A couple of years ago, the Southeast Christian Church offered a time during their Wednesday Evening Service (attendance of at least 600) for people to come forward and have the Elders lay hands on them and pray for healing. The speaker pointed out that there was "a lot of hurt in this room" - sickness, broken relationships, grief. He said that at the invitation, the elders would be available for prayers of healing.
The response began as a trickle. Soon, others began making their way down from the balcony; walking along individually or in pairs, or rolling forward in wheelchairs. Before long, the trickle became a torrent. Elder Bob Carpenter said he was not prepared for the response to the invitation. "I was totally surprised by the magnitude of it." Elder Bill Beauchamp did not expect the vast response either… nor did he anticipate the type of prayer needs revealed. "At least 2 out of 3 asked for prayer for depression," he said. "I thought it would be more for physical needs. But so many said, "I’m depressed. I feel unworthy. I see no future." I was amazed at how many felt unworthy."
Depressed Mood?
Loss of Interest?
Sleep Problems?
Difficulty Concentrating?
Agitation?
Restlessness?
Life is too precious to let another day go by feeling not quite yourself. If you’ve experienced some of these symptoms nearly every day, for at least two weeks, a chemical imbalance could be to blame. And life can feel difficult ALL DAY. Depression is very real part of life for many people regardless of what some may say in the religious world.
In an average week 50,000 people will make visits for therapy. Seventy-five percent of these clients will have either clinical depression or some sort of anxiety disorder.
Depression can be a very real problem ........
God gives us a study in clinical depression in I Kings 19
From this text we find that Elijah experienced many of the classic symptoms…
Fear - “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life….” 1 Kings 19:3
Suicidal tendencies – “(Elijah) prayed that he might die. ‘I have had enough, LORD,’ he said. ‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.’ 1 Kings 19:4
Excessive tiredness – “Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep…” 1 Kings 19:5 slept for a couple of days… maybe longer
Feelings of rejection – “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken 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.”
1 Kings 19:10 He experienced this depression for a long time.
What’s really bizarre about this is,that just days before, Elijah had preached one of the greatest sermons of his life. He confronted 400 prophets of Baal on the Mt. Carmel and exposed them as the false prophets they really were. And because of Elijah’s faith & obedience God literally sent fire down out of heaven to consume the sacrifice he’d placed on the altar, and then a few hours later sent a downpour of rain on a land that hadn’t had rain for 3 years.
Why would a man who had preached an impressive message and had experienced some of the most powerful displays of God’s power… Why would he suddenly be crippled by fear, hopelessness and despair? Why would he run away to a desolate corner of the world and seek to die?
There’s probably all kinds of reasons, but the fact is – he did. And what this tells us is that even God’s most dynamic servants can suffer from depression. It’s not necessarily a mark of a lack of faith. It’s not necessarily a mark of an immoral lifestyle.
Elijah was THE man of God in his day. And now he’s so far DOWN in the depths of despair – even UP looks wrong to him.
But that’s not where God left him. God didn’t say: “well sorry Elijah – you have a chemical imbalance, and medicine hasn’t been invented yet – so I can’t help you!” Oh no…long before psychiatry was ever thought of, long before healing could be bought in the little purple pill, long before we had clinics and psychiatrists and psychologists long before all of that… God healed a man of depression and it was not an isolated instance. And what God did for Elijah, He can do for you & me too!
I want you to notice what God did to heal Elijah ...God recognized that Elijah’s depression was not an imaginary problem. Elijah’s depression was real. It was tangible. You could have cut it with a knife. AND God did not say – “get a hold of yourself Elijah. This is a SINFUL attitude … where’s your faith man???”
Oh, no… God didn’t treat Elijah roughly
In answer to Elijah’s prayer to die, God just lets him sleep. Then God’s angel feeds him and lets him sleep some more. Then God sends him down to the desert in the South for 40 days and nights.
In all that time, God doesn’t say a word… God doesn’t offer any council. God doesn’t set Elijah down and have a face to face talk. In all that time, Elijah is left alone – Elijah’s given time to rest and to think…No sermons, no long counseling sessions… just love and rest.
But eventually God did deal with Elijah’s depression.
And I want you to notice what He did:
1st – God sent him to church – God sent him to Mt. Horeb, the Mt. Of God (where the Law given to Moses).
Church is one of the best places to deal with Depression. When Church is done right it’s the place where we listen to each other and help one another. “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2
Back in 1999 Duke University conducted a study of nearly 4,000 older adults. One of their conclusions: "Attendance at a house of worship is related to lower rates of depression and anxiety."
But church doesn’t stop with being in a house of worship… Time alone with God in prayer and Bible Study is a powerful anti-depressant.
2ndly - God had Elijah tell Him what the problem was.
