1 Kings: Walk Before Me FaithfullyНамуна

How often a euphoric experience leads so quickly to feeling flat and low! So often we come away from a spiritual high and plunge unexpectedly into feeling tired or discouraged. 

Jezebel, the evil queen, is not convinced by the display on Mount Carmel. She sends a message to Elijah that he will be dead within a day. Despite so many experiences of God’s protection and the display of power on Carmel, Elijah remains afraid of the queen. Even great heroes of the faith have their fears and weaknesses. 

Elijah was a man just like us! Elijah flees for his life (v. 3), but ironically he then wants God to take his life (v. 4). Elijah heads to the desert, where there is just a solitary broom tree under which he sits, prays and sleeps. 

Tiredness, after the events on Carmel and the flight from Jezebel, is understandable. Often tiredness makes us despondent, even spiritually, though it is far from the only cause of depression. This chapter is not a therapy for depression; it remains about God, his power and his purposes. Nonetheless, we do need to guard against tiredness and the inevitable flat feelings after something euphoric. 

Elijah sleeps and eats before travelling forty days and nights to Sinai, where he stays in a cave. His association with Moses comes to mind as Elijah is clearly a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:18). Then God asks, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ (v. 9). Is that a rebuke? More likely it is a gentle word to help Elijah understand why God has brought him here. Horeb is the place of God’s revelation to Moses and to Israel. 

God deals tenderly and gently with Elijah in his time of tiredness, isolation and despondency. It is often at such times that we fail to recognise God’s tender care. As Christians, we ought especially to be sensitive to others who are low and discouraged, and in need of God’s care. But we do need to remember that God is always with us, providing for our needs.

Reflection

When have you felt spiritually depressed and how did God help you get over that?