COVID-19 #1. Where is your focus?

Hello all my virtual friends! I’m glad we live in a time where we can connect virtually, but I do miss seeing you all at church and our weekly hangout times. Hang in there…it’ll come. In the meantime, pastor Lonnie and I will be posting short devotionals a couple times a week (probably around Tuesdays/Thursdays).

Today I want to look at Elijah’s response to the intimidation of Jezebel.

Here’s the text of 1 Kings 19:1-3

​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 as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3 Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

Elijah has just experienced an unprecedented victory over Baal worship (the state supported false worship system in Israel lead by Ahab and Jezebel), and the very next thing he does is freak out and run for his life. What happened? Why the sudden shift?

He focused on the threat more than he focused on God.

Read that again.

We can do the same thing. Anytime we focus on any threat (like COVID-19) more than God, we will experience fear, regardless of the great victories we recently experienced. During threatening times, we need to be extra mindful of how we are thinking what we are focusing on. How are you thinking? Where is your focus? How much TV news are you taking in compared to the reassuring words of Jesus?

I trust you are able to take some extra time during our collective social distancing experiment and draw near to God through his word. Elijah should have done that. Why don’t we?

Pastor John