It's a privilege and a blessing for us again to welcome to our pulpit the Reverend Lee Starrett from Prince George in British Columbia. He is no stranger with us here. He is part of us. He is coming back home again. And so we're thankful to welcome our brother here and we trust that he would be blessed as he ministers the word of the Lord to us this evening. Do pray for our brother for Nicola and their family as they return next Friday back to Prince George and continue the work of the Lord there. The reports we have heard of the work in Prince George is very encouraging. And yet, of course, in every situation there are always those problem days, those difficulties. And we need to support our men and their families daily and weekly in prayer. And so I would encourage you to do that and to hold up the Lord's servant. that he might be encouraged and strengthened as he faces his own battles, his own struggles and trials in the work of the Lord, that he might just know the Lord's hand upon him for good. So, Brother Lee, we welcome you again to our pulpit. May the Lord bless you, Brother. To thank our Brother Larry for those words of welcome. It's good to be home again. And this is very much home to us. This is our home church where we grew up under the ministry of the word here. And even listening to the choir tonight reminds us of those times of youth fellowship and youth choir and singing here and even sitting under the ministry of the word was a blessing to our hearts. We've enjoyed this time at the ministers week of prayer. First of all, being among the Lord's ministers and enjoying fellowship with them and being ministered to by the Word, sitting day by day under the Word of God and having your own soul fed for a change rather than being in the pulpit ministering. We were happy to be here for the historic occasion and the inauguration of the new presbytery and it was a blessing to be here and I was thankful also that a family from our church, one of our Elders Mr. Pat Colin and his family were able to be here as well for that time in the establishment of the presbytery. Want to thank you for your prayers and your faithfulness in prayer. We have known the blessing of the Lord in Prince George. The Lord has blessed us indeed. And much has to be said about the faithfulness of God's people here praying for us and for our work. And be assured also that we pray for you on a regular basis. We have close contact, close ties with Toronto Church and we pray for you as well on a regular basis as the reports come through and the needs that are to be brought to the Lord are mentioned to us. There have been many changes. It's hard to believe it's two years since we were last here. The last time we were here was the week of prayer two years ago. And even as we look out here in the congregation, there are changes. There are faces that are gone and they're missing dear saints that were once here and we can remember exactly where they were sitting. And yet they've gone home to be with the Lord and rejoice that they are with the Lord. But still, we miss them. And there are many changes. It's good to be here. And just to tell you a little of the work in Prince George, we have been encouraged, as I said. We've had some increase in the work. We were very steady for quite some time. But in the last two months, the Lord has brought in a few families, and that has been a great encouragement to everyone. Back in February, a man was wonderfully born again. Mr. Jerry Bjorg was saved. The Lord had been dealing with him. He'd been coming for over two years with his wife and family. His wife was saved and had been praying much for him. And it's just been a tremendous encouragement to the whole congregation to see the great transformation in this man, what the Lord has done for him and how he has blessed him. My brother was mentioning the camp that the young people will be going to. I would ask you also to remember our camp in Western Canada. It's very hard for our young people to travel the great distance to the camp in the States. And so we have, for the last four years or so, been having a camp in Western Canada for Calgary, for the Cloverdale Church, and for my own church. And the Lord has blessed us and given us good times of fellowship. This year, we have a new location, a new camp. And we're hoping to have about 50 young people at the camp this year. So while you're praying for the camp in the States, I do remember our camp in Western Canada. It's a week before the one in the United States. So do pray for us as you pray for that camp. I'd like you to turn tonight to First Kings Chapter 19. I've had the privilege of sitting under the word in the week of prayer. I've had the privilege of sitting in the pew for the last two Sundays but always when you come to Toronto they put you to work. There's no shortage of work here and they give you something to do but we're glad to be here and we trust the Lord will help us as we minister the word tonight. Let's read here 1 Kings chapter 19 and we'll begin to read at verse 1. 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 and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant 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 and said, It is enough. Now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my father's. 