Dealing with Discouragement

Well, as I mentioned tonight, we continue in our preaching through the book of 1 Kings.

! And tonight we'll be in 1 Kings chapter 19.

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

!

This challenge is to see who is the true God.

And so the prophets of Baal, they summon up their call to their God to see if He will rain down fire on their altar.

And we see it's this vain pursuit.

They call, they scream, they cut themselves and nothing happens.

In fact, Elijah kind of mocks them that their God does not answer.

And so then it's Elijah's turn and he has the prophets pour water again and again and again on the altar

before he calls to the one true God who does send down fire, who consumes this burnt offering

and the wood and the stone and the dust and the water.

And so we see this mountaintop experience for Elijah.

This highest hour perhaps of his where God's sovereignty and His power shines through.

And then we very quickly transition to this new chapter, chapter 19.

And we see what seems to be the spiritual giant having his greatest hour now experiencing perhaps his darkest hour.

And so that's going to be a focus of what we think about tonight, this pain of discouragement, this pain of despair that happens.

That can happen often in ministry.

It can happen in life in general.

And how do we deal with this despair?

What happens when we're depressed and we're disappointed by how life is going?

Where do we turn to for comfort?

And I think it can be a temptation.

It was for me, in fact, when I read this passage for the first time earlier this week,

when we see this transition from what Elijah was to what he becomes in this chapter,

and we can easily judge him to say, how did you lose your faith so quickly?

But I hope what we see actually is Elijah's status of despair can serve as a comfort for us.

Because we see this man of God struggling under hardship and we recognize he's just like us.

And we are just like him.

And in our frailty and in our fear, we have a God who still loves us.

And a God who protects us.

And a God who gives us hope even in our darkest hour.

And so let's turn to the reading of God's word.

1 Kings chapter 19, starting in verse 1.

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

And so Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say,

May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.

And when he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,

while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness.

And he came to a broom bush and 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.

Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said,

Get up and eat.

He looked around and there at his head was some bread,

baked over hot coals and a jar of water.

And he ate and he drank and then lay down again.

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.

And so he got up and ate and drank.

Strengthened by the food, he traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

And there he went to a cave and spent the night.

And the word of the Lord came to him,

What are you doing, Elijah?

And he replied,

I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.

The Israelites have rejected your covenant,

tore 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.

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.

And after the wind there was an earthquake.

But the Lord was not in the earthquake.

After the earthquake came a fire,

but the Lord was not in the fire.

And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

When Elijah heard it,

he pulled his cloak over his face

and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then the voice said to him,

What are you doing here, Elijah?

And he replied,

I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.

The Israelites have rejected your covenant,

tore 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.

The Lord said to him,

Go back the way you came,

and go to the desert of Damascus.

And when you get there,

anoint Hazael, king over Aram.

Also anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, king over Israel.

And anoint Elisha, the son of Shaphat,

from Abel-Meholah,

to succeed you as a prophet.

And Jehu will put to death

any who escape the sword of Hazael.

And Elijah will put to death

any who escape the sword of Jehu.

Yet I reserve 7,000 in Israel,

all who knees have not bowed to Baal,

whose mouths have not kissed him.

This is the word of God.

Pray with me again.

Gracious God, we do not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from your mouth.

And so we ask, Lord,

that you send your Holy Spirit

that in the preaching of your word

our eyes may be opened,

our hearts may be softened,

and that our wills may be renewed.

Lord, we ask that we may receive your truth

and be comforted by your provinces this evening.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Now, I'm sure many of you know

the book Pilgrim's Progress.

Actually, James referenced it this morning

in his sermon.

And if you know,

it's written by a man named John Bunyan.

This was a preacher and a writer

back from the 1600s.

And this book, Pilgrim's Progress,

it's an allegory of the Christian life.

And so there's this main character, Christian,

who's moving from the city of destruction

on his way to the celestial city.

And so it tracks his journey

through different trials and temptations

and struggles.

He encounters different people along his path,

some who carry on with him.

