Depression is real, and affects all of us at some point, even godly, committed, faith filled people of God. We are going to examine depression in the life of a man of God, who just had one of the greatest victories ever on Mount Carmel, and after he saw God work in a supernatural way, he came down to a very low point in his life. So, we will pick up the story of Elijah in I Kings 19, starting in verse 1. “Now Ahab and Jezebel, Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he killed all the prophets with the sword.” If you remember, Ahab was the evil king. 1 Kings 16 tells us “he had done more evil in the eyes of God than any of those before him.”
1 Kings 19:2, “So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, ‘May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like one of them.’ ” And she’s referring to dead false prophets. In other words, “I’m going to kill you. You are going to be a dead man of God by tomorrow.” In verse 3, “Elijah was afraid and,” what did he do? He, “ran for his life.” Huh? Now, wait a minute. When we read this, this is very confusing, if you think back to all that God had done in Elijah’s life.
Week number one, we learned that the king had turned the hearts of the people away from the one true God to these false prophets, so God raises up, out of nowhere, this prophet, Elijah, who confronts the king, and says, “It’s not going to rain until I ask God to cause it to rain.” He pronounces this huge drought, and, it doesn’t rain at all for three years. Then, God takes him to this place of brokenness, the Karith Ravine, where he’s humbled in a season of hiding. While the king’s trying to kill him, God sends ravens that drop meat and bread He drinks at a brook during a middle of a drought, when there is no rain. He learns to depend on God. Then, brook dried up, and God let him out of the Karith Ravine to a place called Zarephath, where he met a widow, who had just a little bit of oil, a little bit of flour, and it wasn’t enough. She thought she was going to die, and God miraculously multiplied that, so that it was enough. God showed up again. Then, one day, the widow’s son died, and for the first time ever recorded in scripture, Elijah takes this dead boy up into the upper room, prays, and God raises this boy from the dead!
Then there is a worship showdown. God calls Elijah back to go confront the king, and he says: “Get the four hundred and fifty false prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah. Bring them up to Mount Carmel, and we are going to see who is the real God. Is it your god, the storm fertility god, or is it the one true God?” They built a couple of altars, put some bulls on it, and say, “Fire come down. May your god send fire”, and all the false prophets do this dance, and they cut themselves, and it goes on all day long, and nothing happens. And then, Elijah says, “Maybe your god is going to the bathroom. Then he calls on God, and God sends fire from Heaven. It burns everything up. And then, he goes to the mountain and prays, “God, send rain. God, send rain. God, send rain.” Seven times he prays, and off in the distance, he sees a cloud the size of a man’s hand. And by faith, he believes that is a storm coming, and sure enough, it is. Miraculous provision, miraculous protection, miraculous God. Over and over and over again, for years, he’d seen the faithfulness of God. And then one day, a woman says, “I am going to kill you,” and he freaks out. He panics, and he runs for his life.
Today, I want us to look at the ways we get depressed and what God does: “Elijah came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it, and he prayed that he might die.” Interesting. He just had this great victory, and now he’s praying that his life would end. He, he prays, “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.” How do you get depressed?
Depression Occurs When…
- I Exhaust myself. Wear yourself out. If you will notice, over the past few years, he had been on this massive spiritual battle, trusting God, praying; trusting God, praying, seeking God, praying, trusting God, battle, faith, battle, faith, battle, and then, he runs for his life. And geographically, he couldn’t have run any farther than he did. The place that he ran was the very southern tip, and then he leaves his buddy, the servant, and runs another day’s journey out into the desert. He went as far as he could, and he was totally and physically exhausted … much like many of you. You wonder, “Why am I depressed?” Well, you’ve worn yourself out. Some of you moms, you’re working a full-time job, taking care of the house, putting dinner on the table, carting kids all over the world, involved in PTA, involved in the church, and you’re wondering why. Some of you, you just off a great semester in school and you’re working a full-time job, and you’re, you’re involved in activities and you’re coming off of this time, and you’re going, “Why am I so depressed?” You’re exhausted. Some of you, it’s not just a physical exertion, but it’s emotional. “I’ve got to be there for them, and I’ve to make sure that, that they’re covered. And I’ve got to be strong for everybody. And I’ve got to be the provider. I’ve got to help nurture them,” and it’s all these things going on emotionally. . You’re totally exhausted.
