There's life in yours. When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we know and think Amen. You sang very well this morning. If you take your books, especially the children, very carefully and just set them. in a safe place. We're done with those for just now. All right, the hand knolls in. I'll set those aside. And my children are going to come, my oldest two, and we're going to sing a song entitled, A Sinner Like Me. And we can stand around the piano. You guys can stand on the other side of the room. I'll stand here. What's neat about this song, even though we're saved, the last verse says, Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, has power to save a poor sinner like me. We've already said that Christ is our Savior, but it's still a joy to sing about Him and to rejoice in God's power that He has to cleanse our hearts from sin. I think every heart in here that's been saved needs to sympathize with that and say it's a blessing, these precious hymns that speak about our salvation. I was once far away from the Savior, and as proud as a sinner can be, and I wonder if Christ, our Redeemer, would save a horse But save a poor sinner like me. ♪ When I wandered alone in the shadows ♪ ♪ To the garden shore was I first seen ♪ ♪ When I found the light was gleaming, she saw ♪ ♪ She heard a call for us, she said, we're here to stay ♪ There's hope for a sinner like me. There's hope for a sinner like me. And I found an eye to a sting in Jesus. The cross did ever bind me, but I crossed it in one glorious action, and I gained His salvation so free. To save a poor sinner like me To save a poor sinner like me Yeah, we'll dismiss the kids. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, unless you're prohibited to go to their class with Mrs. Shore and Mrs. Reed. All right, the rest of us can take our Bibles, open back up to that page 416, if you've got the red Bible. And I encourage you to read along. It's good to have open Bibles in church. 416 in the Red Bible, and then 1 Kings 19, if you're just looking it up. 1 Kings 19. This actually is... I think maybe one of the first times I've preached on this Since the first time I studied it for speaking, actually in my fundamentals of speech class at Bob Jones, which was the last place I wanted to be, I thought I got to be a speech minor in his wisdom. But not because I wanted to. Those of you that know my testimony, it's the last kind of thing I wanted to do, even go to speech class. But it was actually, we had to do a study Bible study and present it for one of our devotional speech and I chose this passage. And after I got done, I sat down and I thought, I know this is the last thing in the world I want to do, but God gave me a desire for it and I enjoyed it and I thought, well, if God calls me to it, I guess here we go. So that's this passage, 1 Kings 19. But what's neat about scripture, and it's good to remember this, every time we come to an Old Testament passage, and we're going to look at it as kind of a case study, but every time you come to an Old Testament passage, it's good to remember all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works. And so, even as New Testament church-age believers, we find a lot of comfort, a lot of encouragement in the Old Testament. What's neat about the Old Testament, in a very personal way, you see God interacting with man, and you see that relationship that God has with mankind, and how He's patient with them, how He's dealing with them, strengthening them. And that's certainly the way in our passage this morning. And remember, as a case study, we're going to look at this idea of depression, the causes and the cures of depression. What's different from this versus saying, let's take somebody else, modern, and do a case study of them. What's different about that is this is God given. This is divine. This book is infallible. Not that the people in it are infallible. They're sinners. In the Bible, one of the proofs that the Word of God is God's Word is that it shows somebody's life with everything about it. It doesn't hide anything. It's revealing. Even things that a lot of people, if you're writing biography, you try to hide these things. Like Elijah. Great man of God. Why put a story about depression? Why put a story about discouragement? if it's not divine. But it is divine. God has put it there for a reason. It's not the only thing that we could glean from 1 Kings 19. There's other things we could study. That's what we talked about this morning. The Word of God is rich. There's value there. There's a lot of truth there. We could study other topics. But certainly, one of the themes of 1 Kings 19 is a great man of God struggling. And it's there for our learning and certainly a lot of it applies to us and is beneficial to us. I just pray the Lord would use this in all of our lives to encourage us this morning as we examine this topic of this discouragement or depression. I've entitled this, From Depression to Refreshment. And it's just Elijah going through it, the valley, but coming back up and God refocusing him on what he desires him to do. So let's pray and ask God's blessing as we come to His Word. Father, we thank You that the Word of God is quick, it's powerful. It's sharper than a two-edged sword. And Father, it can be used in ways beyond a speaker's ability, a pastor, preacher, teacher's ability. Whether in Sunday school or in church, Lord, there's times where the Word of God just really grips our heart. And Father, we know that's the Holy Spirit. When something grips our heart and our mind with conviction, it's You speaking to us. It's You challenging us. It's You helping us. And so we acknowledge that today, not that we're mystics, but Lord, we know the Spirit of God does work in the spiritual realm. And Father, we have a human spirit that needs His encouragement, needs His communication, needs His ability to deal with us from the inside out. And so, Lord, this morning, as we come to this scripture, I pray that You have Your way. Father, I pray that You meet our needs. I pray that You guide me as I speak. I need Your help this morning. