And he came thither into a cave.
God manifesting Himself to man
We may learn three things from the passage before us.
I. God investigates the motives that govern human conduct. “The word of the Lord came to him, and said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?”
1. When God investigates the motives that governs human conduct He comes near to man. “The word of the Lord came to Elijah.”
2. When God investigates the motives that govern human conduct He interrogates man. “What doest thou here, Elijah?”
(1) Life is state of servitude. “What doest thou?” Man must serve.
(2) Life necessitates personal service. “What doest thou?”
(3) Life contains special spheres of service. “What doest thou here?”
II. Human conduct is affected by the religious life of the community. Three things affected the conduct of Elijah.
1. God’s covenant had been forsaken.
2. God’s altars had been destroyed.
3. God’s servants had been slain.
III. God controls human conduct by the most gentle agencies.
1. Great achievements are accomplished in nature by gentle agencies.
2. Great achievements are accomplished in grace by gentle agencies.
(1) God works upon the understanding by gentle agencies. The Gospel is “a still small voice; but the power of God unto salvation to every one,” etc.
(2) God subdues the restive will by gentle agencies. The life of Christ was “a still small voice.” And Christ said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will,” etc.
(3) God renews the polluted heart by gentle agencies. The Holy Spirit is “a still small voice.” (Preacher’s Analyst.)
What doest thou here, Elijah?--
The responsibility of man as an agent
The master-thought contained in this question seems to be man’s responsibility. “What doest thou here?” I am thy Lord and Master--thou hast no right here without consulting Me. I demand reason for thy conduct.
I. The fact that man has all the primary conditions of responsibility. Were the question put--What must any creature possess in order to render him accountable to God for his actions? Our answer would be, a threefold capability: a capability to understand, obey, and transgress the Divine will. If a creature has not the first--the power to understand what his Maker requires of him, he could not in equity be held responsible for not rendering it.
II. That man has a deep consciousness of his responsibility.
III. To the fact that society deals everywhere with men as responsible. A locomotive rolls its crushing weight over a man and kills him; a billow dashes against a frail barque and buries all on board in the mighty abyss; or a wild beast tears to pieces a human being; has society the same feelings towards that engine, that raging billow, or beast, as it has towards that man that has just murdered his brother? No, there are in the last case, as in none of the rest, popular denunciation and vengeance. It is felt that justice has been outraged, and that the destroyer is to be dealt with as a criminal. All the arrangements of society are based upon the principle that its members are responsible.
IV. To the fact that the Bible everywhere teaches it. It is implied in all its appeals to the undecided. “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.” It is implied in its allegations against the sinner. “Ye will not come unto Me, that ye might have life.” It is implied in its representation of the judgment-day. “God shall bring every idle word into judgment.” “Be not deceived, God is not mocked; whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.” Indeed, the very existence of the Bible implies it. (Homilist.)
A question from God
We may consider this question as addressed to the following cases:
I. To the deceiver in the cave of hypocrisy. God asks the deceiver in the cave of hypocrisy, “What doest thou here?” Deceiving, you say, deceiving and being deceived--deceiving whom? Not a devil; for every devil who knows the man who is a hypocrite, knows that he is a hypocrite. Whom? Not an angel; for every angel who knows the deceiver at all, knows that he is a deceiver. Not the Holy Spirit; for He strives with the man even in this his hypocrisy. Not the Saviour; for He searches the heart. Not the Father of spirits; for He has even foreknown the career of the hypocrite. Deceiving, you say, for how long? At longest only through a few brief years, and then the revelation! Deceiving, and for what? What profit is there of deception and hypocrisy? The man who openly saith, “I am an atheist--I am a deist--I am a sceptic--I have no religion,” is a far better man than he who, with unbelief at heart, makes a profession of Christianity. “What doest thou here?” saith God to the deceiver in the cave of hypocrisy.
II. God addresses this question to the notable sinner in the cave of supposed secrecy. Few notable transgressors sin openly. There is something mean about sin. You see men sneak into the haunts of vice. They go when they think that the darkness covers them. Here! God saith, here! And you a husband! Here! God saith, at the threshold of these places, and you a father! Here! God saith, and you betrothed to unpolluted virtue, and to unsuspecting love! Here! risking money that a diligent and careful father has provided for you! Here! spending the patrimony which has been left you by a devoted and loving mother! Here! Men and brethren, you talk of secrecy, there is no such thing as secrecy. It never has been; and it never can be. The notable sinner in the cave of his supposed secrecy is recognised by God, who calls to him, and speaks of him by name. “What doest thou here, Elijah?”
