We've just sung "Take My Life and Let It Be," a great hymn of faith placing our life into God's hands.  Then in the Old Testament reading we heard Elijah, greatest of the prophets, a man of power among a society of weaklings, say, "Take my life, Lord, I have had enough!"

          Is that amazing, or what?  Here is one of the greatest miracle workers of the Bible asking God to end his life.  This from a man who had just killed 800 prophets of Baal and won the Battle of the Gods, a man whose prayers brought lightening from the sky and ended a 3½ year drought.  Yet a few hours later he's so depressed he wants to die.  Can you believe it?  Of course you can believe it, because it's probably happened to you.  A big let-down often comes after great events.

          My message today is for troubled Christians, those who feel under the gun, who think they're standing all alone, maybe wondering why God is silent, people who are getting scared to death by life.  Of course, maybe you are one who has it all together, who never experiences being "down," who's never had a pity party.  If so, you can go home now -- unless, of course, you want to stay and hear about us miserable people.  Hopefully Elijah's experience will enable all of us to understand ourselves and maybe even understand God's grace a little better.

          Spiritual victory is very difficult to attain and even more difficult to maintain.  We are most vulnerable to letdown or even failure right after a great victory.  When things are going our best, Satan knows we're ripe for a fall.  There are plenty of biblical examples of those who accomplished great things for God, only to succumb to temptation, to sin and fall flat on their faces.

          If you've ever had this happen, you're in good company.  So did Moses, and Samson, and David, Solomon, Jonah, Jeremiah, Peter, Mary Magdalene and even Elijah.  His roller coaster of emotions is one of the classics of all literature.  He goes from the heights of phenomenal success on Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18:16-46) to the wilderness of Mt. Horeb, aptly named for his horrible emotional drop off the face of the earth (1 Kings 19:1-21).

          Elijah had beaten the forces of Ahab and Jezebel.  He championed the truth, challenged the faint-hearted, exercised tremendous power and demonstrated outstanding faith.  He helped bring back rain to a parched land and actually ran a marathon of 30 miles ahead of a king's chariot.  Elijah, who wielded the mightiest power of the Lord, a few days later wanted to die.

          Some of us may be thinking, "If I had to face Queen Jezebel, I'd rather die, too."  Or, "If I ran 25 miles without stopping, I'd die on the spot."  But there was something more at work here. Maybe Elijah was disappointed because he believed Ahab would have a change of heart after those miracles.  Maybe he thought God would finally be honored in His home country.  Maybe he thought the people would revolt against Jezebel.  Reality can be cruel when things don't turn out our way.

          Elijah was depressed -- that's pretty obvious.  In that way, he's no different than any of us (they had depression in those days, too).  Each of us in our own way can feel the world cave in around us, and then to make matters worse, we start doing stupid things.  Like Elijah, we run instead of pray.  We complain instead of praise God.  We want to quit rather than take our stand.

          I'm not sure we can ever say why this great man had such a turnaround.  Maybe it's human weakness.  Some of God's greatest workers were chicken at heart.  (Peter, for example.)  Depression is another answer, and if you've never experienced it, you can't know the damage it can do.  This black mood of self-loathing can attack us without warning.  Few and far between are those who have not experienced it.

          Let's talk a bit about depression.  There are some circumstances that contribute to it, almost all of which are evident in Elijah's life.

          1.   Unsustainable highs.  You can climb all kinds of mountains, but eventually you have to come down.  Life can't be one great love-fest with God or with a certain someone.  We must deal with the valleys that come after the peaks.  Elijah was probably thinking unrealistically after Mt. Carmel.  He believed miracles would change the people.  He thought he'd soon be teaching a Bible class for Ahab and his court.  But some people just don't change, no matter what God does for them.

          2.   Unfulfilled expectations.  Some people go through life with expectations so great they're setting themselves up for a crash.  They have high expectations of their spouse, children, friends, their church and even themselves, expectations so high they are living on the edge of disaster.  They expect holidays and vacations to give them miraculous rest.  They expect marriage or babies to fill their loneliness.  A new car will bring happiness.  In the end, they're disappointed in God.  "God, why didn't you come through for me?"  I would be surprised if that wasn't part of Elijah's problem.

