A Blossom Bible Podcast
A Blossom Bible Podcast
Dealing with Depression - 1 Kings 19
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Topical Study given Sunday April 7, 2024
1 Kings, chapter 19 and verse 1 is where we'll start. It is a count in the life of Elijah, the prophet Elijah. And one thing we'll notice here as we just consider chapter 19 a little bit first part of it is that this wonderful truth that the Bible doesn't present its quote-unquote heroes as perfect. It presents them, like all of us, very human. That's an encouragement, right? When you look at folks like Moses, right? Joshua, elijah they all struggled with human things. They struggled with sin, they struggle with doubt and discouragement All the same kinds of things that we deal with. They struggled with those exact same things. None of the Bible's quote unquote heroes are perfect, and that's a good encouragement for us, because of course we are not perfect and God uses flawed human beings like them and like us. So chapter 18 is just a review.
Speaker 1:Elijah has had this wonderful time on top of Mount Carmel and there he's faced off with the prophets of Baal, and God has answered with fire. You'll remember that account there as fire comes down and consumes the sacrifice and the prophets of Baal then at that point are all put to death, and Elijah is hearing. This wonderful thing has happened where he's thinking. This is it. This is revival in Israel, the evil king Ahab and evil queen Jezebel. They're going to be dealt with, people are going to get saved and Elijah, I think, has these expectations of revival. But then we see the reality in verse one, notice the reality in verse one, notice. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger 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. So picture it. This, really, a revival, I think, is in the air as far as Elijah can see. And yet the response by Jezebel is I'm going to kill you. She doesn't repent, she doesn't turn from her idolatry. She says you know what? I'm going to make your life, just like their lives, I'm going to kill you by this time tomorrow.
Speaker 1:And Elijah goes from this expectation of revival and change and God's working something great to despair and discouragement. Right, elijah gives up all hope. Notice the response here, verse three. 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. But he himself when a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree and he prayed that he might die and said it is enough. Now, lord, take my life, for I am no better than my father's. So see the discouragement here from Elijah. In verse four, he prayed right, prayer is a good thing, but look, he prayed that he might die. He essentially said God, here's what I want more than anything else. Here's what I want more than anything else. Just kill me. Kill me right here. I don't want to do it anymore. So check it out From a high, high of seeing God work to just a low, low of I don't want to go on.
Speaker 1:Elijah is given up Now in verse 10, he'll say God, I am the only one, I'm all alone in this. Nobody else follows you in all of the world. I am the only one, I'm alone. You can picture what that feels like. Right, it did not go the way you thought it should go. It didn't happen like you thought it should happen, and he feels completely alone. And just think about it for a second. Can you feel that? Right, we've all been there to some degree, right, but he's just given up. We would even call it depression, right, I mean, you could easily call it depression. Now, there are different brands and types of depression, I think, and discouragement, but we've all felt it and there you are, when you feel it, just ready to give up, it feels like you can't see beyond.
Speaker 1:Today, and Elijah, like all of us in that place, he keeps playing back. The same thing We'll see in verse 10 and verse 14, he says the exact same thing over and over again. God, I've been zealous for you, I've done everything you told me to do and I'm alone. I'm all alone. And he says the same thing twice. But you know, you can picture that right. When you're really going through it, you keep replaying the same thing over and over again. You know I did everything I should do and now my job is in jeopardy because of politics at work. God, I've done everything you called me to do as a friend, and they stabbed me in the back. I did everything I was supposed to. Now we'll find that sometimes we're not seeing the whole story right. We say, oh God, I've done it all and maybe we haven't. Maybe some of the problem is because of us, but that's where he's at and Elijah just wants to give up and we get it. I think this is universal right. We can all feel this way from time to time.
Speaker 1:Well, let's see what God does here, as the good physician really works in Elijah's life. Look at verse five, elijah's life. Look at verse five. And as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him and said to him arise and eat. Then he looked and there by his head was a cake baked on coals angel food cake, I think you'd call it and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came back the second time and touched him and said arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you. So he arose and ate and drank and went on the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God. So the first thing we see here as everything's just kind of boiling over for Elijah, the first thing we see here is that God lets him sleep, right, and you look at kind of the pattern here he sleeps, then the angel nudges him and says hey, you need to get up and eat. He's got a cake there and some water prepared for him. That's pretty sweet that God takes care of us like that. And he has a snack, he eats and he drinks and he goes back to sleep. Naps are biblical, right, and it's good. He goes back to sleep and the angel says hey, time to wake up and eat again. Sleep, eat, sleep, eat. Right, that's not bad, that's not a bad prescription at all. And here I think we realize that God knows what we're made of. Now check it out.
