God’s Grace for a Depressed Servant

This feeling of self-importance can easily arise in our hearts. You might think you are the only one who cares about prayer, justice, discipleship, or evangelism, or that you are the only one ever preparing the fellowship, or giving to missions. If that is your feeling, your pride will eventually turn to despair. You must keep a sober assessment of yourself.

Next consider Elijah’s self-pity. He stated that others wanted to take his life. This was simply inaccurate. Jezebel wanted to take his life, but we don’t read that the whole nation of Israel was trying to do so. What do you call this? It’s called self-pity. Self-pity happens when you exaggerate the problem. Depressed people do that; they make things sound worse than they really are.

Believing half-truths is a temptation for us all. Exaggerating our righteousness, our importance, and our problems feeds our flesh, and we must fight it. How? Quite simply, we must believe the pure truth of the gospel. Spurgeon said,

I find myself frequently depressed—perhaps more so than any other person here. And I find no better cure for that depression than to trust in the Lord with all my heart, and seek to realize afresh the power of the peace-speaking blood of Jesus, and His infinite love in dying upon the cross to put away all my transgressions. (“The Secret of Happiness”)

Similarly, Elyse M. Fitzpatrick writes,

The depressed don’t simply need to feel better. They need a Redeemer who says, “Take heart, my son, my daughter; what you really need has been supplied. Life no longer need be about your goodness, success, righteousness, or failure. I’ve given you something infinitely more valuable than good feelings: your sins are forgiven.” (“The Gospel Cure”)

In the words of Lloyd-Jones, we spend too much time “listening to ourselves” and not enough time “talking to ourselves” (Spiritual Depression, 20). What does it look like to preach to yourself? He writes,

Would you like to be rid of this spiritual depression? The first thing you have to do is to say farewell now once and for ever to your past. Realize that it has been covered and blotted out in Christ. Never look back at your sins again. Say: “It is finished; it is covered by the Blood of Christ.” That is your first step. Take that and finish with yourself and all this talk about goodness, and look to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only then that true happiness and joy are possible for you. What you need isn’t to make resolutions to live a better life, to start fasting and sweating and praying. No! You just begin to say: “I rest my faith on Him alone who died for my transgressions to atone.” (Spiritual Depression, 35)

Are you drained? Are you disappointed? Are you isolated? Are you believing half-truths that trigger feelings of self-righteousness, self-pity, and self-importance? What we need is this: heavy doses of grace and truth that are in Jesus.

God’s Gracious Response

1 Kings 19:5-21

How did God minister to His depressed servant? He ministered to him with patient grace and tender compassion. The three means of grace God used for Elijah were bread in the wilderness, a voice on the mountain, and a vision for the future.

There are several echoes of the story of Moses and the wilderness journey here. These parallels highlight God’s faithfulness, patience, and grace. Such faithfulness and grace and patience should encourage us also.

Bread in the Wilderness (vv. 5-8)

God’s first response to Elijah wasn’t rebuke. It was “eat.” He had fed him with a raven and with a widow, and now He uses an angel to feed him. After Elijah slept under the broom tree, he awoke to an angel who touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” Elijah looked and there was “a loaf of bread baked over hot stones, and a jug of water.” Elijah “ate and drank and lay down again.” This happened a second time, and then “on the strength from that food, he walked 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb.” That’s some good bread! (It actually reminds us of another mediator in the wilderness besides Moses who could go 40 days and 40 nights: Jesus; see Matt 4; Luke 4.)

How encouraging is it that God feeds His runaway prophet instead of actually answering Elijah’s prayer for death? I find this remarkably encouraging. John Piper has written a deeply edifying poem on Elijah. In part three of it, he says,

Elijah fled to Judah, then

Beyond Beersheba’s well full ten

More miles, and fell exhausted there

Beneath a spreading broom tree where

He sat and asked the Lord that he

Might die. Instead he slept. The tree

God made to give him shade, then sent

An angel down with food, who went

And woke the prophet thus: “Awake!”

Instead of death, God gives you cake.

By this you will walk forty days

And forty nights until you gaze

Like Moses on the majesty

Of God. Nor am I sure that He

Will ever grant your wish to die.

Come now, Elijah, eat and fly. (“Elijah, Part 3”)

Instead of death God gave him cake. Oh, the tenderness of God here! He will rebuke him later, but first we find gentleness and care.

