Take your Bibles with me and turn to 1 Kings 19. 1 Kings 19.

We've been talking for a few weeks now about one of the coolest characters in the whole Bible: Elijah.

In a time of unbelievable darkness in Israel, when their king (King Ahab) was instilling Baal worship as the official religion and their queen was hunting down prophets, Elijah comes out of nowhere to give the king a message: God says it isn't going to rain again until I say so.

Then God leads Elijah to a brook in the wilderness, where God fed him day and night and gave him water. Then after some time God led Elijah to a widow's house in Sidon - in the heart of enemy territory - and fed him there by the hand of a widow who had nothing. Then the widow woman's son died, and Elijah prayed over the boy and he came back to life.

Then God spoke to Elijah and said time to go back and confront Ahab again and tell him it is going to rain. So Elijah sets up this awesome showdown at Mt. Carmel where he calls fire down from heaven, gets all of Israel to shout "Jehovah is the Lord" and then rounds up 45o prophets of Baal and kills them.

So its safe to say that Elijah has had a pretty amazing ministry so far. It's been success after success, miracle after miracle, confrontation after confrontation.

That is why I think chapter 19 is so important for us, because we are going to see the other side of Elijah.

Elijah was a great man. One of only two men in all of the Bible honored with not having to die. One of two men who spoke with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. The first person in the Bible to be involved in a miracle of resurrection. This is a great man!

But he wasn't a perfect man. James chapter 5 tells us...

[!bible] James 5:17-18 - KJV 17. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

Elijah was just like us. He dealt with the same things we deal with. He put his pants on one leg at a time.

And we are going to see the human side of Elijah tonight, and I think it might help you. I know it helped me.

As we work through this chapter tonight, I want to give you four principles. Four takeaways from this story.

Are you in 1 Kings 19? Lets start by reading the first four verses:

[!bible] 1 Kings 19:1-4 - KJV

1. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.
2. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time.
3. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.
4. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

So Elijah has been on top of the world. Here he comes crashing down.

Ahab goes to Jezebel and tells her all that has happened at this little standoff. It's not good news for Jezebel. Not only did Baal not provide rain, but God did in a very undeniable way and the prophet killed 450 of their prophets of Baal.

So Jezebel gets a messenger and sends a message for Elijah - its a simple message. She says basically "If I don't kill you like you killed my prophets, I hope the gods do worse to me."

And here is the thing: Elijah has stood up to Ahab more than once. He's stood face to face with hundreds of prophets before all of Israel. But now, with the threat of a queen, he withers and he runs away.

He runs 80 miles south to the city of Beersheba, he runs right out of Israel and into Judah, out of his mission field. He abandons his servant and then goes another day's journey into the wilderness and just collapses beneath a juniper tree and has a pity party.

And he prays,

• this is the man who prayed and it didn't rain for three years
• this is the man who prayed and brought a dead boy back to life
• this is the man who prayed and fire came down from heaven. He prays - only this time his prayer request is "Let me die, because I am not better than my fathers."

That is what the kids would call a major crash out. That is a terrible bout of depression and fear.

Here is this man who seemed fearless, who seemed unstoppable. And he withers and fades into this state of self-pity and depression.

Now what do we learn from Elijah's breakdown? I want to give you four principles from this passage tonight. Four things that I think will help us.

The first principle is this...

1. Even the best of men can be subject to depression

Elijah was a great man. No doubt about it. He was a faithful man. A man who walked with God. A man who lived in obedience to God. But he was still a man. He was still made of flesh and bone. And what I believe happened here is he just got depressed.

Physically and emotionally, we can only handle so much. Can you imagine the emotional high this man has been on - confronting Ahab, standing before all of Israel, calling down fire from heaven, killing the prophets, hearing the words he had no doubt prayed for many times come out of the nation's lips "The Lord He is God."

This man has been on the top of an emotional roller coaster, and what comes up has to come down. So he crashes. He runs.

Every time so far we've seen Elijah move it has been because God told him to - but here he just runs in fear and desperation. He abandons his helper. He just crashes.

Now why did he crash? Let' me suggest some reasons:

First, as I've already said, he just experienced one of the highest days of his life, and often a crash follows a high.