Speaker 1:I don't want to just kind of put this down here. Maybe you're depressed, you're feeling just, things aren't right. There are sometimes chemical issues that can be inside of us I'm no doctor, right, but there are chemical issues from time to time that can make you feel just wrong, right. You know, one time after surgery I had some pain medication I was taking and I took that because it hurt and it was there.
Speaker 1:And I remember, you know, I remember just telling Lila. She came how are you feeling? I was just kicking back in bed. She was bringing me everything, just like this. You know she was bringing the angel, was bringing me everything that I needed, you know, and she said well, how are you feeling? I said I don't know, I just I don't want to do it anymore. Don't want to do it anymore. What in the world happened to you, you know? And and she said, well, why? Why do you feel that way? I said I don't know, I just feel like I don't want to do it anymore. And she's like, yeah, you don't need to take that medicine anymore. And one of the side effects was like depression, depressive thoughts, and I'm like, yeah, I don't need that. You know, no matter what the pain is like, I don't need that. And so check it out.
Speaker 1:There are times. The reality is that sometimes there's chemical issues in our bodies that make us feel ways that aren't even reality, and I think it's honestly good and fair and right to get medical help on those kind of things, to stop taking the pill if that's the side effect, to see what the imbalance might be, that's okay and thank God we live in a time where you can get medical help for such things. But other times the real problem is we just need to take a nap, right? I think my wife probably could tell me that every so often, you just need a nap. You know and you know why are we feeling this way, why are we grumpy, why are we despondent? Well, we just need to take some time to sleep. And that's real.
Speaker 1:Some of you guys go and go and go and go and you know, in our spare time we stay up till three in the morning watching silly videos on YouTube, right, and we just can't shut down and you get two hours sleep. You're going to have problems in your outlook, right. So it's fair sometimes to take a nap. It's fair sometimes to get a snack Right, to get some food, to get maybe some good food. You know, some of us we live on monsters. You know energy drinks and it comes down to like shutting down at night and there's just no possible way. You can't even stop your arms from flinging around. You know, you're so wired from the energy drink. Sometimes diet and sleep could be a good thing.
Speaker 1:I used to love it. I appreciated so much when I worked with Jason Duff there at Calvary and he would always encourage us hey, guys, take some time from time to time and just go off and listen to what God says. And we would say, oh, okay, yeah, and should we pray and fast? Yeah, you can pray, you can fast. He's all. Here's what I do when I go to hear from the Lord. This was amazing advice. In my mind. He's all first I take a nap, elijah took a nap.
Speaker 1:First I take a nap, then I get something to eat. Because Elijah got something to eat, and you know, just take some time to rest and then go for a walk and see what God might say. Just spend some time in the Word. That's really good, you know, because we wear ourselves thin and sometimes what God is saying is why don't you just take care of some of your physical needs, get some sleep? Now, I know that's easier said than done, but sometimes we need to start a routine of getting to bed. That's practical right. Getting to bed, calming down for the night, getting enough sleep. That can make a lot of difference.
Speaker 1:And before God ever deals with all the spiritual things in Elijah's life, first he says take a nap, get some rest, eat something. Now, notice, notice, here he moves on from there. The angel says you need to eat because the journey is great for you. So he arose and ate and drank and went on the strength of that food, 40 days and 40 nights, as far as Horeb, the mountain of God, and there he went into a cave and spent the night in that place and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him and he said to him what are you doing here, elijah? So before we move on, notice here. He moves from that place to Horeb and we go, that's easy, right From Beersheba to Horeb. What big deal. 40 nights, 40 days. It does take them a while, but big deal. Well, it's about 200 miles as far as you could go straight from that place to Horeb.
Speaker 1:Horeb is Mount Sinai, we would call it. That's where Moses got the 10 commandments. It's way down south, in the area of Egypt, in that area. And so, elijah, he travels. What could have been done in 14 days? Now, I don't believe that, that I could go 200 miles in 14 days, it's just not. I don't think so. But at any rate, he takes a leisurely walk and gets all the way down to Mount Sinai. There in Mount Sinai, he goes into a cave. Now, some people speculate that this might be the actual place where Moses was put in the cleft of the rock there, where God passed by and revealed himself to Moses. Maybe, maybe not. He goes into a cave and again he sleeps and he wakes up in the morning and God's going to deal with him, but he gets away right.
