A Voice in the Desert
I Kings 19:1-8
David M. Powers
Elijah was fleeing for his life, running as far away as he could into the desert. With a price on his head, he was paying the price for being bold. But way out there, with nobody for miles around, things looked bleak. Elijah began to indulge in a first-class pity party—"I might as well be dead"—when suddenly he felt a tug on his sleeve. Then came a voice: "Get up and eat."
This season of Lent is about the desert. At the least, Lent invites us to face the metaphorical wilderness of painful experiences, those times when you or I are stuck with a sense of abandonment, loss of direction, heartache, emptiness. Lent is about who we are when there's nobody around to prop us up.
Elijah discovered that even in the most parched and painful place God is already there, saying, perhaps through a loving, totally unexpected voice, "Take care of yourself. I care about you."
Prayer: When my days feel too hard, remind me, O God, by a touch or a whisper, that you are really with me, still speaking and still loving. Amen.
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