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"The Causes and Cure of Spiritual Gloom"
THEME: Dejection. Depression. Melancholy. Woe. Gloom. How do we cope with the reality of these words when they affect our lives? Elijah coped with spiritual gloom and that makes him believable. Maybe you get depressed, or even now are depressed. This message will speak to you or someone you care deeply about.

Hundreds of years ago, or so it seems, I became a Christian. It was when I was eighteen years of age. I was a young student at Cambridge University, speaking with great authority from the depths of my considerable ignorance about nothing very much, which is what a lot of students do. And I found that I knew very little at all about the things that really mattered.

I had seldom been inside a church, never opened a Bible, and even though I counted myself civilized, my civilized nature did without any knowledge or interest in God. I really didn’t feel it was up to, or with it, for an intelligent Cambridge student to bother her mind about such weird things. Of course, I was a teen-ager and in my early twenties in the years when God was supposedly dead, or so some theologians from Germany were telling people, and that had filtered over into the Cambridge scene.

However, it was while I found myself in a state of depression that God reached down into my life and convinced me of the truth of the Christian gospel. I was flat on my back at the time in a hospital, very seriously ill. And the young girl in the next bed to me explained to me that God was real, that the Bible was true, that Jesus Christ was not some illegitimate son of a Jewish dancing girl, which I am afraid was what I had believed up to that point, but was, in fact, God in human clothing — clothing being humanity, for he had dressed his divinity in our humanity and intervened in the affairs of man. And as I heard the Christian gospel, it just made sense to me. Not only did it make sense to me, but it brought me to the realization that I needed to know this God that I was hearing about. So there in the hospital I became a Christian.

I asked one or two questions of the girl who was talking to me before I gave my life to Christ. One of the questions I asked was, “What do I have to give up?”

I had the feeling that if I became a Christian, I would never smile again. I don’t know where I got that idea but I really believed that Christians were the most joyless, dull sort of people. And I didn’t want to join the club. I had enough problems of my own without becoming a Christian, or so I thought.

When I asked her what I would have to give up, she answered very simply, “Only your sin.” That was a good answer. In other words, only the things that would stop me from becoming the person, the full person, the complete person that God wanted me to be.

And so I gave my life to Jesus and it was wonderful, absolutely wonderful. I can’t tell you all the things that began to come into my life that I had never known before.

And I come from a wealthy, privileged background. At one time my parents owned a castle hundreds of years old. and I had everything that the world could offer me. And yet I had seen both my father and my mother surely lacking in the one element that I was after, the element of happiness, joy — it wasn’t there even though they had all the things they could possibly desire to make them joyful. There was something missing. It was obviously the God-shaped hole that I had heard about when I was a student.

Well, as I became a Christian and began to discover that Christ did not come into my life to rob me of joy, it was really very wonderful. I found this peace they had been telling me about, all these Christians. They said, “Yes, you accept Jesus and it will be wonderful and you will find that you will smile for the first time in your life on the inside, not just on the outside.”

And I found a great big smile deep down within my heart and soul. And it was great.

Now there were some tough things happening to me. My friends didn’t understand it, and I lost one or two friends that I did have. And it was quite hard being a Christian in that academic cold bath, spiritually speaking, that I was a part of at that time. And yet it was all joy. I found the author of this book. He began to explain it to me, and quite honestly I had not known whether an apostle was the wife of an epistle when I first came to Christ. I didn’t know the beginning of my Bible from the end. It was just all strange to me — just print on white paper. It all came alive.

But very shortly afterwards, after all the newfound joy of my faith, I found myself, as Elijah in I Kings 19:1-7, flat on my face under a broom tree. Suddenly all the joy was gone. Suddenly the newfound faith, the newfound experience of becoming a Christian was over. I wondered if I had quit being a Christian. If, somehow as Christ had walked into my life, he had now walked out. What had happened? Could I lose him having once found him whom my soul loved? Was it possible to be a Christian and have a long face?

Well, I discovered it was possible to be a Christian and have a long face. And that was quite a discovery for me. Somebody had told me that Christians were never sad, they never cried, they never hurt, and nothing bad ever happened to them. They were not truthful. Jesus said, “If they crucified me, what are they going to do to you?” He was talking about his followers.

