Empty and Broken | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Empty and Broken | Previous Challenge Entry
By Rick Gregory
01/28/25
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES

Try and picture this: he’s in the desert where the temp often hits over 120 degrees. It’s hot and he’s sweating like crazy, dressed in his camel’s hair coat. He finds a “broom tree,” (what we might call a juniper) to get some relief from the sun and the heat. Sitting with his eyes closed, he’s reliving an epic battle with the regime’s high priests of the dominant religion, the priests of Baal. Can you even imagine how tired his arms, legs, and back would be after swinging a sword for what had to have been hours? How long do you think it might take to kill 450 men who were likely attacking him as well? Are the emotions he feels elation and confidence? No, instead he’s experiencing that gut-wrenching, horrifying, life-altering terror with such desperation that he feels like he has to run from a solitary woman who wants him dead. This was a man who’d just watched as God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies responded instantly to his request to send fire from heaven to vaporize in a moment, a 2,500 pound beast covered with and drenched with water. He’s single-handedly cut down 450 men over who knows how long . . . And he’s afraid of the woman? What’s wrong with this picture?

Elijah, victorious over the 450 priests of Baal, was terrified of Queen Jezebel. He’d just flagrantly and publicly humiliated and then executed 450 of God’s enemies, and he runs from a woman? He was so afraid that he ran back to his village, left his servant at home and went a day’s journey into the wilderness, where he sat under a tree and begged God to kill him. What the heck?

So he sleeps, wakes and finds a food drop from an angel. God’s 2nd intervention in just a couple days. And he’s still terrified. From this food drop, he’s “energized” to travel 40 days and nights with no more food. Did he sleep? The narrative doesn’t say. No wonder he’s crazy! When he arrives at the cave on Mount Sinai, he sleeps again. Not surprising after 40 days of travel without eating, right? When he finally wakes, the Lord asks, “Elijah, why are you here?” This is where Elijah enlightens us with the state of his mind and his soul. He tells God that “all your people have broken their promises to you; they’ve torn down your altars and killed all the prophets . . . Except me. I’m the only one left, and now they want me dead too.” Hungry? Angry? What do you think? Seems to me this is the absolute epitome.

PREVIOUS ENTRY | NEXT ENTRY
SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY FOR THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE

The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE

JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.