"What Are You Doing Here?"

(Please read 1Kings 19:9, 11-13)

I don’t know why we do it, but we do. There are times when we crawl into our caves and stay for a while. Sometimes, it isn’t long enough for our eyes to grow accustomed to the dark. Other times, we spend the night there. And yes, there are those who make their cave a home. These are the caves of our uncertainties and doubts, of our frets and of our much-larger fears, and of our perceptions of inadequacies. These are the caves that we enter into when God seems to be silent. I don’t know why we do it, but we do – there are times when we choose the darkness of our caves over the light of God’s promises and presence.

We are never really at peace in the darkness. God will not leave us alone even though we might feel alone. If we truly listen, we will hear, “What are you doing here?” The question shoots straight into our dwelling places. The echoes seem to carry God’s question a bit deeper into our cave. Other words bounce off the walls of our self-imposed exile. “You know my promises for your life. You know that my strength will sustain you. You know my love for you is never-ending. You know I am forgiving. You know that I am with you always. So, what are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?” That is a good question. What am I doing here? When I find myself in a cave, all I can do is shrug my shoulders and say, “I know all of these things and yet, I have no good answer for you, Lord.”

Good question – no good answers – but GREAT NEWS. God asks us to come out of our self-imposed exile, out of our dark places and into the light. Not only that, God says “Let me help you focus again. Come to the top of the mountain. Stand out in the open. Be in my very presence. See my vision for your life from a most perfect vantage point. No obstructions. No caves.” Then comes the gentle whisper, “Abide in me, not in your cave. Trust in me.”

Holy God … Our fears and hesitations drive us into caves. Forgive us when we make a home there. Thank you for meeting us in our exile and darkness, for asking us a tough question and for loving us so much as to tell us not only to come out of our hiding place but to stand on the mountaintop in your holy presence. Your whispers to us are beacons of hope and light to lead us out again. O God, you have brought us out for ministry and service. You know that our renewal is strengthened by a freshness that can only be found in you. We give you praise this morning for your whispers to us. Amen.

anna