And so as I began to read my Bible, I found that Jesus Christ did not promise me a bed of roses. He said there would be difficulties if you became a Christian, that there would be times when I didn’t smile on the outside or even on the inside. Just as there were times in the Lord Jesus Christ’s life when we read that he wept at the tomb of Lazarus. And in the garden of Gethsemane, the Bible says that he was heavy and very depressed. Jesus depressed? Yes, Jesus was heavy and very depressed.

And so I began to search the scriptures in those days for the answer to my spiritual depression. What had happened to me? Why was I down when I had heaven in my heart? Why was I depressed when I knew God was my God and I was going to heaven when I died and my sins were forgiven and all those good things that Christians know?

Do you know what I discovered? I discovered that there are many men and women in the Bible who got depressed, and as I began to look for the “why”, I began to see that they were the “biggies”. They weren’t the small little people, the peons like you and I, running around the Christian world. They were: Moses, David, Elijah, these sorts of people. Over the years as I have studied their lives, I tried to find out why they got depressed, and I tried to find out what God did to lift that depression from them. And it’s been a wonderful Bible study and not only a Bible study, but it has helped me at those times when I am lying flat on my face under a broom tree.

Let me ask you a question. Do I find you this Sunday evening, whoever I am talking to, down on your face, saying as Elijah said, “I’ve had enough, Lord. I’ve had enough, Lord. I’ve had it up to here.”

Perhaps you have had it up to here with your circumstances, perhaps you have had it up to here with your health, perhaps you have had it up to here with your church, perhaps you have had it up to here with Christian work. Do you know that Christian workers can get depressed? Do you know that ministers get depressed? Do you know that missionaries get depressed?

Well, you’re looking at one. I was a missionary for fourteen years — now I’m a pastor’s wife. Do you think pastors’ wives get depressed? Yes, pastors’ wives get depressed — really, very depressed! Just like Elijah did.

Let’s look at some of the causes of Elijah’s depression and see if we can learn some things from them. Well first of all, of course, he had a horrendous time. He had been chased around because you see he was called “Eliah -Elijah”. Let me just give you a bit of background to this story. In the beginning of times, in Genesis days, when man was fresh on the earth, all men believed in “El” the one true God. And then a myth arose, and the myth was this: “El” was getting old, this one true God that everybody believed in, and his son “Baal”, well he was young and strong. And so he waited until his dad, his father, “El” the one true God was really weak, and then he revolted, took over his kingdom and he became God. Now “El” wasn’t dead but he was old and decrepit. He sort of had it. He was on the way out.

Now this myth spread all around the world and the people who believed in the one true God sort of got less and less, and the ones who believed in “Baal” his son, seemed to get more and more.

On to the scene comes “El-iah” whose name means “El” is God. Now in primitive times before the myth of Baal arose, everybody believed “El” was the god of rain, “El” was the god of thunder, “El” was the god of lightning. They all believed that, or the god of fire.

Then the time came when hearing all these suspicious rumors that perhaps he was old and decrepit and was on the way out and had had it, everybody began to believe that his son had become the god of thunder, and lightning, and rain. But then Elijah came. And Elijah came out of the desert somewhere. We don’t know where he came from. We don’t know why he suddenly appeared on the scene. All we know in the Biblical record is that he did, and he said, “You’re all wrong. El is God. He’s the God who can shut up heaven and open heaven and make the rains come. He’s the God who can bring fire from heaven. He’s the God. He’s the God.”

Well, he seemed like a voice crying in the wilderness because everybody was busy worshiping Baal. And even old King Ahab himself who was king compromise, you know. He knew better. He really knew that El was God but he was worshiping Baal because he married a woman called Jezebel. And his wife Jezebel — let me say a good word on her behalf — nobody ever does, so I may as well just for once.

Jezebel was married off in a political alliance to Ahab, king compromise himself. And she looked around and saw that she didn’t have much to be queen of. And then she figured it out in her little mind. She said, “This man I’m married to is worshiping the wrong God. If only he would get on the stick and start to worship Baal, then maybe he’d get some rain coming down from heaven. And he’d get some crops growing and he’d get his cattle nice and fat.”

And so she began to import all her prophets. And King Ahab let her because he was weak and he didn’t have a very strong faith. Perhaps he was ruled by his wife, I don’t know.

