1 Kings 19- Beating sorrow

Have any of you just ever been sad?

bummed?

Disappointed?

Just plain melancholy ?

Maybe you’d say depressed?

Can I tell you that if you’ve ever felt sad you are in good company. Can I tell you that some of God’s finest servants have battled sadness and if you’re here today battling sadness may I tell you that with the Lord’s help you can!

We are going to look at how the Lord helped his servant Elijah with his sadness.

You may think “yeah cool, I’m not Elijah. That guy was awesome”

Look at what James said about him!

Jas 5:17

Elijah was regular! He was a normal person like us!

Let’s learn to conquer sorrow. Please turn to 1 Kings 19 in God’s word.

Context/Story.

In 1 Kings 18 Elijah has done something big! He has been a prophet for 3.5 years and has not seen the best results per say.

In 1 kings 18 God does something massive!

His victory was epic …

He was outnumbered: 850 to 1. There was a lot of righteous smack-talking and holy sarcasm;

God answered decisively with fire from heaven

Just imagine how good that must have felt!

People worshiping God

leaving idolatry

Killing the bad prophets

The realization that his message is true!

His God’s power shown!

But rather than celebrate his “high” is followed by an extreme low.

Sometimes thats life.

Right after something big comes the lows.

You’re left wondering and thinking

“God, I really thought I could see where this was going.

God, did I do something wrong?”

Are you even there?”

Elijah after this win outruns a chariot to the evil king Ahabs city.

Upon arriving he is told that Jezebel and Ahab did not repent and trust God after they lost but rather they went against him more.

They are looking to kill Elijah

1 Kings 19:2-4 “2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time. 3 And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” ‘

Elijah is discouraged, feels defeated, disheartened.

So discouraged he loses all hope. He even asks God to kill him.

1 Kings 19:5-8 “5 And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. 6 And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. 7 And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. 8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.”

God provides hims rest, food, and water

God ministered to him

Gave him food, touched him, gave him rest

1 Kings 19:9 “9 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?”

God listens to him

God have his word

1 Kings 19:10-13 “10 And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. 11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: 12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?”

Elijah says he’s the only one left who loves God.

God shows him his power!

God shows speaks to him in a whisper

1 Kings 19:19-21 “19 So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. 20 And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee? 21 And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.”

God even provided a friend for him

There is so much we can learn from this story!

The Root of Elijahs sadness.

His faith was attacked

When Ahab and Jezebel came for his life could you imagine the shock?

God just proved himself and they still have not repented?!

With this attack came fear.

He ran from a defeated foe

Look at what Jesus says about fear and faith

Matthew 8:26

We must not let the attack appear larger than God

He was fatigued (tired)

He had just done so much

the idol contest, running faster than a chariot

He was tired.

Sometimes it’s just good to rest.

He was functioning pridefully.

Elijah had made the story about himself not God!

He compared himself to his fathers

1 Kings 19:4

He thought he was God’s only tool

1 Kings 19:10

We must never make the story about us! We must remember it is all about God!

1 cor 10:31

“not my will but yours”

The results of Elishas sadness

His sadness caused lonliness

He left his friend

1 Kings 19:3

He sat alone

Isolation and sadness are a bad combination

Gen 2:18

It is not good to be alone

He sadness caused a lack of direction

He was supposed to be preaching to Israel yet he has fled somewhere else

1 Kings 19:3

He left his assignment

Sadness can cause us to forsake what God may have for us to do

His sadness caused a loss of confidence in God

He began to doubt God

Think that God was not going to win.

We must learn that God will always win!

Genesis 18:14

God’s remedy for sadness

God have him rest

God in his mercy gave Elijah rest.

He too gives us rest!

Jesus said so in Matthew 11:28-30

We can have real rest in him!

Rest in Him

Psalm 62:1-2

God showed his power

God shows Elijah the wind, an earthquake, and even a fire!

God used nature

Proofing to Elijah that HE is strong enough to use whatever he wants!

1 Cor 1:27

God told him he had 7000 more people faithful to him!

God does not “need us” it a privilege to serve him.

we Get to

God have him fellowship

God gave him Elisha

A friend helps in times of sadness

Proverbs 17:17

God gave him his presence

“The angel of the Lord”- Jesus in the old testament

God came down and helped Elisha in his sadness

He’s done and will do the same thing for you!

Jesus is a friend like no other. It is him we find the solution for sorrow. We must trust and depend on him!

2 Cor 1:3-4

Sadness is an awful thing we all go through. God helped Elijah with sorrow and he can and will help you!