Out of the Cave: Part 2

Book: “Out of the Cave” by Chris Hodges

Stepping into the Light

1 Kings 19:5-8 NIV
Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel
touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by
his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He
ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the LORD came
back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the
journey is too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank.
Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he
reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

1. Stepping into a needed .

• If I don’t my life, someone else will.

Psalm 90:12 LB
Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to
spend them as we should.

1 Kings 19:9-12 NIV
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?” He replied, “I
have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have
rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to
death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to
kill me too.” 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 apart 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.

2. Stepping into a .

• We look for the , but God is in the .

Psalm 46:10 NIV
Be still and know that I am God.

Psalm 73:16-17 NIV
When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the
sanctuary of God.

1 Kings 19:13-14 NIV
When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and
stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you
doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD
God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down
your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only
one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

3. Stepping into a true .

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor
Roosevelt

1 Kings 19:15-18 NIV
The LORD said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the
Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.
Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of
Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to
death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death
any who escape the sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve seven thousand in
Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose
mouths have not kissed him.”

4. Stepping into a meaningful .

Proverbs 29:18 KJV
Where there is no vision, the people perish.

“People have enough to live by but nothing to live for; they have the
means but no meaning.” – Viktor Frankl

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away,
yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and
momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far
outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what
is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

1 Kings 19:19 NIV
So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was
plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth
pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him.

5. Stepping into a life-giving .

“Look carefully at the closest associations in your life, for that is the
direction you are headed.” – Kevin Eikenberry