Wide Open, Week 2: Sabbatical
1 Kings 19:1-13a (NIV)
Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”
3 Elijah was afraid[a] and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.
All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
7 The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.
The Lord Appears to Elijah
And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Discussion Questions
The sermon introduced the idea of sabbaticals as either "Get-To's" or "Have-To's" — one chosen freely, the other forced by necessity. Looking at your own life, which category does most of your rest fall into, and what does that tell you?
Elijah experienced his greatest victory and his deepest collapse within hours of each other. Have you ever experienced that same whiplash — a spiritual or personal high followed almost immediately by a crash? What did that feel like?
God's first response to Elijah's burnout wasn't a sermon or a new assignment — it was food and sleep. What does it say to you about God's character that he met Elijah's physical needs before addressing anything else?
The sermon described hurry not just as a busy schedule but as a disordered life — one that keeps us from facing our own hearts and makes us feel like we can't afford to stop. Where do you see that pattern in your own daily life?
Pastor Mike Yaconelli was quoted saying that rest requires us to admit "we are not necessary, that the world can get along without us." How does that land for you honestly — and what makes it hard to actually believe?
The lighthouse keeper illustration showed how giving away what was meant for others can eventually leave you with nothing — and cause real harm. In what areas of your life are you most at risk of giving out of an empty supply?
Henri Nouwen connected hurry to spiritual deafness, saying an overloaded life becomes literally "absurd" — unable to hear. When was the last time you were still enough to hear something from God that you might have otherwise missed?
The sermon gently challenged the congregation not to pull the pastor back into work conversations during his time away — because letting go is hard for everyone. What is something in your own life that you know you need to let go of but keep picking back up?
The closing image was simple: go refill, then come back and burn brightly again. What does refilling actually look like for you — and when did you last make real space for it?
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