And there's at one point in this story

where he meets a friend,

a man named Hopeful,

and they begin to travel together.

And as they begin to walk, though,

the path gets a little stony and difficult.

And off in the distance,

though, they see this other path.

It's green pasture.

This green meadow.

And they decide, you know what?

If we were to turn off there

and take this slight detour,

we can avoid this rocky patch.

And so they decide together to do so.

And as they walk through this meadow,

night begins to fall.

And a storm comes up.

And we realize the rains come and the winds.

And they realize they've made a horrible mistake.

But as the floodwaters rise,

they realize they can't turn around.

And now that it's too dark to see where they're going,

and so they decide to find shelter for the night,

thinking that at daybreak,

they'll return to the path.

But when day comes,

they see that we realize

this land is the land of a giant,

a giant named Despair.

And he captures them.

And he takes them to his castle,

Doubting Castle.

And he throws them in prison there

and says, you've been trespassing.

Now you will pay the penalty in this dungeon.

And so they survive in this dungeon

without food or water for days and days.

And each day this giant Despair comes

and he beats them and he beats them.

And he encourages them to take their own life

because they'll never escape.

And so after many days of this happening,

Christian, he's ready to take this advice

and end his own life.

And at this point in the story,

we see Christian in his journey.

It mirrors very much the journey of Elijah here,

this prophet in a very similar state of hopelessness.

He's been portrayed as this faithful man

and now he seems to be without hope at all.

And so that's what I want us to focus on tonight.

As we think about discouragement

and we think about being depressed,

when we feel like we're at the end of the rope,

what are we to do?

And so I think from our passage in 1 Kings here,

there's really three things I want us to focus on

in regards to discouragement.

First, the cause of discouragement.

Second, the characteristics of discouragement.

And third, the cure for discouragement.

The cause, the characteristics,

and the cure for discouragement.

And so let's first consider the cause of discouragement.

Now I think we can think about cause in two ways here.

We can think about it circumstantially

and we can also think about it spiritually.

Again, if we think to the very end of chapter 18,

what's just happened here?

There's been this great victory.

The prophets of Baal have been defeated.

The rain comes.

The drought has been lifted.

And it says that Ahab,

he's hurrying home to tell Jezebel what's happened.

And it's interesting here

because Elijah could have stayed on that mountain,

but instead he chooses to go see Jezebel as well.

Ahab, it actually says he's on a chariot.

But somehow Elijah on foot beats the chariot to Jezebel.

And we see, obviously,

he's probably anticipating some sort of fantastic result here.

That finally Jezebel's heart of stone will crumble.

That she'll finally submit herself to the one true God.

That she'll turn from her wickedness

when she hears what the true God has done.

But in fact, she does the exact opposite, right?

She threatens to kill him.

And so we see circumstances like this

that can reasonably think will lead us to despair.

But the thing is,

it's not simply circumstances that guarantee us

to go into despair

because Elijah's faced hardship before, right?

We see this in the passages previous.

He was no stranger to hardship.

He had, in fact, told Ahab to his face,

you're a troubler of Israel,

risking death at the very least.

He's endured drought.

He's raised the dead.

He's defeated these prophets.

And so it's not simply circumstances for Elijah

that caused him to fall into despair.

I think oftentimes we like to blame our circumstances

for our condition of despair or for discouragement.

But the reality is that oftentimes our discouragement,

it reveals more about our spiritual condition

than our circumstances.

You know, all that I mentioned before

that happened to Elijah,

he does so in reliance on God.

But here we see a change in his attitude,

a change in his outlook

because instead of focusing on God and what he has done,

he begins to focus on self.

And so we see this play out

when he's at Mount Horeb.

He's asked twice,

why are you here?

And he gives the same answer twice.

He says, I've been very zealous for the Lord.

Everyone else has rejected you.

I alone have left.

Everyone's trying to kill me.

And so he's not really trying to speak at all

about what God has done.

He's speaking about what he's done.

He's a concern for his own life.

It seems as though he's relying on his own work,

his own merit,

as being the foundation for why he should be saved.

