After Elijah fled to the desert and hid in a cave, God asked him, ‘What are you doing here?’ (v. 9 MSG). Elijah replied, ‘I’ve been working my heart out…the people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed your places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me’ (v. 10 MSG). Elijah had tried to do the task God gave him, but in Elijah’s eyes, all his hard work had come to nothing because the people of Israel hadn’t turned to God, and were now threatening him. He felt like he’d failed, and ran away. Elijah’s feelings are just like those we go through when we try to share the Gospel with someone who just doesn’t want to hear. We do our best, but when the person doesn’t immediately give their life to God, we can feel like we’ve failed. But God doesn’t see it that way. What we need to remember at these times is that He’s given each of us free will, and as much as we might be able to influence someone else, we can’t control them. The final decision is ultimately theirs. And even when our part’s done, God’s still at work in them. The Bible says, ‘for it is God who works in you [and others] to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose’ (Philippians 2:13 NIVUK). So when we know we’ve done what God told us to do, we can trust Him to do the rest - the bits that we can’t do.

What now?
Write down anything about the situation you’re facing that you can’t change. Ask God to help you focus on the things you can change, and hand over the rest to Him.