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, so causes, we're going to start with that, causes, and then we'll go to cures for depression. Just from the study here, what can cause depression? And the first thing, or one of the first things that we see in the story is that depression can come when you go from a mountaintop to the valley. Elijah had just been physically and spiritually on a mountaintop. And it tells us in the previous verse, the chapter 19, the last verse in verse 18, verse 46, it tells us the hand of the Lord was on Elijah and he girded up his wings and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. God's hands there God's blessings there God's powers there and then I suddenly find herself in chapter 19 Going what happened? Why why why this decline? Elijah it's been physically spiritually on the mountaintop. Let's read this story chapter 18 just turn maybe back a page in your Bible to chapter 18 verse 30 and And Elijah, he's challenged the prophets of Baal. Under Jezebel, Wiccan Queen Jezebel, Baal had had this great, taken a great stronghold in the land. And everybody, many people were worshipping this idol, Baal. And Elijah, for the last three years, he's, because of all this idolatry and wickedness, he's prayed and asked God not to let it rain. And it hasn't rained for three years. And he comes and meets Ahab and says, there's going to be a showdown. Let's meet up on this mountaintop. You get 400 prophets of Baal, bring them up. And I'm going to come up there and we're going to have a little competition. The competition is, we're going to put a sacrifice on an altar. And you can't put any fire under it. But the God that sends fire from heaven Let that be the God. And he's talking to the people, the people are there. He said to them, how long can you between two opinions? If God is God, follow him. If they'll follow him. He's trying to bring them to a crisis in their life where they stop seeking a kind of middle ground where they're uncertain. He's saying it's time to decide. This is a glorious passage. The prophets of Baal have tried to cut themselves, the Bible says. Tried all these different things, Elijah's mocked him. He said, maybe your God's sleeping. Maybe he's gone on a journey. But now it's his turn. And he stands up and it says in verse 30, Elijah said unto all the people, come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name. And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench about the altar as great as would contain two measures of seed. So picture it. You've got the altar there. Then you've got this ditch around it. He put the wood in order, cut the bullock in pieces. He laid them on the wood and said, fill four barrels with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. He said, do it the second time. They did it the second time. He said, do it the third time. They did it the third time. And the water ran about the altar and he filled the trench also with water. It's soaked. Question. Do things that are soaked, do they burn easily? No. He's making it impossible for any fakery to be taking place. So nobody can say, you know, you put some fire underneath the sacrifice. He's going to make it very clear. It's going to be abundantly clear anyway, but he's just making it very obvious. And the water ran round about the altar. He filled the trench also with water. It came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art the God of Israel, that I am thy servant, that I've done these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, that thou hast turned their heart back again. Isn't that interesting? Who's going to turn their heart back again? Is it going to be fire from heaven? It's going to be the Spirit of God, the power of God, turning them to God. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said, The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is the God. I'm sorry. The Lord, He is the God. The Lord, He is the God. And the wife just said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape. And they took them, and this is under the authority of God, and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and slew them there. Those prophets were killed because they had led Israel in a rebellion against God. Okay? Powerful story. Amazing, mountaintop experience for the man of God to stand and preside over such a great revelatory experience. The people are amazed at the power of God, and he's been the man God has used to do that. It tells us the hand of the Lord was upon him. Now shouldn't we really be surprised that 1 Kings 19 discouragement follows such a great experience? We know mountains are always separated by valleys. To get to a mountain, you have to pass through a valley. Those mountaintop experiences in life and in our Christian experience, God gives them. Praise God. I hope when you got saved, I hope that was a mountaintop experience. It should have been. Pride and Pinnacle. And how God