Elijah’s hills and valleys

Elijah was a prophet to Israel from 900 BC to 849 BC. There is an account of his life in 1 Kings 17 to 2 Kings 2 of the Bible. The hills and valleys in his life are shown in the graph.

Valley: In a drought he was fed by ravens and by a widow in Zarephath (1 Ki. 17:1-16).

Hill: God enabled him to do miracles – the widow’s flour and oil were always replenished and he resurrected her son (1 Ki. 17: 6-7).

Valley: The king blamed Elijah for the drought, but Elijah said it was caused by the king’s idolatry (1 Ki. 18:16-18). In those times it was risky to confront a king.

Hill: Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal and Asherah at Mount Carmel to see whose God would provide fire for a sacrifice (1 Ki. 18:19-40). The God of Elijah won the competition. And the false prophets were killed, and rain came to end the drought.

Valley: When queen Jezebel heard about the killing of the false prophets, she threatened to kill Elijah as well (1 Ki. 19:1-8). “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life”. In the wilderness near Beersheba, he was severely depressed and wanted to die. An angel gave him food and drink for his 40-day journey to Mount Sinai.

Hill: At Mount Sinai God appeared to him and gave him encouragement and instructions to follow (1 Ki. 19:9-18).

Valley: Elijah confronted king Ahab for having Naboth killed so he could claim his land (1 Ki. 21:17-29). Later wicked king Ahab was killed in battle.

Valley: Elijah told king Ahaziah that he would die of an injury (2 Ki. 1:1-17).

Hill: Elijah parted the Jordan river to cross on dry ground and was then taken to heaven in a whirlwind without dying (2 Ki. 2:1-12).

So Elijah experienced hills and valleys.

Lessons for us

After fleeing for several days from queen Jezebel, Elijah was exhausted and depressed. He fell asleep near Beersheba. An angel woke him and gave him food and water and then he rested again. The angel came back and gave him more food and water. He needed physical strength for the journey. It gave him resilience. Food also fixed Hannah’s depression (1 Sam. 1:18). Do you take care of yourself to get through the valleys of life?

Elijah was also a man of prayer (Jas. 5:17-18). He prayed in God’s will, so God answered him.

Written, July 2023