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 vacant on the coals, and a cruise of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. 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. And he arose and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, the mount of God. And he came thither unto a cave and lodged there. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou hear, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword. And I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away." And he said, Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and break in pieces the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire a still small voice. And it was so when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entering of the cave. And behold, there came a voice unto him and said, What doest thou hear, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword. Die even I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away. And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when thou comest, anoint Haziel to be king over Syria. And Jehu, the son of Nimshi, shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel. And Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of Abel, Meholah, shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. And it shall come to pass and him that escapeth the sword of Haziel shall Jehu slay, and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him." Amen. We'll end our reading there at the verse 18. We trust the Lord. We'll bless his word to our hearts this night. I want us to consider tonight those verses, verse 11, 12 and 13, when the Lord passed by in the Mount Horeb and met with Elijah there, speaking to him in that still, small voice. We trust tonight that the Lord will come and speak to our hearts. He would minister by his power, the power of his Spirit, who would come and impress the Word of God upon our souls. With our Bibles open, let's just wait upon the Lord in prayer. Father and our God in Heaven, we come now to Thy Word. We pray for Thy help and insight into Thy truth. We ask, Lord, that You would come and minister to our souls. We thank Thee for our Lord Jesus Christ, who comes to minister the Word and season to the weary. It renews our strength and comforts our soul. And, Lord, tonight we pray that You would do that work within us. Encourage us in the Lord that we would be a people strengthened and renewed, refreshed by Thee, and ready to go forward in Thy power and with Thy help to do Thy work. We pray, Lord, that You would give help in the ministry. Take me up, I pray. Fill me with Thy Spirit. And may we know the nearness of Christ in our midst this night. Speak to our hearts clearly, we pray, in Jesus' precious name, Amen. When we meditate upon God, our God, and the being of God, thoughts of His sovereignty come to our mind immediately. We tend to, first of all, focus on attributes that relate to the greatness of God, His dominion, His majesty, His power and His glory. When we think of God, we think of our King ruling over all. And that He is. We must say with the psalmist, God is a great God and He is greatly to be praised. He sitteth in the heavens and looks down upon the sun's of men. This is His way. These are His attributes. He is one who possesses all power, glory, dominion and majesty. But our God is also a gentle God. His gentleness, we could say, is an aspect of His power and influence on men. His gentleness in many ways, is His greatness. God deals with His people in grace. Again and again in the Word of God we read that God is merciful. He is gracious. He is slow to anger, plenteous in mercy. He deals with men in patience. He is long-suffering, tender, compassionate, gentle, and gracious. And this side of our God is just as awesome and just as overwhelming to our souls. Yes, God is a great God, but He is also a gracious God and He has compassion on us. The great prophet Elijah had just come from a great signal victory here at Mount Carmel. The prophets of Baal were silenced. They had been defeated. And God, by fire from heaven, consumed Elijah's sacrifice, proving by this mighty, terrifying display that Jehovah was the true and living God. The prophets fled. Elijah pursued after them, cutting them down by the brook of Kishon. Also, we learn here of Elijah, the man of prayer. His prayer for rain had been answered. It had not rained for some three and a half years, but as the servant of the Lord began to pray, as he got down on his knees and put his face to the ground and sought the Lord. So there came that rain, first the cloud the size of a man's hand, and then the heavens were black. And that was followed by a great rain. These were notable signs that God was with His prophet Elijah. These were great tokens of God's power and majesty that God was with Elijah. But here in chapter 19, we find a different picture. Following that great display in Mount Carmel of God's greatness and majesty, we now find Elijah in a state of depression under the juniper tree. The threatening words of Jezebel had filled him with fear. Oh, we wonder how could this be? What a contrast we have here with the preceding chapter and the great sense of triumph there. Elijah, whose prayers sealed the heavens, whose faith raised the dead. Elijah, the fearless to