Lake Eufaula Christian Church
No matter what you’re dealing with, God wants you to lay it before Him. He wants to renew your mind and help turn your mess into a message, your test into a testimony. When life’s journey is filled with doubt and depression, God is faithful to meet our needs and restore us. The Bible tells us how He accomplishes that benefit with the story of the prophet Elijah.
Elijah stood down the wicked King Ahab by causing a 3.5-year drought, providing endless food for a starving widow, raising a child from the dead, and making the river part so he could walk across the river bed on dry ground. But his greatest miracle was when he confronted King Ahab, and said, “Hey, bring all the false prophets of all your false gods to Mount Carmel and we’re going to have a showdown.”
The 450 false prophets of Baal and 400 of Asherah came to Mount Carmel and built altars, put sacrificial bulls on them, and shouted to their gods for more than a day to send fire. Elijah taunted them, knowing they were calling upon little “g” gods who have no power, while he himself would call upon the big “g” God who can do anything. He did, and a flaming pillar flashed down and consumed Elijah’s altar, bull, and all the water he’d soaked it with to make the miracle spectacular. God also destroyed the 850 false prophets.
King Ahab’s wicked wife Jezebel was angry and “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.’” (1 Kings 19:2). Instead of basking in the glory of his greatest miracle, Elijah “was afraid and ran for his life.” (1 Kings 19:3a) He freaked out and fled on a road trip based on fear and doubt.
“When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 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.’ Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep…” (1 Kings 19:3b-5a). He had worn himself out, shut his people out, focused on the negative, and forgot about God.
Don’t we all do the same when we’re faced with doubt and depression? The good news is, God meets us in our mental health issues and through Elijah’s story has given us a prescription to heal us. An angel brought bread, told him to eat, and then let him take a nap, getting him physically ready to travel to Horeb, the mountain where God would meet his emotional needs by listening and speaking the truth back to him.
Like Elijah, If we are depressed, we should first eat, rest, and go to church where we’ll be encouraged to most intimately seek God. Elijah heard God’s gentle whisper and realized that God doesn’t reveal Himself only in powerful, miraculous ways. He often speaks in a still, small voice heard in the quietness of a humbled heart. Then, God told Elijah to get back to work, and He wouldn’t be alone in his work. It was a reminder for Elijah that God meets us right where we are on our road trip of life. God is faithful in providing for our physical, emotional, and spiritual needs along the way.
If you want to step back and rest from life’s busyness and craziness, visit us at 415987 Highway 9, Eufaula, for Sunday school at 10 a.m., worship at 11 a.m., and Wednesday all-age activities at 6:30 p.m. We love to have visitors join us as we continue to seek our divine assignments. “Come all you who are weary and burdened and He will give you rest!” (Matthew 11:28). No one should resist such a promising invitation!
God Bless You! Jeremy Little, Minister
