2019-07-14 “Cave of Whisper"

Caves of Wonder: Cave of Whisper

1 Kings 19: 11-14

11 He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ 14He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’

            We’ve been working on a series that explores caves mentioned in the Bible.  In the first week, we talked about the principles one may follow to explore caves. The next week, we explored the cave in which Lazarus was buried.  Last week, we explored the Wild Goats Rocks Cave where David showed mercy to his enemy Saul.   Let’s remember the five caving principles to explore biblical caves are:

1.    Go with two or more people. “For where two or three gather together…” 

2.    Pack three light sources.“I am the light of the world.”

3.    Keep three points of contact. “Touch me and see.”

4.    Take plenty of water.  “A spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’

5.    Wear gloves and helmets and layer clothing.  “The belt of truth …the breastplate of righteousness …shoes of peace …the shield of faith …the helmet of salvation … and the sword of the Spirit.”

            This morning on our journey we are going into the cave of Elijah…into the Cave of Whispers.  To get us in the mood, I just want us to close our eyes and be in silence for a moment. I would like you to take a deep breath and listen for a few seconds to the sounds of a cave and imagine you hear a whisper.

(Sound tech plays a recording a cave.)

            You find yourself in the cave of Elijah if you have ever said something like:  

·     “I did my part and I’m done.”

·     “I’ve been doing this a long time, and others can step in and take my place.”

·     “I think I’ll just pack it all up and go to Florida.”

·     “God, I already did it all…I’m not doing any more.”

            Those who have been zealous for God, who have put the extra energy in for God and have ‘had it up to here’ know the darkness in the Cave of Whispers. You and Elijah have a lot in common.  A tenderfoot of faith does not enter this cave.  The old soldier enters here after their final battle. Let me explain a little bit. 

            If you haven’t read about Elijah in First Kings, it really is a fascinating story.  The story centers on Elijah’s conflict with Ahab. Today most of us know Ahab as Melville’s wily captain of the ship searching for the great white whale Moby Dick. Melville named his captain after King Ahab of Israel. The writers of First Kings make it clear to us that King Ahab fails spiritually, morally and administratively as king.  You may think of some pretty bad kings.  Ahab is the worst of them all. He puts the despicable in “me.”  Ahab worships the Baals. Baal worship centered on human sacrifice. Not just any human sacrifice, but the sacrifice of human babies. He also worshiped Asherah, and put up Asherah poles. The worship of Asherah used temple prostitution. Ahab had some bad stuff happening. He married Jezebel.  When you hear, ‘Oh she’s a Jezebel,” do you think, “Oh, she’s the wholesome character?” Oh no…you think quite the opposite. Ahab and Jezebel, two peas in a pod, were the worst of the worst.  

            Enter Elijah, the prophet of God who says, “Here is what God says, and here is what you are doing and guess what? They’re not the same, so there are consequences to bear.”  Jezebel responds. Jezebel rounded up all the prophets of God. It would be like saying she rounded up all the pastors in Kosciusko County, and she had them put to death. She then brought in all the priests of Baal and the priests of Asherah, and sat them at her table every day and fed them from the public coffers.  God raises up the prophet Elijah to challenge Ahab and Jezebel. Elijah calls Jezebel’s priests out at high noon for a show down.  450 of these priests of Baal and Asherah come forward to do spiritual battle with Elijah. 

            He says, “Bring all of Israel, bring everybody in the country, and bring all your priests up to Mt. Carmel and let’s have a contest to see whose god is a real god.”

            “Tell you what we’ll do. You make an offering to your god…sacrifice a bull and lay it out on a pile of rocks and wood, and you call on your god to start the fire. And I’ll do the same. But you go first, because there is only one of me left. And there are all of you. So you go first.” 

            All day long, they pranced around their offering getting more and more fanatical, and as the day goes on and no fire burns. Elijah taunts them. “What? Is your god napping?” “Is your god out?” “Is you god incapacitated or just lazy?” “Is your god using the privy?”  

