Common Man Faith

Remember James’ passage that says Elijah was a man with a nature like ours? This is a passage that we can probably relate to more than the others. Here is a discouraged, depressed Elijah. A far cry from one calling down fire from heaven and defeating 450 false prophets. The story is in 1 Kings 19:1-18

Elijah Depressed

Elijah sat down under a tree and prayed that he might die? It really seems out of character for Elijah, a man who had walked so close to God to be depressed. Here is a man who had stood boldly before Ahab proclaiming to the King, that because of his sin and the nations sin of rejecting the Living God, that there would be no rain in the Land, until he said so. Here is a man who was sustained in the desert by God sending food by ravens, Here was a man who preformed miracles in the home of the widow of Zarepath, he miraculously made her food supply replenish itself and he even raised her son from the dead. Surely a man who walked that close and was used so powerfully by God, surely a man like this, would not get depressed — but he did.

Elijah had just challenged the 450 false prophets on Mt Carmel to a contest, a contest to prove whose God was real. Then he ran 18 miles, beating a chariot to Jezreel to watch Ahab tell Jezebel what happened,a kind of in your face, my God beat your god moment.

Elijah was a man like us. This means we can have the same power that Elijah had, but also we can have the same problems.  This is a relevant topic because most of us at one time or another has had a battle with depression, more than once we are found singing the blues..It happens to individuals and it happens to churches. (This is not a replacement for professional help. It is not saying depression is a sin. It is not dealing with the physical/medical causes.)

WHY WAS ELIJAH DEPRESSED? Now how do we know he was depressed? because the words, “I have had enough, Lord, take my life… I am no better than my ancestors…” are not the words of someone on a spiritual high, are they? As chapter 19 opens up the great prophet Elijah is battling the blues.

Depression Comes from Fear.
Elijah was taken by surprise. Here he was standing before 450 false prophets by himself, and now one comment from one woman sends him running with his tail between his legs. He has gone from seeing God’s power to fearing the power of one woman. He sees a political ruler, not the ruler of the universe. His focus is the problem, not His God.

Depression Often Follows A Great Victory
Victories are sweet, aren’t they? And the view from the mountaintop can be breath taking — BUT there is one bad thing about celebrating a mountaintop victory — you see, when you are on a mountain top — the only way to go, is down. The period following a victory is often a period of great danger. For every mountain peak there is a valley. Many refer to monday’s as “Blue Monday”.   We want the exhilaration of success to not end, but it does. And then when we get down — we get discouraged. We need to understand and we need to be ready. We won’t stay on the mountaintop we will have to come down…

Depression Comes From A Sense Of Frustration
In I Kings 19:1, Ahab told Jezebel what was going on, what Elijah had done to her prophets. And In verse 2, Jezebel sent a message to Elijah, “you’re life isn’t worth much Elijah, I am going to kill you…” Now maybe Elijah had hoped that after what he had accomplished on Mt Carmel that Jezebel would either repent or lose her influence in the Kingdom. He just knew things would be different. But nothing had changed. And now the whole victory on MT Carmel seemed meaningless.

Elijah was no doubt thinking such thoughts as: “What’s the use, I’m still a fugitive, I still have a price on my head and that wicked Jezebel she is still running the show. I’m not getting anywhere, I’m just spinning my wheels..” It all must have seemed so futile to Elijah. Have you ever felt that way? Like you’re not getting anywhere? Like all your effort is in vain? You try to do what’s right — to be: a good husband, wife, child, mother, father and worker…etc. You pour out your blood, your sweat and your tears, you give it your best. And you look up at the scoreboard — expecting to see a change — only to find that you’re still several points behind

Depression Comes From Fatigue
Elijah had been on the run for 3 years — living in the desert, hiding in caves, and Elijah had just experienced a tremendous emotional drain as he confronted 450 false prophets on Mt Carmel.. Not to mention that he had just ran an 18 mile marathon back to Jezrel — racing Ahab’s chariot. Elijah had to be worn out physically… There is an old Indian proverb that says, “you will break the bow if you keep it always bent..” God’s servants are not exempt from fatigue. When we are emotionally or physically depleted, when we are running on 1/2 a tank (OR LESS)– when we are emotionally and physically drained — we’re especially vulnerable to despair. It doesn’t take as much to get us down, does it?

