Martin Luther, Neenah 19August Kings 19:3-8 Pentecost 12, ILCW B What do you want most? Captain Jack Sparrow is the main character in the

Transcription

1 Martin Luther, Neenah 19August Kings 19:3-8 Pentecost 12, ILCW B What do you want most? Captain Jack Sparrow is the main character in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He s clever, daring, handsome, scheming, and always comes out on top. Like any pirate captain, his greatest prize is his ship: the Black Pearl, fastest in the Caribbean. But he keeps a close eye on his other affects too. They include his battered three-corner hat, a cutlass, a pistol, and a compass that doesn t point north. Why would anyone want a compass like that? If it doesn t point north, what good would it be? But often in the movies, north is not where they are looking to go. The compass points to something else. It points to what its holder wants most, and it never fails. So Captain Jack passes it to the next member of the cast, often after asking, What do you want most? Wouldn t that piece of equipment come in handy? What do you want most? Sometimes it can be hard to tell! What do you want most? Sometimes we are not honest with ourselves! What do you want most? Sometimes it can even lead us into trouble! Don t we have a good example of all of these things in this account? Perhaps we should also pose that question to Elijah: What do you want most? Elijah was the greatest prophet in Israel s history. He lived about 800 years before Jesus did, and he lived under the wickedest rulers of the Northern Kingdom: Ahab and Jezebel. They not only tolerated idol worship; they supported, funded, and promoted it. The people of Israel seemed to be running to Baal with open arms while they abandoned the Lord. But Elijah was coming away from a great victory against the prophets of Baal at the hand of the Lord on Mt. Carmel. There he had proposed a challenge to the followers of Baal. Both sides built an altar and placed a sacrifice on it. Let the deity who was able to respond by lighting the sacrifice on fire do so. The prophets of Baal prayed all day long. They cried and wailed and finally began to hurt themselves, hoping to spark a response from a dead idol. Elijah watched and mocked their futility. When it was his turn, Elijah had them dig a trench around the altar and dump water over everything until the trench was full. Sacrifice, wood, altar, trench, all wringing wet! When Elijah prays, he doesn t ask for fire. He just says, Let it be known today that you are God in Israel. The fire fell so furiously it even consumed the water. Baal was the fool; his false prophets fell to the sword. Then, immediately afterward, the Lord ended a drought which had lasted for three years. What a victory! But as soon as she heard about all this, Jezebel sent word to Elijah, I have sworn to my gods that I will kill you by this time tomorrow. On the heels of his greatest victory, and really one of the greatest signs of the Old Testament, Elijah flees in fear. He flees south into Judah. At the southernmost tip of Judah, Elijah leaves his servant behind and travels another day into the desert. He sees a single tree in the distance, a place of shade and shelter where there should be none. What does Elijah do? He prayed that he might die. I have had enough, LORD, he said. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors. Elijah says, That s it; I m done! Shouldn t this great victory over the prophets of Baal have accomplished something? Where is the great restoration of Israel that should have happened? At least, I should have seen the fiery sword of judgment drawn against your enemies, Lord! But nothing! Nothing really happened! Then I get a death threat for my trouble! I have had enough! Let me die like my ancestors did in the desert. I am no better than they. What have I accomplished, and what more could you hope to accomplish through me? Then he collapses in exhaustion and sleeps. But Elijah s day was not over yet! Just like that, an angel stood next to him. He touched Elijah and woke him. The angel had brought bread from heaven for him to eat, and so he ate and fell asleep again. The angel came back again and touched him and woke saying, Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you. At the point, Elijah knew that statement was true in every possible way. So he ate and drank again. The food strengthened him to the point he was able to travel for the next 40 days until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God, which you might know better as Mt. Sinai. Doesn t this account make you want to ask Elijah, What do you want most? It would almost seem his expectations were not quite as pure as we might expect from the greatest of God s prophets. It almost seems he was looking for earthly success, or at least relief from his struggles, and who could blame him. Eternal priority and glory seem less than important to him in light of his momentary setbacks. Was he

2 being drawn into that temptation to worship the temporal and despise the eternal? But isn t that the point here? Isn t that the lesson we want to learn from Elijah? Do not focus on the experience of the moment, whether that experience is good or bad, rather rivet your attention on the promises of God. As we look back over the details of Elijah s journey, we might be able to answer the question for him, What do you want most? But what happens when we turn back the compass to examine ourselves? Ask yourself, What do you want most? Where does the needle point now? We notice some of the same problems Elijah had. What do you want most? Is it always the spiritual, the God-pleasing, the eternal? Or does it often turn toward desire for and even worship of the physical, the self-seeking, the here and now? We want to quickly answer NO! But then why are we so quick to be afraid when we suffer a physical setback? Why do we so often run away from opposition we face because of our faith? Why are we so upset when our plans don t work out just as we planned, or we don t get our way in the way we think we should? Why does it bother us so when the Lord asks us to bear a cross and suffer difficulty now in accomplishing his eternal purpose for us or for a friend or for his church or even for his enemies or ours! Why don t we see the great restoration in faith and in life and in the church because of our faithful service? Or is it time for judgment? I have