowing pain to lead you back to God.
I think with our intellectual minds, we can say Oh, yeah, that makes sense. You know, you know, pain would drive someone back to God. I'm not sure it always works that way. And maybe there's something in our Christian DNA as it were that maybe like I've been thinking.
Sometimes pain is the same thing as bearing across. So there's something noble and bearing pain. And if you stay in the pain, then you don't get lead back to God. This person also gave me this little formulary.
Pain equals Brokenness equals surrender equals receiving. So I don't doubt that I am broken. I've told you before that you don't ever want tohave a Christian leader or pastor who who's not been broken, run like the wind.
I don't doubt that I have been broken, and I don't doubt that much anyway that I have not surrendered. But I'm wondering sometimes and maybe you feel this way that it's possible to stay right there in broken us and surrender and then not receive that story that, um, timeline, that formulary is beautifully seen.
At least I think in today's scripture. And so if you have your Bibles turn, please to First Kings 19 we want to talk about oh mountains. We wanna talk about words from the Lord. We wanna talk about Elijah.
Um, but first I want to see what you remember about Mount Horeb. The mountain of God also known as Mount Sinai. You know that Mount Sinai is important in the history of God's people. After Moses had gone from Egypt back to the desert when he was seen murdering in Egyptian after a 40 year exile in Midian, God appeared to him in a burning bush.
You remember the story? I'll bet. And that happened at the base of the Mountain of God. And that's where God called Moses toe. Go back to each and lead his people. And remember that God said, One of the signs that I'm with you is that you're gonna lead them right back here.
We're gonna meet up here again at this mountain and then when the Israel Lights first arrive at Mount Sinai many years later, Moses strikes the rock at Mount Horeb. You probably remember that story to write and he provides Well, God does through Moses is obedience, provides water for the people.
And then shortly after arriving right there at Mount Sinai, you remember that Joe Jethro Moses, his father in law, visited Moses and said, I've got to advise you on how to govern these people. Moses ascends the mountain of God, receives the law from God.
Also, all of those instructions for building the Tabernacle remember? We really looked at that quite heavily last fall, and then he comes down the mountain and you remember the whole thing with the golden calf popping out of the fire and and the aftermath of that, you remember also the skilled craftsman going toe work on the Tabernacle and then all of those furnishings.
One year after they arrive at the mountain, they celebrate Passover. And then before they depart, um, the laws air given and census has taken they spend a month or so sorry a year or so there at that holy mountain, they finally break camp and they move on to cadets.
Barnea and then the mountain of God doesn't come back into the story again until, well, today's story. Nearly six centuries after the Israel Lights left that mountain Elijah in our story today fleas F L E s, uh, runs to Mount Horeb to escape the wrath of Queen Jezebel.
Or at least that's the way we've learned the story. He's going there to escape. But as we think today about pain and this little phrase that I mentioned earlier pain equals Brokenness equal surrender equals receiving.
And this also this business of Carol Kent, saying that our immediate reaction is to escape our pain and look for an antidote. I want us to look at this story of Elijah and what he did in conjunction with what we know about the Mountain of God, and I want to ask you some questions about that, and I want to see if it helps at least attempt to answer the question about your relationship with pain, what we do with pain.
So you're at First King's 19? Yep, now, Ahab told Jezebel. Ahab is Jezebel's husband, and the king Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the profits with Sword. So Jezebel sent 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, remember the story. Elijah has a big showdown on top of milk caramel, and all the priests and profits of bail are cutting themselves and working themselves up into a lather to call down bail toe light, the fire of the sacrifice and he doesn't.
And Elijah gets into big jabs, Um, and then finally, very quietly and profoundly praise that God would show up and God does. After God does that. Elijah orders that all the profits and the priests of bail are slaughtered.
Sometimes I think we forget about that slaughter and what that must have been like. Anyway, the story goes on. Verse number three. Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. Well, there it is, right? Surely that's what's happening.
He's running for his life. So where does he run to? That's what I wanna ask you. Does he run for I don't know, some unknown parts north. Does he jump on a boat for job by what we do? Let's read on. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and he came to a broom by bush and sat down under it and pray that he might die.
I have had enough Lord, anybody else. They're just raising, and I have had enough. Lord, take my life. I'm no better than my ancestors. And he laid down under the bush and fell asleep all it wants. An angel touched him and said, Get up and eat.
He looked around and there by his head, with some bread baked with rather over hot coals in a jar of water. And 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.
