Take the Wheel!
Today I’m continuing this series on The Human Side of Faith and I want to lean into one of my personal, all-time, favorite stories. But before we get to it, I thought we would begin with these words from the great theologian Carie Underwood 🙂 who famously sings…
Jesus, take the wheel, Take it from my hands
‘Cause I can’t do this on my own
I’m letting go, So give me one more chance
And save me from this road I’m on
Jesus, take the wheel
Even if you don’t like country music, you probably know those lyrics.
The song, Jesus Take the Wheel, was written in 2005 by Brett James, Hillary Lindsey, and Gordie Sampson.
Not long after they wrote the song, Carrie Underwood won American Idol. In October, Carrie was recording her first album and at first, she wasn’t planning on including this song. But it’s a good thing she did! Jesus Take the Wheel became her first #1 hit spending 6 weeks at the top of the charts!
The song tells the story of a young mom who’s had a long, hard year, who’s driving home to see her parents at Christmas with her baby in the backseat. All of a sudden, she hits a patch of black ice and now her car is spinning out of control. She’s filled with fear not just for her life, but for the life of her child.
In the middle of that moment, filled with fear, anxiety, and uncertainty, as her car is spinning like a top on the freeway, she bursts into song singing… Jesus, take the wheel! 🙂
Sometimes life feels like that, doesn’t it?
There’s a reason that song spent 6 weeks at number 1 and crossed over into the Christian and mainstream charts and won multiple Grammys. Because we can all identify with what it feels like when life is spinning out of control, we feel all alone, isolated and afraid.
One day, we can be on top of the world.
The next day, we can be at the bottom of the pit.
One day, it can feel like we have it all together.
The next day, it can feel like it’s all spinning out of control.
One day, life is good.
The next day, it feels like life is over.
Chances are, you’re not bursting out in song when your life is spiraling and falling apart.
But what are you supposed to do?
What are we supposed to do when we find ourselves at rock bottom, when life is spinning out of control, when we’re at the end of our rope?
Elijah’s Story
When it comes to the human side of faith, sometimes it’s helpful to remember that some of the most incredible people of faith who had literal mountain top experiences with God also knew what it felt like to be at rock bottom, what it feels like to be isolated, alone, and afraid.
That was certainly true for a man by the name of Elijah.
He is known as one of the all time great prophets of God. And he truly was. But he also faced some dark and difficult times. You can find his story in 1 Kings.
Elijah’s story jumps immediately into action.
1 Kings 17
1 Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!”
Elijah bursts onto the scene with a bold prophecy and as far as we know, without any direct instruction from God. But here’s what we do know… Israel is a nation in spiritual crisis. They have suffered under a string of evil kings, and Ahab is the worst yet (1 Kings 16:30).
Ahab marries Jezebel to secure a political alliance. But Jezebel is a Phoenician princess who more than likely is a priestess of the idol god Asherah. This marriage brings idol worship directly into Israel’s leadership—violating the covenant God gave Israel at Sinai and leading the people away from God.
God doesn’t tell Elijah to go to Ahab and tell him that it’s not going to rain. But Elijah knows God’s word. Here’s what God had told his people (through Moses)…
Deuteronomy 11.13-17
13 “If you carefully obey the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the LORD your God and serve him with all your heart and soul, 14 then he will send the rains in their proper seasons—the early and late rains—so you can bring in your harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil. 15 He will give you lush pastureland for your livestock, and you yourselves will have all you want to eat.
16 “But be careful. Don’t let your heart be deceived so that you turn away from the LORD and serve and worship other gods. 17 If you do, the LORD’s anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and the ground will fail to produce its harvests. Then you will quickly die in that good land the LORD is giving you.
Elijah knew that Israel was living in direct disobedience to God because of idol worship in the land and that King Ahab and Jezebel were leading the people of God away from God.
So Elijah tells Ahab there will be no rain because of Israel’s idolatry—a direct challenge to Baal, the so-called god of rain. For three years, drought devastates the land, proving that Yahweh alone is God.
During this time, God miraculously provides for Elijah—first by a brook with ravens bringing food, then through a widow who lived in Phoenicia, Jezebel’s homeland. Despite the widow’s poverty, God multiplies her flour and oil every day so that she always has enough for herself, her son, and her new friend Elijah.
Then, the unimaginable happens when her son dies. But Elijah prays, and God raises him back to life. If you’re keeping count, that’s three miracles each revealing God’s power and presence with Elijah even when he’s living in foreign land in the middle of desperate times.
The Mountain Top Confrontation
God sends Elijah to Ahab. When Ahab sees Elijah, he says….
17 “So, is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel?”
King Ahab, by the way, is looking everywhere for Elijah. Ahab blames Elijah for the drought!
Everybody is suffering because absolutely everything depended on agriculture, the land, and the rain!
18 “I have made no trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the LORD and have worshiped the images of Baal instead. 19 Now summon all Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel.”
To be clear, the trouble in Israel is that Israel is not worshiping God and God alone. They have turned away from God to the worship of an idol. And this is the central problem Israel continually struggled with. It is in direct violation of God’s word. They have broken the covenant they made with God at Mount Sinai. You cannot worship Yahweh God AND… anything else.
20 So Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel. 21 Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.
And the silence is deafening.