had enough! Why am I still here? You might be thinking, That s not me; that will never be me! But it is truly a rare person whose compass needle does not waver from God s promises and his eternal purpose. Too often, the busyness and pace of life just pushes these questions far into the background. But often in the hospital or at the home of the shut-in, when the distractions have fallen away, I have heard that frustration. Why am I still here? I ve had enough. What can the Lord hope to accomplish through me? All I have done seems so little, so useless. I feel so alone, and the Lord seems so far away with all of his promises, all of his help. All of the distractions of life, of the temporal, of the physical, of the here and now, have left me to wrestle with these questions weighted with eternity! So what now? What do you want most? It is precisely at moments like this, when the needle of the compass is desperately seeking for something to land on, when the Lord reminds us, just like he reminded Elijah, The journey is too much for you. You can t do this on your own, and you don t have to! I am here to help. I have strength to offer and help to give. I will sustain you with the Bread of heaven, and that is Jesus. Just like with Elijah, he is right there by your side. Jesus has promised to be with his people always. Jesus has promised to command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. He has promised to be your shield and strength and refuge. He has promised to be always at work for your good as he accomplishes his purposes. He will sustain you and see you through troubling times, which is exactly what we see with Elijah in the wilderness. Look where the Lord leads from there. First for Elijah, the Lord gave him the strength he needed to continue. Then he led Elijah to Mt. Sinai, where he showed his glory to Elijah just like he did to Moses. But that glory appeared in a gentle whisper. Then the Lord went on to show Elijah the plan he had not just for Elijah but also for his people. Can you see where this leads for you? The Lord will also provide the strength you need to make it through your days of frustration and difficulty. He leads you to his still small voice. That gentle whisper is the voice of the Gospel. It repeats those eternal promises the Lord makes to you. You are righteous. You are my child. You have an eternal home in heaven. You share Jesus victory. Often times, the Lord also gives you a glimpse into his plan too. After you have come away from the fog of frustration, you can see more clearly the direction you are going. You may even see how the difficulties you faced put you on the proper course. You also see more clearly the direction and guidance the Lord offers you in his Word. You can see these things only when the compass needle locks onto the promises of the Lord. What do you want most? Rivet your attention to those promises of the Lord. Continue to seek them out in his Word. When you do that, the experiences of each passing moment, whether they are good or bad, will not sway you off course into self-dependence or despair. The Bread of life gives you the strength to lock that compass needle in place. Crave that living Bread. Desire your Savior and the gentle whisper of his Word. Make that what you want most! Amen.

3 Martin Luther, Neenah 19August Kings 19:3-8 Pentecost 12, ILCW B What do you want most? Captain Jack Sparrow is the main character in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He s clever, daring, handsome, scheming, and always comes out on top. Like any pirate captain, his greatest prize is his ship: the Black Pearl, fastest in the Caribbean. But he keeps a close eye on his other affects too. They include his battered three-corner hat, a cutlass, a pistol, and a compass that doesn t point north. Why would anyone want a compass like that? If it doesn t point north, what good would it be? But often in the movies, north is not where they are looking to go. The compass points to something else. It points to what its holder wants most, and it never fails. So Captain Jack passes it to the next member of the cast, often after asking, What do you want most? Wouldn t that piece of equipment come in handy? What do you want most? Sometimes it can be hard to tell! What do you want most? Sometimes we are not honest with ourselves! What do you want most? Sometimes it can even lead us into trouble! Don t we have a good example of all of these things in this account? Perhaps we should also pose that question to Elijah: What do you want most? Elijah was the greatest prophet in Israel s history. He lived about 800 years before Jesus did, and he lived under the wickedest rulers of the Northern Kingdom: Ahab and Jezebel. They not only tolerated idol worship; they supported, funded, and promoted it. The people of Israel seemed to be running to Baal with open arms while they abandoned the Lord. But Elijah was coming away from a great victory against the prophets of Baal at the hand of the Lord on Mt. Carmel. There he had proposed a challenge to the followers of Baal. Both sides built an altar and placed a sacrifice on it. Let the deity who was able to respond by lighting the sacrifice on fire do so. The prophets of Baal prayed all day long. They cried and wailed and finally began to hurt themselves, hoping to spark a response from a dead idol. Elijah watched and mocked their futility. When it was his turn, Elijah had them dig a trench around the altar and dump water over everything until the trench was full. Sacrifice, wood, altar, trench, all wringing wet! When Elijah prays, he doesn t ask for fire. He just says, Let it be known today that you are God in Israel. The fire fell so furiously it even consumed the water. Baal was the fool; his false prophets fell to the sword. Then, immediately afterward, the Lord ended a drought which had lasted for three years. What a victory! But as soon as she heard about all this, Jezebel sent word to Elijah, I have sworn to my gods that I will kill you by this time tomorrow. On the heels of his greatest victory, and really one of the greatest signs of the Old Testament, Elijah flees in fear. He flees south into Judah. At the southernmost tip of Judah, Elijah leaves his servant behind and travels another day into the desert. He sees a single tree in the distance, a place of shade and shelter where there should be none. What does Elijah do? He prayed that he might die. I have had enough, LORD, he said. