Restored With Purpose

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3 Then Elijah was afraid; he got up and fled for his life and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." 5 Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat." 6 He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. He ate and drank and lay down again. 7 The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you." 8 He got up and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. (1 Kings 19:3-8)

Through God's fearsome display of power, Elijah had won in a show-off against the prophets of Baal. But this success made him a target of Queen Jezebel. Her threat on Elijah's life caused him to run into the desert and beg God to end his life. God heard Elijah's prayer, but responded to Elijah's actual need. Because God gave Elijah the safety and the space to rest and be renewed, Elijah was able to continue on with the work God was

calling him to do.

After Jesus had amazed his disciples by calming the storm they were sailing through, they came ashore at a graveyard inhabited by a man who was possessed and tortured by multiple demons. The demons immediately recognized the power and authority of Jesus, and begged not to be sent into the abyss - devoid of a life to inhabit. Jesus complied with the request by sending the demons into a herd of pigs. Those pigs then ran into the lake and drowned. The possessed man was free. The herders, who had witnessed everything, ran into the town to report what they had seen. When the townspeople came they were amazed to find the formerly possessed man clothed and in his right mind. So afraid were they of Jesus' power that they begged him to leave. The restored man wanted to go with Jesus and his disciples, but Jesus sent the man home with the instruction to proclaim

what God had done for him.

There's a reason the old ad campaign for Calgon soap ("Calgon, take me away") was so popular and memorable. We often want something - anything - to take us away from the difficulties, challenges and storms of life. Elijah felt that death was preferable to staying in an ongoing battle with Jezebel and Ahab, but God already had a successor waiting - Elisha - and Elijah needed to be the one to train and prepare him. The man that Jesus freed from demon possession wanted to leave the town and the people who had ostracized him, but his restored life was the evidence of God's power that people who knew him needed to see. While God can and does calm the storms inside us and around us, rarely does God remove us from them. The battles, storms, and traumas that God brings us through are the testimonies God will use to bring someone else through. God will provide the restoration we need - not just to survive - to thrive!

36 Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. 37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. (Luke 8:36-39)