1 Kings 19:4-6
But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.
I love the story of Elijah. Man, what a man of God! This guy prayed for it not to rain and it didn't for a little over three years. He built an altar to God, prayed for acceptance and God consumed the offering with fire. He then prayed for it to rain and it did. All this was not done by Elijah, but Elijah's God.
But now we find Elijah asking for God to just take is life from him because he can't do anything right. Look at what he says, "I'm not better than my fathers." You see it? Elijah set himself up for the oldest move on the chess board. Elijah had somehow thought he was doing so much better than others before him. He measured himself by the others around him. For some reason ever since the fall of Adam in the Garden we have thought we could do it better. Then the first mistake comes, the first sin, checkmate!
Now he's left hanging his head in defeat. Just like Elijah, we do the same. The Bible says that we have the same passions as Elijah. James 5:17 "Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are,..." The scripture says if he could pray for rain, and it rained, then so could we. On the other side of that, if he could feel defeated so can we.
The thing is... Elijah placed himself in this position. He tried to be better than others instead of trying to be like God. He tried to measure up to those before him instead of looking at God for who he needed to be. And then it happens...CHECKMATE!