Elijah’s Felt That He Could Handle Things Alone Verse 3 states that when he came to Beersheba he left his servant there. He then went a day’s journey into the desert and said, “Lord I just want to sit here and die.” When we are on our own, we tend to wallow in our misery and sometimes drive ourselves lower than we would have gone, if we hung around people who could encourage us and help us see the situation more clearly.

There are many things that can cause us to be depressed, but simply knowing the factors or understanding the causes doesn’t necessarily make the blues go away, In 2 Corinthians 7:6 we read, “that God comforts the downcast.” Let’s see how God comforted the downcast prophet Elijah and as we do let’s hold on to the truth that God will do the same for us today

HOW DID GOD CURE ELIJAH’S BLUES

God Let Elijah Rest
Verse 5 says Elijah laid down under a tree and an angel awakened him to eat. God prepared a catered meal, he ate he angel food cake, drank, and laid down again. God did not chastise Elijah for a sour attitude. He didn’t give him a lecture about faith. Elijah needed time to rest — time to recover.   Jesus is our example and he knew how to rest. The Bible says, “He would go a part into a mountain for a day,” or He would say to his disciples, “let’s go across the lake by ourselves to rest.” Vance Havner said, “if you don’t learn to go a part, you’ll probably come a part.”

God Listened To His Complaints
The next day the Lord came to him and asked him a simple question. “What are you doing here Elijah?”   Elijah begins to pour out his heart to God. “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword… I am the only One left, the only one who cares and now they are trying to kill me too…”

Did you notice that God was very patient and sympathetic with Elijah? He doesn’t condemn him. God doesn’t interrupt him, even though Elijah is saying things that are not true and is making things worse than they really are (something depressed people do). You see, God knows that depressed people are fragile people. They need to be listened to more than they need advice. It doesn’t help to slap them on the back and say, “come on get with it, snap out of it..it is not so bad….. you know, you really have it pretty good.” God didn’t say ” You can pour your heart and thoughts out to God and receive a new perspective. Don’t neglect this great privilege of prayer.

God got Elijah’s mind on the right spot Elijah like most depressed people had his eyes on himself and all he could see therefore, was the problems. And though inward reflection is at times valuable — we need to realize that we can spend too much time focusing on ourselves…. And what Elijah needed now was a fresh dose of God, He needed to see God again… to stand once more in the presence of the Lord..

One of the best cures for depression — is going to church, and worshipping God. God let Elijah rest, he listened to his complaints, he got his mind off Himself…and God showed himself to Elijah.

God Spoke To Elijah
When we are down it is so important to hear from our God — we need to go to his Word. Often the question is not whether God is speaking, but whether we are being still enough, and quiet enough, to hear.   The psalmist said Be still and know that I am GOd. Then God says you are not alone. There are 7000 others (Depression has a way of distorting our thinking.) It is studied that most of what we are worried about or afraid of never happens. In fact I think it is 80% of what we worry about never happens, and 10% is out of our control anyway.

To the emotionally weary and the Physically drained — God’s says,  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest…” Mt 11:28

And the last thing we see God doing for Elijah — which is something he often does for a depressed servant — He Gives Them A New Assignment.
In verse 15 God said, “I want you to go to Damascus. I want you to anoint three men and give them specific assignments..” God gave Elijah a new assignment a new challenge. Often what depressed people need is not pity but a new goal

Discouragement comes when we focus on our inadequacies instead of God’s resources. Why is it that sometimes it is so easy to have faith, times when you even surprise yourself, and then something comes along that you really should be able to handle and it completely undoes you? Not long before Elijah had been helping people to see that God was still alive, but now he is sitting under a juniper tree wanting to die. He had been able to pray fire down from heaven, but he could not change the heart of Jezebel. Through his prayers he could demonstrate the power of God, but it did not seem to make any difference in the lives of the people he was trying to reach.

