Do You Ever Feel Lonely and Afraid?

Look at the little boy in the picture. He looks lonely and afraid, doesn’t he? Have you ever felt that way?— Everyone feels that way sometimes. The Bible talks about friends of Jehovah who also felt lonely and afraid. One of them was Elijah. Let’s learn about him.

Elijah lived in Israel a long time ago, before Jesus was born. Ahab, the king of Israel, was not worshipping the true God, Jehovah. Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, were worshipping the false god Baal. So most of the people in Israel also began worshipping Baal. Queen Jezebel was very mean and wanted to kill all the people who worshipped Jehovah, including Elijah! Do you know what Elijah did?—

Elijah ran away! He went far into the desert and hid in a cave. Why do you think he did that?— Yes, he was afraid. But Elijah did not need to be afraid. Why? Because he knew that Jehovah could help him. Jehovah had shown his power to Elijah before. Once, Jehovah had answered Elijah’s prayer by sending fire from heaven. So of course Jehovah could help Elijah now!

While Elijah was in the cave, Jehovah spoke to him and asked him: ‘What are you doing here?’ Elijah answered: ‘I am the only one who still worships you. I am all alone, and I am afraid I will be killed.’ Elijah thought that all the other worshippers of Jehovah had been killed. But Jehovah told Elijah: ‘No, that is not true. There are 7,000 other people who still worship me. Be brave. I have more work for you to do!’ Do you think Elijah was happy to hear that?—

What can you learn from what happened to Elijah?— You never have to feel lonely and afraid. You have friends who love Jehovah and who love you. Also, Jehovah has a lot of power, and he will always help you! Are you happy to know that you are never really alone?—