thrilled your soul with salvation and being forgiven of your sins and knowing for sure that when you died, you had eternity in heaven. What a great experience. But then the reality of the Christian life is it's not living on the mountaintop. It's coming down into the valley. And then God brings you up and revives your heart, encourages your heart. But you got to go back down. I mean, valleys follow mountains. And so no surprise that it's taking place. If Elijah just thought, though, that his Christian experience was going to be fire from heaven every day, then he's sadly mistaken. And so here, There's a warning to us as we, you know, in ministry or as God's working our hearts and our families, we'll have those experiences where we'll see God at work and we'll say, praise God! And it's easy to serve God at that point. But where the rubber meets the road is the ordinary day-to-day, day-in, day-out life of a Christian that's not the mountaintop experience. And so warning to us, discouragement or depression can come when you go from a mountaintop to the valley. But also depression can come when enemies are intent on your destruction. Verse 1 and 2, King Ahab told Jezebel, wicked Queen Jezebel, all that Elijah had done and with all how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. See, he gets a messenger. I got a message from the queen. The queen says, tomorrow at this time, remember those prophets that were just killed? Your life is going to be like them. She's sworn by her gods. That means she basically said, She said to her gods, kill me if I don't kill you by tomorrow this time. She's intent on his destruction. My dad shared this story in Sunday school when he was here about the car accident that he had and how gracious God was to allow him to go through that. If you remember the story though, His wife, Pat, he finds her in the kitchen in the early hours of the morning, I think he said like 5 o'clock or something, and she's just weeping and looking through scripture. And the reason was she had an enemy intent on her destruction. There was a woman in the church that was just making life unbearable for Pat. And that's what led to Dad saying, hey, let's go out, let's take a day away, let's go. Why was she so heavy hearted? Because somebody was seeking her destruction. Why was she facing discouragement, depression? Because she had an adversary that was against her. the story in the Bible about a woman named Hannah and Hannah couldn't have a child but her husband it wasn't okay with God's Old Testament plan or New Testament plan but it happened in the Old Testament that some of these men had multiplied wives and this man had two wives and the other wife had a lot of children Hannah had no children and she was really discouraged by it and it says in 1 Samuel 8 verse 5 unto Hannah Elkanah gave a worthy portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had shut up her womb. Interesting, it was God's plan for her. It says her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb. This other wife says, yeah, it's God's judgment against you. And she's nagging her and troubling her. As Elkanah did so year by year when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her, therefore she wept and did not eat. Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? Why eatest thou not? Why was she so depressed? Why was she so discouraged? Because there was an enemy that was actively seeking her destruction. So when can we face, when can we face depression or discouragement? When there's an adversary that's wearing us out. You know, we've got this, you could say sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. But that's just not true. It's surprising how hard it can be at times where somebody takes a position against you. And that's a danger to us as far as the time of discouragement or depression. What else can lead us into depression? Well, another thing we see in the story is when fear takes the place of faith. When fear takes the place of faith. Verse 3, it says, and when he saw that, he got this message that he's going to be killed tomorrow by Jezebel. It says, he arose and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belonged to Judah, and left his servant there. Now, is that kind of odd to you, to read that? Remember, he has just stood on a mountain, and he's watched fire from God fall to consume the sacrifice. All the prophets of Baal, those that stood against God, they've been killed. But now a wicked woman comes along and says, I'm going to kill you, and what's the man of God do? He flees for his life. The Word of God doesn't tell us that it's sin. God's very merciful as he works with Elijah through this story. But it seems disobedient. He's just seen the glory of God. He's just stood up and said, the Lord is God, concretely. And now a woman comes along. He's fleeing from fear instead of standing by faith. Fear is powerful. You ever notice that? Fear changes things that we're going to do. It affects our life. It affects our Christian experience as well. God knows that. He used fear against the enemies of Israel. There's a story in 2 Kings chapter 7. It's a neat story. Verse 3 of 2 Kings 7. Israel is under siege by an enemy. They've been surrounded. They're starving in the city. And Elijah has said, tomorrow at this time, food's going to be cheap. And the man that the king had beside him said, if God opened windows in heaven, how could this thing be? And he said, you're going to get to see it, but you're not going to get the benefit from it. And it's