7000 in Reserve!

I recall the phone call from my daughter during her first year in college. She felt as though she was the only Christian in her dorm. Her roommate and other girls on the dorm floor were coming in late after long nights at parties. Sometimes, her roommate didn't make it back until the next day. She called me feeling "alone."

God directed me to 1 Kings 19:9-18. The prophet Elijah had spent the night in a cave fleeing from Jezebel. And the Lord came to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Elijah's response: "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty ... I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." To paraphrase, Elijah said, "I've done my part; where is everyone else?"

I love the response from God, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Elijah was at a low point in his life, discouraged and feeling alone. God was about to manifest himself to Elijah in a unique way:

(1 Kings 19:11-12 NIV)
The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains part and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

While God sent the wind, the earthquake, and the fire, he came to Elijah in a still small voice. Silence or solitude can be deafening. Sometimes it takes a whisper to get our attention -- because we're so accustom to the noise. Our powerful, almighty God is sensitive to our plight. He continues to encourage Elijah. In the following verses, he promises Elijah a companion through Elisha -- the prophet who will succeed Elijah. Elisha develops such a relationship with Elijah that he says to Elijah, "As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." In 2 Kings 2, Elisha says this 3 different times.

God also confirms to Elijah that he is not alone:

(verse 18)
"Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him."

7000 in reserve! God demonstrated to Elijah that He was with him; he sent him a devoted companion; and, he surrounded him with a multitude of others. God responded to Elijah's "alone-ness." He will respond to ours as well.