"FINDING GOD OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE"
I Kings 19:1-16
19:1 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets
with the sword.
2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me, and more
also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow."
3 Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which
belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.
4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under
a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than
my ancestors."
5 Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him
and said to him, "Get up and eat."
6 He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water.
He ate and drank, and lay down again.
7 The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat,
otherwise the journey will be too much for you."
8 He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days
and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.
9 At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the LORD
came to him, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
10 He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites
have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are
seeking my life, to take it away."
11 He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about
to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the
LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;
12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire
a sound of sheer silence.
13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at
the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
14 He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites
have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are
seeking my life, to take it away."
15 Then the LORD said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.
16 Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in
your place.
When
was the last time you had to do something that put your outside your comfort zone? Maybe it happened when you had to give
a speech in front of an audience. Maybe it happened when you had to confront
someone about a problem that was being ignored. Or maybe it happened when discovered that you couldn’t do something
and you had to admit that you needed a little help. I don’t know about
you, but I don’t like it when I find myself outside my comfort zone.
Venturing
outside your comfort zone can be a little scary. Just ask the father who had
to do the family’s grocery shopping after his wife got sick. All the brands and the prices left him feeling lost and
confused. What really made the experience traumatic though was his fidgety two year old son. The toddler kept crying and complaining
about every little thing. For example, on a couple of occasion when the father
put something in the shopping cart that the toddler didn’t like he just picked it up and threw it on the floor. At one point the toddler even managed to get out of the shopping cart. Before the father realized it the toddler was off and running. After chasing him down a couple of aisles
the father finally managed to scoop him up and stick him back in the shopping cart.
People in the supermarket watched the poor father struggling to cope. They
could even hear him whispering over and over again, “Just be patient, Tommy. It’ll
be okay Tommy. Hang in there for just a little longer, Tommy.” One elderly
woman finally walked up to the father and give him a little encouragement. “You know,” she said, “I’ve
been watching you and I wanted you to know that I admire the patience that you have with little Tommy.” The father just shook his head. “Lady,” the father
said, “You don’t understand. The kid’s name is Billy. I’m Tommy.”
Venturing
outside your comfort zone can be a little scary. Just ask Elijah. Elijah knew
what it was like to spend some time outside your comfort zone. It all started
after he confronted the prophets of Ba’al on Mount Carmel. After he defeated the prophets of Ba’al the people
rose up and put all them all to death. That didn’t make the infamous Queen
Jezebel very happy though. The prophets of Ba’al were her protégées and she wasn't going to let their downfall go unpunished. So, she sent a messenger to Elijah with a warning. "So may the gods do to me, and more also," Jezebel said, "if I do not make your life as the life of one
of them by this time tomorrow." Using today’s language what Jezebel basically
said was, "Before the day is over Elijah, you're going to be a dead man."
So,
what did Elijah do after he heard that threat? He did what anyone with half a
brain would do. He ran for his life. He
ran away. He ran as far away from Jezebel as possible. He eventually ended up in Beer-sheba out in the middle of the Negev desert. So Jezebel was up north and
Elijah was down south. At that point Elijah was feeling really down in the dumps. That’s
why God appeared to him out in the middle of that desert. God gave Elijah the
comfort that he needed. God also made sure that Elijah had something to eat and
drink. God did that so Elijah would have the strength that he needed for the
journey that was ahead of him. You quickly realize though that God and Elijah
had very different ideas about where that journey was going to take him. God
wanted Elijah to go north so he could go back and confront Jezebel. Instead of
doing that though Elijah went south. He went all the way south to Mount Sinai.
Now if you’re wondering why Elijah went to Mount Sinai the answer is simple. Elijah
was still feeling sorry for himself and he wanted a little more sympathy from God. What
better place to find God and that sympathy than at the mountain where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments.
Instead
of getting a little more sympathy though what Elijah got instead was a rude awakening.
He was looking for a hug, but what he got was a little shove. First there
was the mighty wind. Then there was the earthquake and then there was the fire.