stand before wicked Ahab, fearless to challenge the false prophets of Baal, putting them to confusion, calling fire from heaven, now sits calling upon God to take his life and saying, it is enough. Take away my life. How can this be? We wonder. What was he doing here? We ask, as the Lord asked Elijah, what doest thou here, Elijah? But as we consider his situation, Could we not say that it was because Elijah was a man? He was a man of like passions, just as we are. And yet, so far from forsaking Him in His time of weakness, in His time of failure and unfaithfulness, the Lord draws near unto Him. The Lord comes alongside His servants. and ministers unto him in grace and with gentleness in the still, small voice." Elijah needed fresh strength. He needed fresh grace and fresh power to go on. And it is at this point we find the angel of the Lord surrounding Elijah. Coming beside him, he comes and in gentleness and compassion feeds and sustains him, supports him and upholds him. And in the mount there we read that God touched him. Then an angel touched him and said unto him, Arise and eat. He was fed. He was watered. His strength was renewed. That strength which comes from communion with God. And he went forward again to his work being helped and being strengthened. And I think, like David, Elijah could very well look back and say, that thy gentleness hath made me great. But, you know, since Elijah was a man, a man of like passions as we are, we may also conclude that the Lord will deal with us in a similar manner when we find ourselves in such a situation and in such a case. The great physician will treat us this way also. Our God is the same God. The God of Elijah is our God. And He deals with His servants in grace. And when we find ourselves in a similar case, in a similar situation, knowing that we have the same God, Can we not expect the same treatment from our Lord, that He will deal with us with compassion and tenderness and great? How considerate and kind and gentle our God is! How good is the Lord to His people! The bruised reed He will not break, and the smoking flax He will not quench. God, who is a consuming fire, who is terrible and mighty, dealt in gentleness here with Elijah, proving to Elijah how precious he was to God and how needed he was in the work of God. And in these verses, verse 11 to 13, we have an illustration of this. The Lord comes alongside Elijah, and he said, Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by. And a great and strong wind rent the mountains and break in pieces the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still, small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entering of the cave." God's dealing with his servant in grace here. God in his grace comes alongside to strengthen and help. In this, his time of need, in his time of weakness and of weariness, And this is what the Lord will be and do for us in our times of weakness and weariness. He comes alongside, causing our hearts to be refreshed and moving us and strengthening us to go on in His service, to serve Him in love. God instructed Elijah here to go forth to Horeb. There he would minister to Him. God was there, but it was not in the wind. It was not in the earthquake that rent the mountains. It was not in the fire. But after the fire, a still small voice. God was there ministering grace to Elijah's weary soul by the eternal word. He spoke unto him and refreshed his soul. And God's grace to a weak servant is made manifest here. So far from forsaking Him in His hour of failure and weakness and need, the Lord ministered tenderly to Him. And that tells me, and it tells us, that God always deals with His servants in grace. God doesn't just begin in grace and then leave us to our own way and leave us to ourselves. When God at first begins to deal with His servants, He deals with them in grace. And so He continues to deal with us in grace throughout our days. He does not treat us with grace and favor at one time and then, according to our deserts, the next time. God always does that which is best for His servants. He is the God of all grace. And Matthew Henry said that gracious souls Souls that know the grace of God are more affected by the tender mercies of the Lord than by His terrors. It was not so much the dreadful sounds and sights that affected Elijah so much as it was the still, small voice of God speaking to him that caused him to fall in humility and reverence before the Lord in the entrance of the cave. God spoke to him in tender tones. But it does seem strange to us. It seems strange to us that one so courageous in the previous chapter should now be overtaken with fear and panic. And I think we are very quick to judge God's servants when we read of these situations. We criticize, perhaps, or we speak hard things about them. Let us not be critical of God's servant here. Let's not question his cowardice now. Because there are reasons, as you look to this chapter, you see the reasons, some of the reasons for his depression of heart and his sorrow and his failure. There are many causes that we could point out for his sudden depression and his despair. Elijah there in verse 10, he brings his complaint before the Lord and he said, I've been very jealous for the Lord, God of hosts. The people, they have forsaken Thy covenant, but I