Are you drained and dejected like Elijah? Consider also the ministry of Jesus, who tells us, “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest . . . because I am gentle” (Matt 11:28-29). What you need is spiritual rest in Christ, the bread of life (John 6:35). There we find forgiveness and joy, knowing that “no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). When you have had enough and you look to Him, you find He is enough.

Perhaps you also need physical rest. Good food and good sleep are wonderful cures to spiritual depression. Sleep and food, after all, are gifts of God (Pss 104:14-15; 127:2). Look at what kind of God you have. When you run away like Elijah, He says, “Have breakfast.” Remember when Peter denied Jesus, Jesus made him breakfast (John 21)! He renewed him physically and spiritually.

Elijah is being renewed by the grace of God. The scene here illustrates Isaiah’s words, which say we must trust in the Lord and renew our strength, then we shall “run and not grow weary . . . walk and not faint” (Isa 40:31).

It may be a stretch, but I wonder if the angel didn’t also provide some companionship for this lonely servant. Elijah needed a companion, and he received a fresh touch from this angel. Later he will receive a wonderful companion in Elisha. Elijah is a man like us, and that involves the need for company. Maybe you need some companionship. Don’t run from this need. Seek a local body of believers with whom you can fellowship. Perhaps God wants to use you to minister to lonely, depressed servants. Take them a cake and spend some time with them.

A Voice on the Mountain (vv. 9-13a)

Now Elijah goes to the mount of God. What will happen here? Will we find him still wallowing in self-pity and complaining, or will he respond with fresh vigor?

We find him railing against the Israelites. Elijah’s memory is selective (Provan, 1 and 2 Kings, 145), as demonstrated when he says the Israelites “have abandoned Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets” (v. 10). Again, he believes half-truths and wallows in pity.

With the bread in the wilderness, God reminded him of the past. But Elijah is still depressed, so God will now remind him of His power once again. This time Elijah will hear God’s voice at the mount. At this mount Israel met with the Lord and discovered what God required of them (Exod 19–20). Now God’s presence and God’s voice will awaken Elijah and sustain him.

In verses 11-12 Elijah stood before the Lord, and the Lord “passed by,” and a great wind tore through the mountains. Then there was an earthquake, then a fire. But the Lord was not in these powerful displays. Instead, after a fire, Elijah heard a “soft whisper.” On hearing this, Elijah “wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave” (v. 13).

Previously, God showed up with fire, consuming the drenched altar. People marveled. But this passage emphasizes God’s quiet ways. God often appears not in the spectacular but in the gentle whisper. Provan says, “Elijah needs to remember the past, but he also needs to realize that there is more to the Lord than fire” (1 and 2 Kings, 146).

This phrase “a soft whisper” only appears two others times. It appears in Job 4:16 and Psalm 107:29. It is used in both passages in the context of rest and refreshment in the midst of pain, distress, and fear.

Let’s remember that God often works in quiet ways. David wrote, “Your gentleness made me great” (Ps 18:35 ESV). Sometimes the fire does fall in corporate gatherings, but God also works quietly through His written Word and His Spirit in the hearts of His people. Don’t always seek controversy and drama or major conferences. Seek the God of grace in the quiet place. Get alone with Him and listen to His Word. Think on His gospel.

A Vision for the Future (vv. 13b-21)

Ryken notes, “Spiritual depression is hard to shake. It isn’t a twenty-four hour virus. Getting over it takes more than a pastor saying, ‘Take two Bible verses and call me in the morning’” (1 Kings, 530). After bread from an angel and the quiet voice of God on the mountain, Elijah is still rehearsing his speech when God asks him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” It’s as if God says, “Let’s try this again.” But Elijah is inflexible. He responds with his same rehearsed speech. He’s slow to understand and change, perhaps because he doesn’t want to understand and change.

But in the midst of his depression, Elijah is at least talking to God. If you ever sink this low, remember to keep speaking to God.

We see here that God is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and rich in faithful love” (Ps 103:8). God’s mercy is demonstrated here in that He gave Elijah a new vision for the future. This vision involves an assignment and a word of assurance.

His assignment is to anoint Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha (vv. 15-17). This may in fact be what the gentle whisper was about (Provan, 1 and 2 Kings, 146). The ultimate victory over Baal worship will not be solved by the victory at Carmel, instead it will come through a slow political process that will extend beyond Elijah’s life. The defeat of Baal will not happen by Elijah alone, nor will it happen in his lifetime.