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors. Elijah says, That s it; I m done! Shouldn t this great victory over the prophets of Baal have accomplished something? Where is the great restoration of Israel that should have happened? At least, I should have seen the fiery sword of judgment drawn against your enemies, Lord! But nothing! Nothing really happened! Then I get a death threat for my trouble! I have had enough! Let me die like my ancestors did in the desert. I am no better than they. What have I accomplished, and what more could you hope to accomplish through me? Then he collapses in exhaustion and sleeps. But Elijah s day was not over yet! Just like that, an angel stood next to him. He touched Elijah and woke him. The angel had brought bread from heaven for him to eat, and so he ate and fell asleep again. The angel came back again and touched him and woke saying, Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you. At the point, Elijah knew that statement was true in every possible way. So he ate and drank again. The food strengthened him to the point he was able to travel for the next 40 days until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God, which you might know better as Mt. Sinai. Doesn t this account make you want to ask Elijah, What do you want most? It would almost seem his expectations were not quite as pure as we might expect from the greatest of God s prophets. It almost seems he was looking for earthly success, or at least relief from his struggles, and who could blame him. Eternal priority and glory seem less than important to him in light of his momentary setbacks. Was he

4 being drawn into that temptation to worship the temporal and despise the eternal? But isn t that the point here? Isn t that the lesson we want to learn from Elijah? Do not focus on the experience of the moment, whether that experience is good or bad, rather rivet your attention on the promises of God. As we look back over the details of Elijah s journey, we might be able to answer the question for him, What do you want most? But what happens when we turn back the compass to examine ourselves? Ask yourself, What do you want most? Where does the needle point now? We notice some of the same problems Elijah had. What do you want most? Is it always the spiritual, the God-pleasing, the eternal? Or does it often turn toward desire for and even worship of the physical, the self-seeking, the here and now? We want to quickly answer NO! But then why are we so quick to be afraid when we suffer a physical setback? Why do we so often run away from opposition we face because of our faith? Why are we so upset when our plans don t work out just as we planned, or we don t get our way in the way we think we should? Why does it bother us so when the Lord asks us to bear a cross and suffer difficulty now in accomplishing his eternal purpose for us or for a friend or for his church or even for his enemies or ours! Why don t we see the great restoration in faith and in life and in the church because of our faithful service? Or is it time for judgment? I have had enough! Why am I still here? You might be thinking, That s not me; that will never be me! But it is truly a rare person whose compass needle does not waver from God s promises and his eternal purpose. Too often, the busyness and pace of life just pushes these questions far into the background. But often in the hospital or at the home of the shut-in, when the distractions have fallen away, I have heard that frustration. Why am I still here? I ve had enough. What can the Lord hope to accomplish through me? All I have done seems so little, so useless. I feel so alone, and the Lord seems so far away with all of his promises, all of his help. All of the distractions of life, of the temporal, of the physical, of the here and now, have left me to wrestle with these questions weighted with eternity! So what now? What do you want most? It is precisely at moments like this, when the needle of the compass is desperately seeking for something to land on, when the Lord reminds us, just like he reminded Elijah, The journey is too much for you. You can t do this on your own, and you don t have to! I am here to help. I have strength to offer and help to give. I will sustain you with the Bread of heaven, and that is Jesus. Just like with Elijah, he is right there by your side. Jesus has promised to be with his people always. Jesus has promised to command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. He has promised to be your shield and strength and refuge. He has promised to be always at work for your good as he accomplishes his purposes. He will sustain you and see you through troubling times, which is exactly what we see with Elijah in the wilderness. Look where the Lord leads from there. First for Elijah, the Lord gave him the strength he needed to continue. Then he led Elijah to Mt. Sinai, where he showed his glory to Elijah just like he did to Moses. But that glory appeared in a gentle whisper. Then the Lord went on to show Elijah the plan he had not just for Elijah but also for his people. Can you see where this leads for you? The Lord will also provide the strength you need to make it through your days of frustration and difficulty. He leads you to his still small voice. That gentle whisper is the voice of the Gospel. It repeats those eternal promises the Lord makes to you. You are righteous. You are my child. You have an eternal home in heaven. You share Jesus victory. Often times, the Lord also gives you a glimpse into his plan too. After you have come away from the fog of frustration, you can see more clearly the direction you are going. You may even see how the difficulties you faced put you on the proper course. You also see more clearly the direction and guidance the Lord offers you in his Word. You can see these things only when the compass needle locks onto the promises of the Lord. What do you want most? Rivet your attention to those promises of the Lord. Continue to seek them out in his Word. When you do that, the experiences of each passing moment, whether they are good or bad, will not sway you off course into self-dependence or despair. The Bread of life gives you the strength to lock that compass needle in place. Crave that living Bread. Desire your Savior and the gentle whisper of his Word. Make that what you want most! Amen.