have tried to remain faithful and true to Thy Word. I have slain Thy prophets. Thine even I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away. And those words are repeated again in verse 14. It was not a lack of zeal on Elijah's part, But a sense of failure and little success drove him to the wilderness. Jezebel, it seemed, had more power and influence. The wicked seemed to prevail. The forces of evil were at work. Perhaps God's servant is in despair because of little success. He's not seeing the reform that he so desired in the nation. They haven't changed their ways. But rather, the people had forsaken the covenant of the Lord. They remained as they were. Even after this great appearing and signs of God's majesty in the Mount Carmel there, defeating the prophets of Baal, the people remained unmoved, unrepentant and unfaithful. And He says, I am alone in the fight. I am all alone in the fight. Perhaps it was the intense strain of those days before in the melt, challenging those prophets of Baal. That intense strain had now taken a toll upon the servant of God, and that deep emotional stress and exhaustion had come upon him. He had known a great victory, and now he feels the strain of that. It may well have been that Elijah had high expectations in regard to the results of his work. Oh, he had heard the cheer of the people at Carmel. They said, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. And that could have well convinced Elijah that all now would forsake their idolatry and their wicked ways. They would rally around him and support him and be there for him. And there would be this great reformation in the nation. People would turn again to God. But that was not the case. And so he is cast down. He is disappointed. And when Ahab reported to Jezebel of the happenings and Jezebel threatened his life, no man stood with him. And he fled for his life. He's sorely disappointed. And he fled to the wilderness. He imagines his work is in vain, his labor is wasted, impatient and unbelieving. He fled for his life. And these are some of the things that often discourage the heart of the righteous minister. Perhaps you have found yourself in such a situation. You feel that you're the only one standing for the Lord in your particular place of employment. No one stands with you. You feel that your words are falling on deaf ears, that people aren't listening. And sometimes you feel like just throwing your hands up in the air and saying, what's the point? What's the use? What's the purpose? The influence of the wicked is so great. Sin abides in the church. There is a lack of faithfulness to God. They have forsaken the covenant of God. There is such an apathy among God's people. There is no zeal for the work of God. They follow after idols. And the prophets that hold up the Word of God and hold the sword of the Lord are slain. They are criticized. their attacks. And very often these are the very reasons that cause the minister of the gospel to be downcast, depressed and discouraged. Many are critical of God's men when they themselves have little interest or zeal in the work of God. We must be very careful not to speak about God's minister, ministers in a murmuring way. We must hold them up in prayer and support them. And so there are many reasons that Elijah could have been downcast at this time. Loneliness may have been a factor as well, that he was all alone in this fight against apostasy. He thought his labor in vain. And so in this state of discouragement and depression, he flees. But God came to him and ministered unto him in grace. God gave his servant here rest and refreshment. He restored him in body, mind and spirit, renewing his strength and causing him to go forward. How did the Lord do it? How did the Lord renew his servant? He sent his word unto him. The word of the Lord came unto him. God sent his word and healed him. It's a great comfort to the people of God and to the ministers of God when God comes and speaks to your heart encouraging you from His Word. To know that God is concerned about us. His eye is upon us. There is nowhere we go to be out of His reach. And His Word comes to us and blesses our souls. God had spoken to Elijah on previous occasions. If you look back to chapter 17 and verse 2 and 3, you see there that the word of the Lord came unto him saying, Get thee thence and turn thee eastward and hide thyself by the brook Charon. That is before Jordan. And then again in verse 8 and 9 of chapter 17, the word of the Lord came to him. The word of the Lord came unto him saying, Arise, get thee to Seraphath, which belongeth to Sidon, and dwell there. And then in chapter 18, verse 1, the word of the Lord came to him, and it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth. The Lord had spoken to his servant in the past. He had ministered to him. He had directed him. He had guided him by his word. But here in chapter 19, In verse 9 we read of another occasion when the Word of the Lord came to him. But there's a difference here. It says, He came thither unto a cave and lodged there. And behold, the Word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou hear, Elijah? And this occasion, as A.W. Pink suggests, was extraordinary. It says, Behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, and he said unto him. And Pink