Series on Managing your Emotions – Depression

Series on Managing your Emotions – Depression -Courtesy Benny Ho:

Today’s sermon is from the scripture portion 1 Kings 19: 1- 18 (NIV)

Elijah Flees to Horeb

19 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. He came to a broom bush, 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.” ⁵ Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” ⁶ He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

⁷ The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” ⁸ So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he travelled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. ⁹ There he went into a cave and spent the night.

The Lord Appears to Elijah

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁰ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

¹¹ The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁴ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

¹⁵ The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.¹⁶ Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. ¹⁷ Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. ¹⁸ Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

Many times after a break through, we see a depressing instance. Heroes in the bible not only had good points but also bad points, where they were involved in their darkest moments. Bible gives us this information so that we connect with them and also work on our weaknesses.

Abraham – Staked his wife’s life to save his own life, David committed adultery and murder, Noah – got himself drunk after being found righteous, Samson – weakness for women, Paul quarrelled with his partner Barnabas.

Our worst enemy is Depression. Depression is also the second leading cause of death.

When a person is depressed life seems unbearable. He or she can’t enjoy life, bible, fellowship or God. To worsen the situation, many of us believe that we are too blessed to be depressed and don’t want to deal with it. In Lamentations, Jeremiah expresses his depressive thoughts, in psalm 42, David expresses his depression. For that matter, John Wesley has jotted down some of his depressive records.

When we look into Elijah’s life, he had challenged king Ahab and had won over Baal’s prophets in 1 Kings 18 . But only with Jezebel’s death threat Elijah got so scared. 1 Kings 19: 3

One woman can create so much of terror in a man’s life.

It’s not one instance but a series of events  that take place that leads us to depression.

1. Drained out condition verse 19:  Physically – he ran 18 miles

He had a prolonged period of fasting. He was physically exhausted

2. Emotionally exhausted.

Elijah felt a sense of betrayal from Ahab (King of Israel). Internalized anger can lead to depression. He was disappointed, discouraged, and depressed.

3. Spiritually defeated.

He was 1 against 400 prophets of  baal.

He cried out “I have had enough”. He gave his everything . We go through this condition when we pick more than what we can do.

Career & ministry can be exhausting. God gave us Sabbath, so that we don’t destroy ourselves from these things. It’s dangerous when we take on more than what we can do.

William Booth in his history, wanted to actually quit and wanted to become a secretary. There’s always this temptation to quit.

Not every time it’s spiritual but it also could be chemical imbalance, or it could be that light is dull. According to some researches, darkness also leads to depression. God told Elijah very significantly “Get out of the cave and come out”. Also, deficiency of sleep is also one of the causes of depression. We go on working, neglecting sleep. We manage with only few hours of sleep, which is alright in the short term, but long term, it’ll cause depression, or a drained out condition.

1. Death Mentality: Most of the bible heroes like Jonah, Moses, and David, prayed for death. Thankfully God doesn’t answer that prayer. Depression leads to death. Suicide is a permanent solution to temporary problem which is a lie. It’s a sinful escape. However, it’s an individual’s basic cry – “ be with me, respond to me, this is too much for me to handle”.
2. Distorted perspective: A depressed person will have a distorted perspective. “I am the only one left” Elijah said to God. But God says there are 7000 more. Vs 14, Elijah repeats the same word to word. God said “I have reserved 7000 for me, Elijah you are not the only one.” Once the person is depressed, the focus shifts from real to perceived. We move our attention from God to self. If we notice a new word has slipped into his words, the pronoun ‘I’ takes over. Self Pity will play a major role during depression. Eyes shifts from God, faith becomes smaller, problems become bigger.  Negativism takes over. Distortion, the whole world is against me. I am the only one. When a person reaches depression, he’ll see through the physical eyes and not eyes of faith. It Leads us to believe a lie. Through the eyes of faith we can see the truth and not believe our perspective. Elijah failed to see the power. 1 Kings 19:3. Elijah saw the wrong thing, instead of God’s perspective, he saw from his perspective.

Elijah saw and ran out of fear. Perspective was distorted. He saw the wrong thing. A depressed person’s  perspective will see darkness and self pity but faith sees light.

3 cures of depression

God did to Elijah:

1. Physical restoration: Lord begins to restore him physically. God says, “Go to bed”, then angel woke him up and said eat. 2 periods of rest and 2 hot meals can make a lot of difference. Sometimes the most spiritual thing to do is food, sleep and rest. Take time to restore. God is the one who gives us the sleep. Sleep is a gift of God. Make sure, you have sufficient sleep.

10 keys for good sleep.

1. Keep regular sleeping and waking hours
2. Avoid adrenaline rush after certain hours. Don’t engage yourself in things that gives us an adrenaline rush just before we sleep.
3. Reduce the amount of light earlier in the evening. Turn down the lights in the evening.
4. Stay away from all kinds of stimulant
5. Don’t force yourself to sleep. Get up and do something else.
6. Choose a quiet place
7. Regular Exercise. Don’t exercise 2 hours before bedtime
8. Unclutter your hearts and mind. Take a piece of paper and write it down. Stay in bed if you wake up in the middle of the night. Don’t take too much of tea or coffee just before bedtime.
9. Invest in a good mattress.

2. Emotional Restoration: vs 18

God began to put right his perspective. Made the prophet”s journey back to where he was supposed to be. Elijah saw the glory of God pass by him. Vs13. God asks him “What are u doing here?”. God helps him to Reflect in his own action. It’s important to Solicite conversation and communication. Talking is therapeutic. It brings a lot of release. Getting him to talk. Don’t give a lecture. Give them a listening ear. God did it twice. They need a listening ear. Vs.9 & vs. 13. Elijah gave them the same speech, exactly word to word. God in vs 15 to 18 begins to restore him. God reminded him about his victory over baal’s prophets, He mentions that Jehu will take over and Elisha will be his next to take over.

In Lamentation 3:17 -18, God injected renewed hope by bringing a new situation. Encouragement and hope. Avoid statements like “Just pray and believe”,etc, they are very nice to say but depressed people don’t need clichés, only kindness and friendship. He wanted to isolate himself. Depression has a tendency to isolate themselves. Depressed people are difficult to be with. We must be our brother’s keeper. They isolate more and, more depressed they become. Therefore, they need fellowship. Proverbs 3:7. If you think you can, you can. There’s a limit to positive thinking. ‘I can fly’. I’ll hit myself on the floor if I really jump out my window to fly. But if the word of God says so, then it’ll be so. If God says I can overcome, I can overcome. We need ourselves an emotional restoration.

3. Spiritual restoration, vs 11.

Presence of God is an absolute cure for depression. In depression he has taken his eyes off God and onto himself. But God is getting his eyes getting back to Himself. He blows the Wind, then the fire comes but a depressed person only needs a gentle whisper. God says “I don’t want to destroy you but, I want to restore you.” God took him into his presence. Let God lift us out of this discouragement. Let him restore us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Let him whisper gently into our heart. Lam 3:21 -23 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

 -Sandra wife of Virjil .   The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue.