Slow Me Down

I turn and give to you a beautiful portion of the Word of God, and I pray it shall mean much to you. For if Elijah had just slowed down a little bit, in that moment of discouragement, he never in a thousand worlds would have looked up and said, Oh Lord, let me die. You know something? I've gotten into all of my trouble when I refused to take enough rest.

Do you realize I work seven days a week? Most folk you know have Sundays off. There are those who have Saturdays off. Saturday is one of my biggest days.

That's the day when I can go to the office and do everything that I've wanted to do all week. The employees are gone. It's quiet.

I do a full week's work on Saturday. And then, of course, there's the sermon and the service for Sunday. That's seven days a week on very little sleep.

And then suddenly I find out I'm getting a little irritable. My nerves are bad. And when I get to the place where I find that I'm snapping folk off, or walking down the street, I almost feel like turning and running the other way when someone says, Aren't you Kathryn Kuhlman? And I feel like saying, I'm somebody else.

Then I know it's time to slow down and get a good eight hours of sleep. We're human. And I'm glad to know that Elijah was just as human as I am.

And you are just as human as we are. Oh, there it is. Let me read you a portion of it.

There's nothing, you know, as wonderful as the Word of God. Nothing as powerful as just God's Word. And maybe, in this very portion of the Word of God, you'll find out what you need.

For sometimes, some good sleep, some good old-fashioned rest can be the best medicine in the world. That's right. I don't have anything better for one than good old-fashioned rest.

Oh, the magic restoring power of sleep. If you don't believe it, let me give you God's Word. The 19th chapter of 1 Kings.

It's here. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done. And with all how he had slain all the prophets with the sword, then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.

And when he saw that, he arose, he went for his life, came to Beersheba. The word doesn't say it, but believe me, he was scared stiff, which belongeth to Judah, and he left his servants there. 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.

Can't you see? Oh, I just love this. To me, this is rare. Elijah! Go back, if you will, please.

See that marvelous account. It had only been a few hours prior to this, where he was a mighty spiritual giant. There he stood, meeting Ahab, putting forth the greatest challenge that any human being has ever put forth, actually challenging Ahab.

Oh, he had stood only an hour before, just hours, that's all. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that Thou art God in Israel, and that I am Thy servant, and that I have done all these things after Thy word. And then what happened? Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stone, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.

And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said, The Lord, He is the God! The Lord, He is the God! Why, one would have thought that Elijah would never have known a moment of discouragement again in all of his life. After having God manifest Himself in such a miraculous way, after this glorious victory, after this answer to prayer, after all that he had seen, one would have thought that this man of God, this mighty man of God, could never have been discouraged. But you know something? He was human too.

Just as human as we are this hour. Yes, ma'am. And the most beautiful thing about the whole thing is that God knew He was human.

Sure. He knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust.

And when Elijah tried to run away, God's eye was upon him. And even while he was running, God was saying, This child of mine needs sleep. He doesn't know it.

He doesn't have sense enough to know it. So I'm going to just have to slow him down. Just slow him down a little.

He'll be all right after he gets a little sleep and a little rest. 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 up.

And behold, there was a cake, bacon on the coals, and a cruise of water at his head. Do you want to know who baked the very first angel food cake? An angel. That's right.

God, the heavenly Father, had an angel bake the first angel food cake. And you want to know who ate the first angel food cake? The man who looked up and said, Oh, let me die. Let me die.

Oh, please, take away my life, Lord, for I'm not better than my father's. And the master not only gave him rest, he sent an angel to have a little cake baked for him when he awakened. He knew he'd be all right.

The heavenly Father knew that he really didn't mean what he said. Elijah really didn't want to die. He would have been the most disappointed person in the world if he had really awakened and found he was dead.

He didn't mean it. He didn't really want his life to be taken away from him. He had too much work to do for the master.

But he spoke those words when his body was tired. He was fatigued. I've done the same thing.

So have you. I'm glad the master didn't always take me at my word. And when I check back, I find that I oftentimes spoke those words when I needed sleep, when I needed rest.

I was tired. I'm human. And he did eat and drink and laid him down again.

And the angel of the Lord came again the second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee. You've had your sleep. You're rested.

Come on now. Arise and eat. There's a long journey ahead.

I've got more work for you to do. Come on. I need you in my vineyard.

Square your shoulders and slow down a little. You can do better work for me if you'll just remember. For he knoweth our frame and he remembereth that we are done.