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Continuing our Gospel Story series, we are going to take a look at the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 19.

If you are familiar with the Old Testament I’m sure you have heard this name before.

Elijah is one of the prophets that performed many miracles by God’s power and is one of 2 men that did not face death.

At the end of his life the Lord brought him to heaven without dying.

Today though, we are going to see Elijah at a point in his life where he isn’t calling down fire from heaven, he isn’t healing a young boy, taking care of a widow.

He is off by himself, sad, and ready to give up.

Have you ever been there?

In studying for this, I did some research on sadness and depression.

I found out a few things. First thing was, many will say they are “depressed” when really it is just sadness. Second, the difference between being sad and being depressed is the length of time it lasts and the effects it has on your life.

If you are a person that is clinically depressed with a chemical imbalance in your brain, you should see someone about medication to correct that chemical imbalance without affected your cognitive abilities.

If you are a person that goes through periods of sadness, or lows in life, I want you to know that you are not alone and that’s ok.

In fact, you were made by God to experience lows. Down times are not bad times. “Pastor how can you say that?”

Let me start by saying this: I believe science is man’s means of understanding God’s design in creation. When science makes a discovery, it is not them creating what they have found, it is them labeling and understanding what God has been doing all along.

One of the findings I came across, just in the last decade or so, was that after a high time, you will experience a low.

Now, that low could be a legitimate low or it could just be a return to normal that feels like a low because of the high.

Today we are going to find Elijah at that point in life. He just had an extreme high, didn’t get the results he wanted, and is now experiencing a low.

I want you to think of your low times. Maybe you are in that this morning. Maybe you are coming out of it.

Through Elijah’s life we will see how God responded to his low and how I believe your faith in the Gospel can bring you through a sad time with joy and result in spiritual growth.

Follow along with me as I read

1 Kings 19:1–8 KJV 1900

1 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. 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. 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.

Pray

I. Accept your Emotional State

We find Elijah on the run from Ahab and Jezebel. As I said he had experienced an extreme high. Up on top of Mt. Carmel he had called down fire from heaven to consume a soaking wet offering to the Lord. He had the prophets of Baal slain and then he prayed for rain and God provided.

He accomplished these things by the power of God and for the glory of God.

And, based upon his response following these events it would seem as though he had an expected end that did not come to fruition.

Ever done that? Worked on something or did something that and thought it would turn out one way or another and it didn’t? Maybe you thought it would effect someone in a different way than they responded?

I did a quick google search and it wasn’t hard to find a list of “14 ways to make your wife feel appreciated” it’s in your digital worship guide if you want to make sure he sees it ladies

https://inspiringtips.com/ways-to-make-your-wife-feel-appreciated/

Some examples are:

Thank Her For Every Little Thing

Plan A Surprise For Her With The Kids

Give Her Time For Herself

If I took that list and did all 14 things on there and my wife didn’t show her appreciation for my efforts or if I didn’t see the result I was expecting, how would you feel?

I believe that leads to disappointment.

You put in all this work and the other person doesn’t even acknowledge it the way you think they should.

Here is Elijah after doing as the Lord commanded in front of many, too include the king, and at the end of it, the king still hates him, the Queen is still angry with him (in fact she wants to kill him), and what he wanted to happen did not take place.

Ever experienced that? You shared the gospel with someone, you invited someone to church, you forgave when you didn’t want to, you let go of the past and sought to move forward for Christ, and the other person didn’t respond positively.

They didn’t trust in Jesus, they din’t come to church, the past still sought to haunt you from time to time.

In those moments we can get to where Elijah is…a place where he is done. Ready to give up. Now Elijah is asking for the Lord to take his life. I pray your not there today.

However, he is in a down time. He is disappointed in himself and the lack of results. He said ”I am no better than my ancestors.”

It would seem as though he believed that by his actions the kings heart would turn to the Lord. That was something his ancestors were unable to see happen.

When they didn’t, he was ready to give it all up.

Ever been there? Sad, disappointed, ready to give up?

Can I tell you something? It’s not wrong to feel those emotions.

