AUGUST 23, 2009
Sunday Theme: We feel Elijah’s pain as he faces his trials as a prophet and despairs under a broom tree. When we sit under our
own broom trees, let’s find the strength we need in our Lord!
“THE STRENGTH WE NEED WHILE UNDER THE BROOM TREE!”
1 Kings 19:3-8
In the name of our Lord, dear members & friends,
As I prepared my message, I speculated what I might find if I could look into your hearts and minds today. What issues did
you bring with you into those pews? What circumstances do you find yourselves in? What dilemmas, problems, nagging & gnawing
thoughts are consuming your lives right now?
I know 100% of you are glad I can’t look in there and I’m glad you can’t look in here. But I suspect I would discover
unbelievable stresses, unimaginable predicaments, and unenviable problems that you would just as soon not be experiencing now
or at other time. And then I might find some of you not carrying anything too heavy – as you walk through life from day to day and
week to week sort of laid back and not too bothered by much! So you represent both sides of the spectrum. I think the scales would
tip to the side of many burdened hearts and despairing lives.
Regardless of which side of the scale you’re on, you have come to the right place today. The reason is not because of a nice,
A/C building, bouncy music, a super liturgist, or an eloquent speaker. That’s not why you’re here. You’re hear because you need to
be – to find some peace, some encouragement, some help!
Today we consider such a person who needed the same thing as you & I do. He’s a prophet. He’s a messenger of God. He’s
in direct communication with God. But he also is experiencing unbelievable stresses, unimaginable predicaments, and unenviable
problems. So as we take a glance at this prophet who sits under a broom tree, let’s learn to tap into the same source of strength he
does as we turn to…
“THE STRENGTH WE NEED WHILE UNDER THE BROOM TREE!”
1.
2.
When we’ve had just enough to despair us…
…The Lord has just enough to relieve us
1
We meet up with the prophet Elijah in our text today. What Elijah is most known for is being one of two people whom God
whisked to heaven without ever dying. The other was Enoch, the father of Methuselah who lived before the flood. (Gen 5:24)
Here, this story about Elijah is not as glamorous. Chapter 18 of 1 Kings sets the stage. The wicked king of Israel at this time
was Ahab, but his wife Jezebel wore the pants in the family and apparently in the palace too. They campaigned for the worship of the
god Baal so much so that God’s people were betraying the true God for a false one.
God sent Elijah to confront them of their sin. In a duel match at Mt. Carmel between the fake one god and true God, two
altars were constructed and offerings of bulls were put on each. The god who would answers the prayers of the people by igniting the
offering would be the winner. Baal worshippers went 1st. They pranced and danced and slashed their wrists to no avail – their
offering rotted in the hot sun. Elijah drenched his offering 3x each with 4 jugs of water. With water dripping from the bull’s hide and
soaked wood, he called on the name of the God of free & faithful grace. Answer me, O Lord answer me, so these people will know
that you, O Lord are God…(1 Kg 18:37) The results: Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and
the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. {1 Kg 18:38) The Baal prophets were captured and slaughtered as a judgment of
God against them.
Even with no email or Twitter, Ahab got word of this quickly back to Jezebel. She was so furious, so livid, so enraged that
she sent a 24 hr death threat to Elijah: May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your
life like that of one of them. {1 Kg 19:2}
So ELIJAH WAS AFRAID AND RAN FOR HIS LIFE. Now a fugitive, Elijah slipped away 75 miles south of Mt. Carmel
(today is modern day Israel), left his loyal servant, and went another 20 miles in the desert until he stopped at a broom tree. A broom
tree.was more of a huge bush in the desert big enough to provide shade from the desert sun. (picture on the service card)
Here under this broom tree, Elijah poured out his heart to God: I HAVE HAD ENOUGH, LORD. TAKE MY LIFE; I AM
NO BETTER THAN MY ANCESTORS. Elijah was so discouraged, disappointed, and depressed – he wanted to die. It seemed all
his preaching, his warnings, his miracles were a waste of time. Nothing changed – even with this whopping defeat of Baal
worshippers. He had stood up to them as a man of courage and now he was running for his life! This was the straw that broke his
back. He was burned out, at the end of his rope, his dreams collapsed. He figured his work was useless and life was no longer worth
living. Elijah had had just about enough to despair him while under the broom tree.
Does this sound like anybody you know? Maybe yourself? Are you under your own broom tree right now?
The last Beatitude I spoke on warned us that Christianity is now always going to be easy. You may be under your broom tree
because all those services, all those dollars, all those times you stood up for your faith has met with nothing but a slap of ridicule and
persecution in the face from unbelieving friends!