And we see some discouragement here too, right?

He's seen success in his ministry up to this point.

And now that success doesn't come,

he begins to question the Lord.

As if success in and of itself has been his God,

and that's almost been more important

than serving the one true God.

And so instead of trusting in God

and relying on his promises,

he begins to listen to the threats of man

and rely on his own strength.

And so I wonder, do we do the same thing?

I mean, there's certainly many in this room

who face hardships of various kinds, right?

Many who have lost loved ones.

Many who have maybe not been as successful

in your career as you might have hoped.

You face financial uncertainty.

You have troubles in your family.

You're battling illness.

Battling depression.

You seem to, as though you can't find stability

in your life.

And I think we can experience this too,

not only in the individual sense,

but also in the corporate sense.

As we think about this church.

Maybe you've been at this church for a long time.

And you think maybe we're in a hard spot.

Maybe the church isn't as well off as it used to be.

Maybe membership is low.

Maybe families are few.

Maybe our impact has begun to be limited.

And how do we respond spiritually

when we face that kind of discouragement?

I think oftentimes we do what Elijah does

and we turn our eyes off from God

and we begin to think about ourselves

and our own need for success

to turn to our own path

as we seek our own solution to our problems.

Because this is what Christian does here

in our book, right?

He turns off.

The reason he gets captured by this giant despair

is because he's turned off the king's path.

He's turned off the king's road to his own way.

When difficulty comes,

he chooses his own path to solve his own problems.

I think that often happens when

we probably think incorrectly

about the Christian life at times.

We expect it to be easy perhaps.

We fail to recognize

the hardship that we should expect.

We fail to recognize

that the cross of Christ is a sign to us

that we share in the sufferings of Jesus,

not that it's a guarantee

to remove us from all hardship.

And so the disappointment,

it may be sparked by our circumstances at times.

Oftentimes it's perpetuated

by the spiritual state

that we're in

when we choose to turn from God

and rely on self.

And so that's the reason

that we see for Elijah's discouragement here.

I want to look,

take a little bit deeper look

at the characteristics

of his discouragement now.

Because I think what Elijah's experienced,

I think we all can experience this at times.

So practically,

what does it look like

when we experience disappointment and despair?

Well, I think first of all,

we often experience fear.

This is exactly what Elijah experiences

from the very beginning.

He had been portrayed

as this figure of bravery

and now he's running for his life.

And I think the same thing can happen to us.

When hardship comes,

we feel as though we need to question God

or question our future.

What's going to happen?

What does my future hold?

And I think we see this

in the people of Israel too.

When finally they make it

through the promised land

and through the wilderness,

they're making their way

into the promised land.

Joshua is now their leader.

What is,

what's the command

and the instruction

that God gives Joshua

over and over again?

This encouragement

of don't be afraid.

Be strong.

Be courageous.

Do not fear.

And he gives reason

for why we're not to be afraid

because the Lord your God

will be with you

wherever you go.

And so I think we see here

that fear comes

when we choose

to forget God's power

and forget his presence.

I think we can often

kind of slide

into spiritual amnesia

at times.

When trials come,

we forget how God

has provided for us

in the past.

And just like the people

of Israel,

it's easy to trust God

when things are going well.

But when hardship comes,

we begin to question,

is God really there?

We begin to question

his track record

and we become crippled

with fear.

Will this hardship

ever end?

And so we need

to be reminded

as the people of Israel

were over and over again,

when God gives new command

to them,

he reminds them

of how he's been faithful

to them.

I am the Lord your God

who has brought you

out of the land of Egypt.

He's telling us,

I know you become fearful

when you forget.

So don't forget

that I am your sovereign,

all-powerful,

loving Savior.

Another characteristic

that I think also follows

very closely to fear

is this feeling

of loneliness

and isolation.

Think about verse 10 again.

How does Elijah answer God?

He says,

look,

all of Israel's rejected you.

I alone have left.

Everyone's trying

to kill me now.

And when we face hardship,

I think we can feel

very, very alone.