            Evening draws nigh, and it’s time for the evening sacrifice. Elijah puts together an altar of 12 stones and gathers the wood and sacrifices a bull laying it on the altar.  He tells the people to pour water on the altar. And he tells them to pour it again, again and again.  They dig a trench so that the water pools around the altar.   

            Elijah calls out with a loud voice, “Lord God, this is a sacrifice for you. Light its fire.” And God does. 

            In an instant the fire consumes the offering, consumes the wood, consumes the rocks, and, even consumes the water. 

            Elijah then says, “Ok folks, who is the real God?”  

            The people of Israel riot and kill the prophets of Baal and Asherah.  Elijah flees the carnage knowing that Ahab and Jezebel seek to unleash vengeance upon him. Think of the coastline of Israel, at the top of the little peninsula jetting into the Mediterranean, sits Mt. Carmel where the dueling sacrifices took place. Elijah runs. We are told that he goes to Bathsheba, 120 miles south. Elijah leaves his servant in Bathsheba and runs another day into the wilderness. We are not sure exactly where. Elijah goes to pray and to die. He believes everybody who serves the Lord has been partitioned by Jezebel’s hate. He believes himself to be alone and finished, having failed God.  

            God’s ministers to Elijah with water and bread.  God calls the revived Elijah to make one more journey.  Any time you hear the number 40 in scripture, it ought to be a signpost for you. God is up to something.  Remember Moses and the Hebrew slaves traveled 40 years in the wilderness. Remember Noah and the forty days and nights of rain.  Remember Jesus fasting 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness. The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and runs for 40 days and 40 nights (not including Sundays). Elijah traveled 40 days and nights.  God is up to something.  God is not done with Elijah. God is going to do something. 

            Elijah walks to Mount Horeb. Where in the world is Mount Horeb? After all these years, scholars have not been able to figure this out. You can read all kinds of debates about where it is, and different archeologists and biblical scholars sharing with you where it is, where this cave actually exists. I think the best probable place is somewhere in modern day Saudi Arabia. Nobody really knows.  Because we really don’t know, we use the little cave at Mount Carmel to celebrate Elijah’s story. Elijah goes into a cave in the mountain of God. He is going to the place where God called the Hebrew children out of Egypt and made for them a community of faith. He goes back “home”. He goes back to the birth of the faith. He goes back to a cave there. Again, he lies down to die. He utters, “I’m done.”  Elijah has done all he could for God, so lays down to be found by Jezebel. He lays down for the end. Jezebel is not the only pursuer of Elijah. God pursues him. God doesn’t leave Elijah alone. 

            Imagine Elijah just lying there, in this cave thinking, “Ok, I’m ready. Just take me. I’m letting go now. I’m letting go, just take me.” 

            Somewhere a voice says, “Elijah what are you doing here?’  

            We can listen to that in a couple of different ways: “What are you doing here? Why are you lying in this cave all by yourself in the middle of nowhere? Why have you chosen this location? You aren’t supposed to be here, you’re supposed to be somewhere else!”  

            Or, you can hear it as:  “Elijah, what are you doing here?” “What are you doing?” Implying, “you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing.”  

            Perhaps it’s both: “What are you doing because you’re not doing what I want you to be doing, and what are you doing here because you’re not where I want you to be?”  

            God comes to Elijah. Wind shatters stone and an earthquake shatters mountains. God is not in the wind or the earthquake.   After the commotion comes silence. Again, a whisper of a question lands on Elijah’s ear, “Elijah…what are you doing here?”

            God whispers to Elijah because God’s work is not done. Therefore, Elijah’s work is not done. Elijah does not know what God knows. Because as the story progresses, Elijah says, “I’m the only one, poor me,” God says, “No, there are 7,000 just like you.” 

            Huh. Elijah didn’t know about the others until God told him.  God gives Elijah his marching orders: “Go, anoint two kings, neither of whom have anything to do with Israel or Judea—they are kings from other kingdoms-- God’s sovereignty over all. I am not just the God of Israel and Judea, I am the God of all nations.”  

