This morning we continue this series of messages called "The Days of Elijah". Today we confront in Elijah the reality of his humanness. This reality check is exposed by his personal struggle with discouragement and depression. By my saying the word "depression" some of you have a reaction of "At last someone is going to address something I know all too well." Or, "Oh no somebody knows my secret!" Or your reaction could be "Why do we have to talk about sad things?" The reason we talk about this is because this is what happened in the life of Elijah so we can’t ignore the stories of real life that God’s word presents to us. Another reason we are talking about it is that other than pain, depression is the one great equalizer of all persons. Regardless of a position on the social ladder, number of zeros on your check stub, square feet of your house, number of diplomas you have on the wall or how many Bibles you have in your bookcase, depression has a way of making all our ground level. One pastor said we all have three kinds of days: "mountaintop days," "ordinary days" and "dark days" - you have one or two, you're "down;" when they string out together for more than two weeks: you're depressed.

Discouragement and depression is something that all people face in some form or another, even great biblical characters and spiritual leaders. Biblical personalities like Moses, David, Jonah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist and Paul all had their moments of struggle with discouragement and depression. Christian leaders like apologist C. S. Lewis, the reformer Martin Luther, hymn writer William Cowper and the Puritan John Bunyan write extensively of their struggles. C. H. Spurgeon, a renowned Baptist pastor from England in the 1800’s, struggled constantly with debilitating depression. Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago talks very openly of some dark days that he encountered in the early 1990’s.

I say all that to help remove the stigma from the issue of depression that we have as Christians. In some ways in the Christian community it is better for you to have a disease that can show up on an x-ray than it is for you to ever battle with depression. A person has no guilt about having an operation but some Christians will struggle with guilt and shame over taking medication for depression. Somehow we imagine that depression is the one thing that God has said, "Well shame on you because if you were really who you should be then you wouldn’t feel that way. So you handle that one on your own. I don’t do depression."

The issue I want us to deal with this morning is not so much the blues or clinical depression. You can come out of the blues within an hour. Clinical depression needs our understanding, support and love, not an armchair psychology from a sermon. What I want us to examine is despondency that lingers. It's a "rainy season of the soul". You have moments of sunshine but there are just more clouds that aren't going away easily. For that chronic darkness I want us to explore a path found in God’s personal dealings with Elijah that can help us find a way back into the light.

Christian writer Parker Palmer in his book "Let Your Life Speak" writes of a period in his life where he found himself facing the reality of depression. His definition is one of the best I have heard and one that fits best what we see in Elijah’s life. Palmer says, "Depression is the ultimate state of disconnection-it deprives one of the relatedness that is the lifeline of every living thing." (p.61) He describes depression as the ultimate state of disconnection between yourself and other people, your mind and your feelings and between your self-image and the self you pretend to be. Depression shows itself in that desire to unplug from the things that have made life meaningful and healthy. It is that disconnection that we see in Elijah today that right now may mirror your own life or the life of someone you love. What caused Elijah to unplug and how did God restore him? That’s what I want us to examine today.

Let’s set the background for the text for a moment. Recall that Elijah has just completed a very intense cycle of ministry. He has been in God’s service for at least three years and for the bulk of that time has been enduring a horrible drought. He has had a final confrontation with the prophets of the false god Baal and has been fully victorious. The drought has ended and in a way Elijah is ready to "spike the ball in the end zone" because of all that God has done and the completion of a tremendously difficult time of service. It would seem that Elijah was ready for a break from the tension of conflict and the stress of spiritual battle.

We are not sure where Ahab’s wife Jezebel was all this time but Ahab tells her in detail all that has happened. In particular he tells her about the deaths of all the prophets of Baal. (I Kings 19:1). Remember that Jezebel was tied to these prophets and the worship of Baal. It was at her encouragement that Ahab had sponsored the worship of Baal from the beginning. Her response was full of revenge and she sends a messenger to tell Elijah "May the gods also kill me if by this time tomorrow I have failed to take your life like those whom you killed." (I Kings 19:2) She is telling him, "You are as good as dead!"

