Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-01-21
+ Golden Text: II waited patiently
for the Lord, and He inclined unto
me and Heard my cry" Pisa. 40:1


for the Lord, and He inclined unto
me and Heard my cry" Pisa. 40:1
Fright, fright, flight; rest, re-
freshment, reconsecration-this is
the story Of Elijah for six weeks
from his appearance after the 8 IL
years retirement. He made a val
liant fight-the $50 prophets of Baal
were destroyed Gt was right they
should have been-Israel was a
theocracy, and any one who REBEL
ed against God was a traitor to the
nation); He turned the peoples
hearts toward God; Ahab was even
so impressed that he exultingly told
Jezebel about it. Instead of con-
verting Jezebel, it fired her. She
sent a messenger to Elijah, giving
him twenty-four hours to live. If
she had really meant to kill him, 1
wonder why she gave him a chance
to flee.
At any rate, it frightened Elijah,
and he made a record run. He
stopped at Beersheba, 120 miles
south, just long enough to leave
his exhausted servant, while he went
days journey further, toward the
wilderness. 1t is strange that a
man who had been so brave and
bold until now seems to have
changed his backbone for a cotton
string. But there was a reason.
He dropped under lone juniper
tree, exhausted and prayed that he
might die. Now if he had wanted
to die very badly, he need not have
run such a long footrace-Jezebel
would have fulfilled his desires for
him. Here he was, though, alone
and exhausted and overwrought, and
with well-developed case of
splanchnic neurasthenia. Did you
ever have it? Well, it's awful Some
folks call it the "blues;" and when
you have it, death or anything less
might seem heavenly if it would
only deliver you from yourself.
How God Answered
God answered Elijah's prayer, but
not in the way Elijah had asked. God
always answers your prayers too,
but not always in the way you ask;
He is too kind and loving for that.
First, He put His exhausted serv-
ant to sleep; then He fed him until
he could not hold any more; then
He gave him a hallowed pilgrimage
and vision; and then He gave him
some more work to do; and after
a great many years EIe translated
him in a chariot of fire, SO that
he never had to taste death. How
wonderfully kind God is to His Serv-
ant!
But let us look at Elijah a little
more closely. What was the trou
BILE with him that he developed such
notable case of splanchnic neu-
rasthenia? Well. here are some of
the causes-he was tired and hun
cry, and lonely and mistaken, and
idle. Physically exhausted after the
terrible and lonely and mistaken,
and idle. Physically exhausted aft
er the terrific strain. That day on
Carmel he had eaten nothing; it
is physically eXhausting to pray as
he prayed on Carmel. Then he had
run Is miles before Ahab's chariot
at the close of the day. That was
one reason why JeZebel's message
scared him-he was tired. A man
is a spirit but he also has a body,
and very often the body's condition
, has a great effect on the spirit, al
though it need not always have.
Sometimes you feel like you have
lost your faith in God-the only trou-
BILE is your liver is not working well.
And that $50 mile race additional
did not rest him any; so that under
the juniper tree he was thoroughly
exhausted. God gave him what he
needed instead of what he wanted
He gave him sleep and food.
Elijah was also suffering from
mental reaction. His mind had
been on the alert so long and so
intensely that a reaction set in as
soon as his victory at Carmel was
! over and he had reached Jezreel and
it refused to work. OF course, this
was part of his physical exhaustion
for the brain is part of the body,
and an exhausted body means also
an exhausted brain and therefore a
| mind that does not function prop
erly.
He was lonely. For three and a
half years he had been a recluse; he
! had been in hiding and had not been
| thrown in contact with other folks
| The lack of companionship, that is,
of congenial companionship, is one
Of the worst experiences possible.
Particularly is this true in spiritual
matters. Elijah, because of it, grew
! to think of himself as the only peb-
| BILE on the beach, and that is ter
rible mental affection. He thought
he was necessary to God, that the
| world was on his shoulders, that
Gods cause would perish with him
self Instead of rebuking him, God
took him down to Horeb, where
Moses had been given the law for
which Elijah had been contending so
vigorously. There in a cave Elijah
! trembled as a mighty wind howled
around the crevices, and loosened
great boulders, throwing them over
| the mountain sides with terrible
crashes. Elijah was terrified as the
earth shook as though the very foun-
dations of the mountain were rock
| ing. Then thunderstorm with
| flashes of lightning that seemed as
though the heavens were on fire
came. Nor did this lessen Elijah $
terror at the display of Gods ire
mendous power-but in none Of this
did Elijah find God. Then there fol-
! lowed a stiffness that could be felt.
| 1t became audible, and Elijah, in his
innermost consciousness, heard God
speak to him.
The theophany that had been
granted him gave him knowl-
edge that he needed to have-God
| had other ways of working than the