Rob Morgan - How to Avoid a Nervous Breakdown

HOW TO AVOID A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN

A Pocket Paper
from
The Donelson Fellowship
______________

Robert J. Morgan
October 4, 1998

Today I would like to begin a series of five sermons on the subject Reducing Your Stress By Renewing Your Strength. This is actually a sequel to a series of messages by the same title last year, but the urgency is even greater today, for stress is one of our greatest enemies, and one of our most debilitating problems.

Recently I read an article in the Nashville Tennessean that described a program at Duke University Medical Center which was detailed in the AMA’s Archives of Internal Medicine. Dr. James Blumenthal studied over 100 heart patients and designed a stress-management program for them. According to his researchers, this stress-management program helped these patients reduce their risk of heart attacks or the need for surgery by a remarkable 74%. Dr. Blumenthal wrote, "In addition to diet, quitting smoking and controlling blood pressure, you need to think about managing stress (to avert potentially fatal heart problems)."

Many of us are headed toward stress-related heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, or other similar ills if we don’t find a better way of handling stress. And in the final analysis, there are only two ways of handling it. The first is by reducing it, by downsizing our lifestyles and learning to say "No" to unnecessary demands.

The second way to handle stress is by bearing up to it, by renewing our strength in the Lord, by restoring our souls—and that’s what this series of messages is all about. Over the next several weeks I’d like to share with you five passages of Scripture designed to strengthen us as we face the pressures of life. Our opening study this morning involves one of the most unique characters in the Bible, a very strong and vivid individual who performed remarkable exploits for the Lord but who also, at the very apex of his career, suffered something akin to a nervous breakdown. He is Elijah, and he first shows up in the Bible in 1 Kings 17:1—Now Elijah the Tishbite from Thisbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word..."

What can we say about the prophet Elijah? We can say he was most dramatic. He always made the most startling entrances and exits. The Scottish preacher Alexander Whyte wrote about him, "There is a solitary grandeur about Elijah that is all his own. There is a volcanic suddenness, and a volcanic violence, indeed, about all Elijah’s descents upon us and all his disappearances from us."

We can say that Elijah was wholly committed to God. His very name meant "Jehovah is my God." Here in chapter 17 he introduced himself saying, "As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve..." And in chapter 19 he gives a testimony, saying, "I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty."

We can also say he was a man of prayer. As I studied again the life of Elijah again, I noticed the persistent nature of his prayer life. In chapter 17, he prayed three times and the Lord raised up a dead boy. In chapter 18, he prayed seven times for rain and a deluge swept over Israel. He prayed for drought, and drought came. He prayed down fire from heaven, and the fire fell.

We can say Elijah was fearless and passionate. He thought nothing of sticking his finger in the face of wicked King Ahab or in the nose of the nefarious Jezebel, a pagan queen who had imported the false god Baal into Israel. She had singlehandedly done more to corrupt the heart of her subjects than anyone before or since. It was against Jezebel, the patron of the priests of Baal, that Elijah primarily directed his fiery and fearless ministry. To quote Whyte again, "He was a Mount-Sinai of a man, with a heart like a thunderstorm."

But Elijah’s most dramatic moment came in I Kings 18 when he assembled all Israel on Mt. Carmel for a contest between himself and the prophets of Baal. In front of the assembled multitude, Elijah commanded the false prophets to call fire down from heaven and consume their altar. All morning long, the prophets of Baal danced and prayed and entreated their god. But there was not so much as a spark from the sky.

Verse 27 says: 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." So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

Then Elijah called all the people to himself. He stepped forward and prayed, "O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." At that moment, the fire of the Lord fell from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the soil. And when the people saw this, they fell on their faces, crying, "The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!"

It was one of the greatest victories in the Bible, and it was the pinnacle of the mighty and marvelous career of Elijah. He then literally prayed down a thunderstorm before running on foot all the way to the captial city of Jezreel.

But then we turn the page, to the next chapter, 1 Kings 19, and to the very next day. And we are astounded to read what suddenly happened to Elijah. To put it in simplest terms, he had no sooner arrived in Jezreel following his remarkable victory on Mount Carmel than he suffered a nervous breakdown. The stress got to him and he crashed.

