True Education

Elijah’s Failure of Faith

There is warning also in noting the results of yielding even once to human weakness and error, the fruit of letting go of faith. TEd 90.2

By one failure of his faith, Elijah cut short his lifework. Heavy was the burden that he had borne in behalf of Israel, faithful had been his warnings against the national idolatry, and deep was his solicitude as during three-and-a-half years of famine he watched and waited for some token of repentance. Alone he stood for God on Mount Carmel. Through the power of faith, idolatry was cast down and the blessed rain testified to the showers of blessing waiting to be poured upon Israel. Then in his weariness and weakness he fled before the threats of Jezebel, and alone in the desert prayed that he might die. His faith had failed. He was not to complete the work he had begun. God told him to anoint another as prophet in his stead. TEd 90.3

But God had marked the heart service of His servant. Elijah was not to perish in discouragement and solitude in the wilderness. Not for him the descent to the tomb, but the ascent with God’s angels to the presence of His glory. TEd 90.4

These life records declare what every human being will one day understand—that sin can bring only shame and loss; that unbelief means failure; but that God’s mercy reaches to the deepest depths, and that faith lifts up the repenting soul to share adoption as a son or daughter of God. TEd 90.5