Go created us with emotions. Those emotions can send us on a high like the mountaintop experience Elijah just had calling fire from Heaven OR it could be the lowe he is having right now.

What’s important for us, is that we accept our emotional state and begin to understand it. Too often, guys especially, will fight their emotions. Now, I’m not telling you to be controlled by emotions. I’m telling you to understand you are emotional and seek to understand your emotions.

When you get to a low ask yourself “What emotion am I feeling right now?” Label it and identify. Then ask “Why am I feeling that emotion?” Determine what thoughts you have that are leading to that emotion.

Then…take your emotions and thoughts and compare them to scripture.

Because we can

II. Trust God’s promises regardless of our feelings

A popular statement among some political commentators and news outlets over the last few is “facts don’t care about your feelings.”

That means regardless of how you feel the facts don’t change.

While I think there is a less callous way to say it when it comes to God’s word, the principle remains the same.

God’s Word doesn’t change because of your feelings.

His promises of salvation, of all things working for good, of Him having an expected end, of Him being withy you always…they are the same on top of Mt. Carmel as they are in the valley.

Elijah did what he should have done, maybe not in the spirit I woudl reccommend but I want you see a couple things in his approach to the Lord.

Elijah wasn’t perfect.

God has ALWAYS used imperfect people to accomplish His will. One of the things that helps the Old Testament be proven true is it’s transparency around it’s “heroes.” Especially the kings. All other cultures of the day were only penning the good and heroic things a king would do.

Well, here in this historical writing we are seeing this mighty prophet at a low point in life.

Many Christians in various postions throughout time have found themselves in this exact same place.

Only a few months after Charles Spurgeon became pastor in London (of New Park Street Chapel), the church exploded. Crowds numbering 10,000 or more came to hear him (in a day when churches were not ever close to that big). The church was forced to change venues to accommodate the growing numbers. (They considered going multi-site, which Spurgeon was up for, but the other elders were so backwards—still using flip phones! and didn’t think video would work so they decided against it.) Well, Spurgeon had a lot of enemies, which always happens—saying he was a fundamentalist, or a cult-leader, or that churches shouldn’t be that big and this was all about his ego. They launched all sorts of nasty attacks at him. One day, while he was speaking to huge crowd, someone came into the crowd, yelled "Fire," and created a stampede. Seven people were trampled to death. The disaster devastated him, and he spiraled into a depression for years that some say he never quite got over.

Even the prince of Preachers found himself having spiritual lows.

2. Elijah didn’t hold anything back.

He was very raw with God. He brought his emotions, thoughts, and everything to the Lord here. He didn’t pray some prayer filled with plattitudes or trite requests off of a checklist. He went to God and said “Lord, I’m done.” I can’t take it any more.

It’s when we fully expose ourselves to the Lord. When we empty ourselves of any pride or false humility and go to God in our sin, in our weakness, and realize none of us can do anything without him it’s then we can accept the help the Lord provides to us.

After breaking down and calling out to God the Lord sends an angel. Notice in verse 7 the phrase “The angel of the Lord”

Many believe this is what’s known as a Christophany. That’s an appearance of Jesus in the OT before His incarnation.

What did the angel of the Lord do when he got to Elijah? Did the angel say “Suck it up buttercup there is work to be done.” or “You just need to choose to be happy.”

He woke him from his nap, fed him and provided water, then let him take another nap.

What does the Lord show us here?

There are times in life that you will find yourself down, that’s ok. It doesn’t make you a bad person. It makes you human.

I believe Elijah was in that physical low we talked about earlier that science has proved.

It could be said that we are meant to have lows. We were designed to have lows.

We were not made to be riding high excited and happy all the time.

So feeling as though that you are not a good Christian for having a down day, believing your faith isn’t strong enough in Jesus because you “feel” sad is improper. And that is true with any emotion.

We are meant to feel sad, angry, frustrated, happy, and joyous. The question is what do you do when you feel those? How do you respond?

Elijah responded by accepting his emotions, and I believe his thoughts that lead him there, then he cried out to the Lord and the Lord responded.

III. We can be renewed by the Word and Will of God

How did he respond?