God was not depending on Elijah, Elijah had to learn to depend on God. Something God had tried to teach Elijah at the Brook Kidron.

Elijah nad been developed, and dynamic, and now depressed. Something we have all experienced I am sure. And what is Gods prescription? (Again this is not a substitute for professional help or dealing with physical and medical conditions.) What do you do after the mountain top victory? Realize teat we still ive in a fallen, sinful world and problems will come.

Get some rest
Get physical nourishment
Get a renewed perspective
Get alone and listen for God

Next time we w ill look at Elijash new assignement

We are back to look at how we can be like the prophet Elijah. This is based on James when he says Elijah was a man with a nature like ours (James 5:17 ESV). We already saw, based on 1 Kings 17 that in order for Elijah (or for us) to be the person God uses, we must first get alone with God and allow God to develop us, to teach us to trust. Now we want to look at what is probably Elijah’s most well-known stories. The account is found in 1 Kings 18.

Elijah was Dynamic

God speaks to Elijah and calls him to go face King Ahab, one of Ancient Israel’s most heinous kings. Ahab hates Elijah and has blamed Elijah for the drought. Ahab wants Elijah dead, and God tells Elijah to present himself to Ahab. What was the purpose for the confrontation? Elijah wants a showdown. Who is the God of Israel. Elijah invited 450 prophets of Baal to come and present their case, and then Elijah will present his case for the true God Yahweh. He wants Israel to make a choice. You cannot have two gods. There is only one God.

Elijah states the challenge. Build an altar, place a bull upon it and invite your god to consume the altar.  Whichever god consumes the sacrifice will prove himself the one true god. So 450 prophets of Baal erect the alar and begin their religious ceremony. For hours this ceremony went on, and the result is found in verse 29. “And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.” Baal never even answered.

Elijah then restored the altar of God and prepared his sacrifice. To add to the drama, Elijah drenched the altar with water, and then this is what happened.  “And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God.” (vs 36-39)

Yahweh, the one true God completely consumed with fire the water soaked offering, bull, wood, stone and all.

This is probably the one area we all wish we were like Elijah. While we may never be called to challenge a wicked king, 450 false prophets and call down fire from heaven, we will have times to participate in a dynamic ministry. Maybe the better word is public ministry. There will be times we need to take a stand. We are asked to compromise our integrity. Maybe we are pressured to water down our faith a little bit. Perhaps we are seeing some injustice in our neighborhood or workplace. What can I do? How could I ever be like Elijah and stand for truth?

The answer goes back to I Kings 17. Elijah had spent time being developed by God. He had been alone with God and was learning to trust. Elijah had understood his identity in God. God had called him and he knew God was faithful, that he would not be alone. because of this confidence in God he could have a dynamic ministry before God. I do not think Elijah could have faced this challenge if he had not first had the still, quiet time of listening and learning. But we cannot stay is the quiet, isolated place.  True faith is lived in the open, public areas of life where we make small and big decisiosn allthe time.

Yes, we have the same nature as Elijah. We have the same God as Elijah. Our God will also call us to make a choice publicly to demonstrate who is our God. We will all be called to make a stand publicly, to declare our allegiance, to stand for justice, to challenge wrong-doing. And we can do it successfully. If we learn the lessons of Elijah, that we must be developed by God so that we can be dynamic with God.

