If You Are Feeling The Blues
I heard this lesson while driving
to work one morning on the radio. No one is immune to the blues, things happen that take us off our game. So I
captured the lesson and stamped it somewhat with my own personality. From time to time I blow the dust off of it
when I'm in need of God's refreshment. The lesson goes like this:
Have you ever been at the top of your game and things are just rolling along? When times are good, life is good. But what happens after those good times roll on? Where is God when the good times end? Well today we will get some answers.
In biography one of the great temptations is to try to gloss over the faults of people or perhaps at the other end of the spectrum, to highlight them to an unhelpful or to an untrue degree. Scripture makes no attempt to conceal or excuse the blemished or the faults or the failures of its heroes.
The contrast of chapters 18 and 19 of the book of 1 Kings are clearly presented. In considering them we learn something of God's character and we learn also of the frailty of God's servants. In this case specifically Elijah. If you are a Christian this is an important lesson for you. You are a servant of God. There are times when your life will just be rolling along and there are times when circumstances may cause your blemishes to overtake your thinking and actions.
Chapter 18: We can quickly summarize it; we see Elijah is introduced to us as a man of prayer. We see him as an individual that has great humility. We see him with a strong connection to God, the source of his strengths. We see him clothed in power and triumph is written all over the 18th chapter of 1 Kings.
How remarkable is it then to simply see that in less than a paragraph we find this mighty servant of God displaying the fact that he is frail as well. In 18 he manifests bravery before hundreds of prophets who were in alliance to Baal and who were antagonistic to this servant of God. From the bravery before hundreds we find him panicking before one. Indeed panicking before this woman Jezebel. In 18 he is on the mountain top, in 19 he is down in the valley.
As we walk as Christians we recognize that if we are to be honest at all - we do not always experience the highs of spiritual encouragement. But we also encounter the lows of discouragement. And sometimes it can happen to us very quickly.
Life is easy when all is going well. It is more challenging when the wheels come off our wagon. Let us be honest, there are days when we get up in the morning and it seems that all our wheels have come off our wagon. We are not rolling at all. We are stuck.
I don't believe anyone is immune from this. Go into any bookstore and walk through the self-help section and count the number of titles of books dealing with this topic. Is there anything credible to say about dealing with the blues? What do you do when you are facing discouragement?
Romans 8:31 tells us in part - If God is for us, who can be against us?
The thought that I have for you tonight is - If God be for you, who can be against you?
I find that God gives me enough down days to humble me. And just enough of the time on the mountain so I don't lose faith.
Now let me trace a line through all of this. We are told of Elijah that he received a threatening message. This was not an anonymous note. Jezebel sent a messenger [verse 2 says] to Elijah, saying, "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time."
Like who? Like one of the prophets of Baal. Look at verse 40 from 1 Kings chapter 18. Elijah brought the prophets of Baal down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.
In other words Elijah received a death threat. His number was up and he was going to written into the history books if Jezebel had her way.
We should not come up with any nonsense about why a man would be afraid of a woman. There is plenty of good reason why a man would be afraid of a woman. You only need to read the book of Proverbs to find out why he might be. Jezebel was not what you call a run of the mill lady. She had a number of operations she was running that would have allowed her to hold her own in the underworld of North America.
And so to receive this note from Jezebel was to be confronted by a real potential ordeal. But aren't you surprised to discover the response here in verse 3
3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
Elijah was afraid and he ran for his life. Surely not. Why? He has just come from a situation where he was on the top of his game in front of 450 guys who were totally opposed to who he was and what he did. They had lances and swords in their possession that they were slashing themselves with. They might have just as well slashed him with them. And he had seen God come down in mighty power and vanquish the host of the enemy. Here on just a strength of a message, that came from one woman, about the fact that he might find himself like the prophets of Baal. Elijah runs for it. Can defeat follow up so quickly on success? And if so why?
The fact of the matter is that when we read our Bible this is perpetrated time and again. Think about David as he triumphs over Goliath think about David when he finds himself involved in adultery and murder.
A wise man once wrote concerning these things: "God suffers it to appear that the best of men are but men at best." Which means - No matter how richly gifted that a person may be, how radiate in God's service, no matter how greatly honored and used of Him. Let the link to God's sustaining power be frayed or loosened a moment and it will quickly be seen that they are earthen vessels. No man stands any longer then he is supported by divine grace. The most experienced saint if left by himself will almost immediately be as weak as water and timid as a mouse.
Elijah represents a failure of a hero. And the failures of the heroes of the Bible are as warnings to us not to expect too much from others and from expecting too much of ourselves. There is limit that everybody faces. And Elijah maxed out at the end of 18. Elijah was drained. Elijah was bushed. And so it only took the briefest of messages from a distance, through a third party to send him running. And his experience is mirrored in the experiences of all men. In the aftermath of spiritual triumph it appears that the potential for defeat is at its greatest.
