Mensa Otabil - The Remnant (10/23/2025)
First Kings chapter 19, verse 18: "Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him." In his moment of loneliness, Elijah cried to God, and God spoke 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 there was nobody 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; he was the only one in covenant with God who had been true to Him and was honestly serving Him.
Sometimes, you know, believers can feel that way-where you feel that other people are living bad lives, but things are going well for them. People are disobedient, but it looks like 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 to him, "Mr. Elijah, by the way, you're not the only one who is true to Me. There are seven thousand others who have also not bowed to Baal." What a deflation! Here the man thinks he's the only one doing the right thing, and God says that there are seven thousand others who are just like him, doing the right thing.
So the question is, 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? That is a very important question. The reason was that Elijah was not aware of what other people were doing. He was a single-minded person; he was focused on what he was doing. That's the reason that sometimes we feel alone: we have a tunnel vision. We are so focused on what we are doing that we only see our actions; we don't see what others are doing and we don't involve anybody in what we are doing. If that is how we approach life-where you only see what you're doing, and you're only involved in yourself-then you're going to feel like Elijah, where you think there's 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. Of course, much of Israel was in apostasy-the king, Ahab, was in apostasy, and his wife, Jezebel, was a priest of Baal. But God is saying there are seven thousand others, so don't develop a persecution complex where you think you are the only one who is right, the only one who tells the truth, the only one who gets everything right, and that nobody understands anything like you do. When you do that, you will feel a severe burden upon yourself, and sometimes you fight battles that do not exist; sometimes, you even fight against the people who are there to help you. Elijah had a persecution complex; he was tunnel-visioned and couldn't see anybody else. God says to Elijah, "There are seven thousand others beside you."
So maybe what God is telling you is to not just look inside yourself too much and only focus on yourself. God says to lift up your eyes, lift up your head; there are other people who are doing what you're doing, who are as concerned as you are, who are as committed as you are, who are as honest as you are, and who are as truthful as you are. If you stop just looking within yourself and having this persecution complex, perhaps you will discover an army of people who are just like you. And that's exactly what the Lord said to Elijah.
No matter what you're going through, God has people all around you. Don't ever forget you are not alone, because not only is God with you, but He has people who are also around you. 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 and amen." You are surrounded with help. I am Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.