I. God sends an angel of rest. Angels in the Bible, in case you don’t know, are always on assignment. They’re never just out roaming around and then come back to God, saying, “Wow, you ain’t never believe this.” This one is sent to Elijah to take care of him.What does the angel say to Elijah? “Hey, why don’t you show some faith!” Or, “Elijah: get it together.” “Elijah, here’s a John Piper book—read and think about this!”He touches him; makes some nice, hot food for him, and then take a nap, and then sends him to a cabin in the mountains.

II. God listens. He said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Whenever God asks a question, it’s not to seek information, of course. He’s giving Elijah a chance to express his own feelings. And he listens.Did you see in vs. 2 that Elijah had pushed away his best friend? This is what NOT to do in a time of depression. I know you feel like it, but like Christian counselor David Powlison says, “Things in a secret garden always grow mutant.” 3. God gives his word. He is going to address some lapses of faith with Elijah, and try to broaden his perspective a little (we’ll get to what that “word’ is in just a minute).

But first, let me point out that you’ve here got 3 different approaches in dealing with depression. He ministers to him physical (touch, food, nap), spiritually (deals with wrong view of God), and psychologically (listens to him).

Some people view humanity as if we were exclusively or primarily physical. So, any time you are depressed, you should simply take some time off; get rid of anything causing you stress; take a pill.

Others view humanity as if we were exclusively spiritual. These are the people who say, “Oh, are you depressed? Show some faith. Quit sinning. Get over it.”

They think the idea of taking a pill or identifying physical causes to depression is essentially to betray the faith.

The third group views depression as primarily psychological. Just talk it out.

But God uses all 3: God made you as a psychosomatic being. You’re not just a soul (or a soul floating around in there) you’re a soul united to, clothed with a body—and you can’t neatly separate the two.

So he ministers to Elijah physically. Sometimes (never heard a preacher say this) you don’t need prayer or a sermon; you need a nap. Or a vacation. Or to be touched. A weekend away with your spouse. You need to read a good book. Not just “How not to be depressed.” Historical fiction. Amish love stories.

III. He ministers to Elijah psychologically by allowing Elijah to talk out his feelings. He is a friend to him.

The Psalms are filled with people venting to God. Being godly does not mean pretending your emotions aren’t there. Sure, some of them need to be corrected. Not every emotion is legitimate, but you can’t correct the source of the emotion if you don’t get it out there.

Our emotions are not usually good or bad; our emotions are simply indicators of what is going on inside of us.

So expressing the emotion often helps you figure out what is going on down in your heart so you can correct it, if need be.

Get a journal and write out your feelings, like David did. The Psalms are David’s prayer journal. Some of them are quite salty. Are you allowed to say that to God?And get people around you. Some of you, like Elijah, have left your friend behind. Terrible mistake. I know you want to be alone to wallow in your pain, but things that grow in a secret garden always grow mutant!

IV. He ministers to Elijah spiritually by giving him his word. I can’t diagnose which one yours is: usually (not always) it’s a combination of these things:

Now: What I’m going to say from here on out applies mostly to spiritually-based depressions and discouragement, but even if you don’t think your depression is spiritual, you should listen, because there are probably more spiritual dimensions tied up in your emotion than you realize.

Look at this chart on the screen and in your digital worship guide. Notice the stages to destructiveness.

(REVIEW STAGES)

The renewing of the Word of God keeps you from hitting step 3 or 4.

Elijah gets his rest and nourishment and then went on a forty day journey to Mt. Horeb.

1 Kings 19:9–13 KJV 1900

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? 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?

Mt. Horeb is Mt. Sinai. Mt. Sinai is where God appeared to Moses and gave him the 10 commandments.

When God gave those commandments he descended in thunder and earthquake.

God sent the fire and the rain that Elijah had prayed for. Now God is showing Him that He doesn’t have to appear in any of those methods.

God shows Elijah that the Lord is in the whisper as well as the howling wind. He decides how he works, He decides what the results of His work will be and we are not to get discouraged over results not happening the way we thought, we are just responsible for working the way God has commanded.

Now after seeing this, God has asked him again…what are you doing here?

