INTRODUCTION
TITLE SLIDE
• Have you ever noticed that some of the hardest valleys in life come right after your highest mountaintops?
• You finish a big project, and the next day you feel strangely empty.
• You step out in faith, see God answer, and a week later you’re questioning everything.
• You experience an answered prayer—and then a new challenge blindsides you.
• You see God work in a powerful way—but days later, you feel exhausted, empty, and even discouraged.
• You feel close to God at a retreat or worship service, but Monday morning comes and it’s like the joy evaporated.
• Elijah knew that feeling.
• This is a perfect description of Elijah’s story.
• In 1 Kings 18, he’s on Mount Carmel, boldly facing 450 prophets of Baal.
• God answers his prayer with fire from heaven.
• The people turn back to the Lord.
• Rain comes after 3½ years of drought.
• This is one of the greatest victories in the Old Testament!
• But flip the page to 1 Kings 19, and Elijah is running for his life. He’s afraid, discouraged, and asking God to let him die.
• From victory to valley. From fire to fear. From courage to collapse.
• Question: How do you keep going when your spiritual high turns into a deep low?
• Today we begin a new series entitled Feels: Thriving in the Valleys.
• Sometimes our spiritual lives feel like a series of peaks and valleys.
• One moment, we feel like we are soaring high; the next, we experience a crushing low.
• This is a series about when we do and don’t feel God’s presence.
• We examine the journey of faith through the stories of biblical characters: Elijah, Paul, Moses, Daniel, Joseph, and Peter.
• Along the way, we will learn about contentment, doubt and trust, gratitude, God’s sovereignty, and the mission of Jesus.
• Let’s look at Elijah’s story and see three truths about thriving, not just surviving, in the valleys of victory and depression.
• Big Idea of the Message: Through our times of victory and of depression, God shows himself to be a faithful provider.
• Today we will be in 1 Kings 18:20-46; 19:1-8.
• Because of the length of the text, I will summarize 18:20-45.
• So let’s open up with our first observation.
SERMON
MAIN POINT 1 SLIDE
I. Victories don’t shield us from valleys.
• The sun is beating down on Mount Carmel.
• King Ahab has summoned the people of Israel, and they gather in a restless crowd.
• On one side stand 450 prophets of Baal in colorful garments, their heads high.
• On the other side… one man—Elijah, the prophet of the LORD.
• Elijah’s voice cuts through the murmurs:
"How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; if Baal is god, follow him!"
The crowd is silent.
• Then Elijah issues a challenge:
"We’ll each prepare a sacrifice. We won’t light the fire. We’ll each call on our god—and the one who answers by fire… He is God."
The people agree.
• The prophets of Baal go first.
• From morning until noon they dance, shout, and plead, “O Baal, answer us!”
• But the air is silent. Not a spark.
• Around noon, Elijah smirks: “Shout louder! Maybe he’s thinking. Maybe he’s busy. Maybe he’s traveling. Or… maybe he’s asleep and needs waking!”
• They shout louder.
• They slash themselves with knives until blood flows.
• They keep at it until evening—but nothing happens.
• No voice.
• No fire.
• Now it’s Elijah’s turn.
• He calls the people close.
• He repairs the broken altar of the LORD with twelve stones—one for each tribe of Israel.
• He arranges the wood, places the sacrifice on it, and digs a trench around the altar.
• Then he does something crazy—he has water poured over it.
• Once.
• Twice.
• Three times, until the trench is overflowing.
• Then Elijah prays:
"O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that You are God in Israel… Answer me so these people will know You, LORD, and turn their hearts back to You."
• In an instant—fire falls from heaven! It consumes the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water in the trench. The people drop to their faces and cry, “The LORD—He is God! The LORD—He is God!”
• Elijah orders the prophets of Baal seized, and they are taken to the Kishon Valley and put to death.
• Then he turns to Ahab and says, “Go, eat and drink—for I hear the sound of heavy rain.”
