In a certain household the family cat brought a mouse into the house. The father was going to do away with it. The children were mortified that Papa would do such a thing. So he waited until they life the room. Then he saw a glass of water on a table and he dropped the mouse into the glass. Later, when he returned he noticed the mouse hanging onto the side of the glass. He decided that if the mouse wanted to live that much he would let him. So he let him live.
Doesn’t that say something of what you feel sometimes? You are treading water and your nose is just above the water line? Life is like that quite often.
Tonight I am going to speak on the subject of “Hanging In There Through Despair.” Despair ... we think of despair in terms of depression, hopelessness, a feeling that there is no way out, if we could just die that would be better than what we now face. We will be looking once again at 2 Cor. 4:8. We will also look at the 19th chapter of 2 Kings. “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair.”
The fact is, some of us are perplexed and do despair. We know that the second leading cause of death among teenagers, second only to automobile accidents, is suicide. Why? It happens to adults too. Why? What causes suicide? It is when you reach a point of despair. What causes despair? How do we face it, when it comes? What can we do about it?
Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Kings 19. We are going to read a few verses and then I want us to look at what happened in the life of one man. Maybe by looking at him we can bring some light into our own situation. Because if you have never known despair, if you have never known depression, in all likelihood, you will somewhere along the way.
READ 1 Kings 19:1-4
We are talking about something that comes close to home. And it came close to home for Elijah. I want us to look at him and see what he found and how he dealt with the problem. Where does despair come from and where is depression found?
First, I think we face despair when we attempt impossible tasks. Some of us are perfectionists. It is tough to live up to certain standards. Students feel this quite often.
I think we can sometimes be impacted by the behavior of other people. They impose pressure on us and we feel the weight of their imposing. Sometimes they say things about us, we may feel on top of the world and someone says one thing about us, one person does just one thing to us and we become depressed. Sometimes we experience despair when we are separated from the people we love,
our friends or some special loved one. Oftentimes this will come after the death of someone. Sometimes this happens at the end of a broken love affair. Children go away to college. Or simply they just leave home finally.
As often as not it happens when people lose the purpose in their lives. We see this in retired people, who after they retire,
lose a sense of identity. They no longer can pinpoint an identity without their job. How many times have we heard of someone who retired and just a few short months or years later we hear of their death.
Let’s look at where despair came in the life of Elijah. First, note that despair came to such a man as Elijah at all. He was not a spiritual child, a weakling. Elijah was a spiritual giant. One of God’s great prophets. Despair came to him and he sat under a juniper tree wishing he were dead. He was depressed, frustrated and despairing. This is often seen in other prophets.
Jeremiah said, “Oh, that I had a wilderness lodging place, that I might leave my people and go from them.”
Jonah said, “Therefore, Now O Lord, take I beseech thee my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live.”
The Psalmist wrote, “Oh, that I had the wings like a dove, for then would I fly away and be at rest.”
If we’re honest, we have all known feelings like that or similar to that. There are times we feel put upon ... we feel boxed in ... we wish we could just have wings to fly out of the situation. But, even the spiritual giants, even Elijah could know depression and despair.
Background
We need to look back in the previous chapter and discover what had caused this. You read these chapters and you get excited about what God had done on the earth. Elijah had just won a major victory on Mt. Carmel and revival had come to his people. He had prayed it would not rain and it did not rain for 3½ years. Then he prayed it would rain and flood came. He was that kind of man and he had just won that kind of a victory.
Do you recall when he put the 450 priests of Baal and the 400 priests of Asherah to a test? He said, “Why don’t you build an altar? You call upon your god and let’s see what he will do?” They did. They placed an offering there, they beat themselves, they cut themselves, they did everything to get his attention and nothing happened. Then Elijah stood up and cried, “Oh, God, if you are there, do something dramatic and let us know about it. Let your name be known in the earth.” And God sent fire down that not only consumed the offering, but consumed the altar and dried up the water that had been put there to make the test all the more difficult.
The people got on their faces and cried, “The Lord! He is God! The Lord! He is God!” The whole hillside of people took up the chant. Revival had come. It is one of the great revivals in the Old Testament. And immediately after that he got depressed.
Sometimes our depression comes after a high spiritual moment. The testing of satan can come after a victory. Jesus was led into the temptation experience after His baptism and His commitment to do the Father’s will there as the Savior of the world. Sometimes despair comes in a moment when we least expect it. What was the matter that caused the frustration? It was the matter of one woman saying she was going to get him. Did you read that? “Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them [the slain prophets] by tomorrow about this time.’” That just doesn’t seem to be a big thing for a man who just stood up to 1,000 false prophets and had seen God’s power come upon his life.
But one woman with one message sent the man of God running. And that is why I can say sometimes one word can bring frustration and despair. Sometimes just one comment or one little deed can just turn us upside down. If it happened to Elijah, it can happen to you and to me. Where despair is found in such a man in such a moment before such a matter.
How is despair born or conceived? I suggested some things a moment ago of the things that might cause it but let’s see what it was in God’s Word in Elijah’s life that caused this despair. First of all, I think we have a sense of sinfulness in the sight of God.
Now as he read on he came to sit under the juniper tree and he wished he were dead. Then he says, “...for I am not better than my fathers.” Here is the man of God. He has won a great victory, he has shown obedience to the hilt, he has been faithful to God and suddenly now he is overwhelmed by his sin.
A man was preaching in India, he gave the invitation and the response was so great as the people came to Christ at his invitation; that he was overwhelmed with his own sin. He said, “I just knelt down there and I confessed to the Lord my sins.”
You know we are sinners. If you have not thought about your sin lately, then you probably have just shut the door on that and you have assumed that God is not concerned with your life any more. The fact is, we continue to be sinners after we trust Christ. Elijah became depressed over the fact of his sin. One of the first and greatest reasons for depression is sin in our life.
