Unashamed: Shames Relationship to Hopelessness

Good morning, we are in a sermon series entitled “Unashamed” where we have been talking about our Emotions…

Emotions are essentially to life and are a gift for us to process and to experience life..also as an alert signal to warn us of danger…

So essentially emotions are positive and necessary…When emotions are not misplaced/ disordered, they provide for us information about our circumstances in a simple, quick way that does not involve a lot of thinking…

Our emotions attempt to tell us if a situation is optimal or not… for example if something is going to meeting a need or goal.. or not(Psychology today)

We have been looking at emotion of Shame’s impact on our other emotions. Shame has been called Silent Emotion because it is the underlying emotion — people see shame as subjective instead of objective.... we don’t recognize he influence of shame. It is also been called the master emotion because it impacts all the other emotions… that can bind onto other emotions…

The Key difference between guilt and shame is that guilt lets us know that we have offended… where Shame is about blame and Identity… instead of I failed… it says I am a failure...

In order to change anything you have to tag it or recognize it… It takes being aware of your emotion… look at your notes simple Emotion Inventory… you can quickly look at just to become more are of your emotions.

Emotion Inventory -

Sorrowful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Joyful

Anxious 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Content

hopeless 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hopeful.

Fearful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Secure

T/s This morning we looking at Shames relationship to Hopelessness/ (depression) ---

The first thing to know is that this sense of hopelessness or depression is common…

It has been described as, ‘the common cold of psychiatric medicine’, and, ‘the measles and mumps of the soul’.

Winston Churchill referred to it as his ‘black dog’, and Samuel Johnson called it, ‘this vile melancholy’.

When in its grip, Abraham Lincoln described himself as, ‘the most miserable man living’

Nobody is really immune to depression

Medieval writer Thomas Kempis said

I have never met a man so religious and devout that he has not experienced at some time a withdrawal of grace and felt a lessening of fervor.

Thomas à Kempis

What is Depression?

If you place a heavy weight on a heart shaped foam pillow… the pillow becomes pressed down… “De-pressed” but if you remove the pillow the next day - the pillow returns to its original form or shape…

That is kind mild like depression… having a bad day… feeling a little sad… but you bounce back… However, if you wait 6 months to remove the weight — what happens is the pillow will not return to its original shape it will remain depressed.. A pillow is designed to sustain temporary pressured… it is not designed to hold its shape for a long time under pressure…

This is the way that God has designed the heart… under normal situations we are designed to rebound once the pressure is removed… But if live with that pressure for an extended time we enter into a “state” of depression.. Where we become heavy hearted… So depression --- like an impression means to be ‘pressed down”

In Psychology world - Depression is a Mood disorder…and can range from feeling down in the dumps… to utter disappointment — Range of degrees or types of Depression.. for example there is..

There is Situational Depression - …which is normal depression when we react to life (rejection, failure, illness).. When we go through change — transitions in life… change in jobs.. stage of life etc..

But then there is Neurotic Disorder - which is more sever and it impacts the normal activity of daily lives…the person can’t function.. struggles to work… get out the house.… This is also called “Clinical depression” when someone needs outside help… professional counseling… and treatment. .

What we dealing with in this Sermon is normal Depression… when there are emotions at the subconscious level that is triggering feelings of sadness or depression…

We are going to look at a situation in the life of Elijah’s that leads to his Decent into Depression. First we find Elijah a prophet called by God… walking with confidence and boldness....

1. Bold Elijah - Pressure teams up With Hope

The Bible often teaches us through biographies. These stories tell us that when God decided to send salvation he didn’t send an airtight argument; he sent an airtight person. He didn’t send an abstract principle; he sent a human being…

The story of Elijah begins at a time he Israel is ruled by King Ahab and His Wife Jezabel — King Ahab married Jezabel as part of alliance between Israel and Tyre… She was a fanatical worshipper of Baal —the god of Rain.. … Jezebel had an agenda to replace the God of Israel with the Worship of Baal…she was successful.. she had done something that had never happened before in Israel and that was to install Baal as the official national religion of Israel… …

At the hight of this....God raises up Elijah to confront Israel with the problem of their Baal worship. In chaper 17 we see Elijah arrive on the scene without being announced… and he declares that God is bringing a drought.

