1 Kings 19:1-9

I.                     After any long and arduous athletic event, the best way to begin your recovery is to eat a good meal.

A.                  That is true for a bicycle ride that lasts for several hours in the hot Arkansas summer sun-like yesterday.  It was even more applicable to Elijah who had just out-run the chariot of King Ahab over the last 17 miles.

1.                  So the messenger from God, the angel, not once but two times urged the exhausted prophet, “Eat this cake baked on the hot stones, and drink from this jug filled with water from a mountain stream.”

a.                  Possibly Elijah had not had breakfast, which bicyclists also pass up on the morning of a big race; it messes up your finely-tune metabolism.

2.                  Faced with the second urging, Elijah realizes how hungry he is, how empty, and after he has eaten a good meal, he takes a second rest under the brief shade of the broom tree.

3.                  After he awakens, Elijah is ready for another super-human effort.

a.                  First had come the miracle on Mount Carmel where he earned his most decisive victory as a Man of God and wowed the thousands gathered there!

b.                  Now an endurance for 40 days and 40 nights in the Sinai desert until the prophet arrives at Horeb, the Mountain of God and the cave.

4.                  Have you ever  watched television coverage of the Iditarod Race?

a.                  Every winter, 77 mushers, each of whom has a team of 12-16 dogs for a total of 1,000 sled dogs take off on a treacherous 1,150 mile race from downtown Anchorage, across mountain ranges, frozen rivers, desolate tundra, and the windswept ice-covered coastland for the town Nome in the Alaskan wilderness. It takes 8-17 days of racing. Teams often encounter wild animals, might be attacked by a moose.

b.                  Each musher has his or her own special menu for feeding the dogs and themselves, each one has a different strategy and tactics.  The race demands 100's of hours training, many 100's of miles on the trails. This includes Norman Vaughan who at age 88 has finished the race 4 times.

c.                  There are 26 checkpoints along the way with 3 required rest stops in the Iditarod. The first is a 24-hour stop at a checkpoint of the musher’s own choosing, the next two are for 8 hours each.

d.                  The first thing the musher does after signing in his team at the checkpoint or rest stop is to pick up his team’s food drop bag and water. Then he must settle and calm his team of dogs so they can eat and rest. That is critical.

 B.                 Elijah was a hunted man, his face had been plastered on posters all over the North of Israel by the fanatic Queen Jezebel, a devotee of Baal.

1.                  Why she chose to send Elijah a warning that he was under a death sentence  is surprising. That gave him a jump on her. Why not put out a contract on this “troubler of Israel,” and send an assassin?

a.                  He took off without even packing his toothbrush. Elijah fled to the southern-most corner of the wilderness, to Beersheba.

.                  Beersheba was in Judah’s territory, the southern kingdom, so it was away from the political reach of Jezebel.

2.                  Every meal that he will eat is critical.  This man will be like Dr. David Jansen, the Fugitive running from Lieutenant Girard.  He must run for the rest of his life.  He was like Moses, who also had a price on his head, but still a man of God’s choosing.

a.                  This meal, the place where Elijah is, the broom tree– these are not only descriptions, they are also theological symbols and statements about who is in control of our lives, from whom we really get our strength and our sense of direction.

 C.                 Elijah is “touched by an angel” (1 Kings 19:5).

1.                  This line is the origin of the title for the popular television show which ran for 9 seasons on NBC from 1994 to 2003. Who knows? Maybe the messenger who touched Elijah twice looked the woman from Londonderry, Northen Ireland, Roma Downy, or like Della Reese.

2.                  The first time the angel touches him, he is probably frightened out of his wits, and not just depressed.

a.                  Is this angel bringing death or life?

b.                  What is the message for this man who should be feeling really good and celebrating his success, but has had a let-down, is in fear of his life, and who says,I have had enough.

(1)               It’s too much

(2)               I want to die. I am no better than a mediocre prophet.

c.                  Success is so fickle.

3.                  The second touch makes all the difference, and the good nourishing meal. He thinks better on a full stomach with his thirst quenched.

4.                  This past January, Maya Angelou wrote a poem commemorating the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. Her offering also carries the title Touched by an Angel.

                                    Listen closely...

a.                  We, unaccustomed to courage                                                        exiles from delight                                                                               live coiled in shells of loneliness                                                        until love leaves its high holy temple                                                  and comes into our sight                                                                        to liberate us into life.    

b.