LESSONS FROM ELIJAH'S EXPERIENCE.
By H. A. St. John
AFTER the wonderful triumph of truth on Mount Carmel, Jezebel refused faith, became angry, and threatened the life of the prophet, Elijah ran in the opposite direction from Carmel, the scene of his late triumph. Elijah was evidently very much afraid. A son of Jehoshaphat, the good king of Judea, had married a daughter of Jezebel, hence Elijah did not feel altogether secure in Judea, and so, still fearing for his life, Elijah passed on to the south. He lay down under a juniper tree, and prayed that he might die. This was the man whose prayers shut heaven, that it rained not for three years and six months. And at the end of that time he prayed, and the heavens gave rain. But the Lord did not answer his prayer under the juniper tree. He had something in store for His servant far better than death. No doubt a feeling of failure came over the prophet. See 1 Kings 19:10. And he had too much thought about himself. It was a case of increasing fear, instead of increasing faith. And then there was the reaction from a great strain—bodily fatigue, hunger, thirst, and loneliness. Now, behold God's treatment of His servant: First, He lets the tired prophet sleep; sends him a ministering angel; provides refreshment; then lets him have further rest. Then God provides for his future emergencies for a period of forty days. He was furnished with peculiar opportunity for communing with God. See verse 8. By the wind, earthquake, fire, and still, small voice, Elijah might learn lessons as to the true method of service, and the purpose of his Maker. Then God sent him back to duty. He provided the prophet with special help and comradeship. See verses 19-21. So he was brought to cherish large, true thoughts of his loving, providing, and patient heavenly Father. And this prophet, the grandest and most remarkable character that Israel ever produced, is the prototype of the remnant church in the last days. Elijah's rare, sudden, and brief appearances, his undaunted courage, and fiery zeal, the brilliancy of his triumphs, the pathos of his despondency, and the glory of his departure, with the calm beauty of his reappearance on the Mount of Transfiguration, throw such a halo of brightness around him and the record of his life as is equaled by none of his compeers in sacred history.