The Prophet Elijah in today’s First Reading took on 450 Baal worshippers and had them executed as a witness to the true living God of Israel. After this, this brave man of God became intimidated by a single woman Jezebel who threatened to kill him and so he ran away to hide in a cave.
When one goes through trials and persecutions and when someone sets in motion plans of evil against you, we go through a crisis – one questions the faith and in desperation, we often tend to ask questions like, ‘Where is God when I most needed Him?’, ‘Why must it be me?’, ‘How have I offended God that He decided to punish me?’, ‘Am I not pious enough?’, ‘Do I not attend church regularly and receive the eucharist?’, ‘Do I not go for confession or spend time in adoration?’, ‘Am I not doing enough rosary/prayer or giving my time for church activities?’, ‘I ask God which part of my spiritual life am I lacking Lord that you have forsaken me?’.
These questions repeat themselves many times in one’s thinking during that dark period of one’s life.
Elijah didn’t hear God until he surrendered his will to Him. When he finally heard the voice of God, he prostrated before His presence. It changed everything from that point on when God showed Elijah that it was He who would take care of things. We search for the Lord all over the place but the omnipresent Father is there all the time, closer than one’s next heartbeat, nearer than one’s next breath. Being spiritually blind and deaf, we do not see nor hear him.
To walk with God is to face trials and tribulations. St Peter in today’s Gospel, saw Jesus coming towards him walking on water and requested to also walk on the water to Jesus. Yes, indeed he walked on water with a leap of faith but all it just took was a strong wind to sway his faith completely. Like Peter, there are occasions when our faith had been put to the test and it shows up again and again as one sinks when our eyes are moved away from the Lord. Yet, His hand is always stretched out, ever ready to grab the one who is falling.