You may be under your broom tree because of those ever haunting sins that just keep coming back again and again. When
you think you’ve got them licked, you jump right back into the quicksand of temptation and get sucked right down into more sinful
dependencies and vices.
You may be under your broom tree because your job is cut, your insurance running out, and your benefits dwindling. All the
blood, sweat, and tears you put into that company and that’s all you get – is a pink slip!
You may be under your broom tree because even though you took your meds, got your checkups, had your tests inside and
out, they still found a cancerous breast lump, colon polyp, or stomach tumor.
We’ve been ministering a WELS family from our church in Neenah after their 23 yr. old son fell asleep at the wheel on a
road going east and ended up in a crumbled heap on the other side of the highway going west. Now with their son recovering in ICU
at Aspirus, that family is under their own broom tree.
You may be under your broom tree because you still feel the pain of the loss of a parent, spouse, child, sibling, friend or
comrade. That pain is just about enough to despair you into saying: I HAVE HAD ENOUGH, LORD.
Elijah feels your pain! WE NEED so much STRENGTH WHILE UNDER OUR BROOM TREES after we’ve had just about
enough to despair us. I’m not talking about the despair of a once beloved QB jumping ship to an arch-rival team. I’m talking of the
despair that leads us to jump ship from God.
Satan convinces us we are not worthy, we have failed, and we have guilt which paralyzes our souls and works against faith,
hope, and love. Before too long, we fall away despairing that God does not and can not ever love us again. So we tell him I’VE HAD
ENOUGH OF YOU, LORD! And unbelief settles in and now we turn to a one-way path to everlasting damnation. That will happen
when we spend too much time in our own pity-party under our broom trees and not seek the strength we need. And that is sin
deserving of God jumping ship away from us forever and telling us: I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!
2
I said earlier that you have come to the right place today. To this point, that may be a bit hard to swallow. But you have.
You’re in God’s house to receive God’s strength you need so much while under your broom tree! If Elijah feels your pain today, then
God feels it even more. And through His holy Word, God has just enough to relieve you of your despair!
Elijah sacked out under his broom tree and ALL AT ONCE AN ANGEL TOUCHED HIM AND SAID, “GET UP AND
EAT.” Through His messenger, God provided relief for Elijah. Food and drink for his body – not once but twice in the same way.
But more importantly, God provided relief for his troubled soul that ached with guilt, anger, fear, and despair. We’re told:
STRENGTHENED BY THAT FOD, HE TRAVELED 40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS UNTIL HE REACHED HOREB, THE
MOUNTAIN OF GOD. Elijah was renewed in his spirits and uplifted in his faith that God was in control leading his life in such a
way that would bring glory and honor to the Lord. God tested his servant and even at this difficult time turned everything around for
Elijah’s good.
There’s a saying that goes: “God helps those who help themselves!” That’s not true. We can’t help ourselves as sinners
and His law lets us see that in no uncertain terms. That’s why He had to reach out to us in Jesus Christ. God sent His Son to this earth
to bring relief from the cursed despair of our sin. Jesus suffered our pain, the pain of hell in order to buy us back from there and earn
for us forgiveness of all sins. God wiped our slates clean with the blood of Jesus. Now Paul says in Romans: THERE IS NOW NO
CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS. {Rom 8:1} Again he says, GOD DEMONSTRATES HIS OWN
LOVE FOR US IN THIS; WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US. {Ro 5:8} THEREFORE, SINCE WE
HAVE BEEN JUSTIFIED THROUGH FAITH, WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. {Ro 5:1}
Time and time again, the Lord visits us under our broom trees with His reassuring words that His power and strength are
enough for us. We join the Psalmist in his thoughts: I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes
from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. {Ps 121:1-2} You won’t
find the relief you need anywhere or from anyone else than our Lord, our Savior, God in the flesh. In his death and resurrection, we
get the strength we need to endure, to persevere through trials and temptations, and remain faithful to him until death. We can’t go it
alone; we can’t help ourselves. God is our refuge and strength, our ever-present help in trouble. So we need not fear, though the earth
give way, and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea. (Ps 46:1-2}
The Lord Jesus loves you and cares for you. He knows what broom trees you are under right now. He feels your pain – even
better than Elijah today! So when you’ve had just about enough to despair you, remember that the Lord has enough to relieve you.
He will raise you up on eagle’s wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of his hand! Amen
(Congregational response: Nicene Creed, p. 31)