"‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your Covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.’" 1 Kings 19:14

It seemed as though the entire nation of Israel had forsaken the Lord and had broken their Covenant with Him. To Elijah, it seemed like he alone was standing for the Lord while everybody else was worshiping the pagan gods.

These were the same people who had been constantly reminded of the mighty miracles of how God delivered them from Egypt and protected them from the wrath of Pharaoh. They knew the stories of God parting the Red Sea and raining manna from heaven.

They had been told of how their ancestors had actually seen the glory descend to the Tabernacle and how God had thundered the Ten Commandments from Mt. Sinai - yet they chose to forsake the mighty Lord of Power and Glory to worship things made of wood, stone and gold.

 

Why would they do this?

 Perhaps for the same reason people forsake the Lord and His sacred Covenant today - because they don’t like the holy terms of the Covenant.

 They preferred to worship a god that they could serve in a philosophical way rather than yield to specific mandates of God’s Covenant.

 To worship mindless idols required ceremonial sacraments but no real moral standard to live up to. In fact, the fertility goddesses were often worshiped by indulging the lustful desires of the flesh which was strictly forbidden in the Laws of the Sinai Covenant but appealing to carnal men.

 

The Israelites had torn down the Lord’s altars and had erected altars of their own choosing. They had been killing God’s true prophets and by this time that Elijah believed that he alone was left. Because he was alone, fearful and discouraged, Elijah wanted God to take him out of the game. It was at this time that God sought to encourage him by revealing that there were 7000 in Israel who had not bowed to Baal.

 I’m sure that Elijah was shocked by this number, even though it was only a tiny percentage since Israel numbered in the tens of millions. Even so, God gave the weary prophet the rest he wanted and replaced him with Elisha. To Elijah’s credit, he followed and served the Lord for years when he believed he was alone. He was alone when he faced off with 850 pagan prophets at Mt. Carmel and was victorious. But now he had become the number one enemy of the state and wicked Jezebel was sending death squads to murder him.

 

The faith that Elijah practiced was not the same faith that the tens of millions of his fellow Israelites practiced - but he stood believing that he was alone.

 Jesus said that the Father is seeking true worshipers who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. There were few true worshipers in Jesus day too. But one by one a small group of true followers emerged that changed the world forever. They were ridiculed by the Religious establishment, persecuted and eventually killed for their steadfast faith.

 I have seen many who will not come to the true faith alone.

 They believed it and wanted to worship in Spirit and truth but they were not willing to step out alone. Usually, they tried to convince family or friends to step out with them, but were unwilling to come alone.