Just 4-500 years before, Joshua had asked the people of Israel this same question. He challenged them to put away the idols of Egypt and to worship the one true God. He famously asked them to choose this day who you will serve and then said,
“But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!” (Joshua 24.15).
And all the people agreed and said,
“…we, too, will serve the LORD, for he alone is our God.” (Joshua 24.18).
Once again, Israel had turned away from God. Now Elijah has gathered the people of Israel, their king, along with 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah on Mount Carmel for a contest!
1 Kings 18
22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only prophet of the LORD who is left, but Baal has 450 prophets. 23 Now bring two bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of their altar, but without setting fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood on the altar, but not set fire to it. 24 Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God!” And all the people agreed.
By the way, Elijah has given Baal home court advantage. There is already an altar for Baal built on top of Mount Carmel. And lightening is his weapon. The bull is his animal. The prophets of Baal sacrifice the bull, prepare the offering on the altar, and the contest begins.
The prophets of Baal and Asherah pray and dance and call on Baal from morning until noon with no answer. No lightening. No fire from heaven. No nothing. Elijah begins to heckle them asking them where Baal might be? He tells them to shout louder to get Baal’s attention but nothing works. Now it’s evening and Elijah says, “Alright. You guys come over here and watch this.”
Fire From Heaven
He rebuilds the altar of the Lord that had been torn down. He sacrifices the bull and puts it on the altar and has it drenched in water. And then this happens…
36 At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. 37 O LORD, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.”
38 Immediately the fire of the LORD flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench! 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The LORD—he is God! Yes, the LORD is God!”
The people of God, at least for the moment, seem to return to God.
Elijah kills the 450 prophets of Baal. We don’t tell that part of the story at VBS! And then, Elijah prays for rain and God sends the rain! Amazing! After 3+ years of drought, famine, not a drop of rain, they get a monsoon!
Elijah is coming off of one of, if not the, greatest mountain top experiences of all time. He has literally seen God act in a mighty way! He has experienced miracle after miracle after miracle. And then, this happens…
1 Kings 19
1 When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including the way he had killed all the prophets of Baal. 2 So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: “May the gods strike me and even kill me if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you just as you killed them.”
3 Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. 4 Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”
How do you go from a literal mountain top experience with God, where God sends fire from heaven, where you singlehandedly defeat 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah, to being so terrified and afraid of one person to the point of falling beneath a tree and praying to God to die?
Hitting Rock Bottom
I don’t know about you, but I’ve experienced this. I’ve seen this before.
You come off a summer mission trip or you get home from summer camp and you are fired up for God, you’ve seen Him at work, then you get home and less than 24 hours later you’re wrapped up in the same sins you were before.
You make the decision to be baptized into Christ and you come up out of that water on fire for Jesus and you’re ready to change the world. But then a week goes by, maybe two, or three, and that fire that was burning so bright begins to fade.
Or you’re in worship one day and you can’t explain it, you don’t know why, but something’s different. You feel God’s presence. You know He’s near. But it’s been a minute since that happened. And God, who once felt so close that you could reach out and touch Him, now feels like He’s a million miles away.
Ever found yourself up under a broom tree like Elijah feeling isolated, alone, and afraid after a mountaintop experience with God?
Elijah didn’t pray, Jesus take the wheel. Elijah prayed, “I have had enough, LORD. Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”
From the highest high to the lowest low.
The Rollercoaster Ride
A few years ago Alisha and I took our kids to Disney World in Orlando. They were all pretty young. And they didn’t want to have anything to do with any of the rollercoasters at Disney World. But after braving the Mine Train and having fun on that ride, I talked Gracie into riding another rollercoaster with me.
The Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. I had no idea what I was talking her into. I didn’t know how fast it was – from 0-60mph in less than 3 seconds. I didn’t know it went upside down not once, not twice, but three times! I didn’t know that I was about to scar my daughter for life! When that ride was over, she could not get off that rollercoaster fast enough!
I don’t know if she was praying Jesus take the wheel or Lord I’ve had enough! But I don’t think she’s been on one since!
The Sound of Silence
Some of you are on the roller coaster of life right now. You’ve experienced the highs and you’ve experienced the lows. And you’re praying, “I’ve had enough, LORD!”
What do you do when you’re at the bottom? When you find yourself all alone under a broom tree isolated, alone, and afraid?
Can I tell you what God did for Elijah in that moment?
He allowed him to sleep.
He gave him food to eat.
He let him sleep again.
Then He took him to a cave on Mount Sinai where this happened…
1 Kings 19
11 “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the LORD passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper.
And God was in the gentle whisper. The sound of silence.
And God spoke to Elijah. He reminded him that he was not alone. in fact, there were 7000 others who had not bowed to worship Baal. And that there was manrElijahrneeded k tmake his disciple. doHe told him there was more work to do.
And today, if you’re at rock bottom, God wants to remind you, often with a still, small voice, that…
God is with you, for you, and calling you forward.
God is with you, He is for you, you are not alone, and He has more for you to do as you live for Him.
Can I invite you to spend some time alone with God in silence to listen to His voice?
If you’re wondering how to hear the voice of God… well, that’s probably another post for another day. But let me just remind you, maybe the best way is to open His Word, the Word of God, read His Word, and let it work its way into your heart. God will remind you that you are loved, that you are not alone, that He is with you, He is for you, and there is more for you to do as you live for Him.
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