the man that's killed when all the people run out of the city later in the story, right? OK, so that's the story. There's four lepers outside the city. They're not allowed in the city. And they think to themselves, we might as well go to the enemy because we're going to die if we stay here. In verse four, they said, if we if we say we will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city and we shall die there. And if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, let us fall into the host of the Syrians, the enemy. If they save us alive, we shall live. And if they kill us, we shall but die. We're going to die anyway. They rose up in the twilight to go into the camp of the Syrians. And when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses. even the noise of the great host, and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come upon us. Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents and their horses and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and they fled for their life. It's a funny story. God sent his whole army Playing. How did they do it? With noise. It was fear. Just like Gideon and his 300 men, the great protectors, they blow the trumpets. And fear, again, causes, in that case, the Midianites to play. That's awesome. But you know, Satan's no fool when it comes to this with us. Just like God knows that fear is a powerful tool, he can use it against his enemies, Satan uses fear in our life as believers as well. He attacks us in this area of being afraid. Proverbs 29, 25 says, The fear of men bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be saved. When fear comes into your life and it hinders you from obeying God, it hinders you from pleasing God, it hinders you from doing what God wants you to do, realize it's just like Elijah. Instead of walking by faith, you're walking by fear. And what's the danger? The danger is discouragement. The danger is depression, just like we find Elijah going into that. But fear takes the place of faith. Terrible, because it can lead to depression. Also, when fatigue makes death desirable, when fatigue makes death desirable, there's a danger of depression. Verse 4 says, But he himself, on a day's journey into the wilderness, he came, he sat down under a juniper tree, and he requested for himself that he might die. And he said, It is enough now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my father's. Elijah was all in. He was physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually exhausted. His life has been tense. I mean, his nerves are just about shattered. And he's in danger of depression, discouragement, because he finds himself in this place. He cries out, he says, Lord, it's better for me to die. What's interesting, I don't know anyone else in scripture that we have that request. There might be somebody. But what's interesting about it, Elijah is asked to die. He's one of two men in scripture that never died. Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him. Elijah is the one that God sends a fiery chariot and takes him. He never died. But he's discouraged and depressed and cries out for God to take his life. You probably noticed at times of physical exhaustion, it's very easy to discourage. And that's when there's a danger of depression. Obviously this is a very obvious, as far as this passage goes, a very obvious point of danger. The last danger that can lead us into depression is when you do what's right and everything is going wrong. When you do what's right, everything's going wrong. There's a danger of depression. Verse 10. He said, I've been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars and slain thy prophets with the sword. And I, even I only am left and they seek my life to take it away. Well, I'm just saying I was jealous for the Lord. Look at God, I've just taken a great stand for you in this mountaintop experience, and I've seen your glory. Lord, you know I've been faithful. But now they seek to take away my life. What's wrong with this? It doesn't seem right. I'm doing what's right. Why is everything going wrong? He's jealous of the Lord. He's trying to take a stand, but it's failing. I remember back when I was probably my kid's age, going to hear my mom's cousin do a recital at school. She's in college. And the recital was Alexander and his horrible, no good, very bad day. And this kid, he's just everything's going wrong that could possibly go wrong. And he keeps saying, I'm going to put myself in a box. I'm going to mail myself to Australia or something like that. But have you ever had a day like that? Murphy's Law, I used to have something my mom gave me about Murphy's Law, is anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Why? You're trying to do what's right. You're trying to raise your attention the right way. You're trying to be responsible with your job. You're trying to have an impact on your neighbors, a great testimony. You're trying to be faithful to church. You're trying to be faithful to the Word of God. And all of a sudden, it's just not easy. take a stand for the Lord, it gets difficult. And the reason is, and I know you know this, but Christianity is not a Sunday school picnic. Christianity is a battlefield. Why would Satan attack somebody that's going forward? Because they're advancing the cause of Christ. Play rugby and never touch the ball and stand in the back and you're never going to get tackled. But if you take it and you try to advance it, what's going to happen? All of a sudden, it's going to get