
“Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:18 ESV)
Despair and loneliness are merciless fraternal twins who have chased God’s faithful—great and small—for thousands of years. Even the great prophets and mighty kings of old were not spared from their relentless onslaughts and assaults. Elijah was used by God to bring about a great victory against the prophets of Baal as the Lord God answered his pleas and sent fire from heaven on his offering on Mount Carmel. Subsequently, four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal were executed by the people of Israel and rain miraculously fell from the heavens after three and a half years of drought. But despite these powerful victories and the very visible manifestations of the unmatched power of God, the mighty prophet trembled at Jezebel’s threats against his life and ran away into the desert. Though he was a firsthand witness to the awesome hand of God at work through him, he found himself despairing of life itself.
Brother and sisters, is this not our human condition? Too often we think to ourselves when we are pursuing the things of God with zeal, “Lord, the godly have perished from the face of the earth (Micah 7:2)! God, I am the only one left!” We look around us and can see only those who seek to lay snares for our lives while our closest friends stand far off (Ps 38:11-12). And even though God has worked for us such a great salvation by delivering us from slavery in the Egypt of our sin, we are prone to grumble when we are walking through wildernesses of life. We forget the power that parted the Red Sea and we long to return to slavery.
But how grateful we are that our God is a gracious and powerful God! For when the prophet was at his lowest, the still small voice spoke the truth with the gentleness of a father speaking to his young child. There on the mountain, God dealt kindly with his discouraged heart and reminded him he was not alone. For God had preserved for himself a remnant, chosen by grace, of 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal (Rom 11:5).
Christian, do you feel alone? Do you feel despair in your home, or at your workplace, or even in your church, because you think that you are alone in your struggle to be a faithful follower of God? Do you find yourself so overwhelmed by the trials of your daily life that when you look to the horizon, you see only unending days of lonely work and despair?
Take heart, Christian! Though we might feel alone in our sufferings, let us remember that the Lord God sees us in our afflictions. Though it may seem like his church is on the defensive or disappearing where we live, he has promised us that the gates of hell would not prevail against his church. When we are unable to lift our heads and perceive ourselves to be alone in the midst of our enemies, let us remember that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself. Though the Philistine giants of despair and loneliness might beat you with their brutal clubs, they are no match for the keen edge of the sword of the Spirit—that is the Word of God. He has promised to never leave us or forsake us, and he has purchased for us a family of co-labourers and co-sufferers. We are not alone. God always has his 7,000. And nothing in all creation can ever rob us of the immeasurable joy that we have in Christ Jesus who died on the cross for our sins so that we might live in relationship and joy with him—forever, and together.
Article by: Samuel Chua