A Stranger's Voice

The story of Elijah in the first book of Kings is such a clear reminder of just how listening to any voice other than God’s can displace us. After listening to Jezebel’s threat, Elijah ran for his life. In Horeb where he ends up, God repeatedly asks him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:9,13). God asks this question because fear, which came as a result of listening to a ‘stranger’s voice’, had displaced Elijah.

 

In previous chapters we see how Elijah’s steps were ordered by the Lord. Elijah was always where God wanted him to be because he was following God’s voice. After delivering a prophesy about the famine, God directed him to the Kerith Ravine where he would make divine provision for him. Following the drying up of the brook there, God led him to go to Zarephath where again he would be divinely provided for through a widow. When it was time for the famine to end, God again gave instruction to Elijah to move – to go present himself to king Ahab. Elijah always moved according to God’s speaking, but we now find him moving because of what Jezebel has said.

 

Moving because of what the enemy says can never lead to anything good because he doesn’t approach unless it is to kill, steal and destroy. It is no wonder Elijah was praying to die. Listening to the enemy’s voice certainly leaves us feeling confused, afraid, burdened, and hopeless. In John 10:4-5, Jesus speaks of how His sheep know his voice and how they respond to a stranger’s voice: “When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” (NIV)

 

Like Elijah, we sometimes think that we can handle listening to the enemy. Instead of running to take refuge in what God has said, we process and ponder on what Jezebel says. Where the other versions say “Elijah was afraid” the KJV (as well as the NIV’s footnote) talk about how Elijah “saw”. This points to how Elijah not only heard what Jezebel said but began envisioning it. This is exactly why we should run because listening to a stranger’s voice changes our perception and leads us into disobedience as it did Eve.

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it…”

Genesis 3:6

 

The question that God asks Elijah is intriguing - it is similar to the question God asked Adam after he was misplaced by sin. Since Elijah wasn’t in hiding, God doesn’t ask where he is as he does Adam, instead he asks what he’s doing there. This question points to how position and purpose are connected. Elijah, called to serve the purpose of being prophet, is now in a position that does not allow him to serve this purpose. In this position, placed by fear born of a stranger’s speaking, he is too consumed by distress to be concerned with delivering God’s message to His people.

 

Even his response to God’s question reflects the change in his perception. “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too” (1 Kings 19:10). His response dismisses two truths: yes, Israel had rejected God, but they had also just repented (see 1 Kings 18:39). Also, yes, Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord, but Obadiah was keeping one hundred prophets in hiding (see 1 Kings 18:13). Basically, things were not as bad as Elijah was seeing them to be. Yes, there were terrible things happening, but God’s faithfulness was still traceable in the chaos.

 

God concludes by giving Elijah direction yet again. He instructs him to go back the way he came, to go to Damascus to anoint two kings and a prophet to succeed him. God leads him back to purpose. Listening to God’s voice literally saved him from death and that’s the good that comes from following God’s voice – life in its fullness. So, may you remember whenever you find yourself ridden by worry, overwhelmed with anxiety and paralysed by fear – it is not your Father’s speaking that has bought you there. The thief must have climbed in and sowed his seed of deception. When he whispers in your ear, run! Run back to safety in the promises of His Word.

 

“The name of the Lord is a strong fortress; the godly run to him and are safe.” Proverbs 18:10 (NLT)