Speaker 1:And this is all practical stuff. If you can do it, get away. Are you struggling with just your attitude and your emotions? Take some time away Now. It could be a actual retreat like we're seeing here. If you can do that, cool it might be just getting up a little earlier in the morning and going for a walk somewhere out of your normal Right. This doesn't seem very spiritual, but I think it's practical. Just go somewhere else and spend some time, if you can 20 minutes in the morning, if you can to get away from your natural surroundings. You know, the world is a different place at like five in the morning, isn't it? Nobody likes to hear five in the morning, but it's a different place when cars aren't driving around quite as much. You know, maybe at your house things are just still kind of dark and quiet. That qualifies as a retreat, I think.
Speaker 1:And here Elijah spends the night in a cave and there God begins to deal with him. Notice, there it starts with a question. God says what are you doing here, elijah? Now a little bit of insight here for your Bible reading. Just put this in your head Whenever God asks a question, whenever God asks a question in the Bible, it's not for his sake.
Speaker 1:Understand that Anytime God asks a question, it's not because he needs information, because God knows everything right. God knows exactly why Elijah is there. When God asks a question, it's for us. When God asked Adam there in the garden after he had eaten the fruit right and the serpent and all that whole deal, genesis, chapter 3. When God asked Adam, adam, where are you? It's not because God didn't know, right. God knew exactly where Adam was, but Adam needed a chance to look and go. Why am I hiding in the bushes? When God comes right, they were hiding in the bushes because of their sin. And God says Adam, where are you? Why are you in the bushes? God knew, but Adam needed a chance to think about it. Right?
Speaker 1:Jonah is asked the question at the end of the book. Is it right for you to be angry Now? God knew the answer. It is not right for Jonah to be angry at the end of the book of Jonah. But Jonah needed to take a second and think why am I so upset about these people repenting? Why am I so upset about Nineveh coming clean? My heart's messed up, and so God wanted Jonah to understand that. So check it out here here. He asked Elijah Elijah, what are you doing here? And it was so that Elijah would really consider what was going on in his own heart. And we see here Elijah's uh response in verse 10. I have been very zealous for the Lord, God of hosts, for the children of Israel, forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and they seek to take my life.
Speaker 1:Now we already mentioned this is like Elijah's song and it's on like repeat. You know what I mean. You're just kind of like the song gets stuck on repeat on your phone or whatever. You thought it was cool for time. You're just kind of like the song gets stuck on repeat on your phone or whatever. You thought it was cool for time. You know just. You're like listening to the same song about five or six times and you go, wait a second, something's wrong here.
Speaker 1:Elijah has been listening to this song in his head for quite a while. While he's been running for quite a while. While he's been running, while he's been walking from Beersheba to Sinai. There, he's been playing this over and over again in his head. I'm the only one. I did everything. I did everything right and didn't happen. I'm the only one and they're trying to kill me. And over and over again, he's saying this in his head. Now again in your life, it might be a different thing. That's on repeat. Did everything right, I did everything I was supposed to, and they stabbed me in the back. I did everything right and my life is in shambles.
Speaker 1:Now, it's not always the case. We don't always do everything right. In fact, most of the time we just don't see it. You know, I don't know if you ever got to this point, but there were times in my life, in, you know, in work, where you get to that point where you're like they just don't appreciate what I'm doing. You know what I mean. We kind of all get there from time to time. You get yelled at or something like that, and you go back and you make a chart of how many hours. Do you know how many hours I've spent doing what I'm doing? And I just got to say it's easy to see on this side. When you start making a chart of how many hours you've worked, you're in a bad place. I'm just saying there's something in our hearts Now. It may be true that you're working like mad, but usually we're trying to prove I don't deserve this. You know what I mean, and we overlook a lot of things in that. But you know we do that and we play it over and over again. They only appreciated what I do. How come they don't appreciate this and we get bummed out? Right, but we're playing the same thing over and over again.
Speaker 1:Man Paul says to the Philippians whatever things are right and true and noble and good, think on these things. But we do like to dwell on the things that just aren't. They're not good or beautiful or right, they're just nastiness, and that's usually where we end up, just full on, depressed over where we're at. But Elijah's being honest here. This is the way I feel, god. This is why I'm here, because of them, because of the situation.
