Depressed

Depressed

Ahab reported to Jezebel everything that Elijah had done, including the massacre of the prophets. Jezebel immediately sent a messenger to Elijah with her threat: "The gods will get you for this and I'll get even with you! By this time tomorrow you'll be as dead as any one of those prophets."

When Elijah saw how things were, he ran for dear life to Beersheba, far in the south of Judah. He left his young servant there and then went on into the desert another day's journey. He came to a lone broom bush and collapsed in its shade, wanting in the worst way to be done with it all—to just die: "Enough of this, God! Take my life — I'm ready to join my ancestors in the grave!" Exhausted, he fell asleep under the lone broom bush.(1 Kings 19:1-4)

Depression. Oh, we may call it "the blues," or maybe just "a slump," but it’s all the same, really. Regardless of what you call it, depression is the most widespread form of emotional illness. It’s kind of like the common cold of emotional disorders. In fact, in a study of more than 11,000 individuals suffering from depression, clinicians found depression to be more physically and socially disabling than arthritis, diabetes, lung disease, chronic back problems, hypertension, and gastrointestinal illnesses. In fact, the only medical problem that was more disabling was advanced coronary heart disease. Ouch.

And there seems to be this stigma that’s attached to depression. You know, don’t you? Where a some of us think that if a person is in a close relationship with God then they’ll never be depressed. Right? Well, that’s a lie, because the truth is that there’s gonna be days, weeks perhaps, maybe even seasons when you wrestle with depression. But that doesn't mean you’re a bad person, or an ungodly person. It just means you’re like the Velveteen Rabbit – you’re real. (The Velveteen Rabbit is a story about a stuffed rabbit and his quest to become real through the love of his owner. It’s a great read, and only 40 pages!)

You see, plenty of people in the Bible suffered from bouts of depression: Moses, Jeremiah and Job, just to name a few. Even contemporary figures like Martin Luther and Charles Hadden Spurgeon suffered from depression – Spurgeon to the point that he was absent from the pulpit for two to three months during a year. The point is, Christianity isn’t an inoculation against depression.

Elijah was God's prophet during a time in the life of the nation of Israel when its rulers were leading the people to worship the false gods of Baal and Asherah. So, to discipline the Israelites and encourage them to turn away from their idols, God shut off the tap so to speak, and neither dew nor rain fell on the land for three years. The result? Yep, a severe famine. And, at the height of the drought, Elijah challenged King Ahab and his false prophets to a public contest on the top of Mt. Carmel to demonstrate both the power of God, and the weakness of Baal and Asherah. Two bulls were chosen for the contest. Elijah sacrificed one to God, and the false prophets sacrificed theirs to their idols. The contest was to see whose god was capable of sending fire to consume the bull that lay on the altar.

So, the 850 false prophets went first. They tried from early morning until late in the afternoon to get their god to respond. They ranted and raved and cut themselves to get his attention – all to no avail. Then it was Elijah's turn. He had barely ended his prayer when God answered by sending fire to consume not only the bull that Elijah had drenched with water, but the stone altar, too.

The wide-eyed Israelites responded in true belief and worship and fell to the ground confessing that Yahweh, alone, was God. With that, Elijah commanded that the 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah be seized and executed according to the law of God recorded in Deuteronomy 7. Having finished off the false prophets, Elijah prayed that God would now end the drought. And God did after Elijah had told Ahab that he’d better hot-foot the 17 miles back to Jezreel to avoid the approaching downpour.

Of course, when Ahab arrived at his summer palace in Jezreel, he was pretty pumped. And as he entered the palace he called for Queen Jezebel to tell her about what had happened. But the story about the power of the living God, the fire from heaven, and the thunder and rain that came after Elijah prayed? Well, all that was drowned out when the king got around to mentioning the elimination of 850 of Jezebel's prophets. Jezebels response? She put a contract out on Elijah’s life, effectively raining on Ahab’s parade, not to mention Elijah’s. And Elijah’s response? He ran. A lot. Some 115 miles, all the way to Beersheba where he left his servant. And then he continued another day's journey into the Negev (desert) where he pulled up under a juniper tree and begged God to take him out.

Wow. Ever felt like that? Like life has gone so sideways, so upside down, that it’s just not worth it anymore? That there’s not a soul out there who cares? The truth is that life’s full of ups and downs; you can count on that. In fact, it seems like after every down there’s an up, and after every up there’s a down. Life’s just not one long joy ride that keeps getting better and better. No, there are mountains and valleys, and Elijah had just climbed the Mt. Everest of his prophetic life. And when we have great times of accomplishment and joy in life, we should learn to anticipate the inevitable lows that will occur, like the one that hit Elijah. But depression is not a “pit.” Think of it more like a “tunnel,” because as soon as we enter depression, we’re already on the way out.

We make ourselves especially susceptible to depression, however, when we take our eyes off God. Remember when Elijah heard Jezebel's threat? What’d he do? He ran in fear. He took his eyes off God, took one look at Jezebel and literally ran right into the pits of despair. But why? Hadn’t Elijah just sat ring-side and seen one of the greatest victories in his life? Yep. But when Jezebel promised to end his life 24 hours later, Elijah forgot all about God’s victory. The guy took his eyes off the power of God and focused, instead, on Jezebel and her soldiers. Result? Despair. So, when life's inevitable problems approach, keep your eyes on God. If you don’t, you open the door of your heart and mind to depression which will pull up a chair and make itself at home. Instead, dwell on God's greatness and remember all the ways that He has been faithful to you. Even keep a journal, if it helps.

