A SPIRITUAL DROP OUT- THE VICTIM OF DISCOURAGEMENT
Take your Bibles again and turned to 1st Kings 19:1–12
From a spiritual point of view the early verses of 1st Kings is one of the saddest stories and all the word of God.
Here… One of the most fearless and faithful prophets of all time flees for his life in response to a threat of harm by a wicked woman.
Elijah… the Great worker of miracles and mover of man becomes a spiritual drop out, because of
deep discouragement AND DESPAIR FOR his life.
IN verse 4 we are told that Elijah went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, it is enough. Now O LORD take away my life for I am no better than my father’s.
Some Time Ago As I Was Praying for a Discouraged Backslidden Friend These Tragic Words of Spiritual Despair Cause Me to Realize As Never before That None of Us Are Exempt from Discouragement. At One Time or Another… All of Us Have Probably Reacted like Elijah.
So Longer I Live… And the More I Study Human Nature… The More I’m Convinced That the Truly Honest Soul Is the One Who Admits This Common Weakness… And Acknowledges His Daily Dependence on Divine Grace for Spiritual Victory.
Therefore since We Are All Subject to This Common Spiritual Enemy… I Suspect That Some Here Today Are Discouraged And like Elijah Someone May Be on the Verge or Brink of Spiritual Despair.
Now I’m Not Talking about Past Discouragement and Defeat But of a Present Temptation To Give up Or Drop out And Call It Quits.
And the Reason I Am so Sure That, at This Very Moment, Someone May Be Wrestling with This Problem, Is Because Bible History And Human Experience Records the Tragedies Of large Numbers of Great and Good Man Who Gave up In Spiritual Despair.
So Although No One Is Totally Exempt from This, and Tendency… Discouragement Should Never Lead To Despair for the Christian.
The Apostle Paul Was Often Faced with Discouragement, And Despair-
2 Corinthians 4:8-11 8We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;10Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.11For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
My Friend… There Is Nothing Abnormal Or Unspiritual about You If You Have More Than Your Share of This Dreadful Tendency…
But Surely It Is A grievous Sin To Let Discouragement Develop into Despair And Defeat And Rob Us Of Our Usefulness for God.
In This Familiar Chapter The Bible Records a Sad and Tragic Experience In the Life of a Mighty Man of God.
1st of All Consider With Me:
Where Discouragement And Despair Is Found?
Contrary to All but One Might Imagine… Despair Has Come in the Life Experience of a Prophet And Spiritual Giant.
None of Us Ever Seen to Be Too Surprised When Discouragement and Despair Comes to a Newborn Babe in Christ… Or to Someone Who Is Neither Mentally or Spiritually Strong…
But When defeat Comes to a Preacher or Prophet Or Some Renowned National Spiritual Leader… We All Are Shocked And Stunned with Surprise! Such Was the Case Here!
Elijah Was Not an Unstable Emotional and Erratic Man. In Fact He Was One of the Greatest Spiritual Giants of All Time.
In Fact This Courageous Prophet Had Just Achieved One of the Most Remarkable Victories Ever Recorded in the Bible… But for Some Strange Reason He Loses His Cool and his courage and Becomes a Spiritual Dropout.
You Say Well Why Then Is Such a Story Recorded?
Such a Story Is Recorded to Remind Us That the Dark Hours of Discouragement and Loneliness in the Place of Leadership Is not Uncommon Or Unknown.
In Fact Both Scripture And Christian Biography bear Ample Testimony That, At One Time or Another, All Mankind Is Subject to This Dreadful Malady.
Listen to the Psalmist in Psalms 55:6
Do You Not Detect Here The Faint but Definite Expression of Fear and Discouragement… And a Desire to Get Away from It All?
My Friend Could It Be That This Is the Condition of Your Troubled Weary Heart Today?
Listen to the Prophet -Jeremiah 9:2 -oh that i had A Lodging Place That I Might Leave My People and Go from Them
Of Course No Honest Pastor Would Deny That He Does Occasionally Get Discouraged. In Fact If He Is Completely Honest… He Could Almost Wish to Get Away from It All.
And yet No True Loyal Pastor Will Permit Such a Thought to Linger Long in His Mind or Heart.
You See the Flock Needs a Shepherd And by Example He Must Feed Them and Lead Them out of Any Discouragement… And into New Heights and Depths of Spiritual Victory and Maturity.
listen to the preacher- Jonah 4:3,- therefore now Oh Lord take i beesech thee my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live.
Don’t you find it strange that a man who had experienced such a fantastic ministry as Jonah would talk like this?
You say pastor is it possible that men like Jonah and Jeremiah, and David, and Elijah would be so quick to despair?
Oh yes!… The dark hour of the soul is much more common than we think!
The whole problem is that too few are willing to admit it.