            You and I know that the kings Elijah anoints are instruments God uses to bring justice upon Ahab and Jezebel.  Elijah doesn’t need to know.  Yet, you and I find out God’s purpose in the next story in scripture.

            Then, God says, “Go anoint Elisha, as your replacement.”  

Elijah is to raise up his replacement. When God punches our job ticket and gives us something to do, it is a unique task that only we can do.  In the end God wins, but how does God get it done? God works through willing people. God chose Elijah to get things done. God chooses you and I to get things done. But if Elijah says ‘no’, there is no one to go anoint the two kings. If Elijah says ‘no’, there is no one to raise up his replacement.  

            When we enter into the cave of Elijah, when we enter a place of self-pity and say, “Oh, I’ve done my part,” there is actually still work to be done.  God’s work is not done.  God hasn’t said to you, “Go ahead and give up,” has he?  When we go into the Cave of Elijah, what we understand is that God still has a job ticket and God still pursues us because there are a couple of things yet to be done. We are to anoint the leaders who come after us. We are called to lift somebody up to take our place.

            Have you lifted up somebody to take your place? I’m not talking about making babies, I am asking: Have you lifted someone up spiritually? Have you mentored someone in the faith, so they can carry on in the faith? Have you? If you have not, then there is still work to be done.  Are you identifying leaders and lifting them to replace you? Are you making sure there is somebody ready to be sitting in the pew when you are no longer there?

            The cave of Elijah is a hard-knock cave. You don’t get into that cave unless you’ve been zealous for God. You may feel pursued and persecuted, but God is not going to leave you there. God will come after you. And the question God has for you is:   “What in the world are you doing here? Get out there. Get back in the game.”  Amen.

  

2019-07-07 “Cave of Kindness"

Caves of Wonder: Cave of Kindness

1 Samuel 24: 9-15

          When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, ‘David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.’ Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to look for David and his men in the direction of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. He came to the sheepfolds beside the road, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. The men of David said to him, ‘Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, “I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good to you.” ’ Then David went and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s cloak. Afterwards David was stricken to the heart because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s cloak. He said to his men, ‘The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to raise my hand against him; for he is the Lord’s anointed.’ So David scolded his men severely and did not permit them to attack Saul. Then Saul got up and left the cave, and went on his way.

          Afterwards David also rose up and went out of the cave and called after Saul, ‘My lord the king!’ When Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the ground, and did obeisance.

A couple of weeks ago we began a series exploring the depth of God’s grace through biblical caves.  Last week we talked about the Cave of Joy through the story of Lazarus.  Jesus enters into our grief so that we can enter into his glory and resurrection.  Once again let’s review the five SpiritLunking principles to explore biblical caves:

·      Go with three or more people. “For where two or three gather together…” 

·     Pack three light sources.“I am the light of the world.”

·     Keep three points of contact. “Touch me and see.”

·     Take plenty of water.  “A spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’

·     Wear gloves and helmets and layer clothing.  “The belt of truth …the breastplate of righteousness …shoes of peace …the shield of faith …the helmet of salvation … and the sword of the Spirit.          ”

Today’s topic highlights contact…remain connected to who we are in Jesus Christ. Though we have opportunities and abilities to do evil, we don’t.  Now, you might think, “That’s an odd statement…of course as Christians we don’t do evil.”  Let me frame it for you a little bit. Have you ever experienced betrayal in your life? Let me describe betrayal just for a moment. Betrayal would be those times in which you have a set of expectations about how somebody else is going to act, about how something is going to happen, and then it doesn’t go that way. The person involved doesn’t act the way that you anticipate them to act, and so it comes across to you as if you have been betrayed. If you have experienced that then you are human.  We all experience betrayal in our lives. I don’t think anybody gets out of this life without experiencing betrayal.  There’s a flip side to feeling betrayed by another person. Have you ever acted in a way that another person didn’t anticipate and they experienced your actions as betrayal?  Now that’s the flip side and it’s the harder side to be on, isn’t it? And yet, we’re not going to get through this life without that happening. One way or another we are going to both experience betrayal as the person betrayed, and we are going to experience ourselves being the betrayer.

