01 August 2007 Devotion for Today "Marginal Depression" I Kings 19:1-9

01 August 2007  Devotion for Today  “Marginal Depression”  I Kings 19:1-9

 

Another man nearly overcome by the lack of margins in emotions was Elijah.  After his great victory on Mt. Carmel against the priests of Baal in I Kings 18.  In the next chapter, though, Elijah is about as down as anybody could possibly be.  Queen Jezebel frightened him because he killed all her priests, and so Elijah took off for the desert.  He sits down under a broom tree and in verse 4 he prays that he might die- which really doesn’t make any sense, because if he really wanted to die, Jezebel would have gladly obliged.  Notice what he says in verse 5- “It is enough! Now Lord, take my life!” In other words, God- I’ve had it!  Take me out of earth.  Take me off this earth.  Now that is some serious pain he’s carrying there.  And God says to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah, and Elijah says, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword.  I’m the only one left, God.  You know how you know you are depressed?  How the margin of your emotions have been eaten away?  Look at verse 5 “He lay and slept.”  In verse 6, Elijah is sleeping again.  In verse 9 Elijah is still sleeping.  You sleep a lot when you are depressed.  You have no energy even to even eat and drink.  The angel of the Lord had to command him to do it.  You are lethargic- no energy even to think about anything, much less do anything.  Many people have been accused of being lazy who once led very productive lives- its not that they are lazy.  Depression has gripped a hold of them!  Another thing depression does is it causes us to lose perspective- “I’m the only prophet left, God!”   A feeling of hopelessness begins to settle in.  You think the whole world is caving in on you.  Your anger and hopelessness causes you to turn inward even more, instead of turning outward and reaching upward to get the help you desperately need.

            So much of our depression and inwardly turned anger is a result of how we learned (or didn’t learn) to express it in our childhood.  There was a time where it wasn’t proper to express disappointment or hurt.  You would just brush it off, suck it up, and go on.  You were probably admonished to do that because you were told there wasn’t the time to indulge in that kind of thing.  You were told it was selfish, or self-pity.  That it was wrong to indulge in the expression of your hurt.  There were crops to get in, children to be cared for, a farm to run, a depression to get through, and a war to fight.  No time for this kind of thing, no sir.  It started out when you were a child.  Somebody picked on you on the playground, pushed you down, and stomped on your lunch.  You needed someone to express that anger and indignation to.  But your busy parents, or your teachers said nothing.  “Just put a band-aide over it and go on!  They would say- and it did toughen you up, but at the same time, you learned how to ignore and push down anger deeper into the recesses of your souls.  Keep a stiff-upper-lip!  Don’t let anyone know you are in pain.  And never let anyone see you sweat!  That’s the epitome of weakness!  No its not- it’s the epitome of deceit. 

            Friends let me tell you something- many people have been taught that there is something unspiritual, something sinful about being depressed.  Not so, Elijah was depressed.  Jeremiah was depressed.  John the Baptist was depressed- Even our Lord Jesus Christ, at least once, was depressed!  Look at what He went through in Gethsemane in Matthew 26 He says to His disciples-  He began to be filled with anguish and deep distress.  He told them, My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death.  Stay here and watch with me!”  Jesus was fully God, but he was also fully man capable of experiencing boughts of depression like so many of us do.

            Can you see what the erosion of your emotional margin is doing to you?  The first step in getting it back is to admit that it is there.  Secondly, you need to express it to someone that you trust- if not anyone but God.  Thirdly is to recognize the signs of it so that you do not end up there again.  Elijah may have been so caught up in the victory over the priests of Baal that he didn’t see Jezebel coming.  We should enjoy the victories, but we should always watch our back.  The devil will often get in on the flip side when we are not looking.  Watch your back, enjoy the victory, and guard your heart.

            Have  a blessed day!

 

Rev. Jeffery C. Russell
Salem Baptist Church
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@embarqmail.com

jcrussell@liberty.edu

 

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