Let Them Eat Cake
Elijah has to be one of the coolest people in the Bible. I think because we now have the stories of Jesus, we forget how amazing Elijah actually was. When we look at his life, it’s easy to see why people wondered if Jesus was Elijah reincarnated. Raising people to life? Yep. Multiplying food? Yep. Fasting for 40 days? Seems counterproductive to multiplying food, but also yes.
The pinnacle of his ministry is when he faced 450 prophets of Baal in an epic showdown on Mt. Carmel. However, the story that gets preached on the most is when he’s hiding in a cave waiting for the Lord to show up. There was wind, an earthquake, and fire before the Lord showed up in a gentle whisper.
But there are a few verses connecting these two stories that are vastly misunderstood. After Elijah called down fire from heaven and then had 450 prophets of Baal killed, he ran away when he heard that the queen wanted him dead. The usual thought process is that this is Elijah’s biggest failure, that he had just done one of the mightiest deeds and now cowers before a woman (with full misogyny intended by these people).
In recent years, we have become more familiar with a concept known as crisis fatigue. After major events in our lives that cause stress, our bodies will do things to adapt to that stress. Besides the physical changes to our body that can occur, other symptoms include physical and mental exhaustion, changes in sleep, changes in appetite, and feeling numb or empty. Read these following verses with crisis fatigue in mind:
Then [Elijah] went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.”
I don’t think this passage describes a moral or faith failing on Elijah’s part like most people would have you believe. When you look at it through a crisis fatigue lens, it checks off all the boxes and becomes one of the most natural reactions possible. What I think is most important, though, is God’s reaction to Elijah’s fatigue. There was no condemnation. In fact, in most translations, there was cake. God let him sleep and gave him comfort food. Then there was more sleep and more cake.
For 40 days, God let Elijah recoup before coming to him in that gentle whisper. In that conversation, there was still no condemnation but rather a plan laid out to give Elijah next steps and the promise of help. Don’t freak out if you find yourself having the same thoughts that Elijah had. You are not alone in your feelings, and God has made sure that you don’t need to be physically alone by preparing people to be in your life to support you. And if it helps, apparently eating cake is a God-approved means of recovery.