Elijah Moments

Have you ever felt like you finally reached the end of yourself?

That there was nothing worth waking up the next morning for?

That nothing good could possibly come out of you or the situation that you are in?

That maybe the world might just be a better place without you in it?

If you have then you are not alone.

There is a man out there who felt exactly the same way.

And he was no ordinary man either.

This man was on top of the mountain one day, and then deep down in the valley the next.

He witnessed everything from God feeding him with ravens, providing for a poor widow and her son during a drought, raising the widow’s son from the dead, and fire falling down from heaven before a group of idol-worshippers.

This man was on top of the world. So what made it all come crashing down?

What was it that made him say “I have had enough, Lord – take my life” (1 Kings 19:4)

What was it that brought him down so low that his life wasn’t worth living anymore?

It’s the combination of a few things.

And sometimes it’s those same thing that bring us down as well.

First, things didn’t turn out the way he planned.

He spent day and night prophesying to the Israelite’s and telling them to turn away from their wickedness and follow God but instead they rejected his message and killed the prophets (1 Kings 19:10).  Elijah expected the Israelite’s to repent before God, to return to serving the true God instead of their false idols and instead of doing that they did the exact opposite.

How many times have you assumed something would turn out a certain way and then when it didn’t you were left feeling disappointed and wondering what went wrong? You were following God’s will, obeying His commands, and just like Elijah you were expecting a certain outcome and instead you don’t get what you thought was sure to happen.

You are left confused and alone, wondering what the point of it all was.

Second, instead of focusing on God and His sovereignty Elijah started focusing on the problem. What should have been a meaningless threat by Jezebel to kill him just like the rest of the prophets made him run for his life instead of trust God to take care of him like He always had in the past (1 Kings 19:2-3).

The words of Jezebel consumed his mind and instead of having faith in His Almighty God Elijah started fearing the power of the enemy to destroy him.

And how often do we do the same?

When our enemy, Satan threatens to destroy our joy, our dreams, and our very lives instead of turning in faith toward God we run away and hide in fear.

Instead of recounting the many times God has been faithful in coming through for us we focus on how powerful the enemy seems to be and how easily he can ruin our lives.

Third, Elijah starts focusing on himself and his circumstances (1 Kings 19:4). He threw himself a big party that we are all familiar with: a pity party. He deems himself “no better than anyone else” and decides to call it quits because life just got a little too hard.

And that’s what I do too sometimes.

My life is going by pretty good.

God is faithful in all His ways, and then one day something doesn’t turn out how I want it to.

One day I feel overwhelmed by the threats of the enemy.

One day I stop focusing on my incredible God through whom anything is possible and start focusing on my situation which seems so impossible to get out of.

And because of that one day I want to call it quits on everything I’m doing in my life.

Have you ever felt the same?

The final thing that brought Elijah to this low point in his life is simply physical exhaustion.

He had been running away in the wilderness from Jezebel’s pursuit and he got to a point where he overdid it which is why he fell asleep as soon as he arrived at the bush to rest (1 Kings 19:5-6). He was simply tired. Tired of running. Tired of preaching the same prophetic message that seem to go unheard. Tired of life not working out the way he planned it to.

And often times the reason why people get depressed isn’t even because of such terrible circumstances that they find themselves in but because they are just plain tired.

They are over booking themselves with things to fill their days with and they come to a point of exhaustion and burnout that they just don’t want to do it anymore.

The things they once loved doing becomes a burden to them and they have no desire to wake up the next day to keep on doing the same thing over again.

I’ve been there too and I’m sure you have too.

I think we have all had Elijah moments in our lives.

Situations that brought us to our lowest.

Fear that made us run for our lives.

Hopelessness that made us wonder if we are making a difference at all.

If you are there today, don’t give up hope.

Elijah’s life didn’t end that day, and neither will yours.

Maybe you’ve had a hard day, a hard week, even a hard month, but that doesn’t mean you will always have a hard life.

Learn from Elijah today and don’t get caught up in self-pity if life doesn’t go according to your perfect plan. If you always do your best and follow God’s will then it did go according to plan – His, not yours, and His plan is better than yours.

Don’t focus on the problems in your life that seem so overwhelming. Instead, remind yourself of how great your God is and how faithful He is in seeing you through and how this situation in your life is just one more mountain to climb.

And you will make it to the end with Him, just like Elijah did.

Last, don’t underestimate the importance of rest. Your body isn’t a robotic machine created to run around with no breaks all day. You need to be refreshed and renewed daily not only spiritually, but also physically.

Also if your remember, in the end Elijah felt alone.

He thought he was the only prophet left after all of them had been killed but instead God showed him that there was seven thousand more that he didn’t know about it (1 Kings 19:18).

And in the same way you are also not alone in your trials even if you feel like you are.

You are not the only one who feels hopeless sometimes.

You are not the only one wants to give up sometimes.

You are not the only one who’s faced a few too many disappointments.

We all have one point in time.

And if this is you today be encouraged because you have a reason to hope again.

You have a reason to wake up tomorrow morning.

You have a reason to get back up on your feet one more time.

Even if you are at the lowest of low.

You have the same reason Elijah did.

God is with you and He will get you through.

Never forget that.

Be blessed! Anna… ♥