There are moments when following God can make you feel hopelessly outnumbered.

Maybe you are the only Christian in your workplace who takes your faith seriously. Maybe everyone in your family seems to be moving in one direction while you are trying to move in another. Maybe you look at what is happening in the culture and wonder whether biblical Christianity has any chance of surviving.

Elijah knew the feeling.

When Elijah appears in 1 Kings 17, Israel is not simply going through a difficult political season. The nation has experienced a profound spiritual collapse. King Ahab and his wife Jezebel have promoted the worship of Baal and led the people away from the God of Israel. The prophets of God are being persecuted, and eventually Elijah will find himself facing 850 prophets connected with Baal and Asherah. From a human perspective, the odds could hardly have looked worse.

Yet Elijah walks straight into the middle of that world and announces:

“As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”
—1 Kings 17:1

That is quite an introduction.

The God of Israel Lives

There is something important in Elijah’s opening words that we can easily miss: “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives.”

Elijah lived in a world filled with people who acted as though the Lord did not live. Ahab didn’t live as though God were real. Jezebel certainly didn’t. Much of Israel had embraced Baal worship. The dominant culture said one thing, but Elijah stood before the king and declared another.

The God of Israel lives.

That conviction changes everything.

If God is not real, Elijah is in serious trouble. He is one man standing against a king, a queen, hundreds of false prophets, and much of a nation. But if God really is the living God, Elijah is not as outnumbered as he appears.

That is an important distinction for us as well. Christians can spend a lot of time counting noses. How many people agree with us? What percentage of Americans believe this or that? Is church attendance going up or down? What do younger generations believe? What does the latest poll say?

Those questions can be useful, but they don’t tell the whole story. The truth of God is not determined by a show of hands.

There were 850 of them and one Elijah. They still lost.

Courage Begins with Confidence in God

We often think courageous people are simply wired differently from the rest of us. Some people are naturally bold. Others are cautious. Some walk into a room as though they own the place; others would prefer to find a chair in the corner.

Biblical courage is different. It is not primarily confidence in ourselves. It is confidence in God.

Elijah’s courage did not come from believing, I can handle this. It came from believing, God can handle this.

That distinction becomes even clearer when we look ahead to Mount Carmel. Elijah would eventually stand against hundreds of false prophets and challenge them to demonstrate whether Baal or the Lord was really God. If Elijah had been wrong, the confrontation could easily have cost him his life. Yet the study emphasizes that Elijah’s strength was not some supernatural ability of his own. God sent the fire. Elijah’s responsibility was obedience.

That gives us a very different definition of courage. Courage is not believing that everything will work out the way we want. Courage is trusting God enough to obey Him regardless of the outcome.

You Don’t Have to Win the Culture

This is especially important when Christians think about the culture around us.

We can become obsessed with winning. We want our values to win elections. We want Christian ideas to dominate public opinion. We want our churches to grow. We want people to recognize that we are right.

Elijah reminds us that our first responsibility is not to win. Our first responsibility is to be faithful.

There may be times when obedience to God puts us against popular opinion or ideas deeply embedded in the culture. In those moments, it can feel as though we are standing alone. But if we are genuinely following God, being in the minority does not mean we are on the wrong side. That is one of the central applications of this first lesson.

Of course, there is a danger here. Christians can become obnoxious and call it courage. We can become argumentative and call it faithfulness. We can confuse our political opinions, personal preferences, or traditions with the Word of God.

Elijah’s courage was not about picking fights. He stood where God told him to stand.

That means before asking for the courage to stand against the world, we ought to ask whether we are actually standing with God.

Elijah’s Secret Was Obedience

One of my favorite ideas in this study comes from Henry Blackaby’s discussion of Elijah. Think about what happened on Mount Carmel. Did Elijah bring down the fire?

No. God did.

Could Elijah defeat 850 hostile idol worshipers by his own strength? Of course not. What could Elijah do? He could listen to God and obey. He could go where God told him to go, when God told him to go, and do what God told him to do. Then God could accomplish through Elijah what Elijah could never accomplish for himself.

I find that enormously encouraging because most of the things I would really like to see happen are beyond my ability to produce.

I cannot change another person’s heart. I cannot make my children or grandchildren love God. A pastor cannot manufacture revival in his church. A Sunday School teacher cannot force someone to become a disciple. We cannot argue someone into the kingdom of God.

There is a great deal we cannot do.

But we can obey.

We can pray. We can love people. We can tell the truth. We can share the gospel. We can forgive. We can serve. We can remain faithful. We can do the next thing God puts in front of us and trust Him with what happens afterward.

That is unbreakable courage.

You May Be Less Alone Than You Think

There is also an interesting twist to Elijah’s story. Later, Elijah will complain to God, “I am the only one left” (1 Kings 19:10).

Except he wasn’t.

God eventually tells Elijah that He has reserved seven thousand in Israel who have not bowed to Baal (1 Kings 19:18). Elijah felt alone, but his feelings did not accurately describe reality.

We should remember that when we feel outnumbered.

There are faithful Christians serving God in places we will never see. There are pastors preaching to small congregations without recognition. There are missionaries serving in difficult places. There are parents quietly teaching their children the Scriptures. There are believers going to work tomorrow determined to live with integrity. There are Christians caring for neighbors, feeding hungry people, sharing Christ, praying, giving, teaching, serving, and loving.

You may feel alone and still not be alone.

And even if you were the only one, God would still be God.

Keep Running Your Race

The first chapter of Unbreakable Courage ends with an illustration about a young girl running a race. She discovers that she has gotten into the wrong race, but instead of simply quitting, she determines to finish. The picture is one of perseverance—continuing to run even when circumstances have not unfolded as expected.

That is a good picture of the Christian life.

You may not like the race you are running right now. You may not have chosen the circumstances you are facing. You may wish the culture were different, your family situation were different, your church were different, or your future looked different.

But this is the race in front of you.

Keep running.

Not because you are strong enough. Not because the odds are in your favor. Not because you know exactly how everything will turn out. Keep running because the God of Elijah is still the living God.

Study “Outnumbered” with Your Group

This is the first lesson in my new Bible study, Unbreakable Courage. The Good Questions Have Groups Talking lesson on “Outnumbered” is built around 1 Kings 17:1 and uses discussion questions to help your group explore who Elijah was, the world he faced, where his courage came from, and what his example means for Christians trying to live faithfully today. The chapter emphasizes perseverance, prayer, obedience, and maintaining faith when the world around us seems hostile to belief.

If you teach Sunday School, lead a small group or home Bible study, or simply want to study Elijah for yourself, Unbreakable Courage is available on Amazon. The Good Questions Have Groups Talking lessons are also available at Unbreakable Courage — Good Questions Have Groups Talking.

Elijah’s story begins with one man standing against what must have seemed like the whole world. He didn’t know everything that was about to happen. He didn’t know about the ravens, the widow, Mount Carmel, the fire, the rain, or the whirlwind.

He knew something better. He knew the God of Israel lives, and that was enough courage for the next step.