At that point Elijah probably realized that God wasn’t coming to join his little pity party.
If
Elijah had any lingering doubts they were quickly swept away when God asked him that question. Elijah, God said, “what
are you doing here...?" When Elijah answered that question by spewing forth his
tale of woe God just asked him the question again. Elijah, “what are you
doing here…” What you look at the encounter that took place
at Mount Sinai you realize that what God basically said to Elijah was “Look Elijah.
No more whimpering. No more whining. No more wallowing in woe. Enough
is enough. You got your hug back at Beer-sheba Elijah. Now what you’re
going to get is a little shove. So, pick yourself up and pull yourself together
because I’ve still got work for you to do!”
I
found myself on the receiving end of a message like that many years ago. The
message was delivered to me by a tough as nails nun who I happened to be seeing for spiritual direction. At the time I was wrestling with a problem and after talking about it for several weeks my spiritual director
also decided that enough was enough. “Listen,” she said, “if
you think you’re going to keep coming here to have me hold your hand you better think again buster.”
Sometimes that’s what God does. Sometimes instead of giving you a hug, God gives you a little
shove. God pushes you outside your zone.
You see, God knows you better than you know yourself.
God knows when you need to be comforted and when you need to be challenged.
Just
look at Elijah. God knew that Elijah need to be comforted when he was at Beer-sheba
and God knew that Elijah needed to be challenged when he got to Mount Sinai.
So,
sometimes instead of giving you a hug, God give you a little shove. God also does that because God knows that spending all
your time inside your comfort zone can be spiritually and emotionally unhealthy. You end up living your life the way you’ve
always lived. You never realize that things could be different, that things could be better. You never realize that you do
have the courage to have that heart to heart conversation that you’ve been avoiding; you do have what it takes to make
a dream come true; you do have the strength to keep on going after someone you love passes away. By the way, feel free to
substitute something outside your own comfort zone that God may want you to face.
For
many years, people over in London wondered why a royal guard was always posted outside a particular building. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason for the guard to be there. So, one day a student of British
royal history decided to do a little investigating. What he discovered is that the order to post the guard outside that building
dated back to the early 1800’s. At that time the Duke of Wellington often
rode his horse to that building. The guard was there to watch the duke’s
horse while he was inside. After the Duke of Wellington died though no one ever
cancelled the order. So, for the next 125 years, a guard stood outside that government
building every single day.
God
doesn’t want you to live your life that way. God doesn’t want you
to live your life by just going through the motions. So, sometimes instead of giving you a hug God is going to give you a
little shove and push you outside your comfort zone.
When
that happens you could very easily discover that you’re a lot smarter or a lot more determined or a lot more capable
than you thought. Just ask the circus performer who found himself in a very precarious situation one evening. What made the
precarious situation even worse was the fact that it happened on live television. The
performer worked with tigers and on this particular night the act started of as it always did.
The performer walked into the cage with the tigers and the door was locked behind him.
The spotlight was turned on and the perform skillfully put the tigers through their routine. In the middle of the performance though disaster struck. The
lights suddenly went out. For 30 long seconds the performer found himself looked in the cage with the tigers. Because of their superior eyesight the tigers could see him in the dark but he couldn’t see them. It could have been a disaster, but somehow the performer made it through the performance. When the lights came back on he calmly finished the performance. Later he was asked how he felt knowing that the tigers could see him but he couldn’t see them. The performer admitted that it was scary at first, but then he said he realized something. He realized that even though he couldn’t see the tigers, the tigers didn’t
know that he couldn’t see them. So, he said, “I just cracking my
whip and talking to them until the lights came on and they never knew I was in trouble.”
It
would be a big mistake to think that God is always going to be there to give you a hug.
Sometimes God is going to give you a little shove and push you outside your comfort zone. When that happens you can be sure that it’s because God knows you better than you know yourself. When that happens you can also be sure that it’s because God believes in you
and wants you to believe in yourself. Amen
Rev.
Dr. Richard A. Hughes
June
24, 2007
