Many years ago an S-4 submarine went down off the coast of Massachusetts. It sank with a full compliment of sailors aboard. The US Navy did everything possible to rescue the men trapped inside, including sending down deep divers. But time was not on their side and the air supply began to run out. At one point one of the deep divers heard tapping on the hull of the submarine. The diver put his helmet next to the noise. It was Morse Code. The sailor trapped inside was tapping out a message. “Is there any hope?”
I suspect that same question is being asked by some of us here today. “Is there any hope?” Hope is a crucial ingredient in life. Without hope, it’s very difficult to keep going. It’s been said that humans can live 40-50 days without food. We can live 7-8 days without water. We can live 4-5 minutes without air. But we can’t live more than a few moments without hope.
The absence of hope is despair. At some point we’ve probably all experienced some level of despair. These are the times when we’re overcome with a sense of hopelessness; when we wonder if we can even make it through one more day. This is the third message in our series “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” In this series we’re discovering biblical tools to help overcome the dark chapters we occasionally face in life. Today’s message is called, “When Despair Descends.”
Our passage is found in 1 Kings 17:7-16. It takes place during the time when Israel was divided into two kingdoms. The Northern Kingdom was larger than the Southern Kingdom. It was also more rebellious. The man ruling in the north was named Ahab. King Ahab and his wife Jezebel were two of the most wicked people found anywhere in the Bible. Our passage takes place not long after Ahab ascended to the throne. There was moral darkness throughout the land.
It was during this time that the prophet Elijah ministered. God used Elijah to pronounce judgment on the Northern Kingdom. One of the judgments God delivered through Elijah was that the Northern Kingdom would not have rain for several years. No rain meant no crops. No crops meant no food. No food meant widespread suffering among the people. That’s where we pick up the story in 1 Kings 17:7.
The first thing I want us to notice is the sense of despair that overwhelmed the widow. She had no more bread. No more food; only a bit of flour and a drop of oil; enough to make one last meal for herself and her son. After that she felt there was no more hope. The only thing left was to die. Things had gotten so dark that the woman couldn’t see any other option. She had lost all hope. And, like I said earlier, without hope, it’s very, very difficult to go on.
I wonder if you’ve ever gotten to that point? I have. In my experience, despair leaves us feeling empty. It’s hard to get up in the morning. We have no motivation to do anything. Despair makes us feel like we’re just going through the motions in life. There’s no joy. No sparkle. Sometimes despair makes us feel like life is moving in slow motion.
I’ve seen despair in people with marriage difficulties. They have fought and argued for so long that the couple stops believing their relationship can ever improve. They begin to disengage. For while they go through the motions; but eventually they feel they have only one option: divorce. I’ve also seen despair in singles who have waited and waited and waited to find the right mate. But that person never seems to come along. Eventually, for some people, despair descends and life grows dark and somber.
The circumstances may be different in your case, but almost everyone I know has passed through at least of few periods of despair. So my question is this: How do we deal with these seasons in our lives? What will help us stay afloat during these dark and painful chapters? Well, I’d like to suggest three steps that will help a great deal.
1. Reduce fear with fellowship.
Notice what Elijah tells the widow in verse 13. His first words are “Don’t be afraid.” When despair begins to descend it often produces fear. The woman in our passage was obviously afraid of what would happen when her food ran out. The only option she could see was to eat the last piece of bread with her son and then die. That would have been a very scary situation to face.
I’ve observed in my life that fear compounds despair. Fear makes despair worse. When we’re afraid we don’t see things in their proper perspective. Things get blown out of proportion. They look darker than they really are. So Elijah’s first words are, “Don’t be afraid.” Elijah wants to diffuse the widow’s fear so she can begin seeing things from God’s perspective.
But that’s easier said than done, isn’t it? When despair begins to get a vice grip on us and then becomes magnified by fear, our minds go wild with all kinds of negative possibilities. That often produces a downward spiral that’s hard to stop.
But I’ve discovered something that helps. I find that fear will continue growing as long as I keep the situation to myself. But once I open myself up; once I share with others what I’m dealing with, my fear begins to lessen…and despair is diminished, as well. That’s one of the great values of having meaningful relationships in the body of Christ. Galatians 6:2 says “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Would you repeat that out loud with me? (Repeat) We make a tragic mistake if we try to live the Christian life as a Lone Ranger. God didn’t design us to live that way. God designed us to live in relationships connected with other people. There are times when we need others and there are times when others need us. This is one reason we constantly encourage people at Summit to be part of a Life! Group.
