Mensa Otabil - You Are Not Alone
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First Kings chapter 19, verse 18: «Yet I have reserved 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.»
In his moment of loneliness, Elijah cries to God, and God speaks to him, giving him a word of assurance. At this moment, Elijah had run into hiding; he was running for his life because he felt that nobody was there for him. He had been a help to others, but when he was in trouble, nobody rose to his aid. Elijah’s main problem was that all of Israel had turned away from God. Everybody had gone into idolatry, and he was the only one who was in covenant with God, the only one who had been true to God, and the only one who was honestly serving Him.
Sometimes, believers can feel this way; they see others living bad lives while things go well for them. People are disobedient, but it appears they are getting away with all kinds of things. I’m trying to do the right thing, and nothing is going for me. So God speaks to Elijah and says, «Mr. Elijah, by the way, are you not the only one who is true to me? There are 7,000 others who have also not bowed to Baal.» What a deflation! Here this man thinks he is the only one doing the right thing, yet God says there are seven thousand others like him who are also doing the right thing.
The question arises: if there are seven thousand others who are worshiping God, why didn’t Elijah notice them? Why didn’t he find them? Why was he oblivious to that? This is a very important question, and the reason is that Elijah was not aware of what others were doing. He was a single-minded person, focused on what he was doing. That is the reason sometimes we feel alone; we have tunnel vision, so focused on our actions that we only see what we are doing, neglecting what others are doing and not involving anyone in our lives.
If we approach life this way, only seeing ourselves, we may end up like Elijah, feeling that there is nobody else. But God says, «There are others; open your eyes; there is help around you.» The second reason is that Elijah had developed a persecution complex. He felt the whole world was against him. Much of Israel was in apostasy-King Ahab was in apostasy, and his wife Jezebel was a priest of it. But God states that there are seven thousand others, so don’t develop a persecution complex thinking you are the only one who is right, the only one who tells the truth, or the only one who gets everything right, as if nobody understands anything but you.
When you do that, you will carry a severe burden. Sometimes, you fight battles that do not exist, and at times, you may even resist people who are there to help you. Elijah had this complex and tunnel vision; he couldn’t see anybody else. God told Elijah, «There are 7,000 others beside you.»
Perhaps what God is telling you is not to look too much within yourself and only focus on your own situation. God says, «Lift up your eyes, lift up your head. There are other people who are doing what you’re doing, as concerned as you are, as committed as you are, as honest as you are, and as truthful as you are.» If you stop just looking within yourself and having this persecution complex, you may discover an army of people who are just like you. That is exactly what the Lord said to Elijah: No matter what you are going through, God has people all around you. Don’t ever forget you are not alone, for not only is God with you, but there are people around you too. Let us pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, grant me the grace to open up to the people you have placed as helpers in my life. In Jesus' name, Amen.»