When Prophets Lodge In Caves

WHEN PROPHETS LODGE IN CAVES (1 KINGS 19:1-18)

How have these few (four) months in Hong Kong affected people’s physical, emotional and mental health?

According to the University of Hong Kong (HKU) survey, nearly one in 10 people in Hong Kong were found to have suspected depression in a study conducted during the extradition bill crisis, as the city suffered an “epidemic of mental health” issues. The rate of probable depression among Hongkongers amid the latest protests was nearly twice the level recorded during Occupy Central in 2014,

More people were having suicidal thoughts too, according to the study, which was part of a decade of longitudinal research. The extradition bill crisis, and the divisions it has exposed in society, have been linked with the sharp increase in the number of people likely to have depression, according to a senior professor. (“Nearly 1 in 10 people in Hong Kong likely to have depression, according to HKU survey conducted during extradition bill crisis.” July 11, 2019 South China Morning Post)

A survey on Hongkongers’ mental health involved 1,009 residents revealed that Hongkongers’ mental health has deteriorated to its worst level in eight years.

The study was organised by the Mental Health Month Organising Committee and conducted by Chinese University on commission, surveyed 1,009 residents aged 15 years old or above on how 10 indicators – which included work, study, family and social disputes – affected respondents’ mental health. The study adopted the WHO (Five) Well-Being Index, with a range of between 0 and 100, and 52 as the passing score. An acceptable mental health level was between 52 and 68 while above 72 showed a good status. The average score this year was 46.41, the lowest since the annual survey on Hongkongers’ mental health was launched in 2012. The score was 50.20 last year.

One of the greatest prophets in the Bible, if not the greatest, had his work cut out for him. He battled the idolatrous queen, her foreign prophets and priests and the idolatrous Israelites. His name appears 29 times in the New Testament, half that of David’s 59 times. No job is as stressful as that of a prophet. Before his martyrdom, Stephen charged, “Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute?” (Acts 7:52) No wonder Elijah ran for his life, fled for the desert and lodged in a cave. With all his legendary miracles and victories and status Elijah the prophet, the man of God and the forerunner of the Messiah faced the loneliest, darkest and gloomiest moments in his life.

Why do godly people sometimes resign their post, regret their duty and retreat into oblivion? What can you do when you feel deserted, discouraged and depressed? How can we overcome doubts, disillusionment and discontent?

God’s Power is Perfected in Peace

1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” 3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. (1 Kings 19:1-8)

Martin Luther once spent three days in a black depression over something that had gone wrong. On the third day his wife came downstairs dressed in mourning clothes. “Who’s dead?” he asked her. “God,” she replied. Luther rebuked her, saying, “What do you mean, God is dead? God cannot die.” “Well,” she replied, “the way you’ve been acting I was sure He had!”

Jezebel the queen called Elijah’s bluff and the prophet fell for the threat. His world fell apart and turned upside down. If Jezebel truly meant to kill him, she would have ordered the same messenger (v 2) to do it on the spot instead of to warn him about the danger. Elijah’s fear was so real and raw that he was the first and only prophet in the Bible known to fear the worst, enough to run for his life. Early translators did not know what to do with Elijah’s fear, so instead of translating it as “feared” (as in Septuagint, Syriac) they translated it as “saw” (as in MT) since the two words share the same consonants. G. H. Jones (NCB 1& 2 Kings Vol II, p 329) charges that KJV’s “he saw” version was “an early attempt to avoid the reference to Elijah being afraid of Jezebel and the apparent discrepancy between this Elijah and the Elijah of chapter 18.” Both views ended the same with Elijah running for cover and begging for death. Interestingly, nothing was as fearful as fear itself, because Jezebel was a shadowy, sinister and spiteful figure Elijah never actually met. The prophet met the king several times (1 Kings 17:1, 18:1, 18:16), but never the queen, not even on Mount Carmel. In fact, Jezebel avoided Elijah as much as he feared her since she was missing in the battle at Mount Carmel.