A PURPOSEFUL LIFE; OLD TESTAMENT STORIES

                                    THE RUNAWAY PROPHET PART XXII

"I, Elijah, the prophet of God, had a terrible night last night.... I should have had a good night's sleep.... But, instead, I tossed and turned all night.... So I got up very early in the morning.... The reason I had such a bad night is because I received a note from the palace.... It was not a note I was expecting...The words in it frightened me.... I was having my dinner when the note arrived... But I lost my appetite... I had had such a good day.... For that day God showed He is the true God of Israel....And all the prophets of Baal were exposed for being false.... The note spoiled it all for me...I stopped eating my food... Tried to get some sleep... But I had terrible dreams... So I left home early this morning....I travelled all day.... I have now settled down under a broom tree... I realise that I cannot go on any longer... I must tell the Lord.".... Please read the typed out attachment when you will learn that the prophet Elijah runs for his life after having receive a threatening note from queen Jezebel....

           
                 ATTACHMENT A PURPOSEFUL LIFE; OLD TESTAMENT STORIES

                            THE RUNAWAY PROPHET PART XXII

You can read the prophet Elijah's response to queen Jezebel's message in I Kings 19:3-4

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. he came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, Lord," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors."

The note so upsets Elijah that sleep evades him. What is he to do? He does not see a way out of his predicament, apart from running away. So, after a restless night, he gets up very early in the morning and hastily makes his departure. It does not matter where he is going. All he knows is that he wants to be as far away as possible from queen Jezebel.What has happened to this mighty prophet of God? Is this the same Elijah, the one who the day before told Ahab that he was the source of Israel's problems? Is this the Elijah who only yesterday mocked the Baal prophets and later that day had all 450 of them killed? What has happened to him that this one woman causes him to become so afraid that he has begun to run for his life? In fact has become suicidal?