suggests that this was something more than a divine message communicated. It was the messenger of the Lord himself, the divine person, the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Logos, the word that appeared unto him and ministered to him. The Lord came. and ministered to Elijah. And so it is with us in our weariness, in our trials, when we face the burdens of life, the Lord speaks to our hearts and encourages us through His Word. What are we told in Hebrews 1, verses 1 and 2? God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he hath appointed heir of all things." We see here, in the case of Elijah, that the Lord came and spoke unto him. We read that the Lord was not in the wind or the quake or the fire. That is, the Lord did not address Himself in these things to the prophet's heart, but it was by the still, small voice the Lord spoke to him. And though God's power be displayed in creation, in the natural revelation, it is only by His Word. His ways are known and understood. His deliverance, His salvation is explained in His Word. And God's Word is a revelation of Himself to men. And what a sweet thing it is when God comes alongside to minister to our souls and reveal Himself to us, giving us comfort and strengthening us, exalting the Word and blessing it to our hearts. And friend, tonight, if you're discouraged and cast down, Let me impress this truth upon your heart again, that the living Word of God is a cure for our depression, our sorrow and our failure. God's servant Elijah had erred. He was heartbroken. He fled into the wilderness. But Christ came and ministered unto him, renewing his strength, giving him comfort and support. And let us be assured that if we faint, God will visit and sustain us as He did His prophet. He sends His Word to heal us. The Word of God is a balm to our souls. The Lord came and spoke in tender tones. It was the still, small voice. The word still is the same word that is used in Psalm 107, verse 29. where it says, he maketh a storm a calm. The word calm is the same Hebrew word that is used here concerning the word still. God spoke to him in calm, gentle, tender tones. The Lord instructed him. His servant was cast down. The Lord instructed him to go forth in verse 11. Go forth and stand upon a mountain before the Lord. What was the Lord saying there? He was saying, come up higher. He was saying, come unto Me. Oh, you're cast down. You're in the valley of deep despair. You are very low, but come up higher. Go forth and stand upon the mount. Come and meet with Me. You have been laid very low, but look up. Look to Christ. Look to the word, soul, why art thou cast down? Hope thou in God. And the Lord was inviting him to come up into the mount, to draw near and to know that communion with him, that he would be strengthened. God met with him in the mount there and gave him a word, encouraging his soul. And is it not true? Can you not say that when God speaks, when he speaks personally to you, It is a source of great comfort to your heart. In times of trouble, when God speaks personally to you, it is a source of great consolation and comfort. And what said that still small voice to Elijah? The question came, what doest thou hear, Elijah? Elijah. God spoke personally to him. He ministered to him personally. What doest thou hear, Elijah? And here was a gentle, personal, probing word. God spoke to him by name. And is this not a balm to the weary soul? The soul sad and depressed. And Christ whispers your name and says, Here is a word for you in your season of trial and affliction. Here is a word to renew your strength. Come up. Stand before me in the mount. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He comforts our weary soul. And you know, it is a mark of God's comforting Spirit. And when He speaks to men, He speaks to them personally. It is as if the Lord says, this is a word for your broken heart. This is a word for you. Have you ever found yourself in a meeting or in the private place when you feel like you're the only one in the meeting? You're the only one there. You feel as if the Lord is speaking directly to you and he's impressing upon your mind and your heart some fitting word in such a way and at such a time that it leads you to believe this is a word from God for me. And it renews your faith. It gives you strength to go on. It's as if you're the only one in the place. So powerful is the gracious voice of God to you. And we have countless examples of that in the scripture. When God speaks personally, when he calls us by name and ministers by his word. Remember when the Lord Jesus was traveling through Jericho? He called out that little man, that little man of stature, that little curious man, Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus, come down. I'm going to your house today, as the little chorus says. He wanted to meet with him. And that was a day of great blessing for Zacchaeus. When Mary stood outside the tomb and knew not the Lord, but supposed him to be the gardener, what did he do? He called her by name, Mary. And immediately she knew Him and confessed Him as Lord and Master, saying, Rabboni. When Christ sought to restore Peter, three times the Lord came and He called him by name, Simon, son of Jonas. Lovest thou me? What about Saul on the Damascus road? Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And here you have the case with Elijah. What doest thou here, Elijah? This is how God speaks with men. Maybe you're here tonight and He's speaking to your heart just now. See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. Oh, He's coming to probe your conscience. He's asking you, what are you doing here? Perhaps you've got out of the way of Judy. You're in the wilderness and you're not going on with the Lord as you should. Here's a reproof as this question comes to you. What are you doing here? So far from God. Here is a reproof for your fleeing, for your unfaithfulness. The Lord says, come, come unto me, return. Unto me, you're far from the place of duty, far from the place of being useful and good to me. Turn again unto me, and the Lord speaks personally. Oh, there had been a mighty spectacle here, a great spectacle, the earthquake and the fire and the whirlwind. But God was not in those things. Oh, they were symbolic of the nature of the work of God and his power and the majesty. Elijah had seen much to alarm and to terrify. Fire fell from heaven. But he was to learn that God was not in those things. They were symbols of His majesty and of His power. But the majesty itself was in His grace and gentleness. God dealt with him in gentleness. And so often it is our fault and the fault of Christianity today is that we put too much stock on the dramatic, the sensational and the impressive. We feel we need these tangible signs to stir up our confidence. We look for the spectacular, but God is not in the noise. He is not in the ruckus. He is not in the emotion. For instance, He is not in the clamor of contemporary. Christian music and Christian worship that men put so much stock in today and feel that if they do not have these things, God is not working. God is not doing anything. They feel God cannot be doing anything important unless there is this great noise and show. We are guilty of limiting God to methods of blessing us which are after our own feeble sense and understanding and not after God's way. God says, Be still, be still and know that I am God. In quietness and in rest shall thy confidence be. It is the Word of God that is exalted. And when it is preached, the Spirit of God takes the word and applies it to the heart, impressing it upon the mind and using it to convict sinners, to edify saints, to build up the church and to continue on the work of God. It is the Word that the Holy Spirit impresses upon the heart, working silently within, hidden to men but known to God. God deals with us in grace and in quietness and in rest shall our confidence be. Let our confidence today be in the Word of God. May we find that rest for our souls as Elijah did here. in the still small voice, God speaking to our hearts through His Word. That is what gives the people of God assurance. It assures our heart of salvation. It sustains the soul in times of trouble. It gives us renewed strength to go forward in the battle, to stand for God and to stand for the gospel of Jesus Christ. God gives present grace in the time of need. The Lord always deals with his servants in grace. He ministers unto us. He ministers by his precious word. The still, small voice calms the soul. And Christ the Word gives of his grace and his fullness to us. He fills us and he strengthens us. He encourages us to go on. You notice here that Elijah had encouragement to go on. The Lord encouraged him, saying, You're not alone. There are seven thousand. And I want you now to go and anoint these others that will stand with you in the battle and take up the work and the work will go on. The purposes of God will not fail. God will continue to do his work. There would be Hazio, Jehu and Elisha. The work would go on and the seven thousand. So Elijah was encouraged. God was showing him that his purpose will never fail. God will continue to keep and maintain his work. God is not limited. He has his people and his servants, and he will accomplish his work, and we need not be dismayed. But you notice the effect that it had upon Elijah as God came to him and spoke to him in the Word. After the earthquake of fire, The Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entering of the cave. Was that reverence before God, that humility before God? He wrapped his face in his mantle. He had reverence to the divine majesty. He had reverence to his God. He had humility. It was a sense of his own unworthiness. He knew his weakness. He knew his failures. Yet God had been gracious unto him and he restored him. And how God deals with us in the same manner. How good is our God. How gracious is God to us. Can we not say with a prophet, the Lord is good. He is a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that are his. Oh, as we rest in God, as we rest in His Word, as we look to Him for strength, so the Lord gives grace. He's the God of all grace. He's the One who has all sufficient grace. He will establish, strengthen, and settle us as His people. And may the Lord help us then to go up into the mount daily, to go into the presence of the Lord, to know the nearness of Christ, communion with him and be refreshed in soul that we can come down and go out into the battle, into the world again and be his ministers. May the Lord bless his word to our hearts this night.