Running Away?

I thought I would take yesterdays blog a step further. Since we already know about Jesus' command to feed His sheep, I think it's time we chew on a couple more portions of God's Word: The Great Commission from Matt. 28 and the story of Elijah's search for God.
Here's a little background on Elijah. He had just showed the people the awesome power of God on Mt. Carmel in a contest with the prophets of Baal. Except he's now run into a bit of a snag...you see, Elijah ordered the people to capture and kill the prophets of Baal and the major draw back there is that the queen-Jezebel, didn't like that. Which brings us to Elijah's current situation-God challenging him to find God. Now, this wasn't a 'hide & seek' kind of thing, it was more of a wake-up call. You find Elijah talking about how 'I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.' He may sound like he's making up an excuse right? Running away because his life was in danger. In reality, he was running away because he lost faith. He lost focus of what he had just showed everyone else...that his God was the true God.
Even before he began his long journey angels woke him up to some warm bread and water. God had his back, but he lost focus of that and fled.
What does God do in this chaos? He brings him back. He stood before the Lord and witnessed great things, but of all those things...God was in the whisper. A whisper!
So here we are on the very planet God told us to be good stewards of, the very planet we are supposed to change, and in our daily clutter we've missed His whisper.
It's not that we have forgotten The Great Commission-everyone remembers that right?
I think it's time we regain our focus. I think it's time we listened to God's whisper in our lives. I think it's time that we go and make disciples-Elijah got back on track and commissioned Elisha. What would happen if we were to all make one disciple for Christ in addition to ourselves? Wouldn't that be something? Could we bring about change in our world? Might we be able to do Godly things without being ashamed of doing it?
Are you running away from something or someone? Is it God? You know, Jesus himself said this whole Christian thing wouldn't be easy, but he did promise us that he would be with us until the end of time. I think that should count for something.
Lets stop running and stand our ground for God. Go and stand where there's no one but you and God. Listen to him. Take the time to quiet your mind and your racing heart. Regain your focus.
Remember, when things get tough-it's not time to run, we already know what's down that path-brokenness, stress and isolation. It's time to stand our ground and seek our God in the chaos of life we've cluttered.