I wrote last week about the Vietnam-era, Special Forces warriors of SOG to help advance this parable of Special Operations and fruitfulChristian service. These men spent days, sometimes even weeks, at atime deep behind enemy lines and involved in intense covert actions. Every battle they encountered was ferocious and deadly – both to themand their adversaries. But if they never laid eyes on an enemy, if theynever made any contact at all, the emotional and mental drain wasoverwhelming. It was stress on a level that most of us have never andmay never experience.

I used their part in American military history to help express what it’s like to feel “behind enemy lines” spiritually. To feel as though you’re in hostile territory at all times. To feel as though your one mistake would be your last mistake. You feel like you could just implode, due to the pressure. Elijah was feeling all that as he collapsed under a broom tree and prayed for God to take his life. Like I wrote last week, it wasn’t cowardice that brought Elijah to this point of mental and emotional disintegration. It was something else.

The reconnaissance teams of SOG often operated along what was known as, “The Ho Chi Minh Trail.” The Ho Chi Minh Trail was a complex web of different jungle paths that enabled communist troops to travel from North Vietnam to areas close to Saigon. It has been estimated that the North Vietnamese Army received sixty tons of aid & supplies per day from this route. The North Vietnamese also used The Trail to send soldiers to the south. At times, as many as 20,000 soldiers a month came from Hanoi in this way. From the air the Ho Chi Minh Trail was impossible to identify and although US forces tried to destroy this vital supply line by heavy bombing, they were unable to stop the constant flow of men and supplies. SOG men would call in B-52 strikes that would literally demolish the earth.

At one point during the war, SOG teams discovered what looked to be anew road growing at an amazing rate – several miles in a single night. It was coming out of Cambodia and hidden under elaborate bamboo lattices. One night, an airborne radar mission flew over it and detected trucks and bulldozers operating in the dark. A few nights later a B-52 strike straddled the highway for almost two miles but that hardly slowed down the progress. Construction crews repaired it overnight and continued southward at an astonishing pace. This same rapid advance of enemy forces was happening all around. In 1966, the NVA’s Laotian highway network had carved out 820 miles of usable highways. By August of 1971, they had 2,500 miles (Information taken from Secret Commandos, by John L. Plaster).

Are you grasping the despair that story represents?  Men were giving their lives and spilling their blood daily. They were fighting in full belief that their efforts mattered, and that their sacrifices were making a significant difference. And we know that they were. But in that moment – in that first instant – when you realize that the enemy is advancing and that all your hard work seems futile, all the wind is sucked from your sails. This is what was crushing Elijah as he fell in the wilderness. He’d done everything the Lord asked of him. I think what finally hit Elijah was that “the worst” he could have imagined was actually coming about. Never, did he imagine the Lord allowing Jezebel and Ahab to continue to rule in Israel. I’m sure that after his great victory over the prophets of baal, on Mount Carmel, Elijah expected Israel to return to the Lord and then the Lord would throw their wicked king and queen from power. But it didn’t happen. Jezebel was no less powerful, and now angrier than ever with Elijah. It wasn’t the enemy that shocked Elijah most; it was God. How could God allow this? Hadn’t Elijah done all that he was asked to do? Why wasn’t God ridding His people of these menacing, demonic rulers?

Of course, this is all just my interpretation, but I think it was occurring to Elijah that he didn’t have God figured out, the way he thought he did. We can’t figure God out, friends. We’ve got to desperately reject living as though we do have Him figured out. Sure, we know that His plans are for good and not evil. We know that He loves us and that His desire is that none should perish – but we don’t have God figured out. I know you must have comments on this subject. This is the mystery that He’s intentionally made a part of all human existence.  Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has placed, “eternity” in our hearts.  I’d like to hear your take on all this… don’t worry about trying to sound deep or “spiritual.” Just open up the “eternity” in your heart and let’s see what pours out. It worked for Elijah.

Peace.
SJB