Louie Giglio - Fear is on the Mic
Today, I’m so excited to be launching a new journey, a new series together called «Who’s on the Mic.» I know for all of us, right now, we’re living in a world that’s cluttered with all kinds of sounds, with voices coming to us from every direction. We get them on our screens; we get them in conversations. There are so many different avenues and so many different voices, and at some point, you and I have to make a decision: who’s got the mic?
I’ve studied over the last few months getting ready for this series on the microphone, and I’ll save you all of the history of how the microphone was invented and has evolved over time into something small and sophisticated like the one on the side of my face today. But when you boil it all down, everyone understands the microphone. It is created to amplify sound. Interestingly, the word «microphone» means «little sound.» So, it is a play on words because the little sound becomes a much bigger, more dominant sound because of the technology of amplification.
So, we’re asking today: what in my life has the loudest voice? What point of view in today’s story is on the microphone, drowning out other voices and opinions, and steering my thinking and, more importantly, my emotions, as I move through my days? What God wants me to know today, and what He wants you to know today, is that we get to decide who’s on the mic. We can’t silence every voice on planet earth, but we can choose which voice gets the microphone in our hearts.
I wanted to give us a little visual today, so we have a mic in the midst of our story. I wanted you to have a picture for every single day, every conversation, every opportunity. Every time I pick up a phone, turn on a television, or sit down with a group of friends, somebody is always going to be trying to grab the mic and want you to know that whatever they have to say is the most important thing you can hear today. Whatever they want to inject into your thinking, into your heart, into your faith story—that’s the most important thing. So, you need to make sure that you decide who’s on the mic.
Obviously, we want to get the negative voices off the mic, but we also want to make sure we get the positive voices on the mic. Over the next few weeks together, we’re going to talk about some of the voices that are on the microphone of our lives, amplifying messages in our story. Today, we’re beginning with the one that, for a lot of us, right now, fear is on the mic. In other words, fear’s not just on the mic; fear’s hogging the mic. The mic isn’t getting passed around to other voices; it’s just the voice of fear.
I’m not talking about concern; I’m not talking about dealing with real issues right before us. I’m talking about that kind of fear that projects us into scenarios and outcomes that haven’t even materialized yet. It’s that kind of fear that pushes us late at night into playing out all kinds of outcomes that are maybes, most of which don’t even happen in real-time. That kind of fear is paralyzing, dominating, and crippling. When fear gets on the mic, it will absolutely destroy our peace of mind and ultimately cause our faith in God to erode, most likely putting us in a really bad place emotionally and physically.
Fear has the mic for a lot of us, and I want to talk about how you know that and how you respond to it today. We’re looking at an Old Testament passage that is incredibly powerful, found in 1 Kings 19. If you have your scripture, we’ll go there together. In this text, it’s amazing for me to watch how quickly someone with a powerful faith story can be dominated once fear gets on the mic. I’m saying that today because, as this story unfolds, I want you to know it’s not as simple as saying if I had more faith, I wouldn’t be dominated by fear, or if I were a stronger Christian, I wouldn’t be dominated by fear.
We’re going to look at the life of a person in this text who had an amazing heart of faith, an amazing ability to believe and trust God, even when his own life was on the line. But very soon after that, fear got on the mic, and when fear got on the mic, it had an unbelievable ripple effect on his story. So, let’s pick it up in chapter 19, verse 1, and then we’ll backtrack to see some of the backdrop of this story. It says, «Now Ahab—that’s King Ahab—told Jezebel, his wife, everything Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.»
So backtrack with me for a moment. A lot of us know the story of Mount Carmel. In this particular day and age, Ahab has become the king of Israel. If you track back a few chapters, when he became king, it says he did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than all the kings who had done evil before him. So, Ahab is a bad guy; he doesn’t honor God or revere God, but he’s in this position of being king over Israel. Then Ahab takes a second step, and maybe this is all you need to hear today; maybe this is the message God wants to put on the mic for you today. Ahab marries Jezebel, who is from a non-godly group of people, and in the process of marrying her, he begins to worship and honor the gods of her people.
