Monday, August 6, 2012

Death Cries

Scripture: 1 Kings 19:4-8

Then [Elijah] lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. 

Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 

1 Kings 19:5

“Kill me Lord,” Elijah cries out. Sore muscles and jittery nerves overcome him as he stops at the broom tree. Surely Elijah completed his mission; surely the Holy One is done with him. Or maybe he is done with the Holy One.

Perhaps Elijah’s cry to the Lord is yours. “I can’t do this any longer God. Just end my life so I don’t have to suffer, so my family doesn’t have to suffer.” 

Perhaps your cry echoes the Israelites: “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (Exodus 16:3).

Why God? Why did you bring me here? I thought I was following you. I thought you would provide for my every need. I am hungry. I am tired. I am scared. Kill me Lord, for I can take no more.

I imagine by the time Elijah rested his head that night exhaustion overcame all emotion and he slept. Last night as you fell asleep, what hopes and fears crossed your mind? Did you cry out for death? Did you question our Creator’s presence in your life?

Elijah cries out in his pain and the Great I Am hears him. Not only does God hear Elijah, God acts.

An angel touches Elijah and says, “Get up and eat” (1 Kings 19:5). A call to life answers a cry for death. Get up and eat.

In times when death seems better than life, who calls you to eat?

In times when you cry out for death, who answers with life?

What angel beckons you to come and eat?

Prayer: Living God, you hear our cries for death and answer with life. Open us to experience your life-giving power in times of death and sorrow. Send angels bold to declare, “Get up and eat.” Amen.

 Jennifer M. Manis