DISPEAR – PART 7
THE LIGHTS WENT OUT
One evening I was driving from one town to another. And then it happened. The lights went out.
I will always remember that very dark moonless night. The road was still there but I could not see it.
You and I are travelling through the darkness of life. We are on brights and see our dreams stretching out before us.
But then suddenly, without expecting it, our bright lights refuse to shine. Our dreams are gone and all we see is the dark night of disappointment.
Have you, like I, sitting in darkness on life’s main road, asking why?
The road is still there, but suddenly we just cannot see it.
DEPRESSION
The linguists have a word for the emotions we experience when we have to pull off the road because it’s so dark and we cannot see.
They call it “Depression.”
It could be that you are a little down right now. Maybe you need a hug of some kind.
My prayer is that you will find comfort during this presentation. May you and I receive new insights in a God who loves even people who have come to a standstill in life because they cannot see the road ahead.
During a counsel session she told me of her excitement when she got married. Her lights of hope were shining right up to the of the road where they would grow old gracefully.
But gradually the darkness settle and she could no longer see her dreams.
She told me of the day she left him. The darkness of depression enveloped her. She had to pull off the road of her future dreams and wished she could die.
She globe of hope stopped shining and she left the marriage road.
Mike was a businessman who attended my lectures. His financial headlights shone all the way to a comfortable retirement.
When he had to close his doors, both head lamps fused. He pulled off the road of life and sat in darkness.
The road was still there, but Mike could not penetrate the darkness to see it.
My phone rang and his wife said: “Mike shot himself.”
FRAILTY OF MANKIND
I have seen strong people suddenly become weak people. How people who seemed never to be rattled, loose their tempers. I saw deep religious people becoming depressed and committing suicide.
We are actually fragile. Handle with care keep this side up.
When our bright lights are shining and piercing the darkness we are doing quite well.
But when tragedy struck and our head lamps go, and we have to pull off life’s road, we are in deep trouble. We have to switch off the engines and face the darkness.
I thought I and some other people are the only ones that experience the darkness of expression. I was wrong.
Into the experience of all there come times of keen disappointment and utter discouragement–days when sorrow is the portion, and it is hard to believe that God is still the kind benefactor of His earthborn children; days when troubles harass the soul, till death seems preferable to life. It is then that many lose their hold on God and are brought into the slavery of doubt, the bondage of unbelief. Could we at such times discern with spiritual insight the meaning of God’s providences we should see angels seeking to save us from ourselves, striving to plant our feet upon a foundation more firm than the everlasting hills, and new faith, new life, would spring into being. {PK 162.1}
It happened to Elijah and don’t be surprised if it should happen to you.
1 Kings 19:1-4 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” 3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”
JEZREEL
Just before Ahab drove into the gate of Jezreel with his chariot, he stops. Maybe the rain has ceased for a while.
He gets off his chariot and talks to the prophet:
“Thank you Elijah for great reformation you wrought today. I cannot wait to tell queen Jezebel of it. Let’s hope she would forsake Baal worship and accept Jahwe our God.”
Ahab offers him a bed in the city but the humble prophet prefers to sleep outside the city gate.
TALK BETWEEN AHAB AND JEZEBEL
I wish I could have listen to the conversation between Ahab and his wife.
“Jezebel what do you think of the rain that is falling. We will be able to start a new garden at the palace.
“The meeting on Carmel lasted the entire day. The priests of Baal danced and shouted and cut them with knifes but no fire devoured the sacrifice.
And he describes how fire came down when Elijah prayed and how the mountain was enveloped in such fiery thar even the stones melted.
“Jezebel my dear. Yahwe is the true God. With the rest of my people I fell down and worshipped Him. Our prayer: The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God! echoed through the valleys. And are still echoing in my ears”
JEZEBEL’S REACTION
Titus 2:11,12 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age
Maybe Ahab appealed to her to join him in the worship of the One and Only true God. In a powerful manner the Holy Spirit spoke to her heart.
But when he told her of the slaughter of her 850 priests all hel broke loose.
Jezebel decided to reject the pleadings of the Holy Spirit and she became a symbol of the end time apostate church.
DEATH THREAT
Just before Elijah fell asleep, he prayed earnestly that God would be with Ahab while talking to his wife. He is convinced that Jezebel’s influence was finally broken.
The prophet is excited as he prays before falling asleep:
“Dear Lord. Please continue to perform the greatest reformation of all times. Please use me to bring even more glory to your Name.”
In the luxury palace Jezebel calls one of her trusted servants:
“The king says that the cursed prophet Elijah sleeps somewhere outside the city wall. Seek him till you find him and tell him I am going to kill him.”
1 King 19:2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.”
ELIJAH’S REACTION
Elijah was in a state of shock. He believed with all his heart that Ahab would have convinced her and that she would have baptized the following Sabbath.
He already had a power sermon in mind and he imagined who Israel would rejoice over her repentance.
Elijah gets up. He stares at the messenger and cannot believe what he hears.
REASONS FOR HIS DEPRESSION
In the first place he was fully convinced that Jezebel would be converted and that the reformation would reach all Israel.
