Go Back The Way You Came (with notes)

 Unfinished business is inconvenient.

Dirty dishes and gas tanks can be ignored but, "Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.' (ref)  Eventually vermin comes calling or a vehicle stalls.  Feigned surprise at intruders and delays have an underbelly of awareness.  

Disaster, like erosion, often unfolds quietly over time versus all at once. ~ Chuck Swindoll

Even when disaster strikes suddenly, ignoring the aftermath creates unfinished business.  An example springs from the story of Elijah the Tishbite.

Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” ~ I Kings 19:1-2

Upon hearing the death threat, Elijah ran for his life because Jezebel made good on threats (I Kg 18:4).  Flight, however, initiated a string of unfinished business to which the Lord directed Elijah.  Readers of a 2,800 year old story may find purchase.

Elijah the runaway may be understood by readers who run away.  Inconveniences, fears and preferences litter the human condition.  We run from problems and running leaves a trail.

Think search and rescue. 

Running leaves a trail of pheromones, dead skin and sweat.  Search and rescue dogs use a flight trail to track the flyer.  While time-sensitive, a trail can be detected for hours after a person's disappearance.  By following a tracking dog, workers can recreate the flight path over the hills and through the woods.

I Kings 19 exposes Elijah's flight path from Jezreel to Beersheba to Mt. Horeb.  At the end of more than 40 days of hiding, depression and anxiety, the Hound of Heaven addressed Elijah's plight by instructing, "Go back the way you came." (ref)  

To go back the way he came, Elijah had stops to make. Scripture excludes details of his return trip but includes a resolve to immediately obey the Lord. 

*Next time...On the way to Mt. Horeb, Elijah faced challenges without a word from the Lord but on the way back, Elijah was strengthened by the Word.  We flee challenges due to fear but may be strengthened by facing challenges with faith.

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Notes:

Walking to Mt. Horeb was a manna-induced journey of 40 days but the trip from Beersheba to Mt. Horeb is 260 miles and only takes 10 days.  From Beersheba to Damascus is 231 miles or less than 10 days.

Damascene wilderness was a northernmost destination.  Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah lived 125 miles north of Beersheba on Elijah's way to Damascus.  At 4 miles per hour, Elijah may have taken 3 days to walk from Beersheba to to Elisha's hometown.

"Go back the way you came," included Beersheba and revisiting the place Jezebel's threat was first heard.  Perhaps the yanuched messenger was gone; perhaps the broom tree was harvested, but Elijah's obedience was tied to retracing his steps.  A review of Elijah's path to the wilderness of Damascus includes:

• Jezreel
• Geography of Jezebel's threat
• Beersheba and the servant's yanuch
• Suicidality @ Beersheban Broom bush 
• Geography of angelic bread and water
• 40 day path from Beersheban wilderness to Mt. Horeb (savoring pace)
• Cave at Mt. Horeb

Going back the way he came may have included immediacy.  Elijah's historic responses to the Lord's commands were immediate:

• So he did what the Lord had told him. ~ I Kg 17:8
• So he went to Zarephath. ~ I Kg 17:10
• So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. ~ I Kg 18:2

Thus the distance from the cave to Beersheba was probably dispatched in 5-8 days.  Because Elijah failed to anoint Jehu and Hazael, his servants may have been eligible.  In the same way Moses failed to lead the people into Canaan, his servant Joshua led them.  Conversely, consequences of Hezekiah's blunder were absorbed by his offspring (2 Kg 20:12-19).  David had a heart to build the temple but his son Solomon completed the work (1 Chronicles 22:5).  Succession, by spiritual or biological children, still counted as fulfillment of the Lord's command.

Difference between today's reader and Elijah is the saving power of the Blood of Jesus Christ.  Elijah's heavenly exchanges were sometimes with angels, sometimes with the Father.  Post-resurrection exchanges allow perpetual access to, "...approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Heb 4:16, I Tim 2:5)

Situation: Elijah abandoned, and we abandon, meaningful relationship.

Complication: Elijah was instructed, and we are often instructed, to "Go back the way you came."

Resolution: Elijah went back, and by the power of God, we can go back the way we came

Celebration: God used Elijah, and will use us, despite struggles.