Elijah’s response, however, is so different from what we have come to expect. What we would have thought would have been for Elijah to respond with a bold word of rebuke from God and basically tell her, "Bring it on! God is on my side. I am not afraid!" Yet instead we read, "Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there." (I Kings 19:3) Elijah runs! Yet he doesn’t stop in that town but he goes a day further into the wilderness and crawls up under a tree and asks God to go ahead and let him die. He say’s, "I have had enough, Lord…Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." (I Kings 19:4) What’s he saying? "I’m finished. I quit. I want to die and for all of this to be over." For this mighty man of God he couldn’t go on but the fact was God wasn’t finished using him. Yet this leader was crippled by depression. Let's examine Elijah’s symptoms and explore God's therapy for him.

What were some of Elijah’s symptoms of depression? (I Kings 19:3-4, 9-10) There are six that I find here that are common with the way some people express their depression:

Symptom One: Fear and anxiety (v. 3). It is not uncommon for depressed persons to feel a foggy general feeling of dread (always thunder in the distance). It is pessimism about the future that causes fear and they are often unable to identify the fear. The scripture says that Elijah feared for his life from one woman when he had just overcome a greater enemy (v.1-2).

Symptom Two: Physical and emotional depletion (v. 3-4) Not only had Elijah been in an exhausting ministry cycle but the distance from Jezreel to Beersheba was over 140 miles and then he went one more day into the desert. It is very likely that he had no sleep, little food and his energy was consumed by fear. Many human experiences extract a heavy toll on our emotional and physical strength, crippling our ability to cope. Physical illness, deep grief, stress from radical changes in our lives, and a multitude of other factors can create the weariness of spirit in which depression thrives. Spurgeon writes, "Excess of joy or excitement must be paid for by subsequent depression. While the trial lasts, the strength is equal to the emergency; but when it is over, the natural weakness claims the right to show itself." (Elijah, Charles Swindoll, p.116) The reality is that after times of intense stress whether good or bad you will not bounce back in a few days. The reason is because you didn’t get there overnight and you won’t snap out of it overnight.

Symptom Three: Low self-esteem (v. 4) When you consistently feel you don't count, you can know you are depressed. Elijah seems to feel guilty and ashamed about being tired and afraid, and he can't forgive himself for this human frailty. It's at this point that Christians get into trouble. We have a difficult time accepting the fact that our "cloudiness" is a result of the physical and mental exhaustion rather than the spiritual. As long as we continue our resistance toward the reality it only keeps the problem persisting.

Before we go on to the next three symptoms let’s take a look at what was happening to Elijah. In verses 5-8 God sends an angel to care for him in a miraculous way. Elijah is given time to rest and food to nourish him. What is interesting though is that now that Elijah has somewhat disconnected God takes over and sends him further into the wilderness. In fact the place where Elijah goes is the place we know as Mt. Sinai or as the passage says, "The mountain of God" where Moses received the Ten Commandments. There, alone again, Elijah goes into a cave to perhaps find a place to die because, as we will see, the location hasn’t changed his attitude. This brings us to the next three symptoms.

Symptom Four: He indulges in self-pity (v. 9-10). God asks Elijah, "What are you doing here?" His response is one of self-pity. He says, "I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I alone am left, and now they are trying to kill me, too." Depressed people usually do not need the pity of their friends because they are so creative in production of pity for themselves. A private "pity party" is common for depression. The hard truth is that they often don't realize they’re doing it! This is usually the result of a loss of perspective.

Symptom Five: Feelings of loneliness and rejection (9-10). Elijah’s response reflects a sense that no one really cares or understands. He feels rejected by his own people. He says, "I alone am left." Rejection, genuine or perceived, delivers a destructive blow to the human personality, and depression is often the response.

Symptom Six: Critical and angry toward other people (9-10). Depression can involve guilt that causes us to put our self down and anger that lead to criticism of others. Elijah is convinced that all others have forsaken God and that they want to destroy him. He imagines that now even the people that he had seen fall on their face before God in I Kings 18 are now trying to kill him.

Again look where Elijah ends up: In a cave! He's in the dark, praying to die and trying to sleep away what remains of his miserable existence. But Elijah is not alone and neither are we. The holy God of the universe peers through the darkness of the cave, and His gaze even penetrates the shadowy gloom of the depressed soul. He cares and acts. With love and firmness God ministers to Elijah.

