We are, after all, only human

After fleeing evil Queen Jezebel’s threats to kill him, Elijah, tired and hungry, sits alone and depressed by this thought – I’m the only person left in all of Israel who remains faithful to God. (I Kings 19:1-9)

An angel comes to Elijah’s aid. The angel doesn’t preach a rousing sermon or berate Elijah for his faithless thoughts. He cooks a meal and draws water for the discouraged prophet. “There, there . . .” his kind actions say. “You’ll feel better soon.”

Elijah gets a much-needed sleep, until the angel nudges him awake. “Arise and eat for the journey is too great for you,” he says. The angel’s words and actions demonstrate compassion and understanding. David, the Psalmist, wrote:

 “He knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” Psalm 103:14

Physical, emotional and mental fragilities impair each of us. They’re what makes us human. God considers our weaknesses in His dealings with us. He knows what they are, how we came to have them and that our weaknesses tend to lead us into seasons of discouragement.

People saw Elijah’s courage – he stood up to 450 idol worshiping leaders, he called fire down from heaven, he ran a 25 mile marathon - and they thought, there’s an invincible man. But hunger, fatigue and loneliness filled the miracle-working prophet with gloom, because he was, after all, just a man. In the New Testament, James addresses this:

 “Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain and the earth produced its crops.” (5:17,18)

 “A man like us . . .” prone to human frailties like hunger, thirst and tiredness. Prone to discouragement. We want Elijah to be super-human, he wasn’t. Yet he was a courageous man of God. Which shows that we can be courageous God-worshipers too, in spite of our weaknesses.

Let’s not despise our human weaknesses, and berate ourselves that we’re not superhuman, but let’s allow our weaknesses to cause us to lean more on God. 

God works through ordinary human beings like you and me, and Elijah, every day.

Go Forward on Your Knees

Jonathan Goforth

Missionaries Jonathan and Rosalind Goforth arrived in China in March 1888. Their assignment to open a new field in the northern section of Honan province was a daunting one. The young couple struggled to learn the language, adjust to the climate and raise a large family in less than desirable surroundings. They met many discouraging challenges, including the death of a child. One day a letter arrived from Hudson Taylor, then a pioneer with China Inland Missions.

He wrote: “We understand North Honan is to be your field; we, as a mission, have tried for ten years to enter that province from the south, and have only just succeeded. It is one of the most anti-foreign provinces in China . . . Brother, if you would enter that province, you must go forward on your knees.”

The Goforths took Taylor’s advice. Prayer became their strongest tool. With persistence and prayer, they mastered the language. People began responding to their message of a loving Christ. A female convert filled the Goforth’s need of an assistant Bible teacher for women. Years later, Rosalind Goforth wrote a little book, How I Know God Answers Prayer. She told of miracles of revival, guidance, healing and comfort. Through the Boxer Rebellion and many other life threatening events, the Goforths proceeded on their knees.

Prayer packs a punch. It sends tremors down the enemy’s spine. It puts courage in the weak-kneed and takes the whine and worry out of life. It resurrects the fallen and revives the discouraged. Only God can open closed doors. Only He can give us courage to face impossible situations.

His ear is always tilted toward earth, ready to hear our petitions.

For years, family members fasted and prayed for my father’s salvation but his resistance to the gospel was strong. When he was first diagnosed with Alzheimer’s we thought his was an impossible situation. We didn’t know that God planned to use the illness to weaken Dad’s opposition. He became childlike and passive. A year and a half before his death he confessed his faith in Jesus. God clears our paths of obstacles in unexpected ways when we press forward on our knees.

Go forward on your knees is good advice, not just for missionaries on foreign fields but for ordinary people like you and me.

Treasure Your Connections

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Parkinson’s Disease landed my uncle, Ransford Galbraith, in the hospital. He’d never live at home again doctors said. On my last visit with him, his eyes watered with tears. “I told my granddaughters not to worry if I cry . … Continue reading →

Charles Colson: A Redeemed Prisoner

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                                                                     Charles Colson, once an advisor to President Richard Nixon and a member of the Washington in-crowd, warmed himself too close to the flames of Watergate and got burned. When Colson gave his life to Christ, heaven’s holy fire drove him … Continue reading →

Confrontation can be a Spiritual Experience

It’s often a bad idea to work for the church you attend. But that’s what I did for 13 years. Without giving details about numerous negative experiences, I’ll just say that I had a naive way of handling disagreeable, rude, … Continue reading →

Transformed

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At 14, I was a disgruntled church-goer. I went because it was one of Mom’s compulsories. As young as 5, I couldn’t wait for Sunday School to end. By the time I was a teenager my dislike for church was in … Continue reading →

Hosanna – A Word Perfectly Suited to Jesus

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Hosanna! One of my favorite words, a celebration word, it exalts God to the highest heaven. When thank-you Lord” and “praise God” seem weak and unsatisfactory, we can dig deep and find that perfect word – Hosanna. The crowds who hailed … Continue reading →