Pouting Elijah.

16. Pouting Elijah.

"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." - 1 Kings 19:4

You may recall the story concerning Elijah--how that God had chosen him to be His servant.  At one point in Elijah's life, he felt sorry for himself and chose rather to pout under the juniper tree, instead of going ahead and serving the Lord.  God had to deal with him concerning this.  There are times in every one of our lives when God may be directing us to do a certain task, but we fail to respond immediately.  We must recognize and admit that not every Christian is obedient to the will of God.  The reason--we have a free choice.  The cause of disobedience is the old nature.  The point is, Elijah reacted against God because of his own free will.  Did God direct Elijah to ask Him to take his life?  Of course not!

Notice in Romans 12:1-2 :

"I beseech (beg) you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (1) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (2) Why have these verses in the Bible if the Christian has no free will to disobey?