Speaker 1:It's important, though, that we come to that point of confession, in that time where we're alone with God. God, search my heart. Where am I wrong? Maybe it was something we actually did. If we confess our sins, god is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Confession is really important as we look at where we're at and, just being honest, now check it out. Elijah is going to bring this up again in verse 14. But in this point of confession now come back for a second In this point of confession, the devil will condemn us. He always will right. So even if we come and we go, you know what, here's where I was wrong the devil will condemn us and say yeah, you were wrong. Yeah, you deserve all of this, you were wrong. And the devil will kick us and say just give up, elijah, you're in this spot, just give up. But check it out. God will always convict us. In our hearts God will say yeah, you were wrong. That's sin. But get up. Get up and let's get going right. And that's exactly what God does here.
Speaker 1:Notice as Elijah is standing in the cave. God's questioning him, he's shared his story and in verse 11, god said get out and stand on the mountain before the Lord. And God's going to speak some truth to him here. But I think that word there in verse 11, get out, elijah, get out of the cave. Now, I know that's a picture, right, we can all find ourselves in a cave depression. It's dark, it's kind of, you know, not real hopeful. It's like a dead end there in the mountain, you know. And we can be stuck in that cave and we go I'm in this cave and that's just the way it is. But I think God, he always does say that Get out of the cave. You got to get out of the cave. Don't just sit in here. Get out Now I get it.
Speaker 1:When you're going through it, you go yeah, I wish I could get out of this cave of depression. I wish I could move on, but I can't. The only problem is, you know, if we don't make the first step to get out and say this is what I want, I don't want to live in this. You know, sometimes we enjoy it some weird kind of way. We enjoy feeling messed up, we enjoy being angry, right.
Speaker 1:But I think it comes to that point where we just have to say God, I'm really struggling, but I don't want to stay this way. God, I don't want to be bitter my whole life. God, help me to get out of the cave. And something has to happen in our own heart, even though we're weak. Something has to happen where we say I don't want to just keep living this over and over again.
Speaker 1:I want to get out of the cave and ask God, god, help me, help me to get up and get out of this cave and open the windows and open. You know, help me to get out and get some sunlight. I don't want to stay this way. Maybe it's a friend that we tell you know what? I've really been having a hard time. I just don't. I don't want to move on. But I want to move on. Will you help me not be that person that's just stuck in the cave? Maybe we need a friend, we definitely need God, but it has to start in our heart. It doesn't seem that simple, but I think it has to start in our heart. God, I don't want to be that way anymore.
Speaker 1:And God says to him get up, go out, stand on the mountain before the Lord. And so Elijah does. He goes out, just the front of the cave, there, and notice you know the story and behold, the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. Picture it. And after the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still small voice. So it was when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, his robe, there, and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him and said what are you doing here, elijah? Now you know the story.
Speaker 1:Elijah goes out, he goes toward the front of the cave there and God puts on this show I guess you could say for him, right. And as he's standing there, the Lord passed by and there's a strong wind. Now we can imagine a strong wind, but this thing is crushing rocks, it's ripping up rocks. This storm, this wind, you know, but God wasn't in the wind. And then an earthquake. Picture it God wasn't in the wind. And then an earthquake. Picture it, god wasn't in the earthquake. And a fire. I don't know lightning, I don't know what it is, but God wasn't in the lightning, but a still small voice.
Speaker 1:We really like the dramatic there, don't we? You know this idea that God would speak in a whirlwind or, you know, in an earthquake, god's voice just booms. You know this idea that God would speak in a whirlwind, or you know, in an earthquake, god's voice just booms, you know. Or lightning strike and God's like right there, you know, speaking to us with a wow, that would be crazy. I think most of us would probably die if God answered us like that, you know. But we like the dramatic and if God's going to speak to me, man, wouldn't it be cool if he told, like you know, some famous preacher to come talk to me and tell me this great calling that God had for my life? Oh, that would be so neat, right, you know? Just something tingly, like you know, and we look for the amazing.
Speaker 1:Now, tomorrow, depending on what the cloud cover is like, it will be an eclipse and a pretty interesting thing, you know. I mean, with the cloud cover, I think it might. You know, if it's cloudy, it might become as dark as night all within four minutes. Can you imagine that? We'll see? Right, but most of you guys know that.
Speaker 1:You know some Facebook posts, some TikToks, have been going around that that say that this is all God's judgment. And, oh, the city of Nineveh in the line of the eclipse. And you know, whatever these things go around, anytime there's anything, these kinds of things go around and it really has made a lot of people afraid. I've had, you know, people say like, oh, you know, is this the end of the world? Is this going to be the Antichrist? And whatever? Any day that kind of stuff could happen. I think we'll be gone before the Antichrist shows up, but any day judgment could come, because check it out as Americans, god bless the USA.