Next time, we will see that Elijah was Depressed

We all have people we look up to, people we admire, people we wish we could be like. Even as a Christian we see people we want to imitate. Then there are those people we say I could never be like them. They are some kind of super spiritual saint with abilities I could never have. But why not? If their God is your God, the Holy Spirit they have is the same one indwelling you, why can’t we be like them? In fact, I want to use a passage of Scripture that says we can be like some of those “Bible Heroes”. James, the brother of Jesus, while writing about powerful prayer says this. “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, . . .” (James 5:17 English Standard Version)  Other translations say Elijah was a man like us. Here was a man who when he prayed the rain would stop, it did for three years. As I sit here in Pennsylvania under another flood watch and just after another snow storm I would like to pray the weather away. Then he prayed for it to rain and it did. So what is it about Elijah? Over the next few posts I want to explore that briefly.

Elijah Was Developed

This I believe was the first, and possibly most important part of the process. You can find the account in 1 Kings 17:1-7. Elijah has just predicted a drought. These are bad days in Israel. King Ahab and his wife Jezebel have led the country deep into idolatry and God is grieved. Now he sends Elijah away into isolation. Elijah ends up at a place called brook Cherith. Here God sends food to Elijah by ravens. So how is this developing Elijah?

God is about to do mighty things to get Israel’s attention and Elijah is a key part of that. But Elijah needs to be ready. Elijah needs to learn to trust completely in what God is doing. So here by the brook Cherith God is training Elijah. He is training him to be still and listen. Listen for the voice of God by getting rid of all the other voices and distractions.

Learn to trust. Away from all the natural sources of food, God is delivering food to Elijah by a very unusual method. Elijah is learning that God does provide for his needs. The Psalmist said he has never seen the righteous forsaken.

Elijah is about to enter a hostile environment and face impossible odds. He is also learing that with God as His provider there is nothing to fear.

Where is God developing you? Where are you learning to be still and to trust? Maybe you are wondering why God does not seem as prevalent in your life. You think God is using others more than you, and you want to be used. Maybe you need to learn to trust and be silent.

The loss of a job, a health issue, loss of friends? Suddenly you have more time on your hands. Is it now that you can redeem that time and listen to God? Do you need to re order your day so you have time to silence the other voices and listen, before God does it for you? Maybe you (like me) became to confident in your own abilities to provide for yourself and you stopped trusting even though you would never admit it. It could be why God took away my job, so I could have time to listen and learn to trust Him over myself.

Moses had 40 years in a desert. Jesus had 40 days in the desert. Paul had a time of blindness and then three years in Arabia. Times to be still and learn to trust.

 I want to add a disclaimer here. Elijah did not have a believing community to go to it would seem. Elijah and the others are not the excuse to cut yourself off from a local church to say all I need is God. Yes, you absolutely need time ALONE with God. But you NEED a local church, with other believers who can speak into your life, to help you in areas where you are weak, and that you can minister to. I have learned in my job loss, that God is meeting my needs physically and spiritually through my local church. Something I would not have if I said all I need is me and God alone.

God will not give you time with Himself so you can use it for yourself. As we will see with Elijah, time alone was preparation for time with others.

 Do you want to be like an Elijah? You need time alone where God can develop you as you listen and learn to trust.

Next time, when 1 man took out over 400 opponents in a day.

An Introdcution and Explanation

I have finally decided to enter the world of blogging. Having a bit of extra time these days had caused me to reflect and I think its time to start using some of the abiliteis I have not used for some time. After 20 years of ministry I stopped my “profesional” and public minsitry” in 2007. But I never stopped loving to read and research and share, I just stopped doing it for a time for various reasons.

Most of what I will post here will be based on my reading and studying of the Bible. I may also ruminate on current events, odd topics and a lot of bad jokes. I also hope to spend some time writing about music and teh guitar as that is my passion after my faith.

Hopefully some will benefit from my thoughts, or be cahllenged to think, or even want to pursue teh discussion farther. As for me. I am hoping to be able to use what I believe God has given me taht I might encourage others and honor Him.

Stay tuned, I think my first few posts are about to go up. How to Be Like Elijah.