1 Kings 19:9 – “There he came to a cave, where he spent the night. But the LORD said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
I’m not a claustrophobic person, but I’m not a cave person either. I would not have made a good caveman. I’m just not into cold dark places, filled with mold, dripping water, sharp rocks, bats, and who knows what else. Elijah, was depressed, and he doesn’t go to a sunny uplifting place, he goes to an even more depressing place. Depression will often cause you to make a bad decisions. He sure did. No logical individual would say to themselves, “I’m down, so I think I’ll go to a cave. That’ll help.” A reasonable thought would be, “I’m down. I think I’ll go to someplace tropical.” Caves are the places we go to hide from life. Why do you think we men call it a man cave? It’s a place to getaway. A place we can run to. A place where we can be left alone. We all have that cave. A place we try to escape the reality of life. Some people escape to the theatre. Some run to a half-gallon of ice cream. Some run to Macy’s. Where we often fail to run, is to the Lord. That’s why He asked Elijah, “What are you doing here?” God knew why He was there, He was trying to help Elijah see why he was there. God knew what the answer was, He was trying to help Elijah see the answer. Whatever cave you’ve been running to get away from, you need to start running to the Lord instead. The cave will not make life any better. It makes it worse. Five extra pounds. More debt. Unresolved relationships. Disoriented direction. It will only cause compounded issues. Saint, run to the Lord. Not the cave.