Second, he was physically exhausted. From Carmel to Jezreel was 20 miles. He ran that before Ahab's chariot. Anyone here run 20 miles this week? Then he ran from Jezreel to Beersheba - that's another 80 miles. This man has run an ultramarathon after one of the most climatic days in history. He had to be physically wiped out.

Third, he was probably disappointed. I think he expected more out of the national revival than what he saw. Maybe he expected more from Ahab.

Finally, he was alone. He left his help behind. He went off by himself.

Listen, there can be many causes for what Martyn Lloyd Jones called "Spiritual Depression" - but certainly these four things are on the list:

• Emotional lows following emotional highs
• Physical exhaustion
• Disappointment
• Loneliness

You might think that if you are spiritual enough that you won't get depressed anymore. But I don't think that is the case. I think the greatest believers in history struggled with seasons of depression:

• Think about John the Baptist in prison.
• Or Paul in chains.

Charles Spurgeon, who may have been the greatest english speaking preacher talked often to his students about how he struggled with depression. In his book "Lectures to My Students" he included a chapter all about this called "The Minister's Fainting Fits."

Listen to this quote where he describes the day to day toll of the ministry:

To sit long in one posture, pouring over a book, or driving a quill, is in itself a taxing of nature; but add to this a badly ventilated chamber, a body which has long been without muscular exercise, and a heart burdened with many cares, and we have all the elements for preparing a seething cauldron of despair.

That's how the prince of preachers talked about his life - "a seething cauldron of despair."

Listen, you may go through a season of depression and despair, when the skies seem always overcast. When no matter how hard you try you cannot bring the joy back.

When that happens, just know you are in good company. You are a human. You are robed in feeble flesh, and even the best of us are overtaken with melancholy sometimes.

So Elijah is under this juniper tree. Praying for God to let him die.

And that brings me to my second principle...

2. God knows how to care for us in our moments of greatest weakness

Let's keep reading. We left off in verse 4 so let's start again in verse 5:

[!bible] 1 Kings 19:5-8 - KJV 5. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. 6. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. 7. And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. 8. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

So how did God help his frail servant when he was going through this time of incredible weakness and depression?

Let me point out three things in this text:

First,

God ignored his foolishness.

Elijah had asked to die. He was basically saying like my kids say when they are frustrated sometimes "I'm done!"

But do you know what? God didn't answer that prayer. Every other prayer we see Elijah pray God answered, even with miracles, but this one, it was like God said "didn't hear that."

Do you realize that sometimes the greatest thing God can do with us in our prayer life is to NOT answer our prayers, or to answer them with NO. Not because He is petty, but because we are. We don't see what He sees, we don't know what to ask or we ask for destructive things.

It's interesting, Elijah prayed to God to die and do you know how God answered that little prayer? Elijah became one of two people in the Bible who did NOT die.

God helped Elijah by ignoring His foolishness. Look at a second thing...

God took care of his physical needs.

Look at verse 5 again. Don't miss this. Do you know what God had Elijah do first? He had him sleep. He needed sleep.

My old pastor once got to pick up Warren Weirsbe from the airport and drive him to a speaking engagement, and do you know what pastor Weirsbe told him in that car? He said "Son, sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is to take a nap."

Listen, our bodies were designed to need sleep. God gave us an example in the creation - work for six days and then rest. You need rest. You need sleep.

If you think you can stay up till two AM playing video games and then wake up the next day at 6 and serve the Lord, you are headed for a crash.

Notice what else God did for Him. Not only did He give him sleep, but he gave him food. Good food. He made him food on hot coals and gave him water.

Do you know what else your body needs? It needs good food. Nutritional food.

If you eat junk food all the time, and you don't get enough sleep, maybe the most spiritual thing for you to do is to give some more attention to your physical health.

Listen, I'm preaching to myself here too. We live in a culture that makes it easy to neglect our bodies. But our bodies weren't meant to sit down all day. To stay up late at night watching TV. To eat a bunch of processed junk food day in and day out. If you don't take care of your body, it might lead you into a season of melancholy, and sometimes coming out doesn't mean some spiritual zap or revival moment, it means taking care of the physical neglect of your body.

So God ignored Elijah's foolishness. God took care of His physical needs. But you have to understand something: we can never do enough on our own. That's why I love the last thing God did to take care of Elijah.

