Sermon Notes — August 24, 2025
1 Kings 19:1-8
August 24, 2025
Rev. Terry Carty
“Table in the Wilderness”
Table in the Wilderness Sermon
Today we are thinking about Elijah, one of the most dramatic prophets in the Old Testament. While I love to teach about the Old Testament people and events, I find it very difficult to preach from these scriptures. Pulling a few verses out of a rich story like that of Elijah does not capture the life and times of the Hebrew people. It takes far too much explanation to fit into a 12 to 15 minute message.
It must suffice that I tell you that when Elijah spoke to God, kings trembled, evil Queen Jezebel was angered, the rain stopped and the land dried out for 3 years, ravens brought food, a jug of oil never ran dry and a jar of meal never ran out, a boy was raised from the dead, fire fell from the sky, revival broke out across Israel, and hundreds of idolatrous prophets of Baal were executed. (For a good read, sit down in a comfortable chair and start reading at 1 Kings 16:29 and read through 2 Kings 2nd chapter. Read it as a novel with Israel being the wayward northern kingdom and Judah the more faithful southern kingdom. If you are intrigued, let us know and we will plan a Bible study on the Kings.)
Jezebel swore that she would kill Elijah within 24 hours. Thinking that his mission for God (the one they called YHWH) was complete, like most of us would do with this kind of threat, Elijah panicked and ran for his life - out of Israel into Judah and then out into the wilderness. After a day in the wilderness, he was so exhausted that he gave up and collapsed - lonely, frightened, and feeling utterly defeated. Leaning against the only tree in sight, he prayed for death. He was at his end – no hope – no where to go.
Whether I am teaching about a scripture story or preparing to preach about one, I first try to put it into my own very human experience. I ask myself,” when have I been where one of these characters was in this story? “
My first response to that story was that I have never been in such a dire circumstance. I have helped people who have had their power turned off and as a last resort asked the church to help. I have bought gas and supplies for people who were out of fuel, out of food, out of diapers, and not really sure of where they are going but know there was no work where they came from. I have known people who have had multiple failed attempts at drug rehab and are only alive by the grace of God and Narcan.
I have never been at the end of my rope. But after thinking about it, I recalled a time when I could go no further, and I was even resigned to accept death if that was my destiny.
It was during time in my life when I spent most of my Sunday’s racing motorcycles on dirt tracks around middle Tennessee. The cliché rings true: “Dirt bikes. The most fun you’ll ever have hurting yourself.”
I bought my dirt bike when I was in my early 20’s and was quickly flying down dirt roads, across fields, and through wooded paths. I started entering local motocross races and cross-country events.
Elijah’s condition reminded me of how I felt during an Enduro Race around Red Boiling Springs on the Cumberland Plateau. Unlike motocross tracks, this kind of race was about endurance more than all-out speed. It was cross country, two laps of 50 miles each time, through deep woods, some along uncleared animal trails and fire trails, and occasional short sections of dirt roads. I had not taken time to eat that morning and had barely made it to the starting point on time.
With the physical exertion over cold, rough terrain, nothing on my stomach, and no water, I was exhausted and gasping for air after the first 50 miles. I got off my motorcycle to stretch, and someone gave me a bottle of cold water. I rapidly gulped the whole bottle of water and immediately felt a gripping pain in my chest. Before I knew it my cycle and I were both sprawled out in the grass. I literally couldn’t move. The pain was excruciating. I thought I was dying. I just laid there, helpless, and totally surrendered to whatever would come next for me – even death.
I am not trying to equate my experience to those dire circumstances I described earlier, but I think I know how Elijah felt physically when he had gone as far as he could in the wilderness.
Would you pray with me?
God of quiet strength, you do not leave us alone in our weariness. Like Elijah, we come with our fatigue and fears. Feed us with your presence. Let this time of worship be bread for our souls and rest for our hearts. Strengthen us to rise again in faith and continue the journey with you. Amen.
When I collapsed halfway through my race, people came to my aid. They helped me to be strong enough to get my dirt bike back on its trailer and return home. I didn’t finish my race. But the next Sunday, I was back at another race.
Elijah thought that his mission from God had already been fulfilled. He had been God’s agent for revealing YHWH as the greatest, most powerful. He defeated all the priests of Baal. He was finished and on the run. He did not want to die the same death that Queen Jezebel had brought to so many prophets of YHWH. He simply wanted peace.
An angel brought cakes of bread. Not just manna that had sustained the Israelites in the exodus, but actual baked bread. And actual water in a jar. Elijah was filled and his thirst was satisfied. Then the angel came a second time to give him bread and water and encouragement for the journey that still lay ahead of him.
That food strengthened him for the next 6-weeks-long journey to Mount Horeb, the mount of God, where Moses had met with God and received the tablets of the 10 Commandments. It was there he heard the small voice of God sending him on the next leg of his mission for God.
Bread and water are driving images sustaining Elijah’s life for the work of God. Bread and water are mentioned often in both Old and New Testaments. They serve as symbols for the things that sustain life. Jesus made it clear that our life journey requires more than something more than a baked loaf and a cup of water. What serves as our bread and water for sustaining us for our journeys?
In John’s Gospel, he remembers a woman in Samaria at a well hearing Jesus say: “those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” (John 4:14).
And John remembers that after Jesus had fed 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, the people were begging him for food that endures for eternal life. Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)
When I think of Jesus who gives a never-ending spring of water, gushing up for eternity, and bread for the long-haul journey of life in God’s kingdom, I think of the many ways we find ourselves figuratively weary, hungry and thirsty.
My own journey is nourished by my studies in scriptural truth and a desire to walk the path of scripture with others. Cycling was fun, but it certainly never fed my soul’s hunger and thirst. I was fed when I began to believe that “those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)
I found my nourishment first in a mysterious call from God to follow Jesus and to help other people. I found I was fed and strengthened by my church – the more I gave, the more I got. I found support in a marriage of shared love and Christian values. And I am sustained by generations of family before me and after me who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
When we leave worship, I encourage you to ask yourself two probing questions.
Where are you weary and in need of God’s provision?
Who might need an invitation to rest and eat beside you?
As you consider these, try to remember that even in our lowest moments, we can feast on God’s Word and rest on the assurance of God’s love.
Affirmation of Faith 08-24-25
We believe in God, who saw Elijah exhausted in the wilderness, and provided bread and water, enough to sustain his journey.
We believe in Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, who feeds our deepest hunger and teaches us to trust God for every need. In Him, we are nourished by grace and sustained in body and spirit.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, who meets us in our lowest moments, who quenches our thirst with living water, and guides us to new life.
We trust in the God who provides — not always what we want, but always what we need. We believe that in every wilderness, God is present, and God is enough. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Benediction
Go now, knowing that God, who spread a table in the wilderness for Elijah, still meets us at our point of need.
May Christ nourish you with courage, the Spirit guide you with gentle strength, and the love of God send you onward — sustained for the journey ahead.
Go in peace and share the table for others on their journey. Amen.