They worshiped the god Baal and built an altar to Asherah, and he became a worshiper of Baal. He’s the king of Israel, but now he’s worshiping a false god and building places of worship to this idol, with Jezebel basically having the mic, running the show. She doesn’t want to hear anything about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so she sets out to kill all the prophets of God. This is a bad scenario. One of his advisers, Obadiah, a prophet, tries to preserve the voice of God for this generation by hiding a hundred prophets in two caves, fifty in one and fifty in the other, just trying to weather the storm of Jezebel.
In this moment, God speaks to Elijah and says, «I want you to go to King Ahab and have a conversation with him that unfolds in a showdown on Mount Carmel.» What Elijah says is, «You bring all your prophets of Baal, and I’ll meet you there, and we’ll see whose God is God.» So, 450 prophets of Baal show up along with 400 prophets of Asherah—850 of them versus Elijah. He says, «You go first, call on your gods to come and consume the altar and the sacrifice.» Nothing happens. Then Elijah says, «I will call on my God.»
They build the altar, they put the bull on the altar, and they douse it in water—one time, two times, three times. Then Elijah calls out to God; God sends fire down out of heaven, consuming the altar, the sacrifice, and the trenches, displaying His mighty power. When He does, it strikes fear in the hearts of every man, and all the prophets of Baal and Asherah are running for their lives. But Elijah says, «No, capture them all and kill them all.» Now the story is beginning to unfold: This God of Elijah is a mighty God.
So, one more thing happens in this sequence. There’s a famine in the land, but God says, «I’m going to break that famine now, and I’m going to show my power.» Elijah goes up, looks toward the sea, and doesn’t see anything. But God says, «I’m going to send rain.» He tells a servant, «Go look, go look, go look,» and on the seventh time he looks, he says, «I see a cloud, but it’s only as big as a man’s hand.» Elijah knows God is going to do what only God can do; He’s going to break the drought.
Elijah leaves Mount Carmel and tells Ahab, «You need to go now because it’s about to rain, and your chariot will get stuck in the mud if you stay here any longer.» Ahab heads home, and it says in the last verse, one of my favorite verses from growing up, «Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on, and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.» Now notice what it says in verse 46: «The power of the Lord came upon Elijah, and tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.»
It’s amazing to me; it’s like a moment from «Forrest Gump.» Here’s this king in his chariot with his horses headed home to Jezreel, and Elijah just comes by, saying, «Hey, how’s it going? Everybody good?» and then he takes off in the power of the Spirit. God has displayed that He is the Lord, the cloud is coming, and the rain is going to break the drought. The Spirit is on Elijah, and he’s outrunning a chariot all the way to Jezreel. That’s what Elijah just experienced.
When Ahab gets home, he tells the story to Jezebel about how all the prophets died at the sword of Elijah. In verse 2, it says, «Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, 'May the gods deal with me, ever so severely (what gods? The gods she worshipped, the false gods, these idols, Baal), if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like one of theirs.'»
Jezebel had such a brazen heart, such an evil heart, that after hearing about the glory of God and His power, and after it all happened, she didn’t rethink her position but instead got on the mic and sent this message. Can you imagine that message arriving? «Elijah, I’ve got a message for you from Jezebel. She wants you to know her position: 'May the gods deal with me ever so severely if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like one of them.'»
When Jezebel got on the mic, fear dominoed into Elijah’s heart. I just outran a chariot, but in one instant, one voice, all of a sudden, there’s a cascade of fear in Elijah’s life. Look how it unfolds in verse 3: «Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.» In other words, fear is now in the story—not a concern that would make him think, «I need to take stock of Jezebel and go back to the Lord to see how He wants to handle this,» but terror had taken hold of his life, and he was running for his life.