Not long ago a member of our church faced an unexpected health crisis. Bob had severe headaches so he went to see a doctor on a Friday afternoon. The doctor observed something abnormal and ordered a CAT scan for Monday morning. As you can imagine, over the weekend fear began to run rampant. All kinds of scenarios began to play out in Bob and Gigi’s minds. But, thankfully, the Baugh’s shared what was happening with some other people. Bob is in a men’s Life! Group and on Sunday night some men from his group went to his house to pray for him. God showed up in a powerful way and the prayer literally chased fear out the door.
1 John 4:18 says “There is no fear in love.” God’s love evaporates fear; his love melts fear away. This is good news because fear distorts our perspective and exacerbates despair. So one way God can mitigate fear is though God-honoring relationships. Then, once we get our fear under control, then despair also begins to diminish. So when we’re experiencing a season of despair one step we can take is to reduce fear with fellowship.
2. Remember God’s resources.
Look again at verses 13&14. Notice what the Lord was going to do for the woman. He was planning to miraculously provide flour and oil until the famine ended. I want us to see that God intended to provide in a manner that the woman had never considered. Her thinking had been logical and sequential. She could only see that after her next meal there would be no more food. Thus, she would have only one option: death.
But God is infinitely more resourceful that we are. We may see only one or two options. But God has all kinds of other alternatives available. And God’s resources are not always limited to the obvious. This is very important to keep in mind when we begin sinking into despair. Ephesians 3:20 says that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. In other words, God isn’t limited by what we know or by what we can see. God is greater than any situation or circumstance we encounter. If we keep this in mind, it can give us hope even when we don’t have any logical reason to have hope.
Let me share an example of God’s amazing intervention in a desperate situation. Helen Roseveare was a missionary doctor who served in Zaire, Africa for many years. One night Helen worked hard to help a mother in labor, but in spite of all she did the mother still died leaving a tiny premature baby. Helen knew it was going to be difficult to keep the baby alive. The clinic where she worked didn’t have an incubator, nor any special feeding capability.
Although Helen lived on the equator, nights were often chilly. A student midwife went to get the hot water bag to keep the baby warm, but she quickly returned in great distress. As she was filling the bag with hot water, it had burst. Rubber goes bad quickly in tropical climates. And they didn’t have any other hot water bags. Helen worked in a remote location with no civilization for many miles. She told her helpers to put the baby as close to the fire as they could and one of them was to sleep between the baby and the door to protect the child from drafts of cool air.
The following day Helen had a prayer time with the children in the orphanage. She asked them to pray about the tiny baby and she mentioned the problem about the hot water bag. During the prayer time, a ten-year old girl named Ruth prayed, “Please God send us a water bag. It’ll be no good tomorrow. The baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon.” Helen was shocked by the audacity of the prayer. But she didn’t really believe the prayer would be answered. Helen had been in Africa four years and she had never received a parcel from home in all that time. The child prayed in faith, but Helen knew it was impossible.
About three in the afternoon Helen was teaching at the nurses’ training school when she got a message that there was a car in front of her house. By the time she reached home, the car was gone, but there was a large 22 lb parcel on the porch. Helen proceeded to open the package along with about two-dozen children who gathered nearby. As she pulled things out…you guessed it…down toward the bottom was a brand new rubber hot water bag. The package had been mailed five months earlier but it arrived on the exact day it was needed.
God knew what he was doing. The Lord had plans to supply that tiny baby’s needs long before the baby was even born. That day Helen Roseveare learned that God is not limited by the obvious. He has far more resources than we know about! I don’t think we talk enough about God’s miracle working power. When the Jews were pressed up against the Red Sea they couldn’t see any other option except being killed by the Egyptian soldiers. But God intervened and parted the water and the Jews escaped unscathed on dry land. Friends, that same God is alive and well today! If we keep this in mind, it can give us renewed hope when we might otherwise sink into despair. Thus, a second step we can take when despair descends is to remember God’s resources.
3. Obey God one step at a time.
Look again at verse 15. Notice the woman did what Elijah told her to do. Do you think that was easy? I don’t think so. She only had left a tiny amount of flour and a drop of oil. And she was told to give some of that precious remaining food to Elijah before she gave any to herself or her son. That must have been a tough step to take…very tough. But after she took the step, God intervened and met her needs in an amazing supernatural way. The jar of flour and the jug of oil did not run out until the famine was over.