- I Exclude Myself Number one exhaust yourself, number two is to exclude myself and that’s exactly what Elijah did. He abandoned his closest friend, his servant. He said, “You stay here, and I’m going on.” And, that’s what a lot of us do when we get overwhelmed, “I’m not going to let you in. I’m not going to tell you what I’m going through. If I did, you wouldn’t understand, anyway,” so we wall up and we start to push people away. That’s what I do when I’m worn out, when I’m hurting, I put the wall up. I think, “I’m going to deal with this myself. I can get through with it. I, I, I … You wouldn’t even understand what I’m going through, anyway.” We start to stiff arm people. You want to get depressed? Exhaust yourself and exclude yourself.
- I Exaggerate My Problems, which is exactly what our hero, the man of God in great faith did. What did he say? He said this. He said, “I’ve had enough. I’m, I’m no better than my ancestors.” What’s funny is, nobody was asking if he was, but in his mind, this self-pity started to take over. And what self pity does is, it exaggerates. “I’m never going to be any good. I’m always going to be stuck in this life. My life’s never going to get any better. I’m never going to get into that school after this grade. I’m never going to get the promotion. It’s all the bad things, and none of the good things. You want to get depressed? Here it is, right here in scripture, you just exhaust yourself, exclude yourself, and exaggerate your problems.
Let’s talk about the answer, because this is the word that you need to hear from God.
As we look at 1 Kings 19, we will see God’s prescription for our depression. Elijah, he didn’t have any hope. He’s hiding out, wanting to die, and I want you to notice. God sends an angel to represent God, and I want you to notice what God does not do through this angel. There is no sermon.. There is no rebuke, there’s no shame. The angel is not saying, “Oh, if you only had more faith, if you only memorized more Bible verses, if you just quoted the Bible verses and quit acting like a baby …” There is no rebuke, nothing negative. The very first thing that the angel of the Lord says, “Eat and rest.” The very first part of the prescription for our depression,
- God Wants Me to Get Nourished and Rest
Look, look at verse six, here’s what the Bible says. “All at once the angel touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat.’ ” Verse 6 says, “Elijah looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water.” I love the way God provides food all the time. “He ate and drank and then lay down again.” Eat and rest. Some of you, the most spiritual thing you can do is not go to another meeting, not read another Bible verse, but the most spiritual thing you can do is rest. In fact, perhaps one of the most disobeyed commands of God in the world we live in is, people don’t rest. Honor to God with the Sabbath, and yet, we just shake that off like it, like it’s nothing. “But, I got to do this, and I’ve got to do this, and I got to do that,” and I believe God would say to you, “It does not matter if the clothes are dirty. It doesn’t matter if the house is not clean. It does not matter if the yard is not mowed. It doesn’t matter if a few things go undone, but perhaps the most important thing, the most spiritual thing you could do is rest.” The angel of the Lord provides food, and lets him take a nap.
Read on in scripture. Verse 7 and 8, “The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.’ So Elijah got up and ate and drank.”
“Strengthened by the food,” and certainly by the rest, “Strengthened, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.” This is the same mountain, most scholars believe, where God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. Basically, “Eat, rest, and go to church.” Go to the place where God is. God’s prescription for, for depression: Eat and rest, and now, go to the place where you will experience God. The first thing he does. He says, “Go, eat, and rest.”
2. God Replaces My Lies with His Truth and Presence
This is going to speak to some of you. God replaces our lies, the lies that we are believing, with His truth. Look at verse 9 and 10. Scripture says this. “There Elijah went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ “ Now, let’s just pause there and acknowledge that God already knew what Elijah was doing there. What God wanted Elijah to do was to voice his problem, to verbalize whatever lies he was believing, so God could correct the lies. “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Verse 10, He, “He replied, ‘I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty.” True. “The Israelites have rejected your covenant,” true. “broken down your altars,” true. “and put your prophets to death with the sword.” True. “I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.” False. “I am the only one left.” False. “I’ve been doing all the work.” False. “I’m the only one who cares.” False. “I’m the only one that can get it done.” False. He owned more responsibility than was actually his. He had done what God had asked him to do, and he thought he was supposed to do everything. “There’s no one who cares like me. Everybody’s depending on me. I’m all alone. Nobody understands.”
