Make It Go Away

1 Kings 19:1–4 (CSB)

Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods punish me and do so severely if I don’t make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow!” Then Elijah became afraid and immediately ran for his life. When he came to Beer-sheba that belonged to Judah, he left his servant there, but he went on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. He said, “I have had enough! Lord, take my life, for I’m no better than my ancestors.”

Introduction

Recently there was a moment in my life when I battled anxiety. They say that four major causes of stress in life are birth, death, moving, and a major career change. My family was journeying through two of those, and it caused me to feel anxiety that i have never felt before.

In that time, I did not retreat and I did not allow myself to sink deeper into depression. I was able to see what was going on and journeyed through that experience clinging to the hand of my savior.

But there was a moment that I can now identify as the first symptom of depression and I want to speak into that today.

Again, I am speaking into this moment as a Pastor. I am not a Psychologist or a Counselor, but I can speak in to what I see from the scriptures that we can also apply to our life.

Text

I want to rewind this text once more for everyone here, because I want you to understand what has just happened in the life of our character, Elijah.

Elijah had a showdown with the Prophets of Baal. He went toe to toe with 450 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. The challenge was simple; build an altar and worship your God. The God who responds by fire is the true God.

As we learned in week one, God responded by fire, and Elijah had all 450 prophets of Baal killed.

What we didn’t talk about was right after that happened, Elijah entered into fervent prayer for the drought to end. You see as all of this was going on, there was a three year drought. It affected everything. And God spoke to Elijah and told him that he was getting ready to end the drought, but Israel needed a spiritual reform. The showdown on Mt. Carmel was to lead people into a spiritual reform.

Once the showdown was over, Elijah began fervently praying for the drought to end. Elijah would pray, and pray, and pray, until suddenly a rain cloud the size of a man’s hand was seen in the sky. Very quickly, rain began to pour down.

Talk about supernatural highs!

That was a good day for Elijah. One moment he’s defeating the prophets of Baal, and the next moment he is praying for rain and the drought is done.

But what should have been a time of great victory, quickly turned into a moment of great depression for Elijah.

And let me tell you that when the highs of life start to make you feel numb, like it did for Elijah, that is a sign that you are close to the cave of depression. And I think there are some of you here right now that are either in that cave, or you are walking into that cave, because the moments that should make you feel joy are making you feel numb.

If you can relate to what I am saying, I want the Holy Spirit to talk to you today.

Causes of Depression

Johann Hari is a writer and journalist who published a book that revealed that depression and anxiety have more social factors than neurological factors. Here are the nine causes of depression that he identified:

Disconnection from meaningful, purposeful work

Disconnection from meaningful relationships with other people

Disconnection from personal values with intrinsic rewards

Disconnection caused by trauma in childhood

Disconnection from self-worth and self-respect

Disconnection from the natural world

Disconnection from hope for a better future

Disconnection in the body and brain due to genetics

Disconnection in the body and brain due to trauma

So as we look at this list we can see that of these nine disconnections, only two of them are biological, or internal. The rest of these disconnections are social, or external.

So the obvious solution to the disconnectedness that we are seeing is we have to make the connection.

And what I want to do with the rest of our time together is to show you how you can take back control of the things that have been disconnected in your life.

Feed Yourself

Let’s start by looking at what the Lord did first to respond to Elijah. Right after Elijah wished that he would die, we pick up with these next two verses.

1 Kings 19:5–6 (NIV)

Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

Notice what the Lord didn’t do to Elijah. He didn’t tell him to go and pray. He didn’t tell him to build an altar and offer a sacrifice. He didn’t lead Elijah into a vision or a dream in order to speak to him.

The first thing God did was send an Angel to feed him. The second thing he did was lay him down again.

You cannot solve a natural problem with a spiritual solution.

God saw that this man needed food and rest!

Elijah was depressed because his natural self wasn’t in a good place. God said eat some food, get some water, and then I want you to get some rest.

We talked about this two weeks ago, but it’s worth repeating once again. When you are starting to feel off do these five simple things:

Get rest

Drink lots of water

Eat clean and healthy

Exercise

Get sun

We are living in a time of fast food, multi-tasking, caffeinated drinks, dark rooms, and all at a neck-breaking pace.

Have you ever wondered why self-care has been trending so much? We are wearing our selves out.

Your physical needs are more important than you realize, especially when you have been running hard in life.

Now, you might think to yourself, “Pastor, I don’t have time for those things.” Listen to me my friend, you don’t have time not to do these things.

God has given you one body, and you need to take care of it.

Listen to what the Psalmist said:

Psalm 127:2 (NIV)

In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.

What a beautiful promise. He grants sleep to those he loves.

Whose am I?

Now, let me talk to you about the second thing that we need to do. As we work on the natural, we also need to build on the spiritual.