1 Kings 17:1–7 ESV

1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” 2 And the word of the Lord came to him: 3 “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4 You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. 6 And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. 7 And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

This is a time when Israel history where they had basically fallen asleep, they are complacent and God raises up Elijah to shake them awake..

Elijah goes straight to the source King Ahab… and pronounces God’s judgement. God was going to take on “Baal” the god of rain and fertility …God was going to send a drought …that would last 3 1/2 years.. there will be neither dew nor rain these years, except by Elijah’s word.

If we were to track the emotional life of Elijah — we might say this is the most stressful time of his life…

He is one man standing up to a whole nation…His message is not one of prosperity but of judgement and suffering… He is not influencing people and winning friends.... -

But what we find is Elijah is bold — Boldness is confidence and courage…boldness happens when Pressure teams up With Hope

Paul tells the Corinthians that the reason he is so Bold when he writes to the Church is because he has hope.

2 Corinthians 3:12 ESV

Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,

Hopefulness - is the reasonable and confident expectation of a future event.

The opposite of Hopefulness is hopelessness

The feeling that things will never change… and so there is no use in even trying…

This feeling has been described like the professor who always gave his students a B- in his class…and so it doesn’t matter how much effort or work the students put in they always end up with the same grade…So what do you conclude --- what is the point... why bother... That’s hopelessness...

What is the Key to Elijah’s Confidence..

We find that Elijah is most confident when he is attentive to God’s word.. Several times we see that He is listening and doing the word..

— He was not merely hearing the word of God… He putting into practice… when God says speak --- he speaks --- when God leads him --- Elijah goes..

5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan.

God leads Elijah to the brook of Cherith…and is here that God supply his needs…

The natural brook provides for him water… and then God uses Ravens to miraculously feed him in the morning and the Evening....

God supplies His needs..

Elijah is rested… He has the right ... nutrition.... He is growing in his Spiritual life…and his life is being fueled…

God was preparing Elijah to have take on Baal head to head.... but in the mean time he takes him through a series of test…… We are told that after some time the brook Drys up… When you think about it here is another Situation that could have derailed Elijah… But God is going to use these tests… to build Faith…

From here God lead him to the Widow from Zarepheth…

1 Kings 17:8–9 ESV

Then the word of the Lord came to him, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”

… … The Widow from Zarephath has been impacted by the drought ---- when Elijah finds her she is gathering sticks for her last meal with her son.. you could say she is in Clinical Depression… she is on the other side of the spectrum.... She is had just enough food for one last meal for her son and herself… She had no supply… nothing left… no fuel....

God had asked her to provide a meal for Elijah… but she had nothing left to give… On top of this her son gets deathly sick and is struggling to breathe… Why bother when the result is always going to be the same…

God uses Elijah’s Bold faith to show this widow that going is faithful…— when she trusts the God of Elijah — not only will not only providing one meal but many meals....

Where Elijah Emotionally at this time… He is under pressure but He has confident Faith…He is being led by Faith and not emotions…

God had been preparing Elijahs Faith to for the Big confrontation with Israel and the worship of Baal…and it’s going to go down on Mt Carmel..

This happen in 1 Kings 18..

1 Kings 18:1 ESV

1 After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.”

Again Elijah is being attentive to the words of God… and he has bold confidence.

Elijah goes and meets Ahab, and he challenges Ahab to send all the prophets of Baal to Mount Carmel.

Where he challenges them to a show down.

He says, “I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. You can bring all of those prophets of Baal up to the mountain, and I will stand as the prophet of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

We will both pray to God to end the drought, pray to God to hear our prayer, and let the true God send rain to Israel.” The god who first consumes the sacrifice is the true God… Baal was reputed to be the god of storm and therefore should at least have been able to bring down fire (lightning)....

So the Prophets of Baal accept the challenge and 450 Baal prophets show up..

The prophets of Baal go first — they build an altar, and they slew a bull as a sacrifice. Then they worked. What did they do? They began to pray. Not only did they just begin to pray, but they began to dance. They danced around the altar, and they began to pray. It went on for hours. There was no answer. The Bible tells us it went on from early in the morning till noon.

