What Are You Doing Here?
At some point in our lives, we have all been depressed. Depending on our circumstances and mental health state depression can be a nuisance or a debilitating process. I have seen people that are normally upbeat with their head down, shoulders slumped forward and not energized like normal. When you ask them what’s going on they tell you they’re depressed. Others when they get depressed, they find getting out of bed is more then they can do that day. I had one person tell me that they had gone through a time of depression when the only reason they got out of bed was to feed the dogs. Depression is real. I know we can’t put it in a glass or measure it as a quantity but when you feel depressed no one can convince you what you are feeling isn’t real. When times get tough and pressures build it might be all you can do to get up and feed the dogs.
In the Bible we find a case where a great prophet suffered from depression. 1 Kings 19 tells a story about a time in Elijah’s life when he was physically and emotionally tired. He was burned out. Elijah had been on the nations most wanted list for over 3 years. After telling King Ahab there would be neither dew nor rain in the land for the next few years “except at my word” Elijah went into hiding. (1 Kings 17) When we think about a drought we think about a time with no rain. What we don’t think about is when the air is so dry that there is not even dew. You know the king was thinking if I can just find Elijah, I will make him tell the rain to come so Elijah went into hiding. First Elijah hid by a brook in the wilderness and later went to live with a widow. When a land has neither dew or rain for years everything dries up. The crops don’t grow so you have nothing to feed animals. Animals didn’t have food or water, so they died. The struggle to live had to be exhausting for everyone. Elijah was no different. He was feeling the pressure watching everything around him die. He knew if God would just give him the authority the drought would end.
I don’t want to spend too much time describing the events that took place in the next 2 chapters, but I will quickly summarize. Chapter 17 describes the struggles and difficulties of dealing with his own prophesy. Chapter 18 tells the story of how the drought ended and of the confrontation between the false priest and Elijah. Elijah stood alone representing God. The false priest numbered 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah. At the end of Chapter 18 we see that God had proven to all the people that He was the only true God and Elijah had killed all the false priest. God sent rain over the land and Elijah breathes a sigh of relief.
Chapter 19 opens with Ahab (the King) running home and telling Jezebel (the Queen) all that had happened. Jezebel gets mad and sends a messenger to Elijah telling him she has put out a contract to have him killed that very day. Elijah goes back into hiding. You can just imagine what he was thinking. He thought that after the rain came, he would be allowed to live in society again but then the queen tells him she is going to have him killed. How depressing! That is where we find Elijah in chapter 19. Elijah feeling alone, threatened, tired, and not knowing who he could trust, leaves his servant, and heads out into the wilderness alone. The bible records that he traveled a day’s journey alone into the wilderness. He is hot tired and depressed. In verse 4 it says he came to a “Broom bush” and sat down under it. Get the picture he knows his life is in danger, he is tired both physically and emotionally, he is all alone and now the best shelter he can find from the heat is a bush. He sits under the bush and ask God to end his life then went to sleep. Depressed people do this they separate themselves from friends and family. Once isolated they question wither it would be better to just die than continue living. Elijah was depressed. In verse 5 an angel touched Elijah to wake him up. Now you can just imagine the scolding this angel was going to give Elijah but instead of counseling him the angel had prepared food and drink for Elijah. After eating and drinking Elijah went to sleep again. You know the feeling. Verse 7 the angel came back and told Elijah to eat and drink because the “Journey” was to hard for him. I truly believe the “Journey” the angel talked about was the last few years of life not just the walk into the wilderness. When we are depressed, it is not the last steps before we get into bed that make us tired it is the life we lived before.
After eating and drinking the second batch of food Elijah travels 40 days to reach the Holy Mountain of God and there finds a cave and goes inside. When people talk about caves, they don’t describe them as bright, life filled, inspiring places. Caves are normally described as dark damp dreary places. A cave is the perfect place for a person suffering from depression. Verse 9 says the “word of the LORD came to him.” Oh, here it comes. We all know what people say to us when we are depressed, “you shouldn’t feel that way” “that’s not true” “it’s not that bad” but I do feel that way, it’s true to me, and it is that bad!!! When people are depressed what they think and feel it is very real to them even if you don’t believe what they are thinking is true, real, or bad. Sometimes as depressed people, we even know we shouldn’t feel the way we do but our mind and body still feel it. Sorry back to verse 9 where the “Word of the LORD came to him.” When I read this next verse, I always picture a soft, gentle, caring voice asking Elijah “What are you doing here, Elijah?” There was no directive statement or judgement. Just a soft question asking Elijah what he was doing there. In Verse 10 Elijah explains it. 1 Kings 19:10 “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.” Elijah outlines it perfectly. “I have worked hard.” “Everyone else is working against me.” “I’m the only one left and I can’t do it anymore.” YES! I feel that way too.
God asked Elijah to step outside the cave and stand in the presence of the LORD for the LORD was about to pass by. Verses 11-12 describe how there was a great wind, then the mountain shook and last there was a fire but nothing was burning. In the devotion titled “Have the good sense to be moved” I pose that the elemental things of this earth (wind, mountain, and molecules) had the good sense to be moved when they realized the LORD, the Creator was coming. Verse 12 concludes saying that after the fire “came a gentle whisper.” The LORD had arrived. Elijah stepped outside the cave and pulled his cloak over his face. The LORD asked Elijah “What are you doing here, Elijah.” The LORD explains how important Elijah is to Him by giving him special task. And the LORD tells him he is not alone because there are still 7,000 people who still follow the LORD. God knew the number of people that still followed him. He knew Elijah and how he was feeling. The LORD didn’t belittle him or judge him instead He showed Elijah how important he was to God’s plan and purpose.
God knows you. He knows how you feel and knows how real it is to you. When you are down and depressed the LORD is asking you one question “What are you doing here?” You still have a vital role to play in God’s plan. Realize you are not alone God has many just like you out there. When you get up know God still loves you and has a purpose for you specifically.
Get up to feed the dogs but stay up to serve God.
National Depression Hotline: 866-629-4564
www.nationaldepressionhotline.org
Suicide & Crisis Lifeline dial 988