When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there while he went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it, and prayed that he might die. He said, «I’ve had enough, Lord. Take my life; I’m no better than my ancestors.» Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. It’s crazy how fast fear can turn the tables in our story.
When fear gets on the mic—the kind of fear I talked about earlier, the fear that causes us to project ourselves into all kinds of crazy scenarios and what-ifs, and maybe this is going to happen, and what if that outcome happens—when that fear gets in our lives, we see the same patterns that we see with Elijah. Fear causes us to primarily do four things, and they’re right here:
1. Fear, when it’s on the mic, causes us to forget what God has done.
As soon as that voice is there, we begin to think, «What if the doctor says this? What if the bank says that? What if my boss says this? What if the news tells me that?» As soon as that voice gets a hold of the microphone, we forget bam what God has done. So, Elijah is just days away from seeing God do the unbelievable, supernatural, miraculous work, and now he has completely forgotten about the power of God.
2. The second thing fear causes us to do is to forecast all the terrible things that will happen to us.
It’s interesting when you look at this text in Hebrew. In verse 3, it says, «Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.» In my text, there’s a little footnote by the word «afraid.» It actually says: «or could be said that Elijah saw.» When you look back at it in Hebrew, it actually says yes, he was afraid, but he was afraid because of what he saw. In other words, he was forecasting his own outcome. He took stock of the message from Jezebel and didn’t just hear it but saw the implications of that message.
3. The third thing fear does is it causes us to flee.
Right away he was afraid and ran for his life. Some of us are considering fleeing today—fleeing all kinds of circumstances, situations, and even fleeing calling and conviction because fear is on the mic.
4. The fourth thing fear does is ultimately fold.
We forget what God has done, we forecast all these bad things that most will not happen, we flee what God has called us to, and at the end of the day, fear wins when we fold. When we close up shop and say, «I’m done.»
To think that Elijah could be there is incredibly disturbing, but it’s also incredibly encouraging for me to think about because I know I’ve been there at times in my life, where I’ve seen God do something that I forgot about. I forecast situations and circumstances that didn’t happen, tried to run from what God had put on my life, and, at the end of the day, just wanted to quit.
The spirit of fear comes from the devil, and it is rooted in the spirit of Jezebel. The spirit of Jezebel was some intense, brazen fear from the darkness that wanted to take the prophet of God—the one who is going to appear on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus—and take him out of the story. When fear gets on the mic, that can happen to you and me.
He said at the end of it, «I’ve had enough; take my life; I’m no better than my ancestors.» It just reminds me of Jesus saying, «The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy,» and one of the ways he does it is by getting fear on the mic. When fear is on the mic, a domino effect can ultimately lead us to fold altogether.
But I want us to see how the story plays out because it’s devastating. It’s like, «Wow, thank you so much, Louie! I appreciate this message.» Well, let’s keep reading together because God is not finished in this story.
It says, «All at once, an angel touched Elijah and said, 'Get up and eat.'» Now he’s walked a day’s journey into the desert, so what’s he going to eat? He looked around, and by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals and a jar of water. Notice how God came right into the moment to show His provision and care. He ate and drank and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time, touched him, and said, «Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.»
So, he got up, ate, and drank, and strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There, he went into a cave and spent the night. The word of the Lord came to him: «What are you doing here, Elijah?»
Maybe God is wanting to do this in our lives today. How did you get here? Why are you in this position? What brought you to this juncture? He’s asking Elijah, «What are you doing here?»
Elijah’s summation is, «I’ve been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites, however, have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, put your prophets to death with the sword. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me too.»
Elijah’s got the same narrative; he’s still operating in the «I forgot, I forecast, I fled, and I’m ready to fold.» But the Lord said, «Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.»
Just for context, Mount Horeb, the mountain of God, is a 40-day and 40-night journey south from where Elijah was at Mount Carmel, Jezreel, Beersheba, and into the desert. He’s way down at the very place where God met Moses on Mount Sinai. Most theologians believe Mount Sinai and Mount Horeb are the same mountain known as the mountain of the Lord.