Tod Bolsinger in Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory,says, “In uncharted territory, where changes occur so rapidly, leaders cannot assume success until after they have weathered the sabotage that naturally follows.”

[Bolsinger, Tod. Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory (p. 175). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.]

When I think through history, I think of one example of being betrayed that you may remember: The story of Julius Cesar and the Ides of March. On March 15, he was assassinated, and his best friend and confidante was one of the assassins. Remember that scene where, just before the daggers are jabbed into him he looks up and says, “Et tu, Brute?”,  “You too, Brutus?”  

This is the story of a royal betrayal and the retribution that could have been. Scripture takes us to a place to which you may never go - the Ein Gedi Wilderness on the west shore of the Dead Sea. Today tourists travel to the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve and National Park in Israel.  You can see wild goats on the rocks, hence the biblical name of the cave, Wild Goats Rocks Cave.  This is the cave where David before his kingship hid. Now, follow along with me for a moment. The Dead Sea is down here and Jerusalem is here. One travels vertically 3800 feet in the 48 miles to get to Jerusalem. Shechem is north of Jerusalem another 36 miles. Saul, the King of Israel, rules from the city of Shechem, north of Jerusalem, up in the mountains. 

King Saul rules on high, and here comes David. When David first enters our scriptural story, he is a person of no account. Samuel, the prophet of God, chooses this young man to anoint as the new king of Israel. God rejects Saul as king and sends Samuel to anoint the new one. Samuel goes not to the mighty, but to the lowly, the lowest tribe of all the tribes. He goes to the lowest clan within that tribe, and he goes to the lowest family within that clan. And we end up at Jesse’s doorstep.  Jesse has several sons. He calls all these sons forward one by one to introduce them to Samuel. Finally Samuel looks at him and says, “Don’t you have anyone else?” Jesse says quietly, “Well, there’s David. Nobody wants David.”  David comes out to meet Samuel, and God’s spirit moves in Samuel’s heart. Samuel anoints David to be the next king over all of Israel. The line of succession follows the anointing of God rather than the bloodline of royalty.  Saul has no heart for God.  David has a full heart for God. 

One night we were at a Casting Crowns concert over in Elkhart. Mark Hill, the lead singer, is a youth pastor from Atlanta Georgia. Mark made mention of David as being “someone who loved God and a giant got in the way.” David truly does love God and wants to do what is right. Most of us remember what happens when the giant Goliath shows up. David takes on Goliath and heads rolled. Saul eventually takes David into his family and thinks of him as his son. His first-born Jonathon and David become best friends. David, we find out, is quite the young man about town. He plays what would be a guitar in our day. He plays this guitar and sings songs, soothing Saul when Saul gets his headaches. Then an act of betrayal takes place. In a moment of jealous rage Saul picks up a spear to skewer David. David leaps out of the way and with the help of Jonathan, Saul’s son, escapes into the wilderness. 

David creates a band of folks who understand that he is passionate for God. They are more than a gang but less than a tribe. We are told in scripture that there are 300 men. Now when you say 300 men, you might picture 300 individuals. But you don’t just picture the individuals. You have to picture their wives with them (and they might have more than one wife), and all their kids. Then there would be all their sheep and all their goats; and all their donkeys to carry all their gear and all their tents-- this is a community of 300 families following David.

They’ve gone into the Ein Gedi, into the rocks where the wild goats are, and there’s a cave in there. They’re hiding out in this place primarily because of the water. The springs are gushing out of the caves, and there are beautiful waterfalls coming down from the cliffs, David’s hiding place, 75 miles south by south east of Shechem and 3800 feet below.  While in the Wild Goats Rocks Cave...what warfare dictates, what David’s men dictate is that David would plan to gain revenge on Saul for his betrayal, that David kill Saul for his attempted murder.  Saul shows up with three thousand of the best fighters in Israel. These are the professional soldiers. And they have come to the Ein Gedi to finish what Saul started. 