What the woman did may not seem significant. After all she merely gave Elijah bread before serving herself. But if you’ve ever been crushed with a sense of despair like this woman, you’ll recognize she was taking a truly heroic step of obedience. And when despair begins to cloud our vision and we’re sucked down into a gray vortex where things seem hopeless, I want to remind you that even tiny steps of obedience can begin to turn things around.
I wish I could say that the Christian life will always be full of joy; like a never-ending spiritual party. But it’s not that way. Following Christ can be very, very difficult. The Apostle Paul lists some of the things he experienced in 2 Corinthians 11. He was beaten five times with a cat-a-nine-tails. Three times he was beaten with rods. Once he was stoned. He was ship wrecked three times; in constant danger and the list goes on and on—all because of his faith. Friends: following Christ is not going to be easy for any of us. Because of these challenges, sometimes all God asks is that we take the next baby-step of obedience; just one more step; the next one in front of us.
The Prophet Isaiah put it this way. “But they that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not grow weary. They shall walk and not faint.” From this passage we know there will be times in our Christian lives when we will soar high like an eagle. Eagles have an incredible wingspan. They’re able to catch powerful gusts of air that carry them thousands of feet into the air. Some of us are living like that right now. Everything is going your way. The power of God’s Spirit is flowing through you like a rushing river. I hope you’re praising God for this incredible time in your life!
Still others among us are running in the stream of God’s will. You’re not soaring, but you’re energetically moving ahead in your spiritual life. You’re seeking hard after the Lord. Although you may not be soaring, you’re still running with God’s strength and you’re not growing weary. God’s power is at work in your life. It’s a wonderful time.
But for others here today, it’s all you can do to walk and not faint. Right now life is tough for you. Maybe despair is precisely the word you would use to describe how you feel. Well, friend, there’s a season to soar like an eagle and there’s a season to run and not grow weary. But there’s also a season when all God asks from us is that we walk and not faint; to take the next tiny step of obedience. Thus, when despair descends we’ll do well to follow the footsteps of the widow at Zarephath. And just take the next small step that God puts in front of you.
Our passage begins with the woman in despair. The future looked hopeless. But by the end of the story, the woman is experiencing God’s abundant supernatural provision. Despair is replaced by hope. This can also happen in our lives if we (1) Reduce fear with fellowship (2) Remember God’s resources (3) Obey God one tiny step at a time
Conclusion
The preparation of a sermon usually takes several days as God slowly molds the principles from his Word into a weekend message. During the process, the passage invariably speaks to me first. Today has been no exception. I’ve wrestled with despair many times. Often this has come as I’ve tried to hold on to something that God wants me to let go of. Too many times in my life I’ve tried to hold on to something myself, instead of releasing it God. This is really a trust issue. When push comes to shove, many times even though I say I trust God, I don’t really. You see, if I really trusted God I would let go of things more quickly and let him carry them.
Henri Nouwen was an insightful Christian author who died a few years ago. Just before his death he wrote a book called Sabbatical Journeys. He writes about some friends who were trapeze artists. They were with the circus and they were called The Flying Roudellas. Henri said that there’s a very special relationship between the flyer and the catcher on the trapeze. The flyer is the one that lets go and the catcher is the one who catches.
As you might imagine, this relationship is extremely important-especially to the flyer. When the flyer is swinging high above the crowd on the trapeze, the moment comes when he must let go. He arcs out into the air, and his job is to remain as still as possible and to wait for the strong hands of the catcher to pluck him from the air. The trapeze artist told Nouwen, “The flyer must never try to catch the catcher.” The flyer must wait in absolute trust. The catcher will catch him. But he must wait. What an awesome picture of our relationship with God. Despair comes when I flail around grasping for God by trying to manipulate my circumstances. But hope comes when I trust, when I wait, quietly, calmly and securely, for God to grasp hold of the situation I’m holding on to.
Remember the words from Isaiah? “But they that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not grow weary. They shall walk and not faint.” It’s by waiting on the Lord that our strength is renewed. Sometimes this leads to soaring like eagles; sometimes it leads to running and not growing weary; but other times, especially when despair descends, waiting on the Lord will give us just enough strength to take one more step; to walk and not faint.
