How God Brought Elijah Out Of Depression

   Everyone has spells when they’re feeling blue and the burdens of life seem heavier than usual. Sometimes, these times of despair deepen to where we are depressed. I’m not one of those who believe that spiritually mature people are never depressed. Few men were greater than Elijah. So significant was his life that God honored him by allowing him (like Enoch) to bypass the undertaker, taking him to heaven by a whirlwind (2 Kgs. 2.2).

And yet, the Bible tells us of a severe depression Elijah experienced. It was right after God’s great demonstration of Himself atop Mt. Carmel in 1 Kings 18. Instead of being brought to repentance, King Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, was enraged and threatened to murder Elijah within twenty-four hours. When he heard this, the prophet fled—“He arose and went for his life” (1 Kgs. 19.3). His general direction was south. He didn’t know where he was going, he just went, trying to put as much distance between himself and Jezebel as possible. Along the way, he became despondent to the point of asking God to take his life (1 Kgs. 19.4). Elijah was in the dumps, and a study of his situation will reveal how God led him out of the dumps.

The first thing God did was to feed him (19.5–6). The depressed often exacerbate the problem by neglecting nourishment. Depression isn’t defeated by inactivity but by action, and strength is needed for action. Elijah had a long journey ahead of him, and God made sure he had physical strength sufficient for the trek. Elijah felt like a failure After a forty-day journey, he came to Mt. Sinai and sought refuge in a cave. God called him to stand in the mouth of the cave where he witnessed a cyclone strong enough to split rocks, an earthquake, and fire (lightning?)—but the Lord didn’t speak to Elijah in any of these phenomena. Instead, it was in a “a still small voice” (“a soft whisper,” “hardly a sound”) that Elijah heard God’s message. The point seems to be this? “Elijah, you called down fire from heaven, slew 450 prophets of Baal, and prayed up a storm [see 1 Kgs. 19], but you feel like a failure. You need to remember that my usual means of working is not through the dramatic and colossal, but in quiet ways, such as the spoken word.” So long as Elijah said what God gave him to say,he was not a failure!

Finally, Elijah felt all alone, which fueled self-pity (“I, even I only, am left”). God told him about the quiet ministry of 7000 like himself who had not bowed the knee to Baal (19.18). Elijah needed to know that he wasn’t the only one on the Lord’s side. When in the dumps: don’t neglect the needs of the body, do what the Lord has given you to do, and remember that there are others successfully facing the same struggles as you.

Kenny C.