5 Martin Luther, Neenah 19August Kings 19:3-8 Pentecost 12, ILCW B What do you want most? Captain Jack Sparrow is the main character in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He s clever, daring, handsome, scheming, and always comes out on top. Like any pirate captain, his greatest prize is his ship: the Black Pearl, fastest in the Caribbean. But he keeps a close eye on his other affects too. They include his battered three-corner hat, a cutlass, a pistol, and a compass that doesn t point north. Why would anyone want a compass like that? If it doesn t point north, what good would it be? But often in the movies, north is not where they are looking to go. The compass points to something else. It points to what its holder wants most, and it never fails. So Captain Jack passes it to the next member of the cast, often after asking, What do you want most? Wouldn t that piece of equipment come in handy? What do you want most? Sometimes it can be hard to tell! What do you want most? Sometimes we are not honest with ourselves! What do you want most? Sometimes it can even lead us into trouble! Don t we have a good example of all of these things in this account? Perhaps we should also pose that question to Elijah: What do you want most? Elijah was the greatest prophet in Israel s history. He lived about 800 years before Jesus did, and he lived under the wickedest rulers of the Northern Kingdom: Ahab and Jezebel. They not only tolerated idol worship; they supported, funded, and promoted it. The people of Israel seemed to be running to Baal with open arms while they abandoned the Lord. But Elijah was coming away from a great victory against the prophets of Baal at the hand of the Lord on Mt. Carmel. There he had proposed a challenge to the followers of Baal. Both sides built an altar and placed a sacrifice on it. Let the deity who was able to respond by lighting the sacrifice on fire do so. The prophets of Baal prayed all day long. They cried and wailed and finally began to hurt themselves, hoping to spark a response from a dead idol. Elijah watched and mocked their futility. When it was his turn, Elijah had them dig a trench around the altar and dump water over everything until the trench was full. Sacrifice, wood, altar, trench, all wringing wet! When Elijah prays, he doesn t ask for fire. He just says, Let it be known today that you are God in Israel. The fire fell so furiously it even consumed the water. Baal was the fool; his false prophets fell to the sword. Then, immediately afterward, the Lord ended a drought which had lasted for three years. What a victory! But as soon as she heard about all this, Jezebel sent word to Elijah, I have sworn to my gods that I will kill you by this time tomorrow. On the heels of his greatest victory, and really one of the greatest signs of the Old Testament, Elijah flees in fear. He flees south into Judah. At the southernmost tip of Judah, Elijah leaves his servant behind and travels another day into the desert. He sees a single tree in the distance, a place of shade and shelter where there should be none. What does Elijah do? He prayed that he might die. I have had enough, LORD, he said. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors. Elijah says, That s it; I m done! Shouldn t this great victory over the prophets of Baal have accomplished something? Where is the great restoration of Israel that should have happened? At least, I should have seen the fiery sword of judgment drawn against your enemies, Lord! But nothing! Nothing really happened! Then I get a death threat for my trouble! I have had enough! Let me die like my ancestors did in the desert. I am no better than they. What have I accomplished, and what more could you hope to accomplish through me? Then he collapses in exhaustion and sleeps. But Elijah s day was not over yet! Just like that, an angel stood next to him. He touched Elijah and woke him. The angel had brought bread from heaven for him to eat, and so he ate and fell asleep again. The angel came back again and touched him and woke saying, Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you. At the point, Elijah knew that statement was true in every possible way. So he ate and drank again. The food strengthened him to the point he was able to travel for the next 40 days until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God, which you might know better as Mt. Sinai. Doesn t this account make you want to ask Elijah, What do you want most? It would almost seem his expectations were not quite as pure as we might expect from the greatest of God s prophets. It almost seems he was looking for earthly success, or at least relief from his struggles, and who could blame him. Eternal priority and glory seem less than important to him in light of his momentary setbacks. Was he

6 being drawn into that temptation to worship the temporal and despise the eternal? But isn t that the point here? Isn t that the lesson we want to learn from Elijah? Do not focus on the experience of the moment, whether that experience is good or bad, rather rivet your attention on the promises of God. As we look back over the details of Elijah s journey, we might be able to answer the question for him, What do you want most? But what happens when we turn back the compass to examine ourselves? Ask yourself, What do you want most? Where does the needle point now? We notice some of the same problems Elijah had. What do you want most? Is it always the spiritual, the God-pleasing, the eternal? Or does it often turn toward desire for and even worship of the physical, the self-seeking, the here and now? We want to quickly answer NO! But then why are we so quick to be afraid when we suffer a physical setback? Why do we so often run away from opposition we face because of our faith? Why are we so upset when our plans don t work out just as we planned, or we don t get our way in the way we think we should? Why does it bother us so when the Lord asks us to bear a cross and suffer difficulty now in accomplishing his eternal purpose for us or for a friend or for his church or even for his enemies or ours! Why don t we see the great restoration in faith and in life and in the church because of our faithful service? Or is it time for judgment? I have had enough! Why am I still here? You might be thinking, That s not me; that will never be me! But it is