The term "nervous breakdown" has been discarded by most doctors and psychologists who find it a general term without meaning; but the Wall Street Journal recently dealt with the subject in a front-page article that began: "The nervous breakdown, the mysterious affliction that has been a staple of American life and literature for more than a century, has been wiped out by the combined forces of psychiatry, pharmacology, and managed care. But people keep breaking down anyway."

Well, Elijah broke down. How? According to 1 Kings 19, after he had ministered under the blazing sun atop Mt. Carmel all day, he presided over the slaying of the prophets of Baal. Then, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran a marathon to the Samaritan capital of Jezreel.

But in Jezreel, Jezebel—one of the most wicked women in the Bible—sent him a message: "By this time tomorrow," she announced, "I will have hunted down and killed Elijah." For some reason, those words were the straw that broke the prophet’s back. His faith collapsed, and in a fit of fear he ran for his life until he wound up in the far south of Judah, in the desert of Beersheba. There under a scraggly tree he collasped in despair and prayed to die before falling to sleep under a broom tree.

By and by Elijah was awakened by an angel who cooked him a meal. He ate, then fell into another deep sleep. When he next awoke, there was another cake of bread baked over hot coals and another jar of water. In the strength of that food, he traveled 40 days and nights until he came to Mt. Sinai, the mountain of God, the mountain of Moses. There the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

"I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty," replied Elijah. "The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too."

The Lord told him to stand just outside the cave and watch, for the presence of the Lord was about to pass by. As Elijah stood there, a cyclone or some kind of violent windstorm tore through the mountain with such force it seemed it would pull the mountain apart boulder by boulder. Elijah ran for cover into the cave. But the Lord was not in the wind. Then a violent earthquake sent Elijah running from the cave. I supposed he was flung to the ground clung to the rocks and roots for dear life. It seemed the entire mountain would collapse in a heap of rubble. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then a firestorm swept by like an inferno, sending Elijah running back into the cave for protection. But the Lord was not in the firestorm. And then, in the quietness and stillness that followed these terrifying phenomenon, there came a still small voice, a gentle whisper.

Elijah ventured to the edge of the cave, pulled his cloak around him, and listened. A voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

"I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty," replied Elijah, perhaps more meekly than before. "The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."

The Lord told him, "Go back. I have work for you to do. I have a king for you to anoint in Syria, and another in Israel. And I’m raising up another prophet for you to mentor. And by the way, you are not alone. I have reserved 7000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him. Now don’t you think it’s time to be getting back to work?"

This is one of the most powerful stories in the Bible, for it tells us how the Lord deals with us when we become overwrought and broken-down. What did he do for Elijah? From this scriptural case study, we can find seven solutions to the problem of an over-stressed, broken-down spirit.

Get some sleep and start eating correctly

First, God provided rest and nutrition. Elijah was physically exhausted, for he had combated paganism for three unrelenting years, he had waged a very vigorous war on Mt. Carmel against the prophets of Baal, then he had prayed with exceeding earnestness. Atop all that, he had run a marathon back to Jezreel. He had taken time for neither rest nor food, and he was physically, emotionally and spiritual exhausted. Do you remember when Jesus was surrounded by the crowds of Galilee, and a woman touched the hem of his garment and received healing? Jesus turned and said, "I felt virtue drain out of me." When we work with people, when we try to help them spiritually, when we deal with problems in their lives—virtue drains from us.

When we grow physically and spiritually exhausted, we have less control over our emotions. Depression descends more easily. Worry grips us more doggedly. Temptations catch us unawares.

God made us to require eight hours of sleep, more or less, and a solid intake of wholesome food. And if we persistently work ourselves into a state of exhaustion, we’ll suffer the consequences. So the Lord provided a broom tree under which the exhausted prophet slept, and he provided hot baked bread and very cold water to nourish his drooping body.

Realize the very angels of heaven are concerned about you

Second, the Lord sent an angel to strength him. It was actually the angel who built the fire and baked the bread on the hot coals. Do you remember when Jesus was suffering from exhaustion and dread in the Garden of Gethsemene? The Lord sent an angel to strengthen him. Hebrews 1:14 says that angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation. Many times, according to the intimations in the Bible, the angels minister to us though we may be unaware of it.

Verbalize your frustrations to a godly friend or to the Lord in your journal

Third, the Lord helped Elijah verbalize his feelings. "What are you doing here, Elijah?" The prophet replied: "I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me."