They started to get frantic. After they were dancing and they were running around praying out to Baal to please send rain, they started to cut themselves. This goes on from morning to noon… nothing... At noon Elijah began to taunt them. ‘Shout louder!’ he said. ‘Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.’ ”

Then it is Elijah’s turn. It was evening. He had given them all day.

Elijah arose and said, “First of all, let’s build a new altar.” He built a new altar, 12 stones for the 12 tribes of Israel. He sacrificed a bull on it, but then he said, “Throw water on it.” Everybody said, “What?” He said, “Water. Not just a little bit of water. Lots of water. Soak this thing. Soak the bull. Soak the sacrifice.”

Then at the time of offering Elijah gets up..and calls on the Lord to consume the Sacrifice….

1 Kings 18:38–39 ESV

38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.”

Theologically… the God of Israel is the true God who answers… we see that fire of the Lord fell and consumed the offering…

When the people saw this their was no Doubt that the Yahweh…they fall on their face and worship true God of Israel..

T/s you get to this part of the Story… and you think Elijah is amazing ---nothing will shake him.... But we are going to see that Bold Elijah is broken --- when his emotions get the better of him.

2. Broken Elijah - Pressure teams up with Shame

God has worked miraculously through the Ministry of Elijah.. He has just reached the pinnacle of his ministry… He is also feeling like he has done his job…

Elijah believed That Baal was absolutely defeated… And the coming rain was the evidence that his mission was complete… He tells his servant to go and look towards the sea.... and look for the rain… he does this seven times… rain comes and he tells Ahab he better get on his chariot and get to Jezreel and beat the rain..

then Elijah runs to Jezereel ahead of Ahab and his chariots

Why was he running to Jezreel? Ahab was on the run. The rain was coming down. The altar had been consumed. Essentially the entire cultist of Baal had been destroyed. Elijah says, “Finally!” He ran to Jezreel because he figured one of two things was going to happen.

Either Ahab and Jezebel would fall on the ground and say, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!” or …

else the people will rise up and cast them out. God will again be the God of Israel. I’ve done it. I’ve done everything I wanted. I’ve worked out my program. Everything is going to go fine.” So he runs to Jezreel,

… but something happens that is going to throw Elijah into a tail spin..

Sometimes you face your greatest dangers after you have won a battle.

It was after the capture of Jericho that Israel’s self-confidence led it into defeat at Ai.. Here Elijah had defeated Baal worship...

The Scottish pastor Andrew Bonar (1810–1892) said,

“Let us be as watchful after the victory as before the battle.” Andrew Bonar

When King Ahab’s gets home he tells his wife Jezebel… about the miraculous events of Mt Carmel — how the Baal were destroyed.... As you can imagine… what this does to Jezebel… Jezebel immediately sends a threat to Elijah ---

1 Kings 19:1–5 ESV

1 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3 Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs 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 broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” 5 And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.”

When Elijah hears the threat from Jezabel… He doesn’t take even a moment to consider --- or to listen for the voice of God.. He doesn’t Even take a breath… He immediately overwhelmed by his emotions…What we witness is

Elijah’s Decent into Depression

When Jezebel hears of what has happen to the prophets she retaliates--- “By same time the next day… Elijah would be dead like those prophets…

Elijah interprets Jezebel’s words as the end of His life and the end of his ministry.. The writing is on the wall --- it is just a matter of time…

In three short verses the writer has totally changed the flow of the story. from hope to hopelessness..

We need to be reminded that we are not to take on the narratives of other people… Don’t allow someone else to write God’s story for your life… God’s will for our lives.... Is simply that we are listening to Him and his voice..

What happens happening in the Emotional life of Elijah?

First of all there is there is the feeling… or

1. Sense of Loss.

Elijah Expectations are not being met… Gap between what he hoped and the reality…Elijah thought this was the end of the road...that Baal worship had been destroyed.. Israel would immediately serve God…Things would be turned right side up..

