And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
What Are You Doing Here?
A woman named Maria stopped by Back to the Bible and asked for a tour. While she was waiting in the lobby, she spoke with a member of our staff for a few minutes. She shared that she used to be a power broker on Wall Street and mingled with Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan and folks like that. But when she became a believer, she realized that there is more to living than just "making a living." Now she owns a fishing lodge in northern Minnesota. She spends her days canoeing, reading and helping her visitors to relax. She wants to develop her lodge into a retreat center for pastors and other Christians. She concluded, "This is the ministry God has called me to."
On Mount Horeb, God confronted Elijah with his ministry as well. When God asked him, "What are you doing here?" He knew the answer. He knew that Elijah had fled his responsibilities and left behind his ministry. But He wanted Elijah to realize that too. God's question was designed to cause Elijah to think about his ultimate purpose in life.
All Christians need to ask themselves, "What am I doing here? Why am I alive? What does God have for me to do?" There is no believer who does not have a God-given purpose for his life. In fact, God designs each of us with a specific purpose in mind. Our goal should be to find that purpose and fulfill it.
Why are you here? Is it to evangelize and edify young people through your church's Sunday school program? Is it to assist family and friends as they serve on a foreign mission field? Is it to minister to those sick in the hospital or confined to a nursing home? Is it to visit the fatherless and widows, or the prisoners? If you don't know, ask God to show you. You can never be fulfilled as a Christian until you know what God saved you to do and then do it.
God's purpose gives life meaning.