God asked Elijah: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (I Kings 19:13) God didn’t ask this question just once, He asked Elijah that same question two separate times. "What are you doing here?" Didn’t God know? Of course He knew, He’d sent Elijah to this mountain. But Elijah needed to tell Him what was wrong in his life. Elijah needed to explain what HE thought the problem was. And once Elijah told Him what he believed was wrong, then…
3rd – God dealt with the false beliefs, the false ideas that were fueling Elijah’s depression. Jesus said, “The truth shall set you free.” Why is that? Because false ideas, false beliefs (especially false ideas about God) have power to put us in bondage. Our lives are built around what we think is true about life. And if the foundations of that reasoning are based on wrong information or impressions, the result can be devastating.
Elijah’s reply to God revealed what Elijah had wrong...
ELIJAH DIDN’T THINK THAT GOD WAS DOING ANYTHING.
In 1 Kings 19:14 Elijah replied to God and said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken 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."
Hidden in the middle of that statement was this accusation:
"I’ve been beating my head against the wall serving you Lord. And everything seems to just be falling apart around me… What have you been doing God???
And so, God corrects Elijah’s thinking. He tells him "Elijah – you’re not the only one left"
In 1 Kings 19:18 God tells Elijah
“I have reserved seven thousand in Israel - all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him."
"Elijah, I’ve not been doing nothing (God seems to be saying)… in fact, I’m just getting started"
"Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu … king over Israel, and anoint Elisha …to succeed you as prophet. 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. (I Kings 19:15-17)
In other words, don’t worry about it Elijah… I’ve got it all under control. I AM doing something.
When a person is depressed, they don’t think God is doing much of anything. They have no hope, no confidence, and God isn’t easily seen by them. A person in depression needs to realize that – just like Elijah – God IS working in their lives… even when they can’t see Him.
So God got Elijah into Church,
He got him to tell Him what was wrong.
And He corrected some of his false thinking and beliefs…
And lastly, God gave Elijah something to do. When God finished His counseling session with Elijah, Elijah was still in his complaining mood, but God basically tells him: “Get back to work. I’ve got a job for you to do… make yourself useful”.
During the 1st part of the 20th century, J. C. Penney was a real man who presided over a very real and powerful empire of over 1,700 stores. At the time he had the country’s largest chain of department stores, each one bearing his name. But, although his enterprise made him incredibly wealthy, J.C. Penney’s life was not devoid of setbacks and troubles. In fact, beginning in 1929, events took place that nearly cost Penney his life. When the Great Depression struck the country, it came at a time of great financial vulnerability for Penney. In the good times, before the Depression, Penney had overextended himself and had borrowed heavily to finance many of his ventures. But when the Depression hit, banks began to request repayment of his loans sooner than anticipated. Suddenly cash flow was tight, and Penney was finding it difficult to meet payment schedules. Constant and unrelenting worry began to take a toll. "I was so harassed with worries that I couldn’t sleep, and developed an extremely painful ailment," he said.
Concerned about his deteriorating health, Penney checked himself into the Kellogg sanitarium at Battle Creek, Michigan, (kind of the Mayo Clinic of its era). There, Dr. Elmer Eggleston, a staff physician, examined Penney, declaring that he was extremely ill.
Penney later recalled "A rigid treatment was prescribed, but nothing helped," He was constantly tormented by periods of hopelessness and despair. His very will to live was rapidly eroding.
"I got weaker day by day. I was broken - nervously and physically, filled with despair, unable to see even a ray of hope. I had nothing to live for, I felt that I hadn’t a friend left in the world, that even my family had turned against me."
Alarmed by his rapidly deteriorating condition, Dr. Eggleston gave Penney a sedative. However, the effect quickly wore off, and Penney awakened with the conviction that he was living the last night of his life. "Getting out of bed, I wrote farewell letters to my wife and to my son, saying that I did not expect to live to see the dawn." Penney awakened the next morning, surprised to find himself alive. Making his way down the hallway of the hospital, he could hear singing coming from the little chapel where devotional exercises were held each morning. The words of the hymn he heard being sung spoke deeply to him. Going into the chapel, he listened to the singing, the reading of the Scripture lesson, and the prayer.
"Suddenly something happened," he said. "I can’t explain it. I can only call it a miracle. I felt as if I had been instantly lifted out of the darkness of a dungeon into a warm, brilliant sunlight. I felt as if I had been transported from hell to Paradise. I felt the power of God as I had never felt it before."
In a life-transforming instant Penney knew that God, with His love, was there to help. "From that day to this, my life has been free from worry," he declared. "The most dramatic and glorious 20 minutes of my life were those I spent in that chapel that morning."
The words from the hymn that spoke so eloquently and miraculously to J. C. Penney were these...
Be not dismayed (discouraged) God will take care of you.
Beneath His wings of love abide, God will take care of you.
God will take care of you, through every day, over all the way.
He will take care of you, God will take care of you.