Sense of loss put him into a tail spin and of fear and despair - he runs as far away from Jezabel as possible…

He gets to edge of the land…Beersheba which was still in Judah… It is here dismisses his servant…then he travel for a day further into the desert — This is signifying that he was done with dealing with the covenant people… by abandoning the land…

He travels a days journey in the desert and finds a broom tree - Juniper tree… small shrub that provides a bit of shade… and Elijah prays for God to take his life, for all that he has lived for—his prophetic ministry and Yahweh’s people—are gone.

During his visit to Peru and Bolivia in 1981–1982, the theologian Henri Nouwen describes in his journal his depression, his “deep seated feeling of uselessness.”

The most pervasive feeling is that of being an outsider, someone who doesn’t have a home, who is tolerated … but not accepted, liked but not loved. I experienced myself as a stuttering, superfluous presence and the people around me as indifferent, distant, cold, uninterested, and at times hostile.

I crave personal attention and affection … what I am craving is not so much recognition, praise or admiration, as simple friendship.… I realised that the only thing I really wanted was a handshake, an embrace, a kiss or a smile; I received none

We fall into depression when we fell shame… When we feel we don’t match up..

When Basic needs is threatened…

our Need for love

Our Need for Significance.

Our need for Security.

Elijah is broken — He is now just praying for God to end his life… And God sends an angel --- touches him and says Arise and Eat… In other words Get up --- God is not done with you Elijah...The angel comes with food ---- with baked goods.... “angel cake” and water.... feeds Elijah twice… and he moves back into the land to Horeb the Mount of God…

2. Negative thought Pattern’s

Elijah is in the land but he has isolated himself in cave...

When people start falling into depression....they pull away from community… relationships… The problem is that Elijah is left alone to his own thoughts…and

The word of the Lord comes again to Elijah… and is here that we get insight to what Elijah had been thinking..

1 Kings 19:9–10 ESV

9 There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

Elijah …feeling that he is the only one in Israel… that has been faithful to the Lord..

… Elijah is saying I did my part… I was zealous for God… I spoke with boldness… I was faithful… but what good was that??? Didn’t make a difference… Israel still forsaken covenant.. destroy the altars and persecute the prophets.!!

Negative thinking leads to.

3. Stuck with REPRESSED ANGER.

THIS IS WHERE SHAME EXISTS -BURIED RESENTMENT OVER CIRCUMSTANCE.. Shame is anything that we are hiding… Shame says… There is nowhere out… doesn’t matter what I do I am trapped…

t/SLastly we see

3. Restored Elijah - Pressure teams up with Faith.

Elijah’s complaint is that the Israelites had abandoned God and that he was the last prophet of the Lord...

But God is going to let him know that he is mistaken…

God tells Elijah to get up and go out and stand on the Mountain before the Lord...

1 Kings 19:11–12 ESV

11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke 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 the sound of a low whisper.

Elijah steps out of the cave.. and..

While Elijah was waiting, a strong wind blew through the area, and Elijah thought, Oh, God must be in that wind. But the wind died down, and God was not in the wind.

Then there was an earthquake that shook the whole mountain, and Elijah thought, God’s in the earthquake. That’s how we would expect God to get our attention. But God was not in the earthquake.

Then there was this fire that swept through the area, and Elijah thought, Well, God must be in the fire. But the fire subsided, and God was not in the fire.

And then the Bible tells us that God spoke to Elijah in a gentle whisper. But the literal translation here speaks of a sound that is even quieter than a whisper. The NRSV describes God’s voice as “a sound of sheer silence

God reveals to Elijah that if he just took a moment to listen… It will soon be evidient that God is with him

David Platt has some interesting comments on this verse…

Often we want to be God to speak into our lives in the big ways… we trying to figure out God’s will

What if our job is not to figure out what God’s will is and then go do it for Him, what if our job is to trust moment by moment, day by day, decision by decision, trust the Christ who is in us to live out His life through us e”

What if knowing God’s will is secondary to simply knowing God.

listening to his voice,

When Elijah listen --

God tells Elijah..that he was not alone..There were in fact seven thousand who had not worshiped Baal.

God then sends Elijah to anoint three men who would ultimately destroy Ahab’s house—Hazael of Aram, Jehu of Israel, and the prophet Elisha (19:15–18).

God tells him, “Go back the way you came,” a command that calls Elijah back into active service of the Lord.