truly a rare person whose compass needle does not waver from God s promises and his eternal purpose. Too often, the busyness and pace of life just pushes these questions far into the background. But often in the hospital or at the home of the shut-in, when the distractions have fallen away, I have heard that frustration. Why am I still here? I ve had enough. What can the Lord hope to accomplish through me? All I have done seems so little, so useless. I feel so alone, and the Lord seems so far away with all of his promises, all of his help. All of the distractions of life, of the temporal, of the physical, of the here and now, have left me to wrestle with these questions weighted with eternity! So what now? What do you want most? It is precisely at moments like this, when the needle of the compass is desperately seeking for something to land on, when the Lord reminds us, just like he reminded Elijah, The journey is too much for you. You can t do this on your own, and you don t have to! I am here to help. I have strength to offer and help to give. I will sustain you with the Bread of heaven, and that is Jesus. Just like with Elijah, he is right there by your side. Jesus has promised to be with his people always. Jesus has promised to command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. He has promised to be your shield and strength and refuge. He has promised to be always at work for your good as he accomplishes his purposes. He will sustain you and see you through troubling times, which is exactly what we see with Elijah in the wilderness. Look where the Lord leads from there. First for Elijah, the Lord gave him the strength he needed to continue. Then he led Elijah to Mt. Sinai, where he showed his glory to Elijah just like he did to Moses. But that glory appeared in a gentle whisper. Then the Lord went on to show Elijah the plan he had not just for Elijah but also for his people. Can you see where this leads for you? The Lord will also provide the strength you need to make it through your days of frustration and difficulty. He leads you to his still small voice. That gentle whisper is the voice of the Gospel. It repeats those eternal promises the Lord makes to you. You are righteous. You are my child. You have an eternal home in heaven. You share Jesus victory. Often times, the Lord also gives you a glimpse into his plan too. After you have come away from the fog of frustration, you can see more clearly the direction you are going. You may even see how the difficulties you faced put you on the proper course. You also see more clearly the direction and guidance the Lord offers you in his Word. You can see these things only when the compass needle locks onto the promises of the Lord. What do you want most? Rivet your attention to those promises of the Lord. Continue to seek them out in his Word. When you do that, the experiences of each passing moment, whether they are good or bad, will not sway you off course into self-dependence or despair. The Bread of life gives you the strength to lock that compass needle in place. Crave that living Bread. Desire your Savior and the gentle whisper of his Word. Make that what you want most! Amen.

7 Martin Luther, Neenah 19August Kings 19:3-8 Pentecost 12, ILCW B What do you want most? Captain Jack Sparrow is the main character in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He s clever, daring, handsome, scheming, and always comes out on top. Like any pirate captain, his greatest prize is his ship: the Black Pearl, fastest in the Caribbean. But he keeps a close eye on his other affects too. They include his battered three-corner hat, a cutlass, a pistol, and a compass that doesn t point north. Why would anyone want a compass like that? If it doesn t point north, what good would it be? But often in the movies, north is not where they are looking to go. The compass points to something else. It points to what its holder wants most, and it never fails. So Captain Jack passes it to the next member of the cast, often after asking, What do you want most? Wouldn t that piece of equipment come in handy? What do you want most? Sometimes it can be hard to tell! What do you want most? Sometimes we are not honest with ourselves! What do you want most? Sometimes it can even lead us into trouble! Don t we have a good example of all of these things in this account? Perhaps we should also pose that question to Elijah: What do you want most? Elijah was the greatest prophet in Israel s history. He lived about 800 years before Jesus did, and he lived under the wickedest rulers of the Northern Kingdom: Ahab and Jezebel. They not only tolerated idol worship; they supported, funded, and promoted it. The people of Israel seemed to be running to Baal with open arms while they abandoned the Lord. But Elijah was coming away from a great victory against the prophets of Baal at the hand of the Lord on Mt. Carmel. There he had proposed a challenge to the followers of Baal. Both sides built an altar and placed a sacrifice on it. Let the deity who was able to respond by lighting the sacrifice on fire do so. The prophets of Baal prayed all day long. They cried and wailed and finally began to hurt themselves, hoping to spark a response from a dead idol. Elijah watched and mocked their futility. When it was his turn, Elijah had them dig a trench around the altar and dump water over everything until the trench was full. Sacrifice, wood, altar, trench, all wringing wet! When Elijah prays, he doesn t ask for fire. He just says, Let it be known today that you are God in Israel. The fire fell so furiously it even consumed the water. Baal was the fool; his false prophets fell to the sword. Then, immediately afterward, the Lord ended a drought which had lasted for three years. What a victory! But as soon as she heard about all this, Jezebel sent word to Elijah, I have sworn to my gods that I will kill you by this time tomorrow. On the heels of his greatest victory, and really one of the greatest signs of the Old Testament, Elijah flees in fear. He flees south into Judah. At the southernmost tip of Judah, Elijah leaves his servant behind and travels another day into the desert. He sees a single tree in the distance, a place of shade and shelter where there should be none. What does Elijah do? He prayed that he might die. I have had enough, LORD, he said. