March 4

1 Kings 19:4,10
“He requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers... And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” — 1 Kings 19:4,104But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. (1 Kings 19:4)
10And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. (1 Kings 19:10).
IT took real courage—the courage borne of the conviction that he was God’s own messenger—for this sturdy Tishbite to rebuke so powerful and wicked a ruler as Ahab, and even more to declare beforehand what nature saw no evidence of, but which faith counted on God to perform (1 Kings 18:4141And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain. (1 Kings 18:41)). Yet we see this bold man quail before the wrath of a proud, haughty, vixen-like Jezebel (1 Kings 19:2, 32Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time. 3And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. (1 Kings 19:2‑3)), whose threatening words so disturbed him that he preferred death to further conflict (1 Kings 19:44But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. (1 Kings 19:4)). In this we may see how truly he was a man of like passions with ourselves: not some wonderful, mysterious, superhuman being, but a very human person indeed, whom God had taken up in grace and commissioned for a great work. His greatest weakness was in connection with his outstanding testimony: he was inclined to think of himself as almost Jehovah’s sole representative on earth. When he said, “I only, am left (1 Kings 19:1414And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. (1 Kings 19:14)), God rebuked him by telling of seven thousand hidden ones in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal (ch. 19:18). We need to learn the same lesson. However faithful or devoted we may imagine ourselves to be, God has many more than ourselves who are true to His Word and faithful in their stand against apostasy.
“Not that there be leas to bear, not that there be more to share;
But for braver heart for bearing, but for freer heart for sharing—
Here I pray.
Not that joy and peace enfold me, not that wealth and pleasure hold me;
But that I may dry a tear, speak a word of strength and cheer
On the way.”