Word for the Week: Honourably Wounded
Elijah... ran for his life... went a day’s journey into the desert... and prayed that he might die.
1 Kings 19:3-4
From triumph on the mountain to despair in the desert – what was the cause of Elijah’s breakdown? We can surely understand his fear. Jezebel had already slaughtered most of the Lord’s prophets; and now, enraged by Elijah’s public humiliation and subsequent slaughter of the prophets of Baal, she had sworn to kill Elijah. He had no alternative but to flee.
But this was not the first time that Elijah had had to go into hiding. For three years he had evaded capture, and had experienced the miraculous protection and provision of the Lord. Yet suddenly his nerve failed, and a great blackness descended on him.
Surprising, really, since the Mount Carmel experience must have exceeded even Elijah’s dearest hopes. He had challenged the king and queen, the priests of Baal and indeed Baal himself. It was not just his own reputation that was at stake, but the reputation of the Lord, and indeed the survival of Israel as God’s special people. He trusted the Lord, and the Lord answered him spectacularly. But the icing on the cake was the great roar that rose from the mouths of the watching multitudes – those who had previously been too frightened to stand up and be counted as worshippers of the Lord – ‘The Lord, he is God!’
No doubt Elijah realised, however, that, in the short term at least, nothing had changed. Ahab was still king, Jezebel was on the warpath, and the people would once again be cowed into submission. But that doesn’t fully explain the depths of his despair. Nor does the inevitable sense of anti-climax after the Mount Carmel triumph.
Many people in our churches today are taught that depression and despair are intrinsically sinful, sent by Satan and evidence of a failure of faith. Whether the prescribed response is repentance or prayer for healing, the sufferer feels singled out and judged. But God’s response to Elijah was different. With a gentle touch, an angel roused him, gave him food and gave him time.
May we respond like this to our brothers and sisters suffering from depression; and take courage ourselves if we, like Elijah, feel that the stresses of life have become unbearable.
Helen Parry
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