Half the battle in controlling our emotions is in being able to identify and verbalize them. In my own experience, I have found two ways of doing that. Sometimes if I can talk to a friend, it helps a lot. Other times I use my journal and write out my feelings as a prayer to the Lord. When nameless fear and emotional distress swirl inside you like a toxic cloud of nebulous gasses, it is hard to deal with. But when you can express your feelings to a godly, counseling friend or to the Lord in a journal, it gets them down into tangible, black-and-white words that helps you identify and deal with them.

Listen to God’s still, small voice as he reassures you from Scripture

Fourth, after having provided food and rest, after having sent an angel to watch over him, and having listened patiently as Elijah verbalized his problems, the Lord then redirected Elijah’s attention to himself. The ultimate answer to depression and distress in life is refocusing ourselves on God and on his infallible Word.

Hebrews 12 says we should throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles, and we should run with patience the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

Colossians 3 says that we should set our minds on things above, not on earthly things, for we died and our lives are now hidden with Christ in God.

So the Lord sent Elijah down to Mt. Sinai to have him re-enact a scene from the life of Moses. Do you remember what happened in Exodus 33? A very discouraged Moses trudged up Mt. Sinai, 40 days and 40 nights, and there he entered a cave, and there he saw the glory of the Lord pass by. Likewise, the Lord sent a discouraged Elijah to Mt. Sinai, 40 days and 40 nights. The Lord directed him in the cleft, a cave, in the rocks, perhaps the very cave of Moses. And there the Lord appeared afresh to Elijah, as he had to Moses.

But there is something interesting here. Elijah knew that God was a God of thunder and earthquake and fire. He knew the majesty and fear and terror of the Lord. He knew all about God’s greatness and transcendence. Elijah was, after all, the prophet of thunder, the man who could call fire from heaven, a prophet of judgment. Sometimes God is in the fire. Sometimes he does speak with the voice of thunder, calling us to repentance, calling us to commitment, warning us of judgment.

But this time, Elijah didn’t need fire or earthquake or thunder. He badly needed a contrasting word, a gentle word from God, a word of reassurance, a word of love. He needed the still, small voice, the gentle whisper.

God speaks to us according to our need. A bruised reed he will not break and a smoking flax he will not quench. He whispers assurance to our hearts according to our need. He whispers His word into our hearts by his Holy Spirit:

• Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also.
• The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.
• Fear not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will help thee; I will strengthen thee; I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

The Psalmist said, "When my anxious thoughts multiply, thy word is my consolation." There is no comfort or strength in the world like that of going to God’s Word in times of fear or worry or depression or distress and finding there the very verse that speaks to your need.

Remember: where God is concerned, things are never as bad as they seem

Fifth, Elijah needed encouragement. He had been feeling so sorry for himself, so full of self-pity, so lonely. "The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."

But the Lord said, "Oh, my dear weary Elijah. You are not the only one left. I have reserved 7000 people in Israel who have not bowed the knee to Baal." Things are never as bleak as they may appear to us, not when God is in control.

Determine to complete God’s will for your life on this earth

Sixth, Elijah needed a renewal of his purpose. The Lord wasn’t finished with him, there were still kings to anoint and prophets to commission. His best days of ministry and his most spectacular moments were still ahead of him. Elijah needed to determine afresh to complete God’s will for his life on this earth.

Find a friend with whom to share your burdens and blessings

Seventh, the Lord provided Elijah with a friend, a colleague to help him share the load. Go anoint Elisha, mentor her to succeed you as prophet. And from that day until he was caught up into heaven, Elijah had a friend and companion with whom to share his burdens and blessings.

Are you overwhelmed, stressed beyond endurance, discouraged, depressed? God knows and he cares. He wants to rehabilitate you, to renew your strength, to restore your soul. What is necessary? Some very practical steps:

1. Get some sleep and start eating correctly.
2. Realize the very angels of heaven are concerned about you.
3. Verbalize your frustrations to a godly friend or to the Lord in your journal.
4. Listen to God’s still, small voice as he reassures you from Scripture.
5. Remember: where God is concerned, things are never as bad as they seem.
6. Determine to complete God’s will for your life on this earth.
7. Find a friend with whom to share your burdens and blessings.

This was God’s personalized treatment program for his exhausted, defeated prophet. It pulled him back to his feet.

Now if it worked with Elijah, it seems to me there’s a good chance it will work with you an