Have you ever accomplished something
pretty special and then a few days later felt kind of let down, or
maybe someone disses it and your emotions take a tumble? How did you feel;
angry or maybe a bit depressed? Depression’s real and its roots are varied;
sometimes people wrestle with depression because they feel alone or
disconnected, they may feel threatened and helpless, or sometimes they might go
through a time when there seems to be no meaning or direction in life. In times
like this, depression can rise up because there’s no real focus to the fear,
anxiety, and frustration that many of us are wrestling with. How can you get
angry at a virus with no feelings, a virus you can’t see or touch? Depression
is hard. It may come from your circumstances, or it may be a biological
chemical imbalance in the make-up of your brain, or a combination of both. It’s
always important that if you’re going through a time of depression that’s
affecting your day-to-day living, that you see a doctor. It’s not surprising
that in this time of isolation and COVID 19 that more people are wrestling with
depression.
Elijah defeats 850 prophets of Baal in a God vs god
competition. Yahweh, Israel’s God, completely humiliates the foreign god Baal. Yahweh
is more powerful than Queen Jezebel imagined, but that doesn’t stop her from
threatening to kill Elijah. Elijah knows Jezebel’s anger and hatred and is filled
with fear and he runs. Even though he’s just seen Yahweh in action, Jezebel’s
threat feels more real than Yahweh’s power right now.
Elijah falls into a depression and runs. It feels as if
life has smacked him across the face. It’s common after spiritual highs to
experience spiritual letdowns which are often deepened by fear and doubt. It
can be hard to understand Elijah’s fear after seeing how powerful God is, but
fear is powerful and can paralyze us. It’s also important to remember that Fear
is a Liar, as the song by Zack Williams reminds us, but it’s a
convincing liar. Fear tells us that God isn’t powerful enough to deal with our
situation; or if he’s powerful enough, he doesn’t care enough to help us out.
Question: when you are
afraid, is it harder for you to pray or feel God near? What lies has fear told
you about who you are or who God is?
Fear
creates doubt and fear in our hearts; barriers to experiencing the trust, joy
and strength that comes from being close to Jesus. Jesus experiences this
separation from God on the cross for us where he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus goes
to the cross for the sin of the world so that we no longer need to experience
feeling apart from him anymore; giving us the gift of his Spirit who makes our
hearts his home now. Jesus invites you to experience his presence and strength
that comes through the Holy Spirit. But the reality is that many of us struggle
with times of hopelessness, with feelings of not measuring up, of rejection and
deep hurt and some of us have even wondered, like Elijah if it’s worthwhile to
carry on; we fear that God has forsaken us.
Elijah runs into the wilderness; the place Jews
expect to meet God. Elijah’s so depressed he sees no future where God is
powerful enough to draw Israel back to him. The depression is so deep Elijah
even asks to die, “I’ve had enough, Lord. Take my life;
I’m no better than my ancestors.” He’s alone, exhausted and afraid and right
now, this is more powerful than his faith in God. Elijah feels that he’s
failed, just like every other prophet, to lead the people away from Baal and
back to God.
Question: where do you go
to meet God? Some people to the mountains, some go to the Bible, some go to
close friends who are Christians, where do you go?
God
sends an angel to minister to Elijah and Elijah finds the strength to go to
Mount Horeb. This is God’s mountain, a place to go to meet God, similar to what
Jesus calls his church to be today, a place and a people who allow Jesus to
shine through them. God comes and asks Elijah, “What
are you doing here?” Elijah answers God, “I’ve
been passionate for you, but for what? Your own people don’t accept you and
kill your prophets and now I’m the only one left standing!”
Elijah’s cracks and nicks in his heart and
soul are
showing through. Elijah, having accomplished amazing things for God, is still a
jar of clay and he’s being hard pressed now and the pressure’s showing through
in his depression as he’s overwhelmed emotionally and spiritually. God invites
Elijah to go out and stand on the mountain on the
presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by… Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks
before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind
there was an earthquake, but the Lord
was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the
fire came a gentle whisper.” In the whisper comes the question, “What are
you doing here, Elijah?” It’s the same question asked gently and Elijah
gives the same answer, the cracks in his soul are large.
Our emotions are a gift from God; our faith is for
both head and heart. But they can get overwhelmed with life. When our hearts
are empty of hope and our head is thinking in circles, it can feel impossible
to find a way forward, we want to curl up under a tree like Elijah. But God is
a God of hope and healing who sees and hears our heart cries, who reaches out
when we can’t. Jesus comes close and invites us to come to him when life
becomes too much, Matthew 11:28–30, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am
gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my
burden is light.”
God reassures Elijah that he’s not alone, “Go to
the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also,
anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat
from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who
escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the
sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not
bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.” God’s going to
save his people. In anointing Elisha to succeed Elijah as prophet, God’s
providing Elijah with someone to walk with him who can understand the pressure
of being called by God.
Question: who has God placed in
your life to be with you and help you in hard times?
We’re not created to walk alone, we’re created for community, to
support, encourage and build each other up. This has been the most difficult
part of this time of physical distancing, I can hardly wait until we can get
together again as a church family! I’ve learned in my own walk following Jesus,
the importance of having people who are close to you who understand what you’re
going through because they know you. Our perception of what’s going on isn’t
always completely truthful. Elijah feels he’s all alone and that Jezebel’s a
greater danger than God can handle and yet God already has plans in place to
free his people. There are way more who follow God than Elijah thought. Elijah
finds the hope and strength he needs in God’s gentleness.
Jesus comes into the world as a whisper, rejecting Satan’s temptation to
be bold and noisy in establishing the kingdom of heaven here on earth. Jesus
creates community around himself as a source of strength and encouragement, he
promises that he will not leave us alone and sends his Spirit to be with us
always. Jesus establishes the church, as fragile and cracked as it may be at
times, as a place to find encouragement and strength, community, love and
blessing, especially through hard times when life becomes overwhelming. Jesus
has placed us here as a place to meet Jesus and find hope again. You can call
and we will listen, love you, and walk with you, helping you to see where Jesus
is in your life.
Jesus
sends us out into the world to invite those who are suffering to come to Jesus to find healing and
hope. May the Lord be with you as you bring God’s love to others at this time.
No comments:
Post a Comment