It is worth looking at these two prophets from long ago - Elijah and John the Baptist - to see how identical they appear to us in the Bible. Both had moments in which they would falter in their faith. After his triumph on Mount Carmel, Elijah ran from the threats of Jezebel. He ran a long way. He ran way back to the mountain at which God gave the Law, Mount Horeb. Elijah sadly ran back to a fleshly way of thinking which of course took him back to the Law. That is what the flesh does. It runs to the Law to try to justify itself before God. It wants to lean on its own righteousness. It is only fitting that God would ask Elijah, "What are you doing here?" It would be wise for us to hear God asking us the same thing when we are justifying ourselves, leaning on our own righteousness. "What are you doing here?" We are not under law anymore - we are under grace.
In the very revealing seventh chapter of Luke, we see that John the Baptist also stumbled by doubting that Jesus was the Christ, the Coming One. He wondered if there was someone beside Jesus who would be the actual Messiah. So, he sent messengers to Jesus asking if He was the very Christ Himself. He wasn't sure. He had doubts about God.
For both of these men, God answers their failing faith by showing them more of Himself. Elijah finds God in the gentle stillness - just what his heart needed. His heart needed to stop the storm of self-focus and self-pity. So God quiets him. John finds God as the fulfillment of Scripture - just what his heart needed. He needed assurance, so God gives it. It was more convincing for Jesus to show that he was the fulfillment of Scripture than to merely say, "I am the Messiah."