Here we have good advice for end time Elijah’s. There are certain people who will never be converted because they choose not to yield their hearts to go.
You may have been praying for someone for a long time and nothing has changed. When the Jezebels reject truth don’t become depressed like Elijah.
JOHN THE BAPTIST
As a good evangelist, I am convinced that John the Baptist thought that Herodias would accept his rebuke after he spoke to Herod Antipas about his adultery. But what happened?
Please do not get discouraged when you experience what these great men experienced. May God help us to move on to the next prospects.
WHY TRIAL?
Can you think of another reason why Elijah became despondent?
He felt this specific disappointment and trial was not justified.
Now listen. Emotionally he was totally drained after Carmel. His cotthes were sopping wet. He hardly fell asleep when he is threatened with death. Sorry, but…
Is this the type of treatment of prophet of God must suffer? He gave his best for the Master and his Master allows all this to come over him. And Elijah breaks down.
JOHN THE BAPTIST
John the Baptist have been locked up in prison for almost a year. Where is the God he served. He has a question: “Is this the way He treats His faithful workers?” And John the Baptist snapped.
Was Jesus asking God the Father a similar question on the cross?
ENDTIME ELIJAHS
May I ask you a question? The unpleasant experience you are going through right now, do you think it is fair? Couldn’t God prevent it? Couldn’t He handled it a little diferent?
THE ACCUSER OF THE BRETHERN
Remember as in the case of Job, Satan the accuser of the brethren is in continual dialogue with God.
If God should prevent our present trials, Satan would object. He would say to God:
“But why are you making a distinction between Your followers and my followers? Where is you fairness, Mr. God”?
My dear friend God does not delight in your pain but should He save you from it, the devil would have reason to accuse Him.
He cannot guarantee a painless life, but He does guarantee that He will not forsake us, not leave us in these dark moments.
COMFORT
I have one comfort. He will never allow anything that I am not able to handle with His assistance. 1 Corintians 10:13.
ELIJAH FLEES
The Tishbite snaps. Can you see him running in the darkness, falling and getting up a few times. What a sad sad sad picture of the man who trusted God a few hours before.
He runs away from his unfinished task, he runs away from God.
His poor servant close behind him. He speaks to his master but silence is the answer. His master is otherwise, his master weeps.
What about you and me. Are we somewhere in the darkness of depression fleeing from a Jezebel, a threat? Has your marriage…
Are you fleeing from an unpleasant relationship?
Have the challenges of life become a little too much to handle at this stage?
What must your friends be thinking of you? And what about God?
Did God care for Elijah when His lonely champion fled into the dark night of depression?
Does He care about you and me when we run away from duty and from Him?
JOB’S DISPONDENCY
What can we learn from the story of Job when he lost his most precious possessions, his children?
Job 3:3 “May the day perish on which I was born.”
6:2 “Oh, that my grief were fully weighed, And my calamity laid with it on the scales!”
Job 7:11 “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.”
7:16 I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, For my days are but a breath.
SAVED FROM DEPRESSION
When I read the biographies of God’s heroes, I notice something beautiful that gives me hope.
Although they experienced very deep depressions, God did not forsake them but healed them. What a God we serve!
From the depth of God have forsaken me depression Job was lifted to heights of new trust in God’s saving grace.
Just listen to this victorious melody emerging from the requiem of his deep depression:
Job 13:15 Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.
What a shout of trust in God. He sits on ashes with a potsherd in his hand, looks up and cries out to God:.
“Dear Lord. Even though my sickness and the grief over the death of my children will eventually cause my death, I just want to tell you something. I will continue to trust and love you.”
And I think God wiped a tear from His eyes.
Maybe you are sitting on the ashes of disappointments? With the potsherd of memories you are scratching over the wounds of those sore places. And the more you scratch, the more painful becomes those wounds
Maybe you have come to the conclusion that only loved ones have cause you pain but that God caused it to a certain degree.
Can I tell you what God expects to hear from you and me?
“Dear God. Pain and disappointments have taken me captive. They have robbed me and I lay dying on the highway of life. But Lord I want to tell you something. I don’t know exactly why this happened but I want to tell you I will love and trust you till the day of my death.”
WHAT SHOULD ELIJAH HAVE DONE?
This may help us next time things go haywire:
1. He should not have left his post of duty.
2. Taken the death threat to God who sent him to do the work of reform.
3. He should have said to Jezebel: “The God I serve will protect me.”
THE REULTS
What would have been the results?
1. The Lord would have taken care of Jezebel.
2. The divine impression which the king and his people received on Carmel, would have culminated in a greater reformation movement.
CALL
If we do not focus on God continually, we will become despondent when we are tested.
Look at the events of Calvary. The sufferings of Jesus will always overshadow ours. He did not get off the cross. He died on His cross.
May you and I also remain on the cross of selfdenial and pain till we die to the demands of our sinful human nature.
And we have died to our selfish natures, we will experience a glorious resurrection of a new relationship with God.
ize with God like Elijah for the drop to fall on us.