But this depression thing is not just mental; physical stress can cause emotional stress, too. Just prior to the onset of his depression, Elijah had put his body through incredible physical stress: he’d run over 100 miles without stopping. He was physically exhausted. And prior to his quintuple marathon, Elijah had just put in a full day of exhausting ministry on top of Mt. Carmel and then ran another 17 miles ahead of the King’s chariot to beat the raindrops! So, his depression was almost inevitable because physical stress can negatively affect our emotional health.

People involved in military intelligence have known this for years, and have used physical conditioning to change the emotional state of individuals. Some call it “brainwashing,” and it basically involves getting a person physically exhausted. For instance, they get you up at 1:00 a.m. and keep a light on so you can't sleep. Every hour, they wake you up and stand you in the middle of a room. They play loud, annoying music all hours of the night and day.

In other words, they focus on wearing you out physically until – mentally – you go to pieces. And that’s what happened to Elijah. Oh, he wasn't brainwashed, but he was physically worn out. And God knew that. In fact, the first thing God did to help treat Elijah's depression was to minister to his physical fatigue: God fed him fresh baked bread and cool water and then told him to sleep. And then He fed him again!

Sometimes that’s the most practical thing some of us can do when dealing with depression. We need to stop running ourselves into the ground. There's an old Greek proverb that says, "You will break the bow if you always keep it bent." In other words, if you're living under constant, relentless physical stress, you will eventually break under the pressure. You have to give yourself some time for rest and refreshment. And remember, too, that when your body becomes weak and ill, so does your spirit. In short, physical stress can cause emotional stress.

We’re also more susceptible to depression when we’re alone. Remember, Elijah went off by himself and sat under that juniper tree wanting to die, feeling like he was the only one left – that he was all alone fighting for God. Well, that’s how our natures work, isn’t it? When we get depressed and discouraged, the first thing we tend to do is get alone by ourselves. Not good. You see, loneliness is one of the greatest contributors to depression. When we draw into a shell and cut ourselves off from others, we naturally begin to feast on self-pity. But God didn't design us to live like hermits. He made us in such a way that life works best for us when we live in friendship and fellowship and community with others. That's why the church, the body of Christ, is so important, because that’s where we’re drawn together in love and mutual encouragement. We're meant to be a part of each other’s lives.

Elijah’s experience also demonstrates that when it comes to depression, “doing affects feeling.” In other words, idleness breeds despair. Sitting alone under a tree with nothing to do but focusing on his own problems simply made Elijah's despair worse. So, God got him out from under the tree, away from the pity party and put him to work. God told Elijah that he had a job to do – two (2) kings needed crowning, and he had his prophetic successor, Elisha, to appoint. So, when depression attacks, don’t go off somewhere by yourself and dwell on it. Instead, get your body moving because physical activity can be like good medicine for your emotions.

Here’s the point: our emotions can be rebellious at times. They don’t always take orders. They can easily ignore commands such as "Stop being angry," or "Don't feel sad," or "Be happy," like Bobby McFerrin used to sing. It’s difficult to control our emotions. But we can control our bodies. And forcing our bodies to do something that needs doing can have the effect of making us feel better.

Psychologist William James maintained that our emotions are closely connected to our actions. He said that when we’re afraid, it’s because we’re acting frightened, and that the way to no longer feel afraid is to do something fearless. I think there’s some truth to that philosophy. Martin Luther would agree with Dr. James, or maybe vice versa. Luther advised people with mild bouts of depression to ignore the heaviness. "A good way to exorcize the Devil," Luther maintained, "was to harness the horses and spread manure on the fields." In other words, get to work. Do something productive and you’ll feel productive. Doing affects feeling. God reminded Elijah to focus on the needs of others since there was an entire nation that needed his ministry. And that’s what Philippians 2:4 means when it encourages us to, ".... look not only to our own interests (needs) but also to the interests of others."

Dr. Carl Menninger once gave a lecture on mental health and was answering questions from the audience. Someone said, "Dr. Menninger, what would you advise a person to do if that person felt a nervous breakdown coming on?" Most people thought he’d say, "Go see a psychiatrist, immediately. Here’s my card." But he didn't. To the crowd’s astonishment, Dr. Meninger replied, "Lock up your house, go across the railroad tracks, find somebody in need, and help that person." In other words, get involved in the lives of other people.

God was compassionate in his treatment of Elijah. Far from criticizing Elijah, God allowed him to rest and not once, but twice sent an angel to feed him. We must be just as compassionate in our dealings with people who suffer from emotional upset, even when dealing with our own. We must have an underlying agreement with each other, and with ourselves, that the people who enter our lives don't have to have it all together in order to gain our acceptance. The truth is that we may think we have it all together, only to find out later that we forgot where we put it.

In a very real sense, every church is a hospital: a place where people can come to find healing. It's a place where people can honestly admit their struggles and find rest for themselves. Jesus said, "Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy ladened and I will give you rest." So, we should take seriously Paul's injunction when he says to "encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with all men." (1 Thess. 5:14)

I guess you could say that there are two types of people in the world: people who are drowning in despair without hope, and those who’ve called out to God and experienced His rescue. Which group are you a part? David, in speaking about God, said that He would “… lift them out of the pits of despair … out of the mud and mire, and set their feet on the rock.” (Psalm 40:2)

We need to remind ourselves of that truth, and share it with a hopeless world. Who knows? It might just save a trip to the doctor.

Grace,

Randy