I don’t think all depression and despair comes from a spiritual problem. But I think a lot of it does. If you are doing something ungodly, it is not consistent with the lifestyle of a Christian, if you continue, you will reach a point of depression or despair.
Because in your guilt you are going to become frustrated, you are going to become overwhelmed with your own ruination. Elijah was brought to despair by his own sinfulness.
Also, Elijah felt a loneliness in the will of God. As we are reading here he says in two different places, “I have been very jealous of the Lord God of Hosts, I have thrown down altars of the false prophets, I even I only am left ... I even I only am left.”
Have you ever felt you were the only one that cared? That you were the only one who ever prayed? That you were the only one that stood and remained constant? You saw everyone else do whatever they wanted to do. But you stood and you felt alone in that. Young people sense that sometimes at school. Everybody else wants to do what you have been taught is wrong and not consistent with a Christian lifestyle, you stand firm and you feel alone. This is God’s will. You are in the office and everybody else is laughing at the dirty joke or they are caught up in talking about somebody else. You feel uncomfortable in that and you back away and you say, “Lord. Am I the only one who sees a wrong in that?”
Loneliness in the will of God.
Loneliness is something that probably comes to all of us. A missionary out in the field, the pastor at his desk, or possibly you in your office or shop, mother in her kitchen. Loneliness in the will of God.
I think Elijah’s despair was triggered by loneliness in the work of God. Did you pick up in Elijah’s statement, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of Hosts.” Elijah is saying, “I have worked hard.” We know he had. Some of you work hard. Some of you have worked hard this past year. You have stayed in there. Some of you are exhausted in the work of God.
One of the warning signs we get later in the New Testament is, “Be not weary in well doing. For you shall reap if you are patient.”
The harvest is going to come if you hang in there. You see there is a tendency for us to become weary. We get tired. We get tired of carrying the load.
One of the things they talk about now for ministers is “burn out.” What is burn out? It is simply exhaustion. It is extreme weariness in the work of God. And that will bring despair. But let me tell you, pastors are not the only ones who work in the things of God. I know what you do as a people. I know what it is to work a full time job, be a parent, a husband, serve as the Brotherhood Chairman, a Sunday School Director, sing in the choir, participate in small group ministries all at the same time. I know you have become exhausted. You would like to sit down and have a little rest. We ought to get that rest. That’s why we have to be careful about overextending ourselves. There are so many ministries available to us today, but a small number of people are the ones who are willing to do the work. And they reach the point of exhaustion. So we take some time off. We curtail some of the activities of the church. But we do not do that permanently. That is not he answer or the intent.
How is despair started? I think a sense of sinfulness, loneliness, and weariness will certainly trigger depression. But how is despair faced? Let’s see how Elijah faced this despair.
First, he was given a practical ministry. Did you pick up on that? On two occasions, as he was under this bush, he slept.
READ vv. 5-8
A practical ministry came to Elijah. What was it?
The first thing he did was sleep. We didn’t think about that did we? One of the best things we can do when we are in a fit of despair is to rest. I would suggest that if you have even any hint of a feeling of depression you ought to get a physical
check-up. You ought to let the doctor examine you and see if there is some health problem that needs to be dealt with. It was just plain sleep and a bit of food that he needed. It was a practical help. Sometimes we overlook the practical, we look for the miraculous. One of the best things you can do is to do something for someone else. I have used this in times of depression in my life. It is true. Try it. It may be the thing that will help you.
Then Elijah received a very personal message from God. We read of his going to stand in front of the cave and there was wind, an earthquake, and fire .... but God was not in those things. God was in a still small voice. “Why are you here?” As if to say, “This is the last place I expected to find you.” Elijah says, “Lord, I have done everything and in spite of my faithfulness, there are people out to get me. What on earth am I to do?” God says, “I’ll tell you what you do.” Look at verse 15: READ
Your business is to anoint kings man, get up and get on with it!
READ through 18a
Elijah you think you have been alone, there are 7,000!! who stood as steadfast and resolute as you stood so you don’t need to feel so lonely. Then He says to Elijah, “Go to Elisha and you shall anoint him as prophet in your place. There is a young man waiting that I want you to prepare, so he will be ready when you do go, to do my work.” And this old preacher poured his life into the younger one, and he caught fire with new hope on a mission God had sent him to. Some of us are depressed because we’re not doing anything, life isn’t that fulfilling. One of the most practical things you can do is to minister to others and pour yourself into another life. When a child comes to Christ what about the Sunday School teacher who has invested herself/himself into that child up to that point? You are making an investment that is beyond description. Some of us have that opportunity, to pour our lives into others. Don’t lay down the task that God gives you and say I don’t want any more of that. You put yourself on the shelf and you will really know depression and despair.
I think we need to take a break. I think we need to find a bit of respite. But then we need to return and pick up where we left off and find fulfillment in continuing in the work God has called us to.
Do you know what happened to Elijah? Here he was sitting under a juniper tree wanting to die. He never did die. God came with a chariot, a chariot of fire, and he took that spirit home. He thought death would be the better way. But God had something better for him than he ever dreamed about. And he certainly does for you and me.
Don’t be surprised when depression comes, but don’t despair thinking you do not have help. Help is available to you, by the power and purpose and presence of God. Let’s avail ourselves of God in a practical way.
When you go through a depression or despair, come to the pastor.
Go to a doctor. But let’s begin to reach out for the resources that are available to us to help us. Let’s go through the thing to victory together. We can do it. Don’t stand off and feel in your loneliness that there is no help, because there is.
Reference: Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back by Charles Swindoll