• Elijah climbs to the top of the mountain, bows low, and prays.
• Seven times he sends his servant to look toward the sea.
• Six times—nothing.
• On the seventh—a small cloud, the size of a man’s hand, rises in the distance.
• Soon, the sky grows black with clouds, the wind howls, and a heavy rain falls—ending the drought at last.
• If you ended the story there, you’d think Elijah was unstoppable.
• Elijah experiences a mountaintop moment, a MAJOR VICTORY—fire from heaven, the defeat of Baal’s prophets, and a public vindication of God.
• This series focuses on thriving through the valleys of life, and one could ask if I am considering the victories in life a valley.
• The answer is yes, they can become a valley when we forget to build on the victories in life.
• These victories can be but temporary relief from the valleys of life when the valleys become the sole focus of our lives.
• Spiritual triumphs don’t erase emotional fragility.
• Elijah’s boldness on Carmel is followed by fear and flight.
• But right after the victory, Jezebel sends him a message:
1 Kings 19:1–3 NET 2nd ed.
1 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, including a detailed account of how he killed all the prophets with the sword.
2 Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah with this warning, “May the gods judge me severely if by this time tomorrow I do not take your life as you did theirs!”
3 Elijah was afraid, so he got up and fled for his life to Beer Sheba in Judah. He left his servant there,
• Elijah — the man who faced down hundreds — runs.
• Why did Elijah flee for his life?
• He’s exhausted — physically, emotionally, spiritually.
• The adrenaline is gone.
• The enemy knows when to strike — right after a win.
• Think about professional athletes.
• Many say the hardest time isn’t the championship game, but the day after — the crash, the exhaustion, the emptiness.
• The same can be true spiritually.
• Many times we can be at our most vulnerable right after the mountaintop moments.
• Don’t be surprised when emotional valleys follow spiritual victories.
• God’s power doesn’t eliminate our humanity—it meets us in it.
• When you feel guilty or confused for slipping into the valley after a great victory, you need to know it is something we all face, we just need to know how to get out of the valley.
• Elijah demonstrates a crucial lesson: a spiritual high, no matter how powerful, does not make us immune to the challenges, fears, and threats of the world.
• Our spiritual journeys are not a straight line upward; they are a series of peaks and valleys.
• The danger of the valley isn’t just that it’s hard — it’s that it can change how we see reality.
• That’s what happened to Elijah.
1 Kings 19:4 NET 2nd ed.
4 while he went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He went and sat down under a shrub and asked the LORD to take his life: “I’ve had enough! Now, O LORD, take my life. After all, I’m no better than my ancestors.”
• "If Mount Carmel shows us that victories don’t shield us from valleys… a shrub shows us how quickly a valley can distort our perspective."
MAIN POINT 2 SLIDE
II. Valleys can distort our perspective, leading to depression.
• Elijah who experienced the victory of a lifetime, is now deep into the valley fear, despair and depression.
• Anyone here been there before or are there now?
• Elijah travels a day in the wilderness fleeing from Jezebel, he sits down under a shrub and asks the Lord to take his life.
• This is the same man who just prayed down fire from heaven.
• Here is something we should not miss.
• What does Elijah do once he hit the proverbial valley?
• He isolates himself!
• Elijah isolates himself, prays to die, and feels utterly alone.
• Let me ask you, how many people helped Elijah when he took on and later killed all the prophets of Baal?
• ONE!
• GOD!
• Now that Elijah is in the valley, what has changed?
• Fear!
• Fear distorts reality and isolates us—but God doesn’t abandon us in our fear.
• He comes close.
• Elijah is so focused on fear that he forgets the God who gave him victory.
• When we are in the valley. I want ot be careful how I say this, but we become selfish.
• When I am in the valley all I think about is me and the valley.
• I forget about my friends and my God.
• The only person I know who can take on 450 people at once is Chuck Norris!
• Elijah had someone even bigger, GOD!
• The problem with valleys is they don’t just drain your energy , they cloud your vision.
