The man ran until there was no more city to run in. All of a sudden he comes to a desert and walks with a glaring sun overhead and the man's shadow disappears. The man is relieved from the lack of the shadow. He is excited that he can walk in freedom without the shadow chasing him and begins to walking at a slower pace. Soon he is walking even slower as the sun depletes him of his last bit of energy, the last bit of hydration in his body is dripping off his face as he slowly falls to the ground. No energy left in his body from the glaring heat and dry air, he feels as if he can walk no further. He now regrets leaving the shadow behind, for where their was a shadow their was relief from the intense heat.
As the man does, we think that the light of the sun is the ulitmate revelation of our purpose....the success of our lives, the world in which we live that we believe can fulfill us, sustain us, and satisfy us. Yet it overpowered his senses as he can only manage what his bodies can absorb.
In the distance the man sees a large shadow on the horizon and begins to crawl towards it. After what seemed hours, he finally reaches what in reality is a cave. Funny, he was running from his shadow and the darkness that was within it, yet he moves towards the darkness of the cave to find relief from the light. Filled with ultimate relief he crawls inside and sobs as his body slowly begins to adjust to the coolness and darkness within the cave.
After he has rested a bit he attempts to light a fire. Ironic, he ran from his shadow into the light, now back into the darkness he finds relief yet is trying to bring light back into the darkness. He strikes a match and lights a fire and the flames begin to burn. As they burn he relaxes and watches the light dance on the walls of the cave as drafts of wind hit the flame it burns brighter and dances higher. He watches and reflects that he is now in the presence of both light and darkness. The light causes his body to warm and be comforted at the same time allowing him to see and become familiar with his surroundings. He lies and wonders why he feared the shadow so much, yet why did he also could not tolerate the light of the sun. Such is our life. We run from the shadows of our past, trying to find a way out from our hidden sins and our burdening behaviors. We try to find purpose for our life and the intense light of this world is what we are drawn to.
We think that the light of the sun is the ulitmate revelation of our purpose....the success of our lives, the world in which we live that we believe can fulfill us, sustain us, and satisfy us. Yet it overpowers our senses as we can only manage what our bodies can absorb.
At Peace the man continues to seek his heart for revelation of why he has sought to run from the shadow, why he ran to the sun, and now why he seeks the peace and quietly lit cave. As Elijah found the Lord in the cave after running and seeking Him everywhere else.
You too can find the Lord in the peaceful place of rest, whereever you have finally stopped, exhausted, refusing to or unable to go on. When you are finally tired of running from your past, running from your sins, tired of the platform of the world bearing down on you and sucking all that you have to offer from you, then you can find the Lord while He may be found as Elijah did. Elijah had looked for him in the wind, he had looked for him in the rain, he had looked for him in the earthquake, but had not found him until he entered the cave and the Lord spoke softly to him.....leading his way. The Lord ultimately sent him back the way he had come...but this time he went with the voice of the Lord speaking peace to him when the shadows came, speaking peace to him when the wind was scourching him....now he had the Still Small Voice of Jesus Christ to follow after.
1Ki 19:9 | There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah? |
