When Life Gets Rough

1 Kings 19:1-18

Introduction

What kind of life should Christians live? More specifically, how should Christians respond when life becomes difficult? There is no fully agreed on approach to this question. There are Christians who believe that we should always be happy, even when life seems to be falling apart. We have a duty to not feel down about what is happening and to not become expressive of our emotions. There are others that believe that we should be honest about how we feel, sharing our pain, and expressing what is really going on.

I will acknowledge that part of this is influenced by our personalities. Some people are very expressive of their emotions and others are more reserved. I happen to land on the reserved side of the spectrum. People have commented that I do not readily show emotions, and that even when I am telling a joke, my face does not show it. There is nothing wrong with being either expressive or reserved. I am more interested in whether followers of Jesus feel like they have the permission to truly feel when life gets rough. Do we see these feelings as unfaithful or even sinful? I will share my view from the outset when I say that I hope we do not. Perhaps it would be most helpful to look to the Bible. We are going to focus on the experience of Elijah. Elijah was one of the most influential prophets of the Old Testament. There are a number of prophets mentioned in the historical books of the Old Testament but only Elijah’s successor Elisha comes close to have the same representation in these books. What we are going to look at is one particular experience of Elijah, not one of his miracles, but an experience of discouragement and despair. What I want to do is to look for principles in his story that might help us in our experience.

No One is Immune

There is still a major stigma for those who experience depression and anxiety. Even with all of the education and culture change, many people still see depression and anxiety as being a character flaw. If only people would try harder, have more faith, they would not suffer with this. And yet Elijah looks like the kind of person who has it all together. He certainly was a many of faith. We take miracles in the Bible for granted but he is one of only three prophets in the Old Testament that performed miracles. And his greatest miracle happened immediately before the experience we are focusing on. In the previous chapter, Elijah is in a contest with the prophets of Baal. Elijah, whose name means the Lord is God, was going to show that his God was the only true God. The god who was real was to send fire down from heaven and consume the sacrifice. Sure enough, the Lord did send fire and Elijah was triumphant over his enemies. And yet right after this, Elijah falls into a deep depression. It might seem as if he should be the last person to experience this. There was a reason, in that Jezebel had threatened him, but there may be more to the level of his reaction. The point is that no one is immune. Reading the Bible or praying, going to counselling or support groups, does not mean you are not going to experience depression and anxiety. No one is immune and that means we need to have grace for ourselves and for others when this happens.

Feel It

So how does Elijah respond to this experience? Does he shrug it off as something not worthy of a prophet? Elijah lays down under a broom tree and falls asleep. As we look at this passage, we see that Elijah truly feels this despair and he shows it. His main concern is not his reputation or what is expected of him. Life is hard and he shows it. Now you might say that the Bible describes lots of behaviours and just because it is described does not mean we should follow it. The Bible describes people killing each other, we should not do that. Fair enough. This is what we read about Jesus: “He (Jesus) took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. And he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.’  And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.” (Mark 14:33-35) Jesus felt it and expressed it in his own way. I think we are allowed to feel emotional pain as much as we feel physical pain.

God Responds With Grace

How does God respond to this? Does God shame Elijah for his behaviour? Does God tell him to snap out of it? I really love what happens here. An angel appears and provides something to eat and drink. At that moment, that was all that Elijah could receive. There is a tenderness to this encounter. There is no explanation for why this is happening, just provision for basic needs. When there is a bit of podding it is just to be able to do the next thing. Not an insistence that his response stop. The question we have to ask when we find ourselves in our darkest time is how we anticipate God’s reaction. Will we face God’s disappointment or even anger, or will we face God’s tender grace? 

God Meets With Elijah

While before the encounter is with an angel, now God meets with Elijah. There is much that we can say about how God meets Elijah. There are numerous outward expressions in which God could have been in but was not. Finally God does appear to Elijah and Elijah is able to express his despair, in his case the feeling of being all alone. Elijah is not all alone but his feelings really matter, even to God. We might expect a rebuke from God but that is not what happens. God gives Elijah’s instructions that are basically preparations for Elijah’s retirement. If God had just told Elijah to keep on going, I don’t think that Elijah could have kept going. It was not a matter of willingness to be faithful but rather a deep brokenness. But Elijah could fulfill three specific commands and that is what he did.

How does God meet with us? I cannot say. All I can say is that I have experienced God’s presence in my darkest times. Sometimes it has been in the stillness. I still remember the emotional turmoil as we were anticipating our daughter Abby going into a group home. She was only seven years old. There was a whirlwind of emotion and I was complaining to God because the entire situation seemed unfair. I want to be very careful when I suggest anything like hearing from God. Some people will claim that God only speaks through the Scriptures. But I can remember driving in my car and feeling as if God was saying to me in my mind that God loved Abby far more than I did. And in that moment I was able to get through to the next thing. I was not okay with it and I still experience some emotional pain over it, but I could get through it.

Conclusion

As I conclude, I want to emphasize what I have been trying to say, and that is rough times will come and it is okay for us to feel it and grieve it. We can find no condemnation for Elijah’s reactions within the Scriptures.

But I want to do one last thing and that is to point you to Jesus. Some might look to Jesus and see his suffering and suggest that means we should stop complaining because our suffering is nothing compared to ours. I do not think that is the right message. Instead of saying that Jesus suffered so we should not acknowledge our suffering, I would say Jesus suffered and he invites us to identify with his suffering and to find God’s grace in him. One of the passages of the Bible that struck me from an early age was: “‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) Jesus can give us rest, not because he is immune from suffering, but because he suffered as we have already seen. There is no shame in experiencing an emotion strain, because we have these great examples from both Elijah and Jesus. The promise we have is not that we will avoid such trials but that Jesus will meet us in those trials. And perhaps the message of Jesus will be to just have a rest.