(John Vann)
Serve even when discouraged
I want to talk a little bit today about 1 Kings chapter 19. I want to talk a little bit about the prophet Elijah. Elijah’s mission was to rid Syria and Israel of the worship of Baal. Elijah first comes into the story when he appears suddenly one day and tells king Ahab that it would not rain anymore because of the evil that the people were doing. he proclaimed that through God there would be a great drought. Elijah trusted God and he went where God told him to go, which was to live among the people that wanted to kill him.
God sent him to live with a widow and her son and God provided them with food when they were in desperate need.
He and the widow both trusted that God would provide, and God did. But, one day the widow’s son fell ill and died . Through God, Elijah raised the young man from the dead. From there, Elijah went to Mount Carmel to challenge the profits of Baal.
There God showed his power and with Elijah as his spokesperson,Baal was decisively defeated and 850 profits of Baal and Astera were killed.
It had been victory after victory for Elijah, but then something bad happened. He started doubting himself, he started feeling sorry for himself, he became depressed and discouraged, and all it took was someone telling him that the King and Queen were out to kill him. That’s all it took to make him want to give up. Why? Why would this news come as some surprise to him? After all the king had been looking to kill him for three years now. Elijah should’ve known that God who had been providing for him, was not going to just abandon him. So what happened? The same thing that happens to us all. I’ve said it a lot of times that you take a little problem and you add another little problem to it and then another and then another, and all those little problems become one great big monster of a problem. You become overwhelmed and it makes you want to give up.
My memory takes me back to the year 2020 when there was great talk about a great sickness going around called Covid. Then came the year 2021 and in January my dad got sick and was hospitalized. The end of January came with the worst cold spell that we had had for years. We had no electricity we had no water and everyone in my family got Covid at the same time and my dad got put into hospice. February came with dad passing away and during this time we were going through all sorts of shutdowns and shortages that were due to the Covid epidemic.
Among the shutdowns were churches. Our church ceased all activities except for having Facebook church on Sunday morning. It was really kind of depressing, but we did what we could do under the conditions. Then a couple of months later we went back to our regular church services, but it was not quite the same. Sickness, death, and Covid had taken his toll on our attendance. There was not hardly anyone here on Sunday night or Wednesday night or for the fourth Sunday singing. We had not had choir practice since the first of the year. Our church did not give up. It would be easy to side with some of the other churches, the ones who don’t have Wednesday night church. Some don’t even have Sunday night church.
Then around June 2021, I was diagnosed with melanoma. As you can see, it had been a pretty rough year and it would be awfully easy to just give up. I remember thinking that I was going to die and I had excepted it and was sort of looking forward to it. I was tired and disheartened, just like Elijah. But after my surgery, I realize that I wasn’t going to die quite yet. I realized that God still had something for me to do and it wasn’t to just be out there in the world, no quite the contrary. He allowed me to live in order to serve him. I’m here to tell you that’s why we’re all allowed to live. That is the very purpose we were born for. To serve God whenever, however, and as often as we can. Friends, the church doors are open more than just on Sunday morning, and there’s more to serving God then just coming to church. My mom used to say don’t look for something unless you want to find it. So, if you don’t want to find Jesus, don’t look for him. If you don’t want to serve Jesus, don’t look for ways to serve him. If you’re like Elijah and you’re tired and downtrodden and you’re ready to give up, just remember what Brother Jerry used to say ”if you’re carrying your troubles around like it’s a 50 pound sack of potatoes slung over your shoulder and it’s weighing you down and you’re carrying them with you everywhere you go. Then come up to this altar get down on your knees and give that burden to Jesus. Don’t get up from your pew, throw that sack of potatoes over your shoulder and take it home with you.”
Today, sickness and death is still taking a toll on our church attendance. We no longer have choir practice. Now instead of fourth Sunday we have fifth Sunday singing. For a while, we had three or four people that would come up in the choir and would sing on Sunday morning, but we don’t even have that anymore. I still remember when we used to do choir specials and I miss those times.
I realize that there are some things that are beyond our control.
It’s time that we acknowledge that God is in control. If we strive to do his will, then we will be blessed. Not with worldly blessings, but with Godly blessings. Always be faithful and never doubt God, God is always there for you. Never doubt yourself for you are God‘s creation and he loves you. That alone should bring great joy to your life in troubled times.
Nothing is impossible with God.