I'm wondering if Elijah is thinking Okay. What? What journey you talking about? Here This'll is where I'm gonna die. I've got myself under a broom. Bush. Where am I gonna go? I can imagine him saying that.
Verse eight. So he got up and ate and drank and strengthened by that food. Here we go. Ready? Strengthened by that food. He traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. And then he went into a cave and spent the night.
Hold on, right there. Just a second. What do you know about Horeb? The mountain of God We read just a few minutes ago or I read to you rather some of the times and places where Horeb had played an important role in the people of God.
What what is the mountain of God? What is horrible? What is Mount Sinai known for? Is it a place of peace and respite? No. You know, it's a place of what amazing, colorful difficulty even encounter with God.
It's a place where humankind and God meets up. And more than that, it's a place where God shows who he is. It's a place where God gives instructions. It's also a place where a lot of really difficult things happen.
Think about all of the idol worship that the Children of Israel were undergoing. It's a place he might even say of captivity in that God had a captive audience. And he's giving some careful instruction to and showing the Children of Israel how he wants them to behave and how he wants to be approached.
Etcetera. Remember, there was that wonderful place where the Children of Israel are instructed not to go near the mountain. Don't even get close, don't touch it. And if anybody touches the mountain, or even if an animal touches it, you are to stone you to kill them.
So that's the place that Elijah is going in. Does that strike you as odd? It's interesting, at the very least, isn't it that Elijah is running to that place? Let me just drill down on this just a little bit more.
At the beginning of his fleeing at the beginning of his running, Elijah is running for his life, and he curls up under a broom tree and says, I've had enough. I want to die. But an angel Lord comes gives him some sustenance, Um, energy, food.
And now where does a logical is he still running for his life? I'm not so sure. Is he in pain? You bet. And now he's fleeing to the mountain of God. Why? What happens? Let's go on. And the word of the Lord came to him.
What are you doing here, Elijah? I love that, he replied. I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israel lights have rejected your covenant. Tor down your altars and put your profits to death with the sword.
I'm the only one left, and now they're trying to kill me, too, and God replies this way, the Lord said, Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by now.
Stop right there. Just a second. We often think of Elijah going to Mount Horeb and maybe looking forward to or expecting a big showdown with God or having some sort of dramatic encounter with God. Maybe that's what he was expecting.
Maybe that's even what he was hoping for. I rather think that he expected a dramatic display and could have feared it. But he gets something else entirely. Watch this then a great and powerful wind toward the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord.
Pretty big deal, right, that that's an amazing encounter. But the Lord was not in the wind. I bet Elijah's mind went back to the time where God gave the Children of Israel the law and that powerful scene of cloud and glory of God while Moses is receiving that.
But here a similar thing happens on this mountain of the often E. And it says that God wasn't in that 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 after the fire came a gentle whisper. Can you imagine how dramatic that must have been? Elijah at first flees for his life. He's ready to die. And then there's something in his gut.
There's something in his heart that says I need to go to the mountain of God. I'm in pain. I've been broken If I've ever been broken Lord, now is it. But he's just savvy enough to know that he should go to the mountain of God and there, perhaps expecting a big display, perhaps expecting a giant, hearty, loud, powerful word from the Lord.
There's a gentle whisper. Look what Elijah's reaction in Verse 13. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave, and a voice said to him, Look at it.
It's the same phrase. What are you doing here? Elijah and Elijah replies with same speech that he gave before, but I just can't help but imagine that it's in a different tone this time. I've been very zealous for the Lord Almighty that Israel lights have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars and put your profits to death with the sword.
I'm the only one left now. They're trying to kill me to Elijah's in pain. He's broken. But I also sense that there's surrender here now, do you? Verse 15 God says, Here's what I want you to do. I want you to go back the way you came.
Has that phrase ever sunk down deep? When you've read this story before, I want you to go back the way you came and go to the desert of Damascus when you get there. Annoying has a l. King of over Arum also anoint J, whose son of Nimke over Israel, and annoy Elijah, son of Shea, Fight from able Mellaha to succeed you as Prophet J.
Who will put to death any who escaped the sort of has a l in the Leisha will put to death any who escape this sort of J who yet I reserve 7000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed down to bail whose mouths have not kissed him.
What is God saying? I'm not through with you yet. I came to you in a whisper. Maybe not the dramatic scene you were expecting, and I've seen your surrender. And now I want you to receive something from me and that something is an instruction we need to go back through.
In some ways, all the stuff you just came through. I have a task for you and notice that the task includes bringing somebody else alongside him. So Elijah went from there and found Alicia, son of Shava.
