You Are Not the Only One

1 Kings 19:18 “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.”

One of Satan’s methods is “Divide and Conquer.” He isolates a believer, tells him he is all alone, and tries to defeat him that way. Elijah was subject to this kind of attack. He began to feel like he was the only one who was serving God, the only one who had not bowed the knee to Baal.  This started in 1 Kings 18:22 when he said, “I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord.”

Now, after the victory on Mount Carmel, he has run from Jezebel and is hiding in a cave. He is feeling all alone and afraid. He is discouraged and thinks that no one cares. God comes to him in a still small voice and says “I have seven thousand” men who are still doing what is right.

The lessons for us are:

1. We are not alone. There may be many and the majority who are not concerned with serving God, but there will always be a remnant who are living for God and doing right.
2. We need to keep our eyes on the Lord. Elijah was looking to himself as the only one. He was looking to others who had bowed the knee to Baal. His faith wavered. He got discouraged because he stopped looking to the Lord.
3. We need to get around God’s people for encouragement. One of the reasons God wants us to go to church and to not “forsake the assembling of ourselves together” is so that we can provoke one another to love and good works. We need to constantly be meeting with God’s people, so we remember that we are not alone and can receive encouragement.