God’s actually going to say in verse 18 “Elijah, there’s seven thousand other Israelites. Seven thousand others who have not bowed down to the false gods of Baal and Asherah. There are seven thousands others still seeking Me and praying.” Don’t believe the lies. You’re not the only one.” What is God going to say to so many of us today, when we believe the lies? “My life will never get better.” Why? With God, all things are possible. Replace the lie with the truth. “My kids, they’re never going to come back to Christ.” Why? With the faith as small as a mustard seed, God can remove mountains. “I got this medical report, and I’ve got thirty days to live.” Is that too hard for God? And so many of us, we believe the lies. “My life’s never going to be any better. I’m never going to have an intimate relationship. I’m going to be all alone for the rest of my life. I’m stuck in this dead end job. I’ve got no real ministry. I can’t make a difference. My husband’s never going to believe in Christ. I’m always going to feel alone.” God takes those lies and replaces it with truth. “Take every thought captive,” scripture says, “and make it obedient to Christ.”
The next thing that God does, and this is so meaningful to me, and I hope it is to you, as well. God speaks to me in a whisper. God says, “Eat and rest.” God replaces our lives with His truth. God speaks in a still, small voice. Elijah’s used to dealing with, the God of fire, the God of miraculous provision, and so he goes to meet with God and he’s probably thinking, “God’s going to show up in this big, huge earthquake. God’s going to send this fire, and be in the fire,” but watch what the Bible says. Verse 11, “The LORD said to him, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a,” a what? …
“After the fire came a gentle whisper.” Sometimes, when we are lowest, God seems to speak the softest. Have you ever noticed that? Sometimes, it’s just a word. It may not be much, and it may not be loud, but it’s always exactly enough. A gentle whisper, not the booming sign that God is capable of doing and done before, but just the voice. And here’s what I take so much comfort in today, is that I know there are those of you that you’re hurting, and God can and will speak to you. If you listen closely enough, you may just hear that still, small voice. “I’m here. I’m with you. I’ll never leave you. You’re not alone. I am enough.” … The still, small voice of God.
Sometimes, the most spiritual thing you could do is rest. Other times, you have to capture those lies and replace them with truth. You listen, and God may speak. The next thing that God does to Elijah, and I think this is beautiful, is this.
3. God Has Something for Me to Do.
To overcome depression, God says, “Eat and rest. Replace the lies with truth.” God speaks in whisper, and then God gives us that divine assignment. Look in verse 15 and 16. The Lord says to Elijah, “Go back the way you came, and go over to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.” In other words, “Go back to doing what prophets do. Go back to doing what prophets do,” and I believe the Spirit of the Lord will speak unto many of you today and say, “There is something yet for you to do.” You, you feel down. You feel blue. You feel hopeless. You feel afraid. You’re unsure. You’ve lost your confidence. You don’t see it, and God may say, “If you are still alive, you are not done!” If you are still here, it is because God has something to do. Go back to doing what prophets do. You may say, “I am not a prophet.” What are you? You’re a mom, go back to doing what moms do. Are you a business person? Go back to doing what a business person do … Are, are you a person of prayer? Go back to praying like people of God pray. Do you have the gift of serving? Go back and serve someone. Do you have the gift of giving? Go and give something. Go back and do what God called you to do, and watch as He brings life back out of you!
I find so much comfort in seeing a man of God, Elijah, on the top of the world, and then on the bottom. Because, in reality, that’s the reflection of the way I live. After a great accomplishment sometimes I go home and think, “Oh, I just can’t go on,” and that’s when God says, “Rest”. That’s when God seems to speak, and that’s when God says, “Go back and do what you’re supposed to do,” because He is always, always enough.
Message Audio/Video and Outline: https://upwards.church/leander-campus/watch-now-message-videos
Watch Messages: YouTube-Upwards Church
Read Along Daily Bible Reading: YouVersion (https://www.bible.com/organizations/370f8a6e-16bc-464f-8c43-0b7623fd2952)
Upwards Church 