We can often experience,

well,

I'm the only one

who has ever experienced this.

No one knows

what I'm going through

because it's a unique situation.

This is what we sang about

in Psalm 88.

This is what the psalmist is saying.

He feels that he's set apart

with the dead.

That God remembers him no more.

That he's been cut off.

That he alone is left.

And is it true

that when we feel

this loneliness and despair,

oftentimes we make it

all the worse

because we choose

to deprive ourselves

from company?

This is what Elijah does here.

He flees to Beersheba,

but he leaves his servant

and then he keeps traveling on.

No doubt,

the servant was a companion of his,

a friend,

someone who knew him,

and yet he decides

to leave him behind

in his despair.

And so why do we do this sometimes?

When we experience hardship

or difficulty,

why do we isolate ourselves?

It may be because

we like to wallow

in our sorrow.

It may be because

we want to be justified

in the way that we feel.

We don't want to share

our burdens with others.

We don't trust

that they maybe have

our best intentions,

that they can provide

help for us.

We don't want to be

encouraged sometimes.

And I think we can see

this play out

in the church even.

I had the opportunity

to share a little bit

this morning

about community groups

and the value

of community groups

and how we're looking

to build community

and unity

as we come together

midweek.

But no doubt

there are some

in the church

who have always

avoided community groups

because you just,

maybe you don't trust

those in the church.

Maybe you have issue

with something

about the church

or in your life

that you just

don't want to share.

And you certainly

don't want to be bothered

by other people's problems.

And so you isolate yourself.

And in your isolation

we can begin

to perpetuate

these feelings

of despair

rather than seek others

to bear our burdens.

Another characteristic

I think we see

in Elijah

in regards to his despair

is one of exhaustion.

Right?

He's had this

mountaintop experience

and now is fleeing

for his life.

He runs into the wilderness.

He asks God to die

and he falls asleep.

And even when he's

awoken by an angel

you think,

okay,

that's something

that's going to

wake him up,

right?

He wakes up enough

to eat a little food

and then go back

to bed again.

Many of you know

Charles Spurgeon

who was a minister

down in London

in the 1800s

known as the

Prince of Preachers.

Someone who preached

for almost 40 years.

Prolific preacher.

Often preached

10 sermons a week

to thousands of people.

His own sanctuary

holding 5,000 to 6,000 people.

But yet he had

a very public

battle with depression.

At age 22

when he was preaching

to thousands

in this big music hall,

someone yelled out

fire.

And though there

wasn't any fire

in the building

it caused a panic

and people got up

and started running out

and in the chaos

seven people

were trampled to death.

And this was an episode

that never left him.

He was devastated

by the screams

of the crowd,

by the weight

of his own responsibility

and that tragedy

scarred him for life.

But on top of that

he battled

multiple chronic illnesses.

He was often overworked

by his preaching,

by his counseling,

by his caring for the poor,

by his writing

and he was often left

utterly exhausted.

And he would describe

these bouts

of darkness

and depression

as the dark night

of the soul.

And I wonder

if we ever feel that way.

as if we're trying

to keep all these

plates spinning

and we have family

and we have friends

and we have church

and we have other

responsibilities,

we have activities,

we have our own health

and we feel like

we're trying the best

we can but

maybe we're failing

at everything.

And so maybe like Elijah

we just want to cry out

and call enough,

enough God,

I'm ready to call it quits.

I'm at the end

of the rope,

I'm sick of trying,

take my life.

And we can actually reach

a point of being irrational.

I think that's the point

that Elijah ends up here

because he's praying

out to God

that God may take his life

while he's actually

running for his life.

If he truly wanted

to lose his life,

stop running.

Jezebel will certainly

kill you.

But we see he's in

this downward spiral

of fear

and loneliness

and isolation

and exhaustion.

And perhaps we felt

that same way

and so we ask

what are we to do?

Well that brings us

to our third

and final point

because we see here

a cure.

A cure for our despair

it's revealed

in the tenderness

of God.

And we see this

both in word

and in deed here.

