Elijah was a remarkable man. What do you suppose made him great? Was it the great deeds that made him famous in the eyes of men? No, we find the answer in the comment of James: “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly.” Here was the spring of inward communion with God. It was not the great acts of service; it was the secret exercises of heart in dependence on God.
God trained him in secret for his public work. When his outward service of power had taken him away from his inward communion with God and he flees from man, then God in grace cares for him and gives him further training. A man is never nearer failure than when he has done well! Elijah had to learn in secret that God can do without you, but you cannot do without God!
God never gives a man up! He will rebuke, chastise and train, but He never gives him up. But first he must learn that power is of God and that it only works in weakness.
God gave this man a work to do. He flees from it. Alone with God, he must answer the question, “What doest thou here?” God and his conscience must meet face to face. A lesson must be learned. At last the “still small voice” is heard, “Go, return.” May we learn from Elijah, God’s remarkable servant.
F. G. Patterson, adapted