And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, 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; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
1 Kings 19:13-14
For most of human history, doing the right thing and standing for the truth has not been a popular position. This was true in the prophet Elijah’s life. Despite the fire that burned the sacrifice and even the stones of the altar on Mt. Carmel, Elijah ended up running for his life after Jezebel threatened to kill him. He was alone and discouraged and even told God he wanted to die. Part of the problem Elijah had was that his vision was too narrow. He saw himself as the only one who was true to God but that was far from the truth. “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” (1 Kings 19:18).
There are times when it may feel that we are forced to stand alone—that no one else is truly committed to God. All of us have seen people who put on the appearance of doing right, only for their later words, actions, and beliefs to reveal their commitment was only hypocritical. But the presence of such people should not discourage us. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Because there is one hypocrite, men set down all the rest the same. I heard one man say that he did not believe there was a true Christian living, because he had found so many hypocrites. I reminded him that there could be no hypocrites if there were no genuine Christians. No one would try to forge bank notes if there were no genuine ones.”