When Elijah runs

into the wilderness

what does God do?

Does he yell at him?

Does he chastise him?

Does he reprimand him

or punish him?

No.

He offers him

nourishment and rest.

If you're a parent

in the room

certainly you've

experienced this before

when you've had

a young child

an infant

a toddler

who is just

they're starting

to crumble

and they're crying

and they're screaming

and they're inconsolable

and they don't want

to be held

and they don't want

to be put down

and you realize

what they need

is what?

They need sleep.

And it's amazing

the transformation

that occurs

when they wake up.

You put them down

a little devil

and they wake up

a little angel.

My own boy

Crawford

our youngest

he was at nursery

this week

and took a fall

and bumped his head

and the nursery

called Rachel

to come pick him up

and he had this

cut on his head

that wasn't stopping

bleeding

as Rachel was

consoling him

and asking him

how he was doing

he answered

and said

I could really

use a cup of tea.

Now if anyone's

doubting that I'm

raising a Scottish child

there's your answer

right there

and he got his

cup of tea

when he got home

and he was feeling

a lot better.

And so I don't mean

to trivialize this point

but honestly

sometimes

when we are

at our lowest

even as adults

what we really need

is a snack

and a nap.

That seems

very simple

but this is

what we see

in God's kindness

to Elijah here

because what we see

is we are human

our strength

and our energy

is finite

and our God

is not a slave

master

he is a good

father

who gives

good gifts.

And I think

often times

in our despair

we often

neglect to see

the love

and the goodness

of God

and it can come

in many forms

and we can receive

it in many

different ways.

It may be time

with a good friend

who makes you laugh.

It may be the flowers

in your garden.

It may be a beautiful

sunrise or sunset.

It may be the cool breeze

when you're walking

to church this evening.

It may be a cup of tea

by the fire.

See God gives us

our senses

so that we can see

and smell

and hear

and taste

and touch

that he is good

and that he cares.

Secondly

we see here

that God

not only provides

nourishment

but he listens

to Elijah here.

Elijah

is asked twice

by God

what are you doing here?

Now I think

you could say

well is God

being harsh here?

I don't really think

he is.

I think he's not

speaking in a

condescending way

but he's really

permitting Elijah

to vocalize

his grief.

Because we see here

Elijah

he really doesn't

give a good answer.

He's perhaps

expressing a bit

of frustration

or pride

but we still

see God

listens to him.

He allows him

to pour out

his heart

and to be

honest with

his feelings.

And I think

this is something

that we often

fear to do

ourselves

when we pray

because we

want to

keep up

appearances.

We want

to appear

as though

we're spiritual

and say

the right

thing.

But in fact

I think

what we see

here is that

venting our

frustration

through prayer

can be

a wonderful

starting point

for the God

to start working

at our hearts

and to align

our wills

with his.

And so we

can say to

God

God

I hate

my job.

We can

say to

God

I'm sick

of my

family.

We can

say to

God

I'm sick

of not

having a

family.

You can

say to

God

I'm sick

of the

people in

this church.

You can

say to

God

I'm sick

of my

illness.

I'm sick

of being

sick and

tired.

And he

welcomes

that.

You know

why?

Because he's

willing and

ready to

answer.

And that's

what he

does here

to Elijah.

We read

that Elijah

comes to

Mount Horeb

here.

This is

Mount Sinai

by a

different name.

And so

this is the

same mountain

that the

people of

Israel came

and received

the Ten

Commandments

from God.

The same

mountain

where God

revealed himself

to Moses.

And so we

see here

almost Elijah

is mirroring

a lot of

his activities.

He travels

for 40 days

and 40 nights

to come to

Mount Horeb.

It kind

of mirrors

the people

of Israel

spending 40

years in

the wilderness

before coming

to the

promised land.

And here

he too

meets with

God in

the same

way that

Moses does.

We see

here that it

says that

when God

appeared to

Elijah it

says there

was a

strong wind

that came

and an

earthquake

and fire

but God

wasn't in

those elements.