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors. Elijah says, That s it; I m done! Shouldn t this great victory over the prophets of Baal have accomplished something? Where is the great restoration of Israel that should have happened? At least, I should have seen the fiery sword of judgment drawn against your enemies, Lord! But nothing! Nothing really happened! Then I get a death threat for my trouble! I have had enough! Let me die like my ancestors did in the desert. I am no better than they. What have I accomplished, and what more could you hope to accomplish through me? Then he collapses in exhaustion and sleeps. But Elijah s day was not over yet! Just like that, an angel stood next to him. He touched Elijah and woke him. The angel had brought bread from heaven for him to eat, and so he ate and fell asleep again. The angel came back again and touched him and woke saying, Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you. At the point, Elijah knew that statement was true in every possible way. So he ate and drank again. The food strengthened him to the point he was able to travel for the next 40 days until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God, which you might know better as Mt. Sinai. Doesn t this account make you want to ask Elijah, What do you want most? It would almost seem his expectations were not quite as pure as we might expect from the greatest of God s prophets. It almost seems he was looking for earthly success, or at least relief from his struggles, and who could blame him. Eternal priority and glory seem less than important to him in light of his momentary setbacks. Was he

8 being drawn into that temptation to worship the temporal and despise the eternal? But isn t that the point here? Isn t that the lesson we want to learn from Elijah? Do not focus on the experience of the moment, whether that experience is good or bad, rather rivet your attention on the promises of God. As we look back over the details of Elijah s journey, we might be able to answer the question for him, What do you want most? But what happens when we turn back the compass to examine ourselves? Ask yourself, What do you want most? Where does the needle point now? We notice some of the same problems Elijah had. What do you want most? Is it always the spiritual, the God-pleasing, the eternal? Or does it often turn toward desire for and even worship of the physical, the self-seeking, the here and now? We want to quickly answer NO! But then why are we so quick to be afraid when we suffer a physical setback? Why do we so often run away from opposition we face because of our faith? Why are we so upset when our plans don t work out just as we planned, or we don t get our way in the way we think we should? Why does it bother us so when the Lord asks us to bear a cross and suffer difficulty now in accomplishing his eternal purpose for us or for a friend or for his church or even for his enemies or ours! Why don t we see the great restoration in faith and in life and in the church because of our faithful service? Or is it time for judgment? I have had enough! Why am I still here? You might be thinking, That s not me; that will never be me! But it is truly a rare person whose compass needle does not waver from God s promises and his eternal purpose. Too often, the busyness and pace of life just pushes these questions far into the background. But often in the hospital or at the home of the shut-in, when the distractions have fallen away, I have heard that frustration. Why am I still here? I ve had enough. What can the Lord hope to accomplish through me? All I have done seems so little, so useless. I feel so alone, and the Lord seems so far away with all of his promises, all of his help. All of the distractions of life, of the temporal, of the physical, of the here and now, have left me to wrestle with these questions weighted with eternity! So what now? What do you want most? It is precisely at moments like this, when the needle of the compass is desperately seeking for something to land on, when the Lord reminds us, just like he reminded Elijah, The journey is too much for you. You can t do this on your own, and you don t have to! I am here to help. I have strength to offer and help to give. I will sustain you with the Bread of heaven, and that is Jesus. Just like with Elijah, he is right there by your side. Jesus has promised to be with his people always. Jesus has promised to command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. He has promised to be your shield and strength and refuge. He has promised to be always at work for your good as he accomplishes his purposes. He will sustain you and see you through troubling times, which is exactly what we see with Elijah in the wilderness. Look where the Lord leads from there. First for Elijah, the Lord gave him the strength he needed to continue. Then he led Elijah to Mt. Sinai, where he showed his glory to Elijah just like he did to Moses. But that glory appeared in a gentle whisper. Then the Lord went on to show Elijah the plan he had not just for Elijah but also for his people. Can you see where this leads for you? The Lord will also provide the strength you need to make it through your days of frustration and difficulty. He leads you to his still small voice. That gentle whisper is the voice of the Gospel. It repeats those eternal promises the Lord makes to you. You are righteous. You are my child. You have an eternal home in heaven. You share Jesus victory. Often times, the Lord also gives you a glimpse into his plan too. After you have come away from the fog of frustration, you can see more clearly the direction you are going. You may even see how the difficulties you faced put you on the proper course. You also see more clearly the direction and guidance the Lord offers you in his Word. You can see these things only when the compass needle locks onto the promises of the Lord. What do you want most? Rivet your attention to those promises of the Lord. Continue to seek them out in his Word. When you do that, the experiences of each passing moment, whether they are good or bad, will not sway you off course into self-dependence or despair. The Bread of life gives you the strength to lock that compass needle in place. Crave that living Bread. Desire your Savior and the gentle whisper of his Word. Make that what you want most! Amen.