Speaker 1:I love so much about it, but when you are honest and you say where are we? We're sinners, we're a sinful nation and judgment could come at any time for us. We need to repent Right. We need to stop killing babies in America. You know we need to stop being greedy and selfish and underhanded. You know untruthful. We need to Judgment. We deserve it.
Speaker 1:But you know this whole thing of the eclipse it makes people confused and it makes people fearful, I think, and there's really no biblical basis for it. I can tell you with great certainty no biblical basis for it, but somehow we love it. All I'm getting at here is somehow we love it. Oh, nobody's ever heard this before. We love it.
Speaker 1:That's spectacular, isn't it funny, though, here that God speaks in a still small voice. That's not that spectacular, but a still small voice. Maybe it's through his printed word, and you know that we have everything we need for life and godliness right here. All the information that we could ever need about life is in God's word. And you know, maybe it's not so spectacular to get up and read the Bible, you know, and see what God might say, but it's amazing that God wants to speak to us through his word, that God can speak to us through his word, that God can speak to us through his spirit, right With a still small voice. Now come back for a second here. Still small voice, maybe it's not audible, maybe it's just an impression on your heart. God takes his word and puts it in your heart. A certain way, it's so sweet that God would want to speak to us.
Speaker 1:I always remember a time in my life where God spoke to me. It wasn't audible, but I decided to take a walk. Right, big fan of those kind of walks. I decided to take a walk early in the morning around the local track. And I remember, as I was walking around the track, just God, what's this day all about? What do you have for me? Not a whole lot going on there.
Speaker 1:I remember the sun started to come up and the sky turns light blue, you know, dark blue, light blue. Then you get that orange and the red, you know. And the sunrise comes, you know there and I remember I just said to God, just, you know those quiet prayers in your heart kind of thing. I said, god, why are you so sweet? You made this for no good reason, except that I could see it right now. God, why are you so good? And you know, maybe I was emotional because I didn't get as much sleep as normal, but I just started almost crying like God, why are you so good to me? Isn't that the still small voice, though? Doesn't that just give you so much to get through your day, where you're like God really loves me, god, you really care. I don't get it.
Speaker 1:And yet God wants to speak to each one of us through his word, through his spirit. Just time alone with him, no-transcript. And he asked the same old question again, not for god's sake, but for elijah's why are you here, elijah? Well, they're gonna kill me. I'm all alone.
Speaker 1:And notice, there god gives him not all the answers, but he gives him some hope. And he says in verse 15 then the lord said to him go, return your way to the wilderness of damascus and, when you arrive, anoint Haziel king over Syria. Also, you shall anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, as king over Israel, and Elisha, the son of Shaphat, you shall anoint as prophet in your place. And notice verse 18. I have reserved 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him. So God tells Elijah Elijah, I've got something for you to do. You're not a dead man. I've still got work for you to do. You're going to anoint this person, that person and Elisha to be your successor.
Speaker 1:Now, elisha, it was still quite a while before Elisha actually stepped in and took Elijah's place. It was a new discipleship situation, you know. And what God was really saying is Elijah, I still have work for you to do. There's a hope and there's a future for you. Don't give up. And and then notice in verse 18, he says and there's 7000 people, 7000 prophets that have not vowed to bail. You're not alone. You're not alone in any of this.
Speaker 1:And I think God would say too and I'm with you, it's so good to know that God is with us, that it's not hopeless. We can talk ourself into hopelessness, but God really wants to share hope with us. And I think we can all. We can all find ourselves in this place where we're depressed and just discouraged, frustrated by something in our lives that's real right, it's a real thing. But I think God would always say just take a nap, take care of yourself, come away. I want to tell you something, and it's that still small voice. So perhaps that's something that we need to do Just take time, hear what God would say, and maybe it's something just as simple as I love you. Don't give up, keep going. God. I know that it's not just positive thinking that we need. I know it's not just getting over it.
Speaker 1:I pray for those that are really struggling with their heart and with their mind and the hard things of life. I just pray that you would give us the grace that we need to step out, to want to step out of the cave, god. I just pray that you would just give us exactly what we need, lord. I pray that this week, rather than listening to all the junk, god, we would listen to your still small voice through your word and through your spirit in our lives this week, god, that you would encourage and help us in this race of life that we'd finish well. God, you're so good to us. We also want to thank you for Jesus. Thank you that, while we were at our absolute worst. You came to save us, god, you're so good. Pray that you use these things in our life. In Jesus' name, amen, thank you.