He was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen and he himself was driving the 12th pair, and Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him and Elijah then left his oxen and ran after Elijah let me kiss my father and my mother Goodbye, he said.
And then I will come with you. Verse 21. So Elijah left him and went back. And he took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. And he burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people.
And they ate. And then he set out to follow. Elijah became his service. The question I asked you in the beginning. Waas. What role does pain or has pain played in your life? A little phrase here that was given to me this week was pain equals Brokenness.
Equal surrender equals receiving. I think we could take a page out of Elijah's story. Pain drove him into the desert. I can't imagine more pain than having an evil queen and all of her minions and forces following after you.
I can't imagine the pain off that showdown on Mount Carmel. Would God answer? Yes, he did in dramatic fashion. What happens next? Ah, horrible slaughter. Um, did did Elijah delight and slaughtering the prophets and priests of bail? I don't know, but it had to make an impact on him.
Yes, he flees into the desert for his own life. And then there's an encounter with an angel who says, No, you've got a little farther to go, and this time I don't think it's so much a surrendering. Or rather, um, ah, fleeing for life but a surrender.
He goes to the mountain of God, for heaven's sakes, because he's smart enough to know he's savvy enough to know that it can be an awful place. It can be an awe full place. It could be a place of great drama, but it's also gonna be a place where he's going to hear from the Lord beloved.
What role does pain play in your life? Are you allowing it to lead you to Brokenness? That's good. But we cannot. I cannot remain in my Brokenness because the Brokenness must lead to surrender. And surrendering has got toe lead to receiving something from the Lord.
Lord may call you to go back the way you came. He's gonna have something for you to do, I'm sure of it. But I believe in the middle of that doing God also provides healing. I'm not especially huge fan of the message when that is the translation of the message.
When it comes to the Psalms, there many places I like to read the message to get a little bit different context of a dynamic equivalent translation. But I've tended to stay away from the message when it comes to the songs.
I guess I'm just used to the beautiful words of, Well, the King James English first and then other translations. But there's a There's a translation of Psalm 31 that is especially good today from the message that I think speaks to so much of this.
Listen to it. I run to you. God, I run for dear life Don't let me down Take me seriously this time Your granite cave Ah, hiding Place your high cliff Harry A place of safety You're my cave To hide in my cliff To climb Be my safe leader Be my true mountain guide Free me from hidden traps I wanna hide in you I put my life in your hands You won't drop me You'll never let me down I hate all this silly religion But you God, I trust I'm leaping and singing in the circle of your love You saw my pain You disarmed my tormentors.
You didn't leave me in their clutches but gave me room to breathe I love that 1st 19 and following What a stack of blessings You have piled up for those who worship you ready and waiting for all who run to you To escape an unkind world You hide them safely away from the opposition Blessed God! His love is the wonder of the world Verse 23 Love God all you saints God takes care of all who stay close to him.
But he pays back in full. Those arrogant enough to go it alone. Be brave be strong. Don't give up. Expect God to get here soon. Pain is useful and it can lead us to broken us, which is good. That's what Elijah allowed his pain to do when he was open to doing what the Angel of the Lord said.
But we cannot remain in our pain and Brokenness. We have to and I don't know how yet, but I'm learning. We have to allow the Brokenness toe lead to surrender, listening for the small, still voice of the Lord.
Perhaps wonderful way God gives us space to breathe. And then we are not foolish enough to go it alone. But we arise from that place in healing and then go back perhaps through the same way we came with this healing and receiving what it is that God has for us.
I pray that as you meditate on whatever pain you may have, I pray that it will also lead to Brokenness and from Brokenness to surrender on from surrender to receiving, I think, just like Elijah did. Let's pray, Father.
Thank you for the big and dramatic moments. Thank you for the wonderful way you show up in dramatic fashion. Thank you. for the wonderful way that you show up in a still small voice and give us space to breathe.
I pray, Lord, that we will not stuff our pain or ignore our pain. Or like I have done, sometimes conflate pain with noble cross bearing but rather allow you to use our pain toe lead to Brokenness and that Brokenness would lead to surrender true surrender that you would meet us there in that pain and whatever way you choose, heal us and then send us on our way to receive what it is you have in mind for us to receive.
I ask all of these things in the wonderful name of Jesus. Um, in you've been listening to a podcast from Epic Leases, an ancient future faith community. If you'd like to learn more about ancient future faith or worship with us at epic leases, visit us on the Web.
Www dot epic leases dot orig The Lord be with you