Elijah’s job wasn’t just to fight well in the present but to prepare others for the future. We will read of Elijah’s instructions being lived out for many chapters to come (2 Kgs 8:7-15; 9–10). God teaches Elijah (and us) that no one is indispensible.

A new assignment often lifts us from the ashes. Such an assignment may involve preparing others for service. We must fight well in the present, but we must also prepare others for the future, as did Jesus, who fought victoriously and trained up others to take the good news to the nations after His ascension.

We read of Elijah anointing Elisha, God’s chosen prophet, in verses 19-21 (Provan thinks Elijah is not enthused about this assignment [1 and 2 Kings, 147]; I’m not sure). Who was Elisha? His name means, “God saves.” He was a farmer and apparently a wealthy one since he had “twelve teams of oxen” (v. 19). Elijah put his mantle on him, symbolizing the transference of prophetic power. Elisha’s commitment is evidenced in what follows: “He left the oxen, ran to follow Elijah” (v. 20). But then Elisha requests, “Please let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you.” Elijah permits him to do so. Then we read of Elisha’s total abandonment of all things for God’s will. Elisha not only kisses his family good-bye but also kisses the world good-bye. He destroyed all of his old means of sustenance in verse 21. He tells everyone publically that he’s following God’s will. What’s more, he seems to be throwing a party to tell everyone. He isn’t reluctant; he’s excited. Here’s a picture of one saying, “You can take the world, but give me Jesus!”

Elisha’s devotion to God’s call gets echoed in Jesus’ call to discipleship. In Luke 9 Jesus calls a man to follow Him, and the man says, “I will follow You, Lord, but first let me go and say good-bye to those at my house” (Luke 9:61). He seems to say the same thing Elisha says, but instead of allowing it like Elijah did, Jesus says, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). The reference to the plow sounds like 1 Kings, and so does this call. But Jesus doesn’t grant this request. Why? Jesus is greater than Elijah, and His call takes precedence over everyone and everything. Jesus demands immediate obedience and wholehearted allegiance. Elisha is being asked to follow a prophet, but we have been called to follow the Son of God. Follow Him at once, and then deal with these other details later.

So God gives Elijah a fresh vision, which includes an assignment. Part of Elijah’s assignment involved a new partner. Notice the last sentence of the chapter, “Then he left, followed Elijah, and served him” (v. 21). Here God not only gives Elijah an assignment but also gives him companionship. How this young apprentice must have given Elijah fresh strength! In 2 Kings 2:12 Elisha calls Elijah “father,” indicating the intimacy the two shared. Elisha was like an intern who apparently did some menial tasks like washing Elijah’s hands (2 Kgs 3:11).

God’s vision included not only a new assignment but also a word of assurance. We skipped over it. In verse 18 God tells Elijah, “But I will leave 7,000 in Israel—every knee that has not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.” Paul recalled this principle of God’s sovereign grace:

God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah? . . . I have left 7,000 men for Myself who have not bowed down to Baal. In the same way, then, there is also at the present time a remnant chosen by grace. (Rom 11:2,4-5)

In the words of Paul, “God’s solid foundation stands firm, having this inscription: The Lord knows those who are His” (2 Tim 2:19). The doctrine of God’s electing grace should give encouragement to depressed servants.

Elijah wasn’t the only one left in Israel following the living God. He wasn’t the only seed to survive. God had a remnant. And God preserved His people until the ultimate seed, Jesus, appeared. Jesus was the slain seed, who was put into the ground, lying there silently, only to rise again triumphantly. Now Jesus has a people, not just from Israel but also of every tribe, who have been chosen by grace. God’s saving grace was a word of assurance to Elijah, and it should be a wonderful word of assurance to us as well. Look away from yourself and look to Jesus, who said, “It is finished.”

Elijah would stand on a mountain again. And he would stand there with Moses. We read of it in the Gospels. This time it isn’t Mount Horeb but the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John. They saw Jesus talking with them as the dazzling glory of Christ was unveiled for a moment. A voice from heaven was heard, “This is My Son, the Chosen One; listen to Him!” (Luke 9:35). Until we gaze on the face of Jesus, let’s feast on the Bread of Life, let’s listen to His voice, and let’s be spurred on by a glorious future that awaits all of His suffering saints.

Reflect and Discuss