Tuesday, October 11, 2022

 

UNDER THE BROOM TREE

I want to speak to you today about a subject that I believe has been holding back Christians since the inception of time....

DEPRESSION

It is a problem that I believe is getting worse and worse as we live in these days.

Satan is working overtime and using this tool to steal Gods peace from his children!

 

Elijah is a great example of a person who lost his peace in his relationship with God …

 

1 Kings 19:1-14  Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2  So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them." 3  Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4  while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." 5  Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." 6  He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. 7  The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." 8  So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9  There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"10  He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." 11  The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12  After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.13  When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 14  He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."

I.                 What Is Depression?

Depression - feelings of severe despondency and dejection. "self-doubt creeps in and that swiftly turns to depression"

a.  Elijah was depressed!

1 Kings 19:3 -5  Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4  while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." 5  Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

b.  We find Elijah in the middle of the desert hiding under a broom tree.

c.   How did Elijah find himself in the place?

d.  Look at his recent history

Surely, he must have had some terrible defeats that brought him here …

e.  Elijah had just witnessed some mighty miracles, hadn’t he?

                                                           i.      He had seen God’s power revealed over the prophets of Baal....

                                                        ii.      he had witnessed the miracle of God sending rain.......

                                                     iii.      he had seen all the prophets of Baal hunted down and killed......

f.    Elijah had JUST seen God move in amazing ways THROUGH him!

g.  Elijah should have been on top of the mountain … but he was hiding in the desert.

Depression has little to do with the circumstances in which you find yourself. Elijah had participated in many noteworthy events but here he is in the desert under the broom tree.

h.  Depression does not deal with facts … it deals with perceptions.

At times in my life I have dealt with depression. I considered taking my own life. I did not share this information with anyone. I had a certain amount of success in my life. I was the regional sales manager for a CBS television station. I had been written up in a television trade magazine for some of my accomplishments. But I felt a great sadness in my life that I could not explain.

i.     Finally, at a doctor’s appointment I told the doctor what was going on.

j.     He explained it this way…

EXPLANATION …

k.  If you are suffering from depression . …GO SEE A DOCTOR AND TELL THEM WHAT IS GOING ON!!!

l.     I don’t want to take medicine … if you had a headache you would take an aspirin …

 

II.              Take Care of You!

a.  Notice what happened to Elijah…

1 Kings 19: 5-8  Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." 6  He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. 7  The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." 8  So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

b.  Elijah is sleeping under the Broom Tree when an angel wakes him up.

c.   God is providing …

d.  Rest

e.  God is providing Food and water.

f.    Rest and “Comfort Food” can do wonders.

Stop the “merry-go-round“ and take off for a day or two…

My father was an Air Traffic Controller after he retired from the Air Force. One day he didn’t want to go to work. It was a high stress job and annually took its toll on air traffic controllers. He called in and told them he wasn’t coming in. They asked “Why?” he said he was sick. They asked what he was sick from? He said, “I’m sick of work!”

g.  When you find yourself going down the slope of depression …

                                                           i.      Tell your doctor!

                                                        ii.      Take Care of yourself first

                                                     iii.      Rest food and water

James 5:13-18  Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14  Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven16  Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 17  Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18  Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

h.  Elijah was a servant of God just like you and I are trying to serve God.

i.      Elijah suffered from depression and Elijah needed help!

 

III.          God cares about You!

1                   Kings 19:-13  There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"10  He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." 11  The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12  After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.13  When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

a.  Elijah’s strength came from God.

b.  That is a rebuke to any who think they can go through this life without depending upon God minute by minute.

c.   If we are going to get through our depression, we have to continuously on our Beloved Lord.

Our Sin or unbelief will tempt us to say, "I can manage this without God. It is only a small thing. I can use God for the bigger things in life but this little thing, I can manage by myself." That is the beginning of going astray. When the Lord said, "without me ye can do nothing" He meant every word of it.

d.  Elijah wanted to die.

e.  He felt he could do no more, that his situation was hopeless.

A depressed person is filled with negative thoughts and you see him in his language expressing his hopelessness - "I", "I". He is looking at himself and he sees nothing in himself to bring him any confidence or hope. There is a real connection in the Christian life between hope and devotion to God - strength, motivation. Where there is a lack of hope there is a lack of spiritual motivation. Sometimes we are just afraid to do anything for fear that everything we do ends in failure...and we certainly don’t want another one!

f.    If we are not trusting in God, if we are only looking to ourselves, then we will be cast down.

g.  It’s not a case of saying we will ’snap out of it’. It is not a case of saying you will pray yourself out of it, or pick yourself up. That is the very thing you cannot do. If you could do it, you would do it.

h.  He felt he was useless,

i.     He not only felt disappointed in himself but he felt he had disappointed God and could no longer be used by God!

j.     He "sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life".

k.  The desires, decisions and even prayers of a person who is depressed are irrational.

l.     The depressed person is limited by depression to the here and now and to the past.

m.                         They find it difficult to look beyond their present circumstances, they find it difficult to hope that God can change things;

Psalms 42:8-11  By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me-- a prayer to the God of my life. 9  I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?" 10  My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is your God?" 11  Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

 

God told Elijak to get up and get going. He took him to Mount Horeb where Elijah hid in a cave. God showed Elijah wind and fire and an earthquake … Then God came to him in a whisper. Elijah was visited by the glory of God!

 

 

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