All of us occasionally get discouraged.. and some may even think of giving up or dropping out.. but the truth is that most of us are not man enough or Christian enough to admit it.
And furthermore… Rather than admit that the problem is a personal spiritual one… Sometimes some of us tried to blame someone else for personal woes.
now the difference between these great spiritual giants and we who are but mere pygmies of the faith, is that they openly, honestly, personally admitted their condition when usually we deny ours.
In our text… And in these heart cries of other men of God I observe a very significant spiritual truth.
1. Elijah chose a juniper tree to sit under and to talk to in his our of discouragement. He had sense enough to leave his servant behind.
2. Jeremiah wished for a wilderness where no human ear could hear his complaint… Or mortal eye, could witness his spiritual despondency.
3. Jonah went clear outside of the city and found the place where he could be alone to express his disappointment and dissatisfaction with God and man.
4. David wished for the wings of a Dove so that his spiritual discouragement and disillusionment could be vented totally away from hurt and harm to anyone and everyone else. Oh how unlike these discouraged but thoughtful man most of us are…
Instead of sharing our discouragement and disappointment with God alone… We share it with everybody around us… Until we transmit the dreadful and deadly virus to a dozen friends.
oh beloved beware of the contagion of discouragement and be reminded that the joy of the Lord is also contagious, and if we are compelled to infect others let it be the beauty and fragrance of a transformed heart and a spirit filled life.
Where was this discouragement found?
In such a man as Elijah… And
When did this temptation break-in upon the soul of the spiritual giant?
It was at a time of unprecedented victory and unparalleled opportunity for himself and for the lord.
For Elijah there had been:
1. The wonderful supernatural provision of food at the Brook cherith.
2. the miraculous cruse of oil but failed not
3. then came that final amazing miracle when the fire of God fell to evidence his presence and power.
So… There was a daily evidence of God’s approval and blessing... but alas.. discouragement comes in for a short season Elijah becomes a spiritual dropout.
My friends or we exempt? Are we? Are we less guilty or more exemplary than he? I think not.
Untold thousands had been touched by God through the courage and faithfulness of this man. In fact in the previous chapter the apostasy and apathy of an entire nation had been challenged and broken… And the door of opportunity for God was greater than that of been for a generation.
And yet it was following this moment of victory that discouragement came and darkness crowded in upon the soul of a good man.
So… Discouragement and despair is found
1–in such a man
2–at such a moment
3–over such a trivial matter
Compared with the many insurmountable obstacles with which he had been confronted in days past Jezebel’s threat was such a small and totally insignificant matter.
And yet Elijah despairs and fled for his life!
But you know as I do that this is exactly the way some Christians today respond to discouragement or criticism, or the most trivial and insignificant spiritual problem or misunderstanding.
some can face a great and grave spiritual crisis or conflict and stand firm like the rock of Gibraltar.
But for many a small petty childish disagreement will cause us to wrap our garments of self-pity about our wounded feelings and nurse a martyr complex like Elijah.
Oh how sad… But oh how true!
The great SD Gordon once said:
you can shut out the light of the sun with a 3pence if you hold it close enough to your eye.
and I remind us that if we hold our harbor even the most trivial matter to close to our heart ( instead of laying it upon the Lord) it will soon rob us of victory and the sweet satisfying Fellowship of God’s holy presence and power.
And may I add further.. such a tragedy never confines it’s hurt and harm to the one who is entwined in it’s dreadful clutches, oh no!
Rather..somehow it manages to drag both foe and friend down to the quagmire of spiritual despair and ruin.
In closing–
II. How was this discouragement and despair faced?
In verse 9 we read, and he Elijah came thither unto a cave and lodged there. and behold the word of the Lord came to him.
Elijah was now experiencing an all time low ebb in his spiritual life. In fact he was so low that our text tells us that he requested for himself that he might die.
Therefore–the strong win that rent the mountain and the great earthquake that shook the foundations of the world and the consuming fire that left the hillside desolate… All failed to stir the conscience of this spiritual dropout.
The only thing that gained his attention and caused him to turn his face homeward was the still small voice of the Lord.
My message will probably not stir you but this morning God has something to say to you as he did to Elijah.
oh that none of us will fail to hear or heed.
Beloved could it be that like Elijah you have decided to give up, to drop out for a while?
If you have I plead with you as God did with his distraught servant to reconsider and give God another chance to prove himself totally sufficient for your every need.
what if Elijah had not obeyed the voice of God on this crucial occassion?
He would have grieved God -but most importantly the ministry and miracles of his successor Elisha would never have blessed the multitudes.
Beloved someone is following in your steps… Will they stumble and fall in despair because you did or will they see in your life an example that they want to follow?
You say but pastor what can I do? How can I get back my power and usefulness? By listening to the still small voice of God and obeying it.
Shall we pray?
