Serving Punch At The Pity-Party

I absolutely love the story of Elijah as told in the book of I Kings. He was a man’s man. Tough and leathery, he was an outlaw that took on the King and the entire religious establishment of his time back in ancient Israel. With God’s help he prayed and the rain stopped. With God’s help he prayed and brought a little boy back from the dead. With God’s help he prayed and fire fell from the sky, burning up a water-saturated altar and sacrifice. With God’s help, he brought about a revival in Israel. He was a hero!

Oops! But then the queen sent him a message that she was going to kill him. So he ran away to the wilderness and sat under a juniper tree, asking God to simply let him die. Read the rest of the story for yourself, and I promise it is a good read. Above all, there is a message recorded there on how to deal with controversy in life that we can all learn from.

I’m down this morning. Depressed. Defeated. No help, no hope, no joke. In the words of Pogo, “We have met the enemy, and he is us!” I received my own ‘Sunday-punch’ from life yesterday, and I went down like Joe Frazier’s son when he fought Mike Tyson back in the day – with one punch. I never fathomed I’d have a glass jaw, but it turns out that I do.

I will spare you the details because it makes little or no difference. But it is not simply another storm in my life, or a challenge to be met. This one will be harder than most, and possibly one that just may prove to be too big for me in the end. So I find myself under my own proverbial juniper tree this morning, telling God that ‘it is simply enough’ at this point because I can’t go on any longer - this despite all the spiritual victories and blessings He has provided for me in my life.

Pity-parties are comical when you think about them. They make us feel…how? Better? Not really. Referring to the lyrics of Three Dog Night, “Momma told me not to come, that ain’t the way to have fun, son.” If we stay too long at our own so-called pity party, things never get done, and problems never get taken care of. We need to find a way out of there and we need to do it quickly.

My way out this morning has been to reflect on what David said happened to him when he received his own Sunday punch. “In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and He did hear my voice out of His temple, and my cry did enter into His ears.” God is always listening, and God always knows. David went on to add “I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.”

When times are bad, we need to remember (in detail) the times that were good. Re-read the first paragraph of this blog entry again and see if you catch it…

How did Elijah stop the rain? He prayed and God helped.
How did he bring a little boy back to life? He prayed and God helped.
What made the fire fall from the sky? He prayed and God helped.
The end result? There was a revival.

Praying and getting help from God is a lot better than sitting under a juniper tree and having a pity-party. Even when those Sunday punches happen to find their connection on a glass jaw.