III. “What doest thou here?” God saith to the penitent sinner in the cave of despair. What art thou doing? Despair cannot secure pardon. Despair cannot bring peace. Despair cannot purify the heart. Despair will not pray. Despair can find no promise. And, what is more, despair, in the heart of a penitent sinner, hath neither warrant nor justification.
IV. “What doest thou here?” God saith to the converted man in the cave of non-confession. Here is a man walking in the counsel of the ungodly; a man standing in the way of sinners; a man sitting in the seat of the scornful. He becomes converted: but he is yoked with unbelievers; he is connected with unrighteousness--with unrighteousness in his business--unrighteousness in his recreations--unrighteousness in his connections and friendships. And God saith to him, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing.”
V. To the godly, in the cave of luxurious retirement and easy seclusion, God addresses the same question.
VI. He speaks also to the godly in the cave of misanthropy and disgust. There is a cave Adullam--an old resort for religious people, and it has been well kept up. There is such a cave near every Church of God; and thither the contented with themselves, and the discontented with everybody else, have constantly resorted. (S. Martin.)
A call to self-knowledge
Every wise master mariner wants to know at sea just where his ship is, just what his longitude and latitude are. Years ago, when I was crossing the Atlantic Ocean, we had a long spell of bad foggy weather. For several days and nights neither sun nor stars had been visible. We had been sailing by dead reckoning, and did not know where we were exactly. One night while I was on deck, there was a sudden rift in the clouds, and the North Star shone out. Word was sent ai; once to the captain, and I remember how the captain fairly laid himself across the compass, and took an observation of that star, because he wanted to know just where he was. Every wise man wants to know where he stands physically, whether he has a sound heart and sound lungs. He may find out his physical condition is not as good as he hoped, but if his physical condition is bad, he wants to know it, so that he can guard against the dangers he might plunge into. Many a man lies in the grave to-night because he had a weak heart and didn’t know it. It is very important in all the affairs of this world, that we know just where we are, but it is infinitely more important that we know where we are in the affairs of eternity. (Thomas Spurgeon.)
Elijah in the cave
This strange narrative serves to illustrate the following things:--
I. The fallibility of an eminent saint. Elijah was undoubtedly an eminent saint. His teachings, miracles, prayers, and the testimony of God’s word show this. But he was not perfect, and the fact of his fleeing to the cave shows this. Why did he retire to solitude?
1. The want of success. We are not judges of success. Nor is success the right rule of life.
2. The corruptness of his times. The very reason why he of all men should be out in public life.
3. The fear of persecution.
II. The minuteness of god’s providence. God knew where he was.
1. God knows everything about the individual man. Jacob at Bethel, Jonah on the sea, Moses at Midian, John in Patmos, and now Elijah in the cave.
2. God demands from individual man an account of himself. “What doest thou here?”
(1) Thou art a reasonable being, and must have reasons for thy conduct. What are they?
(2) Thou art a moral being, and art responsible to Me for thy conduct. Providence has to do with the most minute as well as the most vast.
III. The order of Divine procedure. This terrible manifestation came first. Then came the “still small voice.”
1. This is a type of God’s dispensations with the race at large. First came the terrible, and then the more pacific. Judaism is the terrible--Christianity the mild. “Ye are not come to the mount that might be touched,” etc.
2. This is a type of God’s dealing with His people individually. There must first come the storm, earthquake, and fire of moral conviction; and then the “still small voice,” etc.
IV. The force of pacific agency.
1. The pacific is most manifestly Divine. “The Lord was not in the wind,” etc. But He was in the “still small voice.” God is a “God of peace.” Nature shows this. Storms are exceptions. The history of Christ shows this. “He did not cause His voice to be heard,” etc. The influence of His Gospel shows this.
2. The pacific is most morally effective. Neither the thunders of civil law, nor the fulminations of a heartless declaimer, can touch the soul. Nothing can travel to her seat but the gentle message of the truth in love. “Thy gentleness hath made me great.” (Homilist.)