I Kings 18:42 says, “So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and he put his face between his knees,”
It was a 115-degree day in Los Banos, California, when I found myself sitting on a curb with my face between my knees. Our car had broken down. After working on it in the Ford garage parking lot (they asked me to get it off for insurance reasons), I pushed it a couple of blocks by myself. I opened the hood to finish the job. Things began to look dark and I was dizzy. I sat on the curb with my face between my knees for about 5 minutes. When I sat up the world looked new and I was able to continue.
Elijah had just slew 450 prophets of Baal (maybe with help), and then climbed to the top of Mt. Carmel. He was probably to the end of his strength, but his work was not over. He needed a break. (There comes a time when we all need a break.) Things were looking a lot better. A great revival had taken place. Ahab was obeying Elijah (V. 41). The prophets of Baal were gone. However, the rain had not yet come. Elijah had declared it would, “…for there is a sound of abundance of rain” (V. 41). It would come only at the word of Elijah. With his face between his knees he handed the work over to his servant.
It was the servant’s job to go and look toward the sea for rain clouds. Coming back empty, he was told to go seven times (V. 43). After reporting a little cloud his faith was challenged. Elijah told him to go tell Ahab to get in his chariot and flee before he got stuck in the mud. It was Elijah’s word, spoken by the servant, but God provided the rain.
Elijah was a true hero, trusting in God’s strength, not his own. In the next chapter we see him fleeing for his life from the wicked Jezebel. A hero is not a man who has no fear, but a man who fears the God who never fails. In the end we see the power of God in Elijah’s mantle. When he was taken up to Heaven in a whirlwind, his mantle fell on Elisha in double portion. Years later John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah. In Matthew 17:10-13, after the disciples had seen Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus explained to them that John the Baptist was the “Elijah” the prophets had spoken of.
As a true humble hero, John the Baptist, in the spirit and power of Elijah, handed over the people he had prepared, to Jesus. A few of the early ones became disciples immediately. Most of the rest became the foundation of the early church. (John 10:42, “the many being about 3,000,” and Peter’s sermon resulting in the 3,000 added to the church—Acts 2:41.)
King Saul, the first king of Israel, who stood head-and-shoulders above the crowd, could have been a great hero, but he could not learn to be humble.
The greatest hero of all “…made himself of no reputation, and took on him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death…” (Philippians 2:7-8). THE HUMBLE HERO!
