Imagine an advertisement posted in front of you for a garage sale. It is obvious that this sale is like no other you have seen before. The devil is the one who is having sale, and the items listed are all the tools of his trade. You see the tools of jealousy, envy, doubt, hatred, and many others listed and priced. However, there is one tool listed and priced that takes you by surprise. It is the most effective tool the devil uses; therefore, it is expensive. The tool is discouragement and depression.
I
am becoming more convinced by the day that one of the main objectives of the
devil is to discourage and depress God's people so that he can go to the lost
world and say, "Do you really want to be like Christians, discouraged and
depressed?"
As
one who struggles with discouragement and depression, I find great solace in
the pages of the Bible. For instance, read the book of Psalms you find King
David and other psalmist crying, "Why are you in despair, O my soul?"
Jeremiah is the weeping prophet. Peter is depressed after denying the Lord.
Even the Lord Jesus is anguishing in his soul.
It's
no surprise that the great prophet of the Old Testament, Elijah, experienced
discouragement and depression. The late preacher, Henry Ward Beecher, once
said, "Half the difficulties that men and women suffer arise from
discouragement." I don't completely agree to that statement. I believe
more than half the difficulties, we encounter, are a direct result of
discouragement.
Elijah
arrives on the scene abruptly in 1 Kings, chapter seventeen. Ironically, he
leaves redemptive history in the same way without ever tasting death. Elijah
spends over three years of his life hiding from King Ahab and his evil wife,
Jezebel. Many supernatural things characterize Elijah's ministry; a sure sign
God's hand was upon him.
In
chapter seventeen, ravens provide his daily meals; a dried-up creek is his source
of water, an impoverished widow about to eat her last meal provides continues
meals, and the widow's son is raised from the dead. The subsequent chapter has
fire falling from heaven, false prophets destroyed, and rain, after a
three-year drought; all as a result of Elijah's fervent prayer life. It is only
appropriate to end chapter eighteen with these words, "And the hand of the
Lord was on Elijah."
Elijah
experiences victory after victory because God's hand being upon
him. Humanly speaking, you can't ask for better ministry results than the ones
God gave Elijah. Nevertheless, contrasting chapter nineteen with the preceding
two chapters is night and day difference. In the foregoing chapters, he's
courageous; in chapter nineteen, he is discouraged and depressed.
The
narrative reveals four causes of discouragement and depression: fatigue,
frustration, failure, and fear. All these factors played a role in leading
Elijah down discouragement's path. His failure to avoid the path of despair is
the training ground for defeating discouragement. It is wise to realize that
the battle with discouragement can't be avoided, but it can be won. How? Expect
difficulties, not ease.
The
first two verses of chapter nineteen reveal an unexpected response to God's
work through Elijah, "Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how
he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a message to
Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make
your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow" (1 Kings
19:1-2). King Ahab does not see God's hand in Elijah's activity. Instead, he
sees a troublemaker. True to her color, Jezebel responds to the news with a vow
to kill Elijah.
Elijah's
response reveals the response was unexpected. After all the victories, he's not
looking for any difficulties. He just prayed fire down from heaven, put to
death over 400 false prophets, and prayed the drought away. Surely, everything
is going to be easy at this point. Regrettably, Elijah underestimated the
schemes of the devil.
Children
of God who are walking with God must never underestimate the tenacity of the
devil. He will always give trouble to those who trouble him. He will never give
up his attacks on God's faithful people, especially after great victories for
the Lord.
The
apostle Paul understood this truth; therefore, he penned these words,
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on
the full armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the
devil" (Ephesians 6:10-11). Elijah also misunderstood the nature of
walking with God.
God
allows his people to suffer, and even calls his people to suffer. Consequently,
he leads his people into difficulties to test their faith, and to conform them
into the image of his Son, Jesus Christ.
If
you are searching for a comfortable Christian life, you will end up on the path
of discouragement. However, if you expect difficulties, and not ease, you are
on your way to winning the battle within. You will also need to think
theologically, not circumstantially to avoid the path of discouragement.
The
courageous prophet, in a matter of moments, is reduced to a coward in verse three,
"Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to
Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there" (1 Kings
19:3). Fear has zapped the prophet of all his courage, and he runs for his
life.
Is
this really the same prophet from the earlier chapters? Everything Elijah does
in the prior chapters is in response to the Lord's word and direction. Now, he
runs for his life without looking to God's word, or listening to his voice for
assurance and guidance. What happened to Elijah? He allowed the circumstances
to speak instead of the Lord. He was thinking circumstantially, not
theologically. He was walking by sight, not by faith. Inevitably, his
circumstances became sovereign and controlling.
Thinking
theologically is listening to the word of God, and standing on the promises of
God. When the world crumbles around you, and the path to discouragement right
before you, listen to God's voice, and stand on his promises, trusting him with
all your heart, and learning not on your own understanding. Acknowledge him in
all your ways and he will direct your path away from the path of
discouragement.
Elijah
is not to only example we have for failing to think theologically. Abraham
allowed his circumstances to control his life on many occasions. Ten of the
twelve spies sent by Moses to check out the Promised Land allowed circumstances
to speak louder than God's promises.
When
you think circumstantially, you magnify the difficulties of life, and as a
result you become petrified. The path of discouragement can be avoided when you
think theologically, not circumstantially. Nevertheless, there is one more
element to avoiding the path to discouragement. Look upward, not inward.
Thinking
circumstantially blocks your vision of God by turning your focus inward. Notice
where Elijah's vision is focused in verse four, "But he himself went a
day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And
he asked that he might die, saying, "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away
my life, for I am no better than my fathers " (1 Kings 19:4). Verse ten,
"He said, 'I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of host'"
(1 Kings 19:10). And verse fourteen, "He said, 'I have been very jealous
for the Lord, the God of host'" (1 Kings 19:14). Elijah is consumed with
"I" because his vision had turned inward instead of upward.
The
devil loves it when God's people turn inward. He will take a hold of self and
use it to discourage and depress us. Therefore, we must fight to keep our look
upward, not inward.
The
size of a quarter is minute when compared to the Empire State Building. Even
so, if you take two quarters and place them over your eyes, though they are
small, they block the vision of everything around you. Likewise, when you turn
inward, and don't look upward you block your vision of God.
Elijah's
vision of God was blocked, and it led him down the path of discouragement. Once
on the path, he started taking things in his own hands, stopped listening to
God, and stopped waiting on God, which led him outside of the will of God. The
path of discouragement will take you places you really don't want to go.
A
pastor in Texas had a church member experienced a financial crisis. Even so,
the member avoided the path of discouragement and depression. One day, the
pastor asked, "How do you stay so happy? How do you avoid discouragement
and depression?" The member said, "Come to my house, and I will show
you." A few days later, the pastor was knocking at the door, curious to
know his secret.
The
member brought his pastor into a large sitting room. Over the fireplace was a
hand-painted picture of Daniel in the lion's den. At the top of the painting
was a light shining down into the den. The member told the pastor, "Look
closely at Daniel's eyes. Where are they looking?" "They are looking
at the light," responded the pastor. "Exactly," said the member.
"I like to look at this picture to remind me that when life is falling
apart around me, I don't have to look at my circumstances; I can look upward to
the light of the world, and he will guide me through. Looking upward keeps me
from going down the path of discouragement."
You
can avoid the path of discouragement! Expect difficulties, not ease. Think
theologically, not circumstantially. Look upward, not inward.
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