Then on to the scene comes Elijah. And he prayed, and the Bible says that the heavens were shut up and the rain didn’t come for three whole years. Well, Elijah had got himself in trouble. God sustained him. He sent birds, ravens, to feed him. And he sent widow women to nurture him and to shelter him and to hide him and to look after him those three years.

And Ahab looked for him with his soldiers and found him not. At the end of three years out of the desert again comes Elijah. He says to Ahab, “Come and meet me.” And there on the top of Mount Carmel, he said, “We will see which God is God, whether El is God or whether Baal is God.”

And they gathered the whole of Israel around that mountain. I’m sure you know that story if you know your Bible at all. Two altars built. Baal’s altar and Elijah’s altar, and the sacrifice ready. Then the prayers began and Baal’s prophets pray and Elijah prays. And what happens? The fire falls. Where? On Baal’s altar? Oh, no. Baal doesn’t exist, you see. El is the true God. God is the true God. So the fire fell and consumed, remember — Elijah’s offering.

And all the people who had come to see, said, “El is God, El is God.” Now at the end of this wonderful, wonderful victory for God, for El, Elijah chops off all the heads of the prophets of Baal. Then he goes up the mountain and he begins to pray, and the rain begins to fall after three years. Remember that? And then he comes running down the mountain and he says to Ahab, “Get into your chariot. You better hurry up. The rains are coming, and if you don’t hurry, your chariot wheels are going to get stuck in the mud. There’s going to be a big rain.”

And then the Bible says, “He ran in front of the chariot all the way to the gates of Jezreel.”

Now put all that together and you have got a man who must be totally exhausted and that is one of the reasons we get depressed, even in God’s work. Even those of us who are working very hard being mothers or providers for our families, or businessmen, or whatever we’re doing, we can get so overwrought doing the things that we ought to do that we get totally exhausted. And there is no question in my mind but that Elijah was totally exhausted. He had had it, Lord, up to here.

Maybe that’s why you’re depressed. There’s nothing more that you need than to go to bed and have a good sleep and that’s what God told him. Do you remember, Jesus Christ came to Elijah. You say, “Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ didn’t get around in the Bible until Luke’s gospel. What do you mean Jesus Christ came to Elijah?”

Well, in the King James version, if you have a King James Bible there, you can look it up in I Kings 19, and you will see these words, “The Angel of the Lord touched him.” This is Elijah as he was lying on his face under the broom tree and the Angel of the Lord touched him. Whenever you see the Angel of the Lord with a capital "A" for angel and Lord in capital letters, that is a theophany. It is a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. For Jesus didn’t just appear at Bethlehem, you know. Jesus Christ became a baby at Bethlehem but he had been active, of course, even before our world existed. He and the Trinity were very much alive.

And here in the Old Testament, whenever you find a pre-incarnate appearance of God in human form, we believe that person was the pre-incarnate Christ.

And so Jesus touched Elijah, and he said, “Get up. I’ve made breakfast for you.” And he fed him, and then he said, “Go to sleep. All you need is a good sleep at this point, Elijah.”

Now, it’s really interesting to see what happened to Elijah. When I look into my own life, and perhaps as you are thinking about your down days — your depression that you perhaps all too often get into, there are just a few little clues here. When you sense yourself beginning to isolate, watch it! For example, he left his servant behind. And I find when I get depressed, I withdraw. I don’t want to be around shiny Christians that are all smiley and happy because that makes me feel worse. And if you’re not careful, you can withdraw, and withdraw, and withdraw, so that there is no one around you to help or to minister to you. You can even stop going to church, and that’s an awfully silly thing to do. Because if a coal falls out of the fire, it goes cold or it goes out.

The idea of fellowship is having coals kept together to keep warm so that other people who know Jesus can help us at that time. Now Elijah had left his servant behind. He also had a sense of desolation. He said, “I’m no better than my fathers,” and you know when you get depressed, you begin to think you are a failure. But, of course, failure is never final for the Christian. Did you know that?

I demand a lot of myself. I’m an Elijah. I run in front of the chariot when I could walk. I’m sure Elijah was offered a lift by Ahab, but he didn’t accept it. And that’s the sort of person I am. I’m an Elijah. I overdo until I’m overdone or done over, if you like, and I find myself flat on my face under the broom tree.

