What are you doing here?

“What are you doing here, Elijah?” (I Kings 19:9)

What do a prophet, a lame man, and an adulterous woman have in common?  They are three individuals in the bible who, though they never met one another, have a life lesson that can help us in our difficulties.  All because God made them part of their solution.

Allow me to explain.  The Old Testament tells us of a struggle in the life of the prophet Elijah. (I Kings 19).  The wicked queen Jezebel hated Elijah and wanted to kill him, so he fled in fear of his life.  Can’t say as I blame him.  But all this resulted in great inner turmoil and depression for the prophet.  He fled into the wilderness and prayed for God to take his life.  Eventually, Elijah ended up at Mount Horeb.  While still steeped in his melancholy state, the Lord appeared to him and asked, “What are you doing here, Elijah?  Go out and stand on the mountain.”  What God told Elijah to do was very ordinary.  You see, Elijah was standing in the wrong place.  He simply had to move to where God wanted him to be.

The New Testament gives us several accounts of Christ healing.  One that stands out to me is the lame man at the pool of Bethesda.  He was an invalid for thirty-eight years.  Jesus approached him, asked him if he wanted to get well, and then told him to, “Get up!  Pick-up your mat and walk.” (John 5:8).  Again, the Lord told him to do something simple and ordinary.  The Lord invited him to simply act as a man who could walk, no longer bound to his infirmity. 

Then there was the woman in John 8 who was caught in an adulterous position.  The pharisees brought her to Jesus.  Jesus answer to her sinful dilemma – “Go! And sin no more.”  Just stop sinning!  Do what you know you should do!  It was her responsibility to put a stop to her sinning.  She needed to face her disobedience.    

Each of these individuals received orders from the Lord to take action to help themselves.  God didn’t allow Elijah to wallow in his self-pity.  He asked him what he was doing in such a state, then told him to go out and stand on the mountain.  The lame man had to first get-up, grab his mat and then he would walk for the first time in thirty-eight years.  The sinful woman brought to Christ was simply told to go and stop all her sinning.  In a sense it all sounds too simple, yet each was asked by God to be a part of their solution.  They each had to move and do something.

Perhaps some of us are not seeing our deliverance from what troubles us because we are not listening to a simple command from God that invites us to be a part of our solution.  Yes, we will have times in our lives of despair caused by real events.  And yes, there are times life will weaken us.  And because we are still sinners, our sin will overtake us at times.  But perhaps God is asking us what we are doing here – in the pitiful state we’re in.  Or perhaps he is telling us to get up and pick up our mat of faith.  Or maybe he is telling us the answer to the predicament is to simply stop sinning.  Perhaps being free from our dilemma begins with a command from God to do something within the strength and common sense understanding that he has given us.

                                                           Darlene