Fear.

It can knock us off center.

It can take us to a place of retreat.

And it can happen to the best of us.

It can happen to a pastor.  It can happen to a teacher.  It can happen to a great prophet.  In fact, it did.  Fear knocked one of God’s greatest prophets off balance.  His name?  Elijah.

Elijah had challenged 850 prophets of Baal to prove the power of their god by imploring Baal to send a fire to consume their sacrifice.  All day they cried out to Baal with no success.  Then Elijah stepped up to his sacrifice.  He called out to God, and He sent a mighty fire that not only consumed the sacrifice but also vapored the water that surrounded it.

It was miracle of power so dazzling that the Israelites in attendance fell on their faces and worshipped the Lord.  Then they joined Elijah in slaying these 850 prophets of Baal who had polluted their land with pagan worship.

What a day of victory!  What a time of rejoicing!  What a faith building experience!  Elijah must have had a smile on his face from ear to ear.  Yet something happened that radically changed Elijah’s demeanor.

The fury of Jezebel, King Ahab’s wife.

When she learned what Elijah had spearheaded, the slaying of her prophets and a revolt against Baal worship, she was furious and issued a death warrant.  Elijah, who had stood fearless before 850 prophets of Baal, was now consumed with a fear of Jezebel – a fear that drove him out of Israel, a fear that caused him to retreat to a wilderness cave at Mt. Horeb.

What is interesting about Mt. Horeb is that it was also known by another name – Mt. Sinai.  This is the same mountain where Elijah’s ancestors had first met God after being delivered from their Egyptian bondage.  This is where they heard the voice of God give them the Ten Commandments.

As Elijah’s ancestors stood at the foot of Mt. Horeb, they were at the right place, at the right time, centered in the will of the Lord.

Now centuries later, Elijah traveled to this same mountain, in the same wilderness.  But it wasn’t a miracle of deliverance that brought him to Mt. Horeb.  It was fear.  Fear caused him to retreat to a place where the presence of God had been for his ancestors, but it wasn’t the place where God wanted Elijah to be.  So when Elijah climbed into a cave, what did the Lord say to him?  In a still small voice, God said,

“What are you doing here?  Go back the way you came . . .” (1 Kings 19:15)

When God spoke to Elijah’s ancestors they had not yet possessed the Promised Land.  His will for them was in the wilderness, but that season had passed.  God’s will for Elijah was back in the Promised Land – the land of Israel, not the wilderness.

Fear of what Jezebel might do to him knocked Elijah off-center.  It caused him to retreat to a place where God’s presence had been.  It caused him to flee from the uncomfortable place where God wanted and needed him to be.

Fear had knocked the great prophet Elijah off balance and the same can happen to us.  Fear can cause us to flee to a place where God once wanted us to be, but it isn’t where He wants and needs us now.

Fear of failure,

fear of what we might have to sacrifice,

fear of the unknown,

fear of what people might think can cause us to flee.

Flee to what is safe, to what is comfortable, to what God had called us to do in the past.  But what was God’s will for our lives 10 years ago, 5 years ago, even one year ago may not be the center of God’s will for us today.

So when God begins to stretch your borders, when you are facing a divine challenge to do something you have never done before, don’t let fear knock you off-center.  Don’t let fear cause you to retreat. Instead remember this word of encouragement from the Apostle Paul in Phil. 4:13:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”