Let's learn from Elijah. The reason he found himself in this condition is because his focus changed. He started to look at God through his circumstances rather than look at his circumstances through God.
(PAUSE and reflect)
He started to look at God through his circumstances rather than look at his circumstances through God.
(PAUSE and reflect)
In Verse 3: Elijah saw and ran for his life. He looked at things, but looked at them differently now. He allowed his circumstances to corrode his connection to God. After all he was just so tired. With that fatigue came a change in focus. Elijah began to walk by sight and not by faith. And so his peace was affected, his spiritual prosperity was eroded, he had magnified the difficulties. Admittedly an angry woman is an awesome opponent but God is more than able to meet that.
The longer we live we need to realize that what we experience is not alien to others either. No one is immune from the blues. Elijah had not only begun to focus on the circumstances and clouded God in it - he began to focus on himself.
Verse 9 of 1 Kings Elijah had gone into a cave to spend the night. And the word of the Lord came to him and said what are you doing here Elijah?
Listen to his reply:
"I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword.
Now get this:
"I alone am left; and they seek to take my life."
Once more in Verse 14:
"I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword.
At the end of 14 again:
I alone am left; and they seek to take my life."
What we just read was Elijah's self talk. Anytime we find ourselves in the threefold "I" we are in trouble! Elijah had fallen into the self-trap. He had fallen into the notion of believing that he was the only one that was doing anything. Did you ever have one of those days? I'm the only person in here that cares about anything. I'm the only one that does anything around here. Elijah is having a little pity party for himself. I'm the only one Lord. I have been very zealous.
I have learned that anytime I find myself doing this I am probably in great danger. The fact is Elijah was in a predicament because he was out of focus. Elijah's faith and hope was replaced by discontentment and the lack of peace. The progress to depression in Elijah life is very clear to see. In verse 3 he runs away. In verse 4 He ends up in the desert. He finds a broom tree and he sits down underneath it and he prays that he might die.
What Elijah is saying is, I have just had enough. I don't want to face another day. I don't want to see another person. God I want to die. There is all the difference in the world in anticipating the joy of heaven and lying down on the job.
I know each of us are faced with all kinds of discouragement in our lives - but don't go find yourself a broom tree to lie down under. God has purposes for you. Everyday that you awake, everyday that you can take nourishment on your own is a sign that God is not finished with you. Let's learn by example from Elijah what not to do here. He runs away. He ends up in the desert. He finds a broom tree and he sits down underneath it and he prays that he might die. His connection to God is corroded. His thoughts are not allowing the full flow of God's strength to keep him charged up.
The biggest problem that Elijah is faced with here is self pity. And so God comes to him and refreshes him. God is there helping Elijah to clean the corrosion off the connection to God. Look what God does. An Angel awakens him and tells him to rise up and eat. The Lord knew he needed to get up. So He sent and angel to get him up and told him to eat. Elijah looked around and there was a cake of bread and a jar of water. And he ate and he drank then he lay down. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and said, get up and eat for the journey is too much for you. So he got up and he drank and strengthened by the food he traveled for 40 days and 40 nights. That is amazing. God, through his angel, is renewing Elijah, the current from the Creator, which was always present, is beginning to be absorbed again into Elijah.
Then he reached Horeb, the mountain of God, and he goes into a cave to spend the night. He is still wrapped up in the self pity nonsense. There is still some corrosion on the connection. So the Lord comes to refresh him. Then the Lord in verse 12 comes to reveal himself to him.
The Lord came to his despondent servant. He refreshed him. He revealed himself to him and finally God reinstated him. Verse 15:
Then the LORD said to him: "Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria.
Then the Lord gives the refreshed Elijah a whole list of duties to perform. The thing that strikes me about the contrast between 18 and 19 is the truth that runs through the Bible. That is God the source of all that is good. He is the source of strength. It is necessary that we keep a strong connection to our source.
To conclude: Some of us have tender hearts due to illness and family illnesses. Or for whatever reason it maybe that it has been a long time since we found ourselves on top of the mountain. Where you are supposed to be and where you are, is two different places. We need to ask God for his strength to refresh to us when we find ourselves in this kind of self pity. I want to say to you tonight the God who we worship can give you strength. He has duties for you to perform. He wants you to get busy.
Pray with me. Father, thank You for this story of a hero with faults like mine in your Bible. Helps us receive your word. We ask You for strength to refresh us. Help keep us far from self pity. Help us to remember that we have your will and your work to do. We ask this in Jesus' name.
Contributors: Alistair Begg; Indiucky