God's grace in times of weakness
1 Kings 19:4-7 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers." (5) He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, "Arise, eat." (6) Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. (7) The angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, "Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you."
In this passage you have such a beautiful picture of the Grace of God despite our failings and weaknesses. Elijah had actually turned his back on God's call for him, had run away from what God had called him to do, yet God had not forsaken from him. His grace is still operating and providing him with all that he needs. The Lord God knew that physically Elijah was not able to undertake such a long journey, so He sent an angel to prepare food and water for him so that he would be strengthened to get to Mt Horeb. We have the same picture in the New Testament when the disciples were asked to wait for Christ and Peter got sick of waiting and said 'I am going fishing'. He was going back to what he had done previously before following Jesus, and the other disciples agreed and decided to come too. The Bible says that they got into their boats and toiled all night and caught absolutely nothing. In the morning they saw someone on the beach who said to them 'Have you caught anything?' They replied 'No, not a thing!' He said to them 'Cast your net on the other side of the boat!' When they did they caught 153 fish, and realised that it was the Lord who had not only provided them with the fish, but was actually preparing breakfast for them as well. So here you have the same picture of grace, despite the fact that they were fishing when they should have been waiting! In spite of our failings and weaknesses God is always gracious to us, and I am really grateful that He is. I remember the old saint that said 'But what if we turn our back on God's light?' to which the other saint replied 'Well, God will shine on your back!' This is exactly what happened to Elijah! He is dominated by fear and unbelief and running from what God has called him to do, yet you see God being really gracious towards him. God didn't say to him 'You are going to reap what you sow, if you walk into the wilderness you are going to starve.' No, God provided for Elijah's needs even though he is going in the opposite direction to where he should be. Horeb, where he was headed is a long way from Israel - about 120 miles away in the Arabian dessert.
1 Kings 19:8 So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Why do you think he was going there? I am still thinking about this myself. What do we know about Horeb? We know that Mount Horeb and Mount Sinai are in the same place and that Mount Horeb was a lower peak of Mount Sinai. It's the place where Moses met God in the burning bush. It's the place where the law was given to Moses for the people and it is also the place where Israel failed with the golden calf. However, Elijah is going there for some reason which we do not know. God hasn't called him to go there, but he is on this long journey which lasts forty days and forty nights. The number 40 in the bible is always consistent with testing and trial.