Elijah Responds

1 Kings 19:14–18 KJV 1900

14 And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because 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. 15 And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: 16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. 17 And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. 18 Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.

God didn’t really acknowledge his complaints. Why? Because God’s got this. The Lord ministered to Elijah, the Lord spoke to Elijah, and now the Lord is directing Elijah.

Are you experiencing a low right now? Maybe your coming out of one? Maybe your on your way to one.

Wherever you are, remember, one of the truths of the gospel is that you are not perfect. You are frail. You are the creation not the creator. That’s where Jesus comes in. By trusting in Him as your savior, you enter into a relationship with God the father for eternity. You’re not only save from hell but you are able to live with and for Him while on earth.

Its this relationship with God that brought Elijah out of his sadness.

Is your relationship with God able to help you come out of your negative emotions?

Can I give you 3 things to do to help?

1. Accept the Love and Grace of God

Just as you accept that your emotions are real so is the Love and grace of God. His Word is true regardless of how you feel.

Believe it, embrace it, and live in it.

Gods’s ultimate display of goodness and mercy was at the cross when Jesus died for you.

Understanding that the applications of that grace and mercy apply to more than just your soul can aid you in your response to this life.

2. Defy the Lie

In Elijah’s response you find a mixture of truth and error.

He had been zealous for God, he had been rejected, he had slain prophets, he was not the only one left though

This is how sadness turns into depression.

You start saying things to yourself “All is lost, there is no hope, nothing will ever change, no one cares.”

These are lies.

When these lies are being whispered to you, you must defy them.

Start preaching to yourself. Preach the gospel and the truths of the gospel to yourself.

Remind yourself of who jesus is, remind yourself that you are not alone. Elijah had 7000 other people he could have connected with to walk with him through his journey. You have Jesus and all of us here.

Even if it doesn’t pass in this life, it will pass when you see Jesus.

3. Get back to your calling

Are you a dad, mother, husband, wife, sister, brother, grandparent, aunt, uncle, employee, business owner, retired?

Whatever your role, get back to it and glorify God.

1 Corinthians 15:58 KJV 1900

58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Be a witness to your friends, be a god honoring and gospel representing employee or boss.

I told you that Charles Spurgeon struggled with depression, for most of his life. Doctors later discovered it was brought on by gout and some medical complications.

Spurgeon decided to see depression not as the absence of God’s word, but itself a word from God. He opted to use it, to trust that God meant something by it or through it.

He assumed that God, through his depression, was giving a picture of something. Something that went better and deeper than the joys of a happy, healthy, life, and those were the joys of being with Jesus in eternity.

Once to his congregation he said: “I find myself frequently depressed - perhaps more so than any other person here. I find no better cure for that depression than to trust in the Lord with all my heart, and seek to realize afresh the power of the peace-speaking blood of Jesus, and his infinite love in dying upon the cross to put away all my transgressions.”

Time of Response

How is your emotional health today?

Are you in that low season? Have you experienced that low season and come out of it? Maybe your in between lows.

Now matter how low you think you are remember

Corrie Ten Boom, holocaust surviver, said “There is no pit so deep that God isn’t deeper still.”

have you trusted Jesus as your savior? Do you have that relationship with him to get you through those lows?

If you’ve never received jesus as your savior. This is not Not weird, it’s private moment.

Jesus came and done all the work, you don’t earn or achieve your salvation, receive by faith, gift

gift of god eternal life through jesus Christ

Romans says you receive that gift in prayer by calling on the name of the Lord, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved

If you’d like to make that decision

if this is your heart

you can pray in faith and invite Jesus to be your personal savior

“Jesus I admit I need a savior, I’m sinful. I know I need salvation, reconciliation with God. I believe you are God and you came and died in my place and you bore my sin, and you rose again, and right now I accept you as my savior, I’m trusting you alone.”

My friend it’s that simple

If that’s your payer you have recieved the greatest gift you have ver received.

I want to congratulate you if that is your decision.

Christians, keep your eyes on Christ and go to Him daily, during the highs and the lows and let Him guide you.

PRAY