Does the fact bother you that most of your work colleagues don’t follow Jesus right now, and if He came back today, they would face a terrible outcome? Most Christians would agree that these are bad things, and we’d love to see more people come to worship God. If that’s the case, we should be praying about these things. They should be among the most prominent things in our prayers.

In 1 Kings 19, Elijah is having a hard time. He is on the run for his life from Queen Jezebel. He has been working hard to proclaim the message of God but has had little response. He is alone, far from home, hungry and tired, and he doesn’t see hope for the future.

What is it that concerns him most at that time? Let’s look at his answer when God asks him why he had come:

He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” (1 Ki. 19:10 ESV)

Yes, these are the words of a depressed man. Yes, they are self-indulgent, as we all tend to get when we are feeling down. He is not the only one left, but it sure feels like it.

But look at what Elijah is most concerned about here. His main complaint is not that life is hard or that the Queen is being mean to him. No, it is that God is not receiving the worship he deserves. God is not in his rightful place in Israel. The evidence for that includes the disregarding of the covenant and the killing of the prophets. Elijah’s predicament is not his main concern; his personal situation is one piece of evidence of a larger rejection of God.

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