It is hard to hide three hundred families with sheep and goats and tents and children. They did not all pack into the cave at Wild-Goats Rocks. They spread out like a nomadic village in the desert around this oasis. They would have been seen. And so as the army comes by, David goes to hide in the cave with his men so as not to draw Saul’s soldiers into a battle. 

Even a king hears the call of nature. There were no public restrooms in those days. And if you’re a king, you don’t want to be exposed.  To answer ‘the call’ you have to take your armor off. It’s like a turtle taking its shell off. You don’t want to do that out in the middle of a field or up on a cliff, because you would be vulnerable to attack. You’re going to find a cave you can go into where you can take your armor off…where you can take your robes off…where you can rest a little while and..... find relief. 

Here is the predicament. Deep into this cave where nobody can see Saul, David is hiding. The deeper Saul goes in, the closer he gets to David, and David realizes he has an opportunity here. God has delivered his enemy to his hands. By the dictates of warfare, and by the dictates of tribalism, by the dictates of even the Old Testament (which says an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth) David has every right under God and humanity, to take the life of Saul because of the betrayal he perpetuated.

What would you have done, given the same circumstance? I mean, haven’t you felt that desire to get even with somebody? If they’ve done you wrong, don’t you want them treated badly? Or worse? I’m sure David felt that way.  But as I said earlier, when you are in a cave--when you go SpiritLunking, you remain grounded. You keep yourself in contact with the rocks at three different points, and only move around to reach with one appendage. David remained grounded in who he is as the anointed one of God. As a person of God he said to himself, “You know what? Saul is also anointed. God anointed him to be leader over Israel. When he is finished, I’ll be the leader of Israel. He’s a man of God. I’m not going to violate my belief in God in order to get even. I’m going to back off.”  He shrewdly takes his dagger and he cuts off a piece of Saul’s robe. You might remember in one translation of the scriptures it says he cut off his skirt. Most of the better translations say he cuts off the “fringe” or the “tassel.”  

We have prayer blankets up here on the altar that have fringe. This is what he is talking about. The fringe would hang down out of the armor of the king. I think probably Saul took his armor off, but I don’t think he would take off his undergarment with fringe. You know why that is? The fringe is on the tallit.The tallit is the prayer shawl an Israelite male would wear at all times to show he was in constant prayer and communion with God. And every one of these little tassels that would be on the bottom of the tallit represents one of the 614 commandments in scripture. So the fringe or tassels say, in effect, “I’m following God.” When David cuts off the tassels, he is saying, “You’re a hypocrite. Because you’re not following the command of God.”

Saul finishes his business, gets himself together, and he goes out of his cave. I imagine him rejoining his armies down in the valley as this figure emerges from the cave up on the cliffs; in a place nobody can really get to him (a great place from which to shout and be heard, amplified by the rocks around him). David shouts down to Saul and says, “God has delivered you to me today. And I have given you that which you can’t give me. Mercy.” And he holds up the tassels from the tallit. If Saul had been a true man of God he would have noticed that the tassels were cut from his prayer cloth. But he didn’t notice. His focus was not on God.  

Now… I’m sure David would have received quite a bit of push-back from his own men, who would have shaken their heads and said, “Why in the world didn’t you just take Saul out, then you could have been declared king?” An odd change occurs now. Something happens in Saul’s mind that tells him that he better behave. He says to David, “I will let you live. We are going to go home. But do me this courtesy...when you come into your own kingdom, David, will you please not kill all of my children and wipe out my name, (as I would have yours--that’s the subtext).  Because David did that which was of God and not of humanity, the greatness of David-- the story of David’s mercy-- spread like wildfire. And the people of the Kingdom of Israel recognized him in their hearts as their true king, even though Saul was still alive. 

David’s greatness emerged because he did the small thing...showing mercy, with great love. You and I may make that same choice as we explore the Cave of Kindness only if we too remain grounded and connected to Jesus Christ.  We don’t have to live under the rule of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. We don’t have to live with the rule of being people who do not show mercy. We can choose to live as God has chosen us to live. As people of peace, give him the glory for our lives. Extend mercy and kindness not to people who deserve it, (including ourselves), but to people who don’t deserve it (including ourselves).