UNFAMILIAR PLACES
John 10:27, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
Have you ever been in a season where you are just cruising along and look up and find yourself in an unfamiliar place or maybe, dealing with an unfamiliar challenge, or unfamiliar emotions have risen? You’re like, “How did I get here or where did that come from?” You begin to replay recent events to make sense of this new unfamiliar. Nothing connects, you’re at a loss for words, and sometimes thoughts. You seem unable to gain your footing and feel stuck in this unfamiliar state or place.
The temptation in these moments is to retreat, to “hide” from the reality of what is happening. We know that people full of faith fell into this trap—let’s look at a part of Elijah’s story.
A little back story to bring us to the point of Elijah’s unfamiliar place. We know from 1 Kings 18 that Elijah and King Ahab have a run-in. King Ahab and his wife Jezebel were corrupt. They worshipped the god of Baal and Jezebel, specifically, had ordered all the prophets of God to be killed.
Well, the Lord told Elijah to present himself to Ahab. So, Elijah went, and Ahab met him. Elijah challenged Ahab to assemble the 450 prophets of Baal and to bring two bulls for sacrifice… Elijah told Ahab, the god who answers by fire—He is God!
So, the prophets of Baal put their bull on the wood and called out to Baal from morning until evening with NO response. In the evening, Elijah prepared his bull, had it soaked with water, and then prayed and called on the Lord. The fire of the Lord fell—consuming the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and even the water. The people fell on their knees and proclaimed, “The Lord is God!” 🙌
Elijah had just seen a massive miracle. He had put full faith in God and God delivered in a BIG way.
But then... Jezebel threatened Elijah’s life. And Elijah ran. Not just a little—he traveled a full day into the desert. He stopped to rest under a tree and prayed that God would take his life.
WHAT??
You mean Elijah had just seen this incredible miracle and now he was running and begging to die because one woman threatened him? He had landed in an unfamiliar place—emotionally and spiritually.
But God met him there.
Elijah gets a visit from an angel—twice—telling him to eat and rest. Then Elijah traveled to Horeb, the mountain of God. He spent the night in a cave, and that’s where Elijah heard the voice of the Lord—not in the wind, not in the earthquake, not in the fire, but in a gentle whisper.
The Lord asked, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Have you ever asked yourself that question?
What am I doing here?
Here in this doubt?
Here in this insecurity?
Here in this mess?
We are often consumed by our circumstances, and that becomes our focus, rather than the God who controls all circumstances.
But it’s there in that cave where God gave Elijah his next steps—His plan for how to navigate the situation and what the outcome would be if Elijah obeyed. And the outcome was exactly what God said it would be.
In those moments when we find ourselves in an unfamiliar place, remember…
God is still familiar.
You KNOW Him.
He KNOWS you.
He SEES you.
He UNDERSTANDS you.
And He has EQUIPPED you. 🙌
Even if we run, hide, or avoid, He will gently summon us into His plan. Our obedience—if we seek His guidance—unlocks the next step. He knows we will fear, doubt, and avoid, but He loves us too much to let us stay there.
➡️ He WILL call us out.
➡️ He WILL show us how to navigate what we’re going through.
➡️ He WILL NOT leave us in the process.
Unfamiliar places do not have authority over us.
Our authority rests in the name of Jesus. đź’Ş
Our power, our wisdom, our strategy, our solutions, our ideas… all of it resides in the authority of Jesus Christ and His Spirit inside of us. When we follow that gentle whisper, He will guide us into all righteousness in every way.
So, let’s shift our focus—
From the unfamiliar place → to the familiar presence of our God,
Leading us. Growing us. Guiding us into the people and places we’re meant to be. 💛