rough. And that's the way it is with Christianity as well. You take a stand for the Lord, you're trying to do what's right, and all of a sudden it's going to get really rough. But that could lead to discouragement. That could lead to depression. Lord, here I am, I'm trying to do what's right, why is it so rough? The songwriter effectively put it this way. He said, are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stem the flood? Is this vile world a friend to grace, to help me unto God? He said, sure, I must fight if I would win. Increase my courage, Lord. I'll bear the toil, endure the pain, supported by the Word. Yeah, if you're going to take a stand for the Lord, you've got to have that mindset that, come what may, by the grace of God, I'm going forward for the cause of Christ. Why? Because you try to do what's right, and it's going to get rough. And if your expectations are wrong, and you think Christianity ought to be easy, it's going to lead to discouragement. It's going to lead to depression, just like here in Elijah's life, as he's doing what's right, and everything's going wrong. So what can cure depression? What can cure depression? The first thing we find, and this is just very practical, and the Word of God is, get proper rest and nourishment. Verse 5, And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and behold, there was a cake, bacon on the coals, and a cruise of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. The best nurse of all time, an angel of the Lord, comes to Elijah and he's sleeping. And he goes, touching him on the shoulder, probably gently, and says, you know, wake up, you need to eat, you need to drink. There's a great road ahead of you. You need to take proper nourishment. You need to just take in this good thing to help you to go on for the Lord. You know, Jesus in His earthly ministry, He was very busy. But the Word of God says in Mark 6, verse 31, He said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile. For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. His disciples are getting worn out. There's not even time to eat. And the Lord says, come ye apart. And sadly, they got there and it was busy there too. But what's the principle? The principle is, hey, come apart. Life gets busy. It's not saying be lazy. It's saying take proper rest, get proper nourishment. And when you face these discouraging times, care for yourself. Jesus cared about physical needs as he had his earthly ministry. Remember the feeding of the 5,000? In a word, let's say that these people need something to eat. It takes care of their needs, physically. Psalm 127, 2. It's being free to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrow. For so he giveth his beloved sleep. God doesn't want us to be so busy that we don't get proper rest. Someone that I love very much, I don't know if they still do, but they were working like 90 hours a week. They were just exhausted. Is that God's desire that we just work ourselves silly, that our body just can't handle it? David Brainerd, the great man of God, died at a very early age and some people criticize him because, admittedly, This man gave more than he could give and it cost him his life. He had a great impact for the Lord. Great man of God. But you wonder, could his life have been extended and his usefulness for the Lord if he would have taken a bit more rest and been a bit more careful with his body? This is a stewardship that God's given to us. We need to get that rest and need to get that nourishment. So, that will help with depression. What else can help? What else is a cure? Recognize your need for God's help. Verse 7 and 8 says the angel of the Lord came again the second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose and did eat and drink, and he went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights until Horeb, the mount of God. What does the angel tell him? He says, You can't do this. You can't do it. It's too hard for you. So what does Elijah need? Elijah needs God's divine intervention. What does God do? God gives him meat that strengthens him and allows him to go to the place of his presence, this mountain of God. Elijah had to recognize his need for God to enable him to do what he couldn't do. I just recently read about Diana Nyad. Did you read about her? She's the one that just completed, at 63 years of age, a swim from Cuba, Havana, to Florida, to the tip of Florida. It took her 53 hours. She had failed on three other attempts. The earliest one, I think, was 1977. But in doing that, I was just curious. I thought, well, how many people were helping her? She didn't have a shark cage, but they had people with boats and things to scare the sharks away, and a team that would just check her medically, make sure that she was fine as they went along. She had 44 people that were part of her group that helped her achieve that, even though she did it on her own, swimming across that. It's an amazing feat. But she would have been a fool to think, hey, I'm just going to jump in. I'm going to swim from Havana to Florida without anybody else. You know, we can't do the Christian life without a deep dependence upon God. It's like running into a battlefield and just being completely ignorant that it's dangerous and that it's difficult and that it's hard. We need to deal with going, God, I need your help. If you're discouraged and depressed, ask yourself, am I trusting God? Am I depending upon God or am I trying to do it alone and I'm going to get it done? Or is it with that idea