Throughout this passage God was providing therapy for Elijah. That is what I want us to explore now. (I Kings 19:5-8, 11-13) God first sends an angel to minister to Elijah. The creator of human beings has a remarkable understanding of how they work and what they need. The angel confronts Elijah with specific therapeutic instructions to help Elijah begin the process of recovery. Recovery from depression, as any physician will tell you, is a process. It may begin with medication but that is not the key to the cure. Recovery is found in a variety of healing processes that God can use. We just have to be willing to join God in the process. That’s why the angel instructs Elijah to perform a number of significant steps of action.

Action Step One: Get a grip on yourself (v. 5-8). The angel, after bringing food to Elijah, tells him, "Arise, eat." Depression puts us into a condition where we are almost paralyzed into neglecting the most daily tasks. Elijah has stopped eating and is told to feed himself. Some depressed people self-destruct by failing to care for the most basic things and go to extremes. Elijah needed someone to tell him to rest and take care of himself! It helps to have people who will love us enough to say, "Get a grip." Do what needs to be done today - bathe, get dressed, eat, set a routine, rest, sleep, stop watching TV, renting movies, reading novels. Get a grip! It's risky and must be timed well for sure but the best care may not be a hug of compassion but a shove toward direction.

Action Step Two: Get busy for yourself (v. 7-8, 15-18). Through the angel in verses 7-8 and then God himself in verses 15-18 Elijah was given specific instructions about his future ministry and the selection of his successor. It doesn't hurt for depressed people to have accountability. A sense of winning in anything can reverse the drop of the temperature of our soul. When you don't have it inside, the motivation may need to come from someone else! God cared enough about Elijah to provide discipline for him during the time when he lacked the inner strength to discipline himself.

Action Step Three: Renew your relationship with God (11-13) In verses 11-13 I want you to notice that God asks Elijah, "What are you doing here?" NOT, "What are you doing there?" God was there in the cave! We see Elijah meeting God in a new way and hearing the still, small voice that speaks forgiveness and love. Depressed persons need to be reminded that God is still present with them and that He has something to say to them. His coming to us may be a whisper or an earthquake. The whisper is just as real for those who are willing to listen carefully.

Action Step Four: Be willing to admit you can't do it alone. (v.15-21) Elijah becomes a healthier person because he begins to accept and understand his own limits as a person. He knows he needs help and God has help available. There were still 7000 that had not forsaken God; they represented all the support Elijah could ever need. But that support was not available until there was an admission of need personally. Refusing help when we're depressed is not something to be admired. We're unrealistic and will self-destruct. Parker Palmer says that during his depression that there were several people who came to his aide. One was a person named Bill who came to his house every day and for half an hour just massaged his feet. He very rarely said anything, he just massaged his feet. Palmer said it caused him to remember that someone else could still see him and that he wasn’t invisible. (Let Your Life Speak, p.63-64) The key was though; he had to open the door to the help that was offered. And so must you.

I’m going to say something that may seem strange and contradictory but I believe that depression can be one of the tools that God uses to draw us more deeply to himself. Palmer explains how that in conversations with a therapist he made a discovery that helped him eventually reclaim his life. His therapist told him, "You seem to look upon depression as the hand of an enemy trying to crush you. Do you think you could see it instead as the hand of a friend, pressing you down to ground on which it is safe to stand?" Palmer said, "Amid the assaults I was suffering, the suggestion that depression was my friend seemed impossibly romantic, even insulting. But something in me knew that down, down to the ground, was the direction of wholeness, thus allowing that image to begin its slow work of healing in me…The grace of being pressed down to the ground is also simple: when we slip and fall, it is usually not fatal, and we can get back up…Depression was, indeed, the hand of a friend trying to press me down to ground on which it was safe to stand—the ground of my own truth, my own nature, with its complex mix of limits and gifts, liabilities and assets, darkness and light." (p. 66, 67) He said, "I had to be forced underground before I could understand that the way to God is not up but down." (p. 69)

Elijah met the living God in a cave where he wanted to die. The cave was where God came to him and gave him back his life. You see, my friend, there is hope. Because we are children of an omnipotent Father we can have hope. Because there are unique resources available for the believer, we can have hope. Even as we confront the hard truth of emotional depression, we can have hope! John Ortberg says, "God does some of his best work in caves. The cave is where God resurrects dead things". He did with Elijah. He did with Jesus. He can with you.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org