9 Martin Luther, Neenah 19August Kings 19:3-8 Pentecost 12, ILCW B What do you want most? Captain Jack Sparrow is the main character in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He s clever, daring, handsome, scheming, and always comes out on top. Like any pirate captain, his greatest prize is his ship: the Black Pearl, fastest in the Caribbean. But he keeps a close eye on his other affects too. They include his battered three-corner hat, a cutlass, a pistol, and a compass that doesn t point north. Why would anyone want a compass like that? If it doesn t point north, what good would it be? But often in the movies, north is not where they are looking to go. The compass points to something else. It points to what its holder wants most, and it never fails. So Captain Jack passes it to the next member of the cast, often after asking, What do you want most? Wouldn t that piece of equipment come in handy? What do you want most? Sometimes it can be hard to tell! What do you want most? Sometimes we are not honest with ourselves! What do you want most? Sometimes it can even lead us into trouble! Don t we have a good example of all of these things in this account? Perhaps we should also pose that question to Elijah: What do you want most? Elijah was the greatest prophet in Israel s history. He lived about 800 years before Jesus did, and he lived under the wickedest rulers of the Northern Kingdom: Ahab and Jezebel. They not only tolerated idol worship; they supported, funded, and promoted it. The people of Israel seemed to be running to Baal with open arms while they abandoned the Lord. But Elijah was coming away from a great victory against the prophets of Baal at the hand of the Lord on Mt. Carmel. There he had proposed a challenge to the followers of Baal. Both sides built an altar and placed a sacrifice on it. Let the deity who was able to respond by lighting the sacrifice on fire do so. The prophets of Baal prayed all day long. They cried and wailed and finally began to hurt themselves, hoping to spark a response from a dead idol. Elijah watched and mocked their futility. When it was his turn, Elijah had them dig a trench around the altar and dump water over everything until the trench was full. Sacrifice, wood, altar, trench, all wringing wet! When Elijah prays, he doesn t ask for fire. He just says, Let it be known today that you are God in Israel. The fire fell so furiously it even consumed the water. Baal was the fool; his false prophets fell to the sword. Then, immediately afterward, the Lord ended a drought which had lasted for three years. What a victory! But as soon as she heard about all this, Jezebel sent word to Elijah, I have sworn to my gods that I will kill you by this time tomorrow. On the heels of his greatest victory, and really one of the greatest signs of the Old Testament, Elijah flees in fear. He flees south into Judah. At the southernmost tip of Judah, Elijah leaves his servant behind and travels another day into the desert. He sees a single tree in the distance, a place of shade and shelter where there should be none. What does Elijah do? He prayed that he might die. I have had enough, LORD, he said. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors. Elijah says, That s it; I m done! Shouldn t this great victory over the prophets of Baal have accomplished something? Where is the great restoration of Israel that should have happened? At least, I should have seen the fiery sword of judgment drawn against your enemies, Lord! But nothing! Nothing really happened! Then I get a death threat for my trouble! I have had enough! Let me die like my ancestors did in the desert. I am no better than they. What have I accomplished, and what more could you hope to accomplish through me? Then he collapses in exhaustion and sleeps. But Elijah s day was not over yet! Just like that, an angel stood next to him. He touched Elijah and woke him. The angel had brought bread from heaven for him to eat, and so he ate and fell asleep again. The angel came back again and touched him and woke saying, Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you. At the point, Elijah knew that statement was true in every possible way. So he ate and drank again. The food strengthened him to the point he was able to travel for the next 40 days until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God, which you might know better as Mt. Sinai. Doesn t this account make you want to ask Elijah, What do you want most? It would almost seem his expectations were not quite as pure as we might expect from the greatest of God s prophets. It almost seems he was looking for earthly success, or at least relief from his struggles, and who could blame him. Eternal priority and glory seem less than important to him in light of his momentary setbacks. Was he

10 being drawn into that temptation to worship the temporal and despise the eternal? But isn t that the point here? Isn t that the lesson we want to learn from Elijah? Do not focus on the experience of the moment, whether that experience is good or bad, rather rivet your attention on the promises of God. As we look back over the details of Elijah s journey, we might be able to answer the question for him, What do you want most? But what happens when we turn back the compass to examine ourselves? Ask yourself, What do you want most? Where does the needle point now? We notice some of the same problems Elijah had. What do you want most? Is it always the spiritual, the God-pleasing, the eternal? Or does it often turn toward desire for and even worship of the physical, the self-seeking, the here and now? We want to quickly answer NO! But then why are we so quick to be afraid when we suffer a physical setback? Why do we so often run away from opposition we face because of our faith? Why are we so upset when our plans don t work out just as we planned, or we don t get our way in the way we think we should? Why does it bother us so when the Lord asks us to bear a cross and suffer difficulty now in accomplishing his eternal purpose for us or for a friend or for his church or even for his enemies or ours! Why don t we see the great restoration in faith and in life and in the church because of our faithful service? Or is it time for judgment? I have had enough! Why am I still here? You might be thinking, That s not me; that will never be me! But it is truly a rare person whose compass needle does not waver from God s promises and his eternal purpose. Too often, the busyness and pace of life just pushes these questions far into the background. But often in the hospital or at the home of the shut-in, when the distractions have fallen away, I have heard that frustration. Why am I still here? I ve had enough. What can the Lord hope to accomplish through me? All I have done seems so little, so useless. I feel so alone, and the Lord seems so far away with all of his promises, all of his help. All of the distractions of life, of the temporal, of the physical, of the here and now, have left me to wrestle with these questions weighted with eternity! So what now? What do you want most? It is precisely at moments like this, when the needle of the compass is desperately seeking for something to land on, when the Lord reminds us, just like he reminded Elijah, The journey is too much for you. You can t do this on your own, and you don t have to! I am here to help. I have strength to offer and help to give. I will sustain you with the Bread of heaven, and that is Jesus. Just like with Elijah, he is right there by your side. Jesus has promised to be with his people always. Jesus has promised to command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. He has promised to be your shield and strength and refuge. He has promised to be always at work for your good as he accomplishes his purposes. He will sustain you and see you through troubling times, which is exactly what we see with Elijah in the wilderness. Look where the Lord leads from there. First for Elijah, the Lord gave him the strength he needed to continue. Then he led Elijah to Mt. Sinai, where he showed his glory to Elijah just like he did to Moses. But that glory appeared in a gentle whisper. Then the Lord went on to show Elijah the plan he had not just for Elijah but also for his people. Can you see where this leads for you? The Lord will also provide the strength you need to make it through your days of frustration and difficulty. He leads you to his still small voice. That gentle whisper is the voice of the Gospel. It repeats those eternal promises the Lord makes to you. You are righteous. You are my child. You have an eternal home in heaven. You share Jesus victory. Often times, the Lord also gives you a glimpse into his plan too. After you have come away from the fog of frustration, you can see more clearly the direction you are going. You may even see how the difficulties you faced put you on the proper course. You also see more clearly the direction and guidance the Lord offers you in his Word. You can see these things only when the compass needle locks onto the promises of the Lord. What do you want most? Rivet your attention to those promises of the Lord. Continue to seek them out in his Word. When you do that, the experiences of each passing moment, whether they are good or bad, will not sway you off course into self-dependence or despair. The Bread of life gives you the strength to lock that compass needle in place. Crave that living Bread. Desire your Savior and the gentle whisper of his Word. Make that what you want most! Amen.