of, you know what, God, I can't do this except by your grace. I've got to have your help. And so the Lord reminds Elijah the need to depend upon him. But then also, he retunes his spiritual resection. We've already read the story, and for sake of time, we won't read it. But God's going to pass by. And there's a storm, there's an earthquake, there's a fire that takes place. But where's God? Is God in the storm? Is He in the earthquake? Is He in the fire? No. The scripture makes it plain that He's not. What is He at? He's in a still, small voice. You know, Elijah could have been desensitized spiritually, because he's seen fire from heaven fall, and his next experience of God, his expectation could be, it's going to be fire from heaven again. But it wasn't. It was a still, small voice. You know, we can get like that in our Christian life where we're discouraged because we haven't seen fire from heaven fall. We haven't seen the big things. We haven't seen the great things. We haven't seen the glorious things. And we miss the still small voice of God daily in our lives doing things every day. And we miss it because we're not in tune spiritually. You know, that can help us with depression because we're not disheartened thinking God doesn't care. We look at it and say, God is at work. I see his hand. I'm sensitive to his still small voice, seeing God work. So return to spiritual reception. Then humbly share your complaint with God. It says in verse 13 and 14, And it was so, when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle. He's humble. He's not going to just boldly walk into God's presence. He's got to cover his face. And he went out, he stood in the entering in of the cave. And behold, there came a voice unto him and said, What doest thou hear, Elijah? And he said, I've been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altar, and slain thy prophets with the sword. And I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away. Elijah was wrong, but he's humble. He's humbly going to God and saying, God, it's awful. My life is so rough. I'm the only one He felt like standing for you. Did God say shame on you, Elijah? Shame on you for being so honest. Shame on you for offering your complaint to me. You know, He doesn't. God doesn't rebuke us for sharing it. That's the right thing to do, to go to God and say, God, this is my burden. Have you ever gone to somebody with a complaint and said, this is really bothering me? And they say, oh, that's no big deal. Or they say, that wouldn't bother me. Does that help you? Is that what you need? No. But you know what is great? When we go to somebody, we've got something to burden about. And they say, hey, I understand. I've been there. I've gone through that. You know, there's nobody more sympathetic for us than Jesus Christ. You can feel like, in your heart, you can feel like, nobody understands what I'm going through. But the reality is, that's wrong. There is somebody that understands completely, and he is God. And the Word of God says about Jesus, we have a high priest. We have not a high priest, which cannot be touched with our feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like we as we are, yet without sin. To put that in the positive, we have a high priest that can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Because he's been there, he's done that, he's experienced it. You know, he knows the suffering and sorrow that we face, that we feel like nobody else understands. So it's right. You're facing a surge of depression? Go to God and say, God, this is what it's about. This is what I'm struggling with. Take it down. And then go do what God wants you to do. Go do what God wants you to do. That's another cure. Verse 15 through 17. You know, Elijah complains. He said, God, I'm the only one left, and God doesn't answer that right away. What's he do? He says, go do this, go do this, go do this. Anoint these people, because this is my plan. You know, was it right for Elisha to rest? Yes. Was it right for him to eat? Yes. But was it time for him to get back to work? Yes. God's refocusing and saying, you know what? Get your eyes off that pity party. Stop feeling sorry for yourself in that place of sorrow. And get back at it. Start doing. Start obeying. Start serving. Have you ever noticed that depressed people don't want to do anything? They just want to stay. And it's like somebody that's got on glasses that are covered with mud and they look outside and they say, it's a gross day today. And they can't see the beauty of it because of their environment. And God's going to take him out of that. He's not going to let him sit there and feel bad for himself. He says, hey, get back at it. There's work to be done. It's not about you Elijah. It's about my work. It's about my cause. And he refocuses him on his work. And that's what he helps him to do. He helps him get his eyes off his cell. Verse 18. He says to him, Yet I have left me 7,000 in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Bill, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. Now twice in Elijah's complaint, what's he saying? I, even I only, am left. Is he right? No. I would ask this too, careful how you answer. Does he think he's right? And the answer would be, if he does, he's ignoring truth. Why? In 1 Kings 18, you remember the story, he comes to a man that's with King Ahab looking for water to feed their livestock. When he comes to that man, Obadiah, Obadiah says to him, and this is just previous in the story, Was it not told my Lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord? How I hid a hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water? He's saying, Just previously he's been told there's a hundred guys that I saved, I rescued. And that's a different part of the story. But Elijah knew it wasn't I only I. It was I only I standing on the mount, there wasn't anyone else there. It was I only I serving the Lord, that's true, and taking a stand. But there were others. Sometimes Satan's tool with this area of depression He'll say, you're the only person on earth that understands what it's like to face death. It's just not true. It's not that it's not significant. It's not that it's not a big deal. It's not that it's easy, but the realization has to be in our heart. You know what? Other people have struggled with this and they have succeeded. and they have had victory. How can I say that as a minister? How can I say that authoritatively? Say it's not something that is original to me or to you, but other people have struggled with it and there is victory. How can I say that authoritatively? The Word of God says, 1 Corinthians 10.13, There hath no temptation or trial taken you, but such as is common to man. That means common just means everybody experiences it. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. Whatever that circumstance is, you can look at it and say, God is greater than this. He can bring me through it, but it's very selfish for us to stay there and say, you know what? Nobody else struggles with this like I do. Nobody else is burdened about this like I am. Nobody else has ever faced, no, wait a second. That's not what the Word of God says. We've got to go to truth. The Word of God says it's common. Not that it's easy, not that it's not a trial, not that it's not hard, but it's common. And there's a way of victory. That way is trusting in God's way of victory. And God says to Elijah, look, I've got 7,000. What an encouragement. What an encouragement. Other people are there. There's other guys that are standing. You're not isolated. And it's a general review too. Look at that. Look at the grace of God putting Elijah back into ministry. So just to review, what are causes of depression? Well, when we go from the mountain top to the valley, great spiritual experience. OK, wonderful. But be ready to be faithful in the valley, to stay true. When enemies are intent on our destruction, somebody rises up against you, just understand that can lead to discouragement, depression. You've got to take it to the Lord and trust God with it. When fear takes the place of faith, Gotta examine our heart, say, you know, am I living by fear or by faith? Am I trusting in God? Or am I just focusing on my worries? When fatigue makes death desirable, am I getting proper rest? Because when I get really worn down, there's a danger. And when you do what's right and everything's going wrong, we're taking a stand for the Lord, it's like everything's going bad. So what's the solution? What's the solution? What's the solution? Get proper rest and nourishment. Not be lazy. Not isolate yourself and say, I need 15 hours of sleep a day. No, get proper rest. Proper nourishment. Recognize your need for God's help. And realize you can't do it on your own. Retune your spiritual receptors. Maybe you're just missing God's blessing in your life because you're looking for big things instead of the still small boys. Share your complaint with God. Be honest. Take it to God. And then as God instructs you, as He will, He'll give you things in the Word of God that are practical, that He wants you to do, do them. Obey Him as He gives those instructions. And then get your eyes off of self and realize, you know, other people struggle with this. And frankly, the Word of God teaches when we have victory in a trial, it's so that we can help somebody else have victory. And God allows us to go through tough times so that if somebody else comes along, we can say, hey, look, I understand. In fact, I really struggle with that. But God is faithful. And God's going to get you through it. I'm going to be praying for you. And I know what it's like. I've been there. And use that as a tool to encourage others as they face a similar trial. So may the Lord just use His word to encourage us. Our case study this morning, Elijah, a biblical case study in this area of depression. Let's pray. Father, thanks for your goodness to us. Thank you for the time that we've been able to spend in the Word of God. And Lord, would you just anchor it in our hearts, I pray. Bless it to every heart that's here. Lord, we're going into winter. We've come from a gorgeous summer to cooler weather. And there's just, there's sickness in things. And that's just when it gets tough. and Lord I pray that you encourage us to be faithful and to trust in you and Father would you give us the victory that we need it's in Christ's name we pray, Amen. Tonight, 6 o'clock, we've got our Sunday night service love to have you be here if you could we're looking at the story of Cornelius tonight the Gospel to the Gentiles it's the pinnacle really of the cross was the pinnacle but then this is where Abraham's promise is going to be fulfilled So we'd love to have you come to that. Thursday night at 6, we've got our kids club and our adult Bible study. We're studying Psalms. We're on Psalm 62. We'd love to have you be a part of that as well. But thank you for your faithfulness and being here today. And tonight, for the sake of time, we'll just, we'll just pass, alright? Thanks for coming.