Have you ever have been stressed, near complete burnout, felt abandoned, spiritually dry and numb?  I believe that we can all attest to this throughout our lives. Let us go the scene of one of God’s mightiest prophets in all of Scripture and see what life was like for him. Elijah was one of the greatest and most dramatic prophets in all of Israel. As I reflect on his ministry, I wonder how stressed he truly was. In Christianity, we do not talk much about the depth of stress and how it can fuel loneliness and cause all kinds of challenges and health issues.  A lot of sermons focus on what Elijah’s prophetic ministry was all about: his provisions, healings, and tearing down the great idolatry within Israel. But if he could speak, what would be his perspective? How would it be with his soul? Elijah’s purpose was to ensure that the Israelite kings were faithful to God. But there was only a remnant that truly followed God. Elijah had an enormous task of tearing down the idolatry that King Ahab and Queen Jezebel had built for worship under their reign.

So, after Elijah destroys all the evidence of the prophets of Baal in Israel, the king and queen were furious and planned a murderous plot against Elijah. He hears of this and runs for his life to the hill country to hide in a cave. I do not blame him. All that God has accomplished through this man, and yet we see the great and mighty prophet’s humanity come to life. He was anxious, afraid, burdened, in deep discouragement, depressed, alone, and truly near complete burnout. At this point, he might be thinking, is all this worth it? I must be the only living follower of God on this earth and he wanted to give up and die. Listen to these words, “And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 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.”

I do not know about you, but we all would probably be thinking something similar, where are you Lord, and where are the faithful ones who truly love you and desire to walk in your will. Elijah felt abandoned, all alone, and forgotten. But you see, when we face daily stress and near burnout of this magnitude, our perspective is always skewed. We assume that we are the only ones feeling these emotions, and our thoughts go into overdrive. If we do not immediately call on the name of the Lord, run to the deep wells of Jesus Christ, and listen for his gentle whisper, abandonment turns into aridity, spiritual dryness and numbness, and then becomes a downward spiral of complete spiritual decay. In other words, we believe it just does not matter, no one, not even the Lord hears us.

The beauty and power of the Gospel is that there is always good news throughout the pages of Scripture. The angel of the Lord appears to Elijah under a broom tree, where he has given up with exhaustion, to provide him food and water from the river to renew his energy. The Lord tells Elijah a second time because evidently, he did not hear the first. We have all been there. So, to get his attention the Lord sends a windstorm, an earthquake, and a fire, but he was not in those mighty things, but instead, God’s abiding presence was in the gentle whisper. He spoke to Elijah in the still small voice and reminded him that he was not alone, but there were 7000 faithful followers of God left.

Constant stress fuels the fire of burnout, and when you get to this point, clarity of purpose and spiritual moorings are nonexistent. Isolation becomes insulation. It is time to take another approach and replenish your depletion by befriending the stress. How do we do this? Begin to thank and appreciate your predicament by asking the Lord to keep you from the predispositions of certain tendencies: nervousness, workaholism, anger, sinful pleasures, etc. Wesley believed that we are never in a hurry, but always in haste. When rest occupies our heart, we will always grow deep in the wells of Christ. We may have much to do, but we learn to move with ease, grace, and blessing that all will be well. This takes time. Just as we need much water to refresh our body, so it is with the soul, we need a constant dose of Christ’s presence to make us aware of who we were created to become in him. The next time you feel great stress, ask yourself, am I taking the time to slowly grow in my relationship with Jesus, to hear him, and sit in his presence? Do I take time to build relationships and to belong in God’s community? Do I take time away from it all for things I enjoy? Standing up for Jesus and doing the right thing is a great victory and displays the power and beauty of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and your faithfulness to him.

Dear Father,

Thank you that you are in control of all things. Help us in our stressful life to know that the remedy comes into Christ’s presence and find rest for our wandering souls. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for filling us with your healing power!

In Jesus name,

Amen!

Blessings

Dr. Caroline