          3.   Severe trials.  Elijah had Jezebel to face, and she was big trouble.  It doesn't take a contract on our life to scare the wits out of us.  It might be loss of a job, illness, betrayal, a death, or even a birth that stretches us to the breaking point.  Fear usually comes with severe trials, and so does anger.  There's fear in Elijah as he runs, and he's probably angry at God for not changing those rotten people.  Elijah doesn't really want to die;  he just feels he shouldn't be treated this way.  Anger comes with fear when we start feeling helpless, so we lash out at those around us to protect ourselves.  Some call depression "a temper tantrum turned inward."

          There are other reasons behind depression:  Physical and/or emotional exhaustion, social isolation, weird brain chemistry, or even ignorance about God's grace.  Don't let anyone tell you theology is unrelated to life.  Our beliefs about God greatly affect our emotional health.  Elijah had forgotten God is still in control, so he got mad and ran away.  Depression can do that to us.  It can also drive us to loss of reality, excessive sleep, and always to self-pity.

          The Good News is that God didn't leave Elijah alone, and He doesn't leave us alone, either.  He does things to show His love and concern.  He sends an angel to provide for his physical needs, warm bread and cool water to revive a flagging spirit.  He gives sleep, not the "pull the covers over your head" sleep, but gentle, quiet, refreshing rest, something we all need more of.

          Some of us here this morning may feel totally wiped out because of troubles that have piled up.  You feel you've failed, or you're ashamed, or feeling worthless, or you just want to hide.  Please believe that you are not forgotten by God.  In Jesus Christ, He loves you and forgives you.  He can restore to you the joy of His salvation, just ask Him.  You may not feel His love, but it's still there.  You may think you've forfeited His love, but you haven't.  You may think you're hopelessly lost, but you're not.  God does love you, and He will bring you through whatever you're facing today.

          To help him, God challenged Elijah to examine his behavior.  When he ran away to a cave, God gently drew him out.  He didn't slap him around and chew him out and call him a baby like He could have, and God doesn't do that to us either.  Instead, He brings us through the pain so we will know the joy of being healed, the joy of trusting Him instead of only trusting ourselves.

          God reveals Himself to Elijah in the small, quiet voice.  Not in the noisy wind, nor earthquake, nor in the great fire, but in the gentle whisper.  God told Elijah, "You had no problem trusting Me when I was performing great and mighty miracles.  So now trust me when you're ready to give up.  Trust me when people are out to get you.  Trust me when you feel you can't trust anyone."

          Psalm 46 says, "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. . .  Be still, and know that I am God;  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.  The LORD Almighty is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress."

          The best way to conquer depression is to face it head-on, with God at your side.  God didn't send Elijah on a vacation, He sent him back to face Ahab and Jezebel.  You and I can't avoid the depressing things of life, but we can face them with God and His strength.  When our ship is ready to sink, God brings someone alongside to hold us up, to share our struggle and encourage us -- a good friend, a fellow Christian, sometimes even a stranger.  God assured Elijah he was not alone, even if he felt he was.  God is always there, and so are our brothers and sisters in Christ.

          There was an orchestra leader who insisted upon perfection.  Whenever his orchestra made a blunder, he would throw whatever he could find at the musician who had played the wrong note.  Once, when he couldn't find anything to throw, he took off his watch and threw it, smashing it to pieces.  A few days later someone gave him, not one, but two new watches.  One watch was valuable and the other was a cheap watch on which was inscribed, "For rehearsals only."

          Some days we may feel like God is throwing things at us, but He's not.  Rather, He sees our pain, sets us back on the right path, and challenges us with more opportunities to serve Him.  The only thing God throws at us are blessings, and His aim is perfect.  God grant us grace to see all the blessings He gives us, amen

Copyright © 2003 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.