Sermon Tone Analysis

WHAT TO DO WITH THE BLUES

*Dealing With Depression*

*TEXT: I KINGS 19:1-13 *

*INTRODUCTION:* Christians don't get depressed.

How many of you believe that?

A popular speaker has asked more than 100,000 Christians across America this question: "Is there anyone present who has never, ever, been depressed?"

And the answer?

Through all his speaking engagements, not one single person responded.

"Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down~/standing in the need of prayer," the old spiritual goes.

Do Christians get depressed?

Of course they do.

And they always have.

From the writer of old spirituals to the spiritual giants of the Bible, Christians have struggled with depression.

It is both an ancient and a universal problem.

And very few people, Christian or not, have escaped its numbing effects.

There are several types of depression.

Some people suffer from a chronic sort of depression, a clinical one caused by a malfunction of our brain's chemicals.

Thankfully, modern medicine can now treat this sort of chemical disorder.

But the type of depression the rest of us suffer is the type the psalmist knew when he said, Oh, my soul, why art thou cast down within me?

History is littered with great people who have battled depression.

Some of God's mightiest heroes have struggled with periods of dark, desperate depression.

Read Numbers 11 and hear Moses cry out, God, I wish You'd kill me!

I can't bear leading these people any longer!

All they do is grumble about how good the food was back in Egypt.

Please just kill me!

Look at Jeremiah 20:18 and you will find Jeremiah the prophet depressed over the response of the people toward him as a representative of God, Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?

In the fourth chapter of Jonah, where the prophet, strangely enough, is depressed because his "revival" was a big success.

He didn't like God giving all those sinful Assyrians a second chance and asked God to just take his life.

The more we look, the more we realize that depression is no respecter of persons.

But the worst case of all seems to be that of Elijah.

From God's Word we find that his depression seemed to be the mother of all depression.

This is the prophet that the Jewish people of Jesus' day considered to be the greatest prophet in their history.

And yet no man in history could have possibly served God with greater integrity in more difficult circumstances with more complete surrender and undivided loyalty than the prophet Elijah.

But from our passage this morning we find he was terribly depressed.

The background of our passage this finds Elijah having served as the spokesman for God in the nation of Israel for three years.

During those three years tremendous progress had been made to return the nation to its covenant relationship with God.

There seemed to be a spiritual awakening taking place in Israel to return the nation from its pursuit of pagan idol worship to the worship of Yahweh as the one and only true God.

Elijah was at the pinnacle of his prophetic career.

And yet there was one person in the nation who was not so impressed with Elijah.

That person was named Jezebel.

Jezebel was the queen of Israel at the time.

She was a very wicked woman.

Jezebel did not like Elijah because he had so much influence in the nation.

Immediately following a tremendous miracle performed by God through Elijah which resulted in a victory over the prophets of Baal, the report was brought by King Ahab to Jezebel in verse 1, Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

And then in verse two it tells us that Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.

What she was saying was that his life was not worth a plugged nickel.

She was so upset that she threatened Elijah's life.

Now get the picture.

Here was Elijah, who had been fearless for three years, threatened by one woman, becoming frightened, tucking his tail and fleeing to the desert.

Notice what it says in verse 3 and following, Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.

When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day's journey into the desert.

He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die.

Elijah was in deep depression.

I have had enough, Lord, he said.

Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.

Elijah was a prime candidate for depression.

He was physically tired and emotionally exhausted.

He was an emotional basket case at this point.

And if we look at his struggles, I believe we can find exactly how we should handle the blues in our lives.

!

I.          WHY DID ELIJAH BECOME DEPRESSED?

Elijah became depressed because he played four mental games that we all play.

!! A.        He focused on his feelings rather than the facts.

!!! 1.

When we are depressed, one of the things we do wrong is to focus on our feelings rather than the facts.

!!!! a)      Elijah was a tremendous prophet.

He was coming off a tremendous victory for the cause of God, but because of one incident he felt like a failure and ran.

!!!! b)      He was made to feel like a failure by Jezebel and so he said, "I must be a failure."

That is called emotional reasoning and it is wrong.

He based his reasoning on feelings and that will play tricks on you every time.

!!! 2.      The truth is feelings are not facts.

!!!! a)      They are highly unreliable.

!!!! b)      The reason we get in trouble with depression is because we go by our feelings instead of the facts.

!!!! c)      You cannot stay on an emotional high forever.

Feelings will fool you.

!!!! d)      When you focus on your feelings rather than the facts, you will soon find yourself in trouble.

!!!! e)      The Bible does not say to get in touch with your feelings, but get in touch with the truth.

The truth is that God loves you enough to give his Son Jesus Christ to pay for your sins.

The truth is that God has placed potential in your life, and He wants to work in your life to help you reach that potential.

!!!! f)       You may be "feeling overwhelmed, feeling hopeless.

You feel that your problem is impossible to solve or overcome.

Some of are saying, "I feel like God is far away, therefore He must be mad at me."

Not true!

!!!! g)      You say, "I feel inadequate, therefore I must be worthless."

That is not true either.

Don't focus on your feelings.

Focus on the facts.

!! B.        We start comparing ourselves to others.

!!! 1.      Listen to Elijah's words found in verse 4, I have had enough Lord, take my life.

I am no better than my ancestors.

!!! 2.      You think "I wish I could be like so and so.

Then everything would be OK."

Believe me.

When you start comparing yourself to other people, you are asking for trouble.

!!!! a)      The Bible tells us not to do that because He has made every one of us to be different.

!!!! b)      There is only one person that you can be and that is yourself.

If you are trying to be something you are not, you are setting yourself up to be a failure.

That will lead to depression.

!!! 3.      When I get to heaven God is not going to ask me why I wasn't like Spurgeon or why weren't you like Elijah?

He is going to say, "Ron, why didn't you be yourselves?

Weren't you satisfied with the job I did?" God wants you to be you because that is who He made you to be.

!!! 4.      When we compare ourselves to other people, we always compare our weaknesses to their strengths.