Matthew 7:24–25 (NIV)

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

I love the image that this verse paints because it illustrates our work in the spiritual to building a house on a rock. We all know that rock to be Jesus. He is the chief cornerstone. Everything fits when it is built on Jesus.

And, the part of that verse tells us that rain, steam, and wind will come and beat on the house, but if it’s built on Jesus it will stand!

So, we will all go through ups and downs of life, but if we build on Jesus we’re going to make it.

Identity

I’ve never seen depression and anxiety gain more traction on a person then by attacking their identity. We also read in Matthew 4 that the enemy tempted Jesus by attacking his identity. He did this through three lies:

You are what you do

You are what others think

You are what you have

Now, we can spend an entire sermon here, and on another Sunday I will. But if you live your life by believing these lies you will NEVER WIN. These lies will convince you that you need to work for approval, you need to make everyone like you, and that your possessions will dictate your happiness.

But becuase our identity is in Christ, we are already loved by the Father, we are who He says we are, and all I have is what my Father has given me to steward.

Structural

The next way we can come out of the cave of depression, or make sure that we don’t enter into the cave, is create stability in our lives through our rhythms and our schedule.

You need a rhythm.

You need a schedule.

Spontaneous is overrated.

When you develop schedules and maintain routines, your brain relaxes. - Chris Hodges

I want my brain to relax! Doesn’t that sound amazing. In a world of fast-paced movement, I want my brain to just shut down and relax so that I can relax.

Did you know that decision fatigue is real?

The Staff here is learning that about me, and I am actively working to reduce the amount of questions that I am being asked because these questions are driving me to decisions. I can only make a certain amount of decisions for the day before I just start shutting down.

So what helps? Predictability. A schedule. A routine. A rhythm.

And parents, when you put the house on a routine watch what it does to the environment of your home.

And how do I know which routines to create in my home? Well, where do you want to go? What’s the vision for your life?

Proverbs 29:18 (CSB)

Without revelation people run wild, but one who follows divine instruction will be happy.

My rhythms support the vision for my life. And now my vision doesn’t feel like a goal that is driving me into depression, but my vision feels like the destination of my rhythms.

My People

When we go back to the text I want you to see something in how God handled Elijah’s depression. After he met his physical needs, he spoke to him in a cave. But when Elijah came out of that cave I want you to see what God told him to do.

1 Kings 19:15–16 (NIV)

The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.

The Lord tells Elijah, I need you to invest in people. Go and anoint some men to be the next Kings, and then anoint your successor. For the rest of your life, you are going to pour yourself into him.

You need meaningful work, and you need meaningful relationships.

As a matter fact, I don’t know if you caught this, but when Elijah started getting in his feelings he told his servant I’m going on without you.

Some of you are so loved by others and you won’t let them in.

You all have more people who love and care about you than you know.

And for some of you, you need to wake up and see that God has placed others around you who love you.

And then there are others of you who need to see the people around you that God wants you to pour in to.

What Can I Control?

Another thing that you need to do to stay out of the cave is to accept what you cannot control, and only spend energy on what you can control.

An excerpt from the Serenity Prayer that you many need to start praying is this:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, and he courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

You will become consumed by anxiety and depression if you cannot separate what you can control from the things that you cannot control.

You can’t control how someone feels about you.

You can’t control the bad weather

You can’t control you boss’s mood

You can’t control what your child did at school

And the list goes on and on…

But what you can control is how you respond. You can control how you treat other people. You can control how you talk to your children. You can control what you take to God in prayer.

But you need to release the things that you cannot control and give them to God.

Dr. Henry Cloud has a practice that he teaches, and this is going to help some of you. If you are feeling overwhelmed or bothered, take 10 minutes to make a list of those things. And then when you are done, crumble up that paper and throw it away.

Conclusion

One of the things that I felt as we started this series was that God was going to use this series to lift the spirit of heaviness. There is a heaviness that is affecting our Young Adults, our families, our marriages, and in some cases our work.

Anxiety and depression are symptoms of that spirit of heaviness.

As I said earlier, in some cases it is biological, but in most cases it is social. And in other cases it is spiritual.

And when I look to Jesus, I see him calling us to chose him today.

Eugene Peterson scripted one of the most amazing paraphrases of Matthew 11:28-30:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Let me pray that over your life right now.

Call

I want to ask you to respond to this message in one of two ways. First, I’d ask for those of you who are carrying this heaviness today, and you are ready to leave all of that and recover your life, I’m going to give you a chance to receive Jesus and make him your Lord and Savior. The second call that I will make is to give you a chance to do exactly what Henry Cloud suggested, and you’ll take 10 minutes there to mediate on God’s word and write down a list of things you cannot control. And then, you’ll bring them up to this stage and simply leave them here.

As a matter of fact, here is my list. I already wrote down the things that I cannot control, and I am leaving them to God.

After you leave your note you can walk on out of here and enjoy your day or you can have one of our Pastor’s pray for you. The important thing is that you responded to the word of God today.