• It is like driving in dense fog.
• The road hasn’t changed, but your perspective has — everything feels uncertain.
• Valleys can create “spiritual fog” that makes God’s promises hard to see.
• Your problems look bigger than they really are.
• Your hope feels smaller than it actually is.
• Your future seems darker than it truly is.
• When you’re in the valley, don’t make permanent decisions based on temporary feelings.
• Stop.
• Pray.
• Get God’s perspective before you move forward.
• Because our focus is on the valley and ourselves, we forget something important.
• We are not alone; the same God who gave you victory is the same God who is walking with you in the valleys.
• Thankfully, God doesn’t just leave Elijah there in despair.
• He steps in with exactly what Elijah needs.
1 Kings 19:5–9 NET 2nd ed.
5 He stretched out and fell asleep under the shrub. Suddenly an angelic messenger touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”
6 He looked and right there by his head was a cake baking on hot coals and a jug of water. He ate and drank and then slept some more.
7 The angel of the LORD came back again, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, for otherwise you won’t be able to make the journey.”
8 So he got up and ate and drank. That meal gave him the strength to travel forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
9 He went into a cave there and spent the night. Suddenly the LORD’s message came to him, “Why are you here, Elijah?”
MAIN POINT SLIDE 3
III. God strengthens us in the valleys to prepare us for victories.
• Before he received word from Jezebel, look at something with me.
1 Kings 18:46 NET 2nd ed.
46 Now the LORD energized Elijah with power; he tucked his robe into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
• God energized Elijah with power!
• Yet here we are, the power is gone when the valley comes.
• Did God take away the power or did Elijah relinquish it?
• Exhausted, Elijah collapses under the broom tree and drifts into sleep.
• Suddenly—a gentle touch. An angel is there, saying, “Get up and eat.”
• Beside him: a loaf of bread baked over hot coals and a jar of water.
• Elijah eats and drinks… then lies back down, too weary to do more.
• A second time, the angel touches him: “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”
• He eats again.
• And the strength from that simple meal carries him for forty days and forty nights, all the way to Horeb—the mountain of God—where he finds shelter in a cave and prepares to hear from the LORD.
• Given the great victory God performed through Elijah and the fact that Elijah is asking God to take his life, one would think that God would be very upset at Elijah.
• God doesn’t scold Elijah for being worn out.
• He doesn’t say, “Get it together, prophet.”
• Instead, He gives him exactly what he needs: rest, food, and the strength for the next step.
• God sends an angel, not with a sermon, but with food, rest, and gentle care.
• God knows that before you can face the next victory, you may need to recover from the last battle.
• Think about how athletes recover after a big game.
• They don’t go straight into another one.
• They hydrate.
• They eat.
• They rest.
• Recovery is part of preparation.
• Rest is not laziness; it’s obedience when God calls you to it.
• God’s care often comes through simple, ordinary means: a meal, sleep, a kind word, or time in His Word.
• Don’t rush out of your valley.
• Let God strengthen you there so you’ll be ready for the victories ahead.
• Elijah is not scolded for his depression; he’s nourished for the journey ahead.
• God was preparing Elijah for Mount Horeb, where he would hear God’s gentle whisper and receive his next assignment.
• In your lowest moments, God doesn’t just demand strength—He supplies it.
• His provision is tailored to your need.
CONCLUSION
• Where are you today, on the mountain or in the valley?
• If you’re in a valley right now, maybe even right after a victory, God hasn’t abandoned you.
• God is present in both.
• He sends fire on the mountain and bread in the wilderness.
• Trust Him not just in your victories, but in your vulnerability.
› Application Point: The temptation to feel isolated and alone cuts us off from God and his people. To combat this, surround yourself with people who will speak God’s truth into your life.
• Maybe you’re in a valley today, spiritually exhausted, feeling alone, wondering where God is.
• Today is the day to let Him meet you there.
• Come forward today and come to Jesus, rest in His presence, and receive His strength for what’s ahead.”
