Stand on the Mountain
[God] said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” – 1 Kings 19:11 (NRSV)
“Stand on the mountain,” the Word said to Elijah. And he did. And there was a great wind. Not just any wind, but a windstorm. And windstorms in the desert are horrible.
Bible says: God was not the windstorm.
There was then an earthquake. And the ground shook and the ground opened and anyone who experienced it would’ve been mortified.
Bible says: God was not the earthquake.
Then there was fire. In that same place, generations before, God’s people had followed God in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. But this time, in the wildfire of Elijah’s story?
Bible says: God was not the fire.
These moments of devastation? They were not God’s doing. God didn’t make Elijah hungry. God didn’t make the queen hate him. She made her choices, as people do. The calamities that befell Elijah? They were not God’s doing, either.
No matter what the platitudes say, God is not your calamities. The Bible is very clear on this, here and in other places, too. (Like Job.)
No one can know everything that you’re facing. Sometimes there are storms and quakes and fires. But the promise the Word gave to Elijah is the very same one that God makes to you: Stand up. For the Lord is about to pass by. The Lord is coming.
Prayer
May your presence be clear, here or on the mountaintop, O God. Amen
About the AuthorKaji Douša is the Senior Pastor of The Park Avenue Christian Church, a congregation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ, in New York City.