God ministered to him through Christ.

If you look at verse 7 it tells us that an angel touched Elijah. But it isn't just any angel. It is "the angel of the LORD."

Now I believe that whenever we see "the angel of the LORD" in the Old Testament, that is a preincarnate appearance of Christ.

So get this, in the midst of Elijah's greatest personal failure. In the midst of this season of fear and faithlessness and despair, Christ came to him.

Ultimately, the answer for our human frailty is not to optimize ourselves more. That can certainly help. But at the end of the day, we are still frail. We are still flesh.

Ultimately, the answer isn't in us, it is in Christ. We don't have to fulfill the law - He did. We don't have to be the Hero - He was. We don't have to do the saving - He already did for us.

And He knows our failures. He knows our flesh.

[!bible] 1 Peter 5:7 - KJV 7. Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Christ cares for you - and He can handle your care.

So we've seen Elijah's depression and we've seen God's care. Before we look at a third principle, let's keep reading...

[!bible] 1 Kings 19:9-14 - KJV 9. And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? 10. And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. 11. And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: 12. And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 13. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? 14. And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

The third principle I see in this chapter for us is this...

3. Often we have an inaccurate view of ourselves, God's people and God's work

God was merciful and patient with Elijah. He brought him from the wilderness to Mt. Horeb. That's another name for Mt. Sinai. The very mountain where God gave the law to Moses.

And do you know what Elijah wanted to do when he was on this sacred mountain - the mountain of God? He wanted to talk about himself. Listen to him, two times he says "I have been very jealous for the LORD of hosts." He says those stinking children of Israel have forsaken you God, and it's just me, me alone who has been faithful.

Now, was that true? We know it wasn't true. Elijah should have known it to because Obadiah told him already about the 100 prophets he saved. God is going to tell him a little later that there are 7,000 faithful men in Israel left.

But in Elijah's zeal, he really had a wrong view of himself and a wrong view of others.

You know, sometimes faithful brothers can start to think "I'm the only doing this right, I'm the only one left who really is serving God here." And do you know what? You are wrong.

You have too high a view of yourself and too low a view of God's other people.

God has stuff going on that is much bigger than you and much bigger than me. And when we can't see that - that's probably pride God needs to root out of us.

So Elijah had a wrong view of himself and a wrong view of God's people. But Elijah apparently also needed to learn a lesson about how God works.

God brought him to that mountain and gave him quite a show.

• First a whipping wind came by - but God wasn't in the wind.
• Second, God literally broke the mountains with an earthquake - but God wasn't in the earthquake.
• Third, God sent fire but He wasn't in the fire.

Then, God spoke with a still small voice. And God was in that.

What is the lesson here? You know, I think sometimes we expect God to work all the time like it is Mt. Carmel - fire from heaven, big grand displays of His power. Unmistakable speech. But God doesn't usually work that way.

God doesn't usually work in big conferences or in crazy acts of nature or in miracles. Most of the time God just works in His people with a still small voice.

Listen, most of the time it isn't Mt. Carmel. Most of the time it is just God leading you through the ordinary means of grace. Through reading the Bible, through prayer, through other Christians, through Bible preaching.

God wants us to walk with Him. It's a walk, not a launch style roller coaster. A walk, not a series of giant crisis.

There is just so much in this chapter, let's finish it and I'll quickly give you one last point:

[!bible] 1 Kings 19:15-21 - KJV 15. And the LORD said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: 16. And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. 17. And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. 18. Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. 19. So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. 20. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee? 21. And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.

There is one final thing I think we need to know about when we are dealing with these low moments, with these times of meloncholy and that is...

4. Usually, part of God's remedy is giving us something to do.

You see, Elijah was saying "I'm done. Let me die." And God just said "No, you aren't. You are going to rest awhile and then I'm going to give you some jobs to do."

Elijah went and anointed a new king of Syria. He anointed Jehu who would take over after Ahab. Then He anointed his successor - Elisha - a man who was very, very different and had a very different background than Elijah.

Church, when you are down. Don't withdraw. Don't stop coming to church. Don't stop serving the Lord. Very often it is part of God's plan to help us to give us something to do. So keep serving Him.