And what I find happens to myself is this great sense of failure — “Lord, I did it again,” or “Lord, I didn’t do it again,” or “Lord, why did I say that to so and so?” or “Why did I mess up last time I was on the Sunday Evening Club — why did I forget my sermon?” All these things — they really get me depressed.

Then I have to go back to God and I find the Angel of the Lord touches me, and you know, I just love this story. The Angel of the Lord did not touch Elijah and say, “Get up, you stupid pooped prophet and share the pure spiritual laws with Jezebel,” did he? Well, I don’t see that in my Bible.

I see that the Angel of the Lord touched him, and it was such a tender touch. You know, sometimes when I get home after being on the road in ministry, I get very tired and perhaps the house is empty and my husband also is somewhere else in the world ministering the word of God, and I am all alone and I am very down. Sometimes I think because I lose perspective of God at that point, that God is standing in the corner of my room saying, “Get up and minister, minister, minister,” and he’s got a great big stick with “Ministry” written on it.

And you see, you lose your perspective of God when you get depressed or gloomy. What I need to know is that he is saying, '”Oh, Jill, go to bed. Go to sleep. Put your Bible away. Have some good breakfast. Go for a walk. Relax.” You’re allowed to be tired. You’re allowed to be down. And maybe all that’s wrong with us is a sense of total exhaustion — psychological, emotional, spiritual exhaustion.

If that’s the case, then you just need some very sensible things done for you. I have often wondered what that breakfast tasted like by the way. Can you imagine having a breakfast cooked by Jesus? I can’t. We do read further down in the story that he had the strength after that breakfast to go forty days and forty nights to the mount of God.

There was another breakfast in the New Testament. Jesus always seems to be cooking breakfast for gloomy, down, pooped prophets lying under broom trees. This time it was for the Apostle Peter. He was very depressed because he had failed Jesus and denied him. And Jesus cooked him breakfast and they got things sorted out between them.

Jesus always meets you. Do you know how you’re going to get the depression dealt with? You’re going to get on your knees and you’re going to say, “God, I am depressed. Men of God and women of God have gotten depressed before. And I need you. And I need you to come to me and touch me and help me.”

Maybe it will be through the Bible. Maybe it will be through this very program. Maybe it will be through your pastor that you’re going to pick up the phone and call as soon as we have finished. Maybe it will be a letter. Maybe it will be a friend. I don’t know how the Angel of the Lord is going to touch you. But I know if you ask him to, he will. And when you do that, you will find as Elijah found, as he sat in his little cave after being touched by the simple touch of God in his life, the still small voice will come to you and say, “What doest thou here, Elijah?”

Because God loves you too much to leave you in that holy cave of retirement on your holy hill. He won’t leave you there. Oh, he’ll give you a little rest. He will help you regroup. But then he will say, “I still need you. I still want you. You can have a second chance. Failure is never final for the Christian.”

And that’s what happened to Elijah. I wonder why he went to Horeb. I’ve often wondered. Was it because Moses, another man who had failed God many, many times but had some pretty gloomy experiences, went there? Do you remember what happened to Moses here? The golden calf, the water out of the rock, the burning bush. God met Moses after he had run away, being a murderer. In the back side of the desert, God met him and said, “I am all that you need.”

“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,” Moses, “today and forever.” Maybe Elijah needed to remember that.

There's another mountain — it’s in the New Testament. It’s not the mountain that Elijah was sitting on in this story. It’s another mountain, and Elijah has gone to heaven by now. God sent a beautiful “car” for him — a fiery chariot. It took him to heaven. He translated him. And there on the Mount of Transfiguration, Elijah is seen. What’s he doing? He is talking to Jesus.

And you see, Jesus Christ was the same for Elijah in his past, in his present, and in his future. Jesus Christ can be the same for you in your past. And you say, “Oh, he has been, Jill.” Just like I started this talk. Jesus Christ was wonderful for me when I first became a Christian. And Jesus Christ is going to be wonderful for me when I stand on the Mount of Transfiguration in heaven one day. He’s going to be all that I need. But it’s now that matters. And if I’m flat on my face under my broom tree now, Jesus Christ can be the same and he can touch me, and he can set me free. And he can give me a joy right now, just where I am. Do you believe it? Then why don’t you ask him to do just that for you?  

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