We had

seen his

power and

his might

up on

Mount Carmel

to the

prophets

of Baal.

But right

here to

Elijah he

comes in

a still

small voice.

He comes

with a

message of

hope and

a plan of

victory.

Again God

could have

been angry

Elijah for

his actions

for his

attitudes but

instead he

calls him

back to

action like a

general summoning a

soldier.

Don't be a

deserter.

Come back to

the front lines.

You are needed

here.

You have

duties to

fulfill.

And of

course God

doesn't need

Elijah to

complete his

task here but

we see that.

And when he

is welcoming

Elijah back

into his

mission he's

actually pulling

him from that

well of

despair.

And I think

he does the

same for us.

And he does

so by announcing

good news.

You're not

alone.

I'm raising

up another

king.

I'm raising

up another

prophet.

There are

7,000 other

faithful Israelites

when you think

you're all

alone.

He's saying

my plan will

not fail.

My timing may

not be what

you think it

should be.

It may not

occur in a

dramatic fashion

that you were

expecting.

But I am in

sovereign control

of this

situation and

I have a

wonderful rescue

plan to save

my people.

And he

says I will

send another

who will

suffer in

your place.

My son

Jesus will

conquer death

and fully and

finally defeat

the enemy

forever.

So God is

reminding Elijah

to take heart

that this is

his promise.

God is

so if we

think back

to Pilgrim's

progress again

as Christian

is kept

in this

castle of

doubt

by this

giant despair

and he's

being beaten

daily.

There comes

one last

night where

the giant

comes to

him and

beats him

and advises

him again

once again

to kill

himself and

if he

doesn't he

promises that

he will come

in the morning

to kill him

personally.

And I'll

read to you

what happens

at that

point.

Because

Christian

and hopeful

they begin

to pray.

It says

well on

Saturday

about midnight

they began

to pray

and continued

in prayer

till almost

daybreak.

And now

a little

before it

was day

good Christian

as one

half amazed

break out

into a

passionate

speech

what a

fool am

I

thus to

lie in

a stinking

dungeon

when I

have well

to walk

at liberty

I have a

key in my

bosom

called

promise

that will

I am

persuaded

open

any

lock

in

doubting

castle

then

said

hopeful

that's

good

news

good

brother

pluck

it

from

your

bosom

and try

and then

Christian

pulled it

out of

his bosom

and began

to try

the dungeon

door

whose bolt

as he

turned

the key

gave back

and the

door

flew open

with ease

and Christian

and hopeful

both came

out

and then

he went

out to

the outward

door

that led

to the

castle

yard

and with

his key

opened

that door

also

and after

that went

to the

iron gate

for that

must be

open

too

but the

lock

went

desperately

hard

yet the

key

did

open it

and then

they

thrust

open

the gate

to make

their

escape

with

speed

but that

gate

as it

opened

made

much

of a

cracking

that it

waked

the giant

despair

who hastily

rising

to pursue

his prisoners

felt his

limbs too

frail

for his

fits

took him

again

and so

he could

by no

means

go after

them

and then

they went

on

and came

to the

king's

highway

and so

were safe

because they

were out

of the

giant's

jurisdiction

we see

here that

Christian and

hopeful are

saved by the

promise

of the

savior

and this

is the

same

promise

that was

given to

Elijah

it's funny

when you

think that

Elijah here

is pleading

with God

to take

his life

but in

fact

we read

that Elijah

never

actually

experiences

physical

death

he is

taken up

in a

chariot

with

God

and we

wonder

we can

wonder

if this

episode

of fear

and disappointment

and despair

if Elijah

looked back

and thought

just how

foolish

he was

to forsake

the promises

of God

and the

reality is

that we

experience

those promises

too

and it's

not promises

that we

will not

face

hardship

but when

we do

we have

an ever

present

loving

sovereign

God

whose

plan

is

perfect

and whose

victory

is sure

and so

we can

be assured

of this

that when

we fall

into despair

we fall

into the

arms

of loving

and gracious

God

who is

willing

and able

to raise

us up

again

let's pray

and