11 Martin Luther, Neenah 19August Kings 19:3-8 Pentecost 12, ILCW B What do you want most? Captain Jack Sparrow is the main character in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He s clever, daring, handsome, scheming, and always comes out on top. Like any pirate captain, his greatest prize is his ship: the Black Pearl, fastest in the Caribbean. But he keeps a close eye on his other affects too. They include his battered three-corner hat, a cutlass, a pistol, and a compass that doesn t point north. Why would anyone want a compass like that? If it doesn t point north, what good would it be? But often in the movies, north is not where they are looking to go. The compass points to something else. It points to what its holder wants most, and it never fails. So Captain Jack passes it to the next member of the cast, often after asking, What do you want most? Wouldn t that piece of equipment come in handy? What do you want most? Sometimes it can be hard to tell! What do you want most? Sometimes we are not honest with ourselves! What do you want most? Sometimes it can even lead us into trouble! Don t we have a good example of all of these things in this account? Perhaps we should also pose that question to Elijah: What do you want most? Elijah was the greatest prophet in Israel s history. He lived about 800 years before Jesus did, and he lived under the wickedest rulers of the Northern Kingdom: Ahab and Jezebel. They not only tolerated idol worship; they supported, funded, and promoted it. The people of Israel seemed to be running to Baal with open arms while they abandoned the Lord. But Elijah was coming away from a great victory against the prophets of Baal at the hand of the Lord on Mt. Carmel. There he had proposed a challenge to the followers of Baal. Both sides built an altar and placed a sacrifice on it. Let the deity who was able to respond by lighting the sacrifice on fire do so. The prophets of Baal prayed all day long. They cried and wailed and finally began to hurt themselves, hoping to spark a response from a dead idol. Elijah watched and mocked their futility. When it was his turn, Elijah had them dig a trench around the altar and dump water over everything until the trench was full. Sacrifice, wood, altar, trench, all wringing wet! When Elijah prays, he doesn t ask for fire. He just says, Let it be known today that you are God in Israel. The fire fell so furiously it even consumed the water. Baal was the fool; his false prophets fell to the sword. Then, immediately afterward, the Lord ended a drought which had lasted for three years. What a victory! But as soon as she heard about all this, Jezebel sent word to Elijah, I have sworn to my gods that I will kill you by this time tomorrow. On the heels of his greatest victory, and really one of the greatest signs of the Old Testament, Elijah flees in fear. He flees south into Judah. At the southernmost tip of Judah, Elijah leaves his servant behind and travels another day into the desert. He sees a single tree in the distance, a place of shade and shelter where there should be none. What does Elijah do? He prayed that he might die. I have had enough, LORD, he said. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors. Elijah says, That s it; I m done! Shouldn t this great victory over the prophets of Baal have accomplished something? Where is the great restoration of Israel that should have happened? At least, I should have seen the fiery sword of judgment drawn against your enemies, Lord! But nothing! Nothing really happened! Then I get a death threat for my trouble! I have had enough! Let me die like my ancestors did in the desert. I am no better than they. What have I accomplished, and what more could you hope to accomplish through me? Then he collapses in exhaustion and sleeps. But Elijah s day was not over yet! Just like that, an angel stood next to him. He touched Elijah and woke him. The angel had brought bread from heaven for him to eat, and so he ate and fell asleep again. The angel came back again and touched him and woke saying, Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you. At the point, Elijah knew that statement was true in every possible way. So he ate and drank again. The food strengthened him to the point he was able to travel for the next 40 days until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God, which you might know better as Mt. Sinai. Doesn t this account make you want to ask Elijah, What do you want most? It would almost seem his expectations were not quite as pure as we might expect from the greatest of God s prophets. It almost seems he was looking for earthly success, or at least relief from his struggles, and who could blame him. Eternal priority and glory seem less than important to him in light of his momentary setbacks. Was he