Remember when Moses was there in the crack of a rock with God’s hand over him and His glory passing by? He’s saying similarly, «I want you to go on the mountain, and I’m going to pass by again. I’m going to interrupt the story in a significant way.»
This is what happened: «Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire came a gentle whisper.»
When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, «What are you doing here, Elijah?»
He replies again, «I’ve been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I’m the only one left, and they’re trying to kill me too.»
The Lord said to him, «In other words, Jezebel has been on the mic, but now God got the mic. For this moment, God is now speaking.» His voice, even though it’s a gentle whisper, is resonating into Elijah’s heart.
God says, «Go back the way you came.» That’s the message; it’s God saying to me today and to you today, «Just retrace your steps. I know this looks like it’s going to fall apart, so let’s retrace our steps.»
Then God gives him an assignment that I won’t break down all the way, but He tells him to go back to the desert of Damascus. That’s all the way back up to the highest point of where he came from. When you get there, anoint one king over Aram, one over Israel, and anoint Elisha to succeed you as prophet. «Go back because I’m not finished with you yet. Go back because I have an anointing on your life, and I have things for you to do. I want you to go back and set in motion the plans for which I sent you.»
There are a few things today for you and me. If fear has got the mic, how do we get back to the point where we’re amplifying what’s good and what’s true?
1. We have to train our spiritual ear to hear the whisper of God.
We need to take the time and energy to train our ear to hear the voice of our Father amid all the noise around us. Because there’s going to be a wind, rocks will shatter and fly, there’s going to be an earthquake, and it’s going to seem like everything’s crumbling down. But in the midst of it, God is going to be speaking, and we’ve got to train our ear to hear that word.
I love how Proverbs 4:20 paints this picture: «My son, pay attention.» We’ll come back to that. Pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words; do not let them out of your sight; keep them within your heart, for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
I think this scripture means to ensure you have a say in who’s on the mic. Notice the phrase «pay attention.» Your greatest currency and mine right now is not the debit card in our wallet or the cash we have on hand. Our most valuable currency is our attention. People want your click and your comment because your involvement puts cash in their account.
So, when we give our attention to that mic or this mic or that mic, we’re paying with the currency of our attention. If I could say it this way: I get what I pay for. If I’m letting fear get the mic, if I’m paying with my attention to fear, I’m paying with my time.
I didn’t just get the headline; I read the whole article and the other three articles and the other two links, and got involved with the panel when the four experts came on. This person said this, and that lady said that, and this other expert said this, and the guy came in, the whole fight happened, and they took a commercial break to pay people with my attention.
Then they came back, took it into another story, and I didn’t just get the headline; I got the whole deal. I’ve now paid 45 minutes of my attention to put cash into their accounts, and what do I get from my 45 minutes of attention? Fear in my heart. I probably didn’t get a solution or anything that made me feel confident.
So, I want to encourage you to train your ear to hear the whisper of God because He’s not going to shout over all that noise. He’s not going to break into your little circle of six people and that one person who talks all the time. He’s going to come through His word and by His Spirit. He’s going to keep confidently speaking to you about things that are true and dependable.
2. The second thing that’s important for Elijah was that God told him to go back the way he came.
I love that advice—God saying to me today and to you today—that it looks as if it’s going to fall apart, so let’s retrace our steps. Just go back to a place where you saw God come through. Go back to the places where God has come through.
3. The third thing is to anchor our hearts in a defiant belief that the spirit of Jezebel is wrong.
In other words, to anchor in confidence in God leads us to believe that when Jezebel says, «In 24 hours, you’ll be like one of them,» she’s wrong. I think that leads to a confident humility, both tethered together. It puts me on my knees to say, «God, I just want to bow down low before You, because the darkness is against me.»
In conclusion, you can’t fold! God is telling you that, if you’re still breathing, there’s still a reason why you’re on earth. Don’t give up today!