RUSSELL SANDERS
4-29-2024
DISCOURAGED? DEPRESSED?

Last week we saw how the angel of the LORD had visited Elijah. Let us re-visit this matter.

Elijah had just finished a victorious event for the LORD. He had eliminated 450 false prophets of Baal that had been supported by Queen Jezebel. She was now determined to seek after Elijah and kill him. The prophet fled out of fear and was overwhelmingly despondent. He was so severely depressed that he wanted to die.

1 Kings 19:4 says of Elijah that, “he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, [to escape Jezebel] and came and sat under a juniper tree. And he requested for himself that he might die. And said, ‘It is enough [too much] now, O LORD, take away my life. For I am not better than my fathers.’” He had a death wish. He saw no reason to continue living.

Have you ever been there? Have you ever been so depressed that you just wanted to end it all? Is suicide ever an option? God is the giver of your life. Satan is the taker [destroyer] of life. God did not let Elijah stay in that mind set. He came [the angel of the LORD – verse 7] and ministered to Elijah. The prophet, after being encouraged by God, arose, and completed his God-given destiny.

When you are so “down and out” that you have lost your will to live, call out earnestly to God. Satan will even tell you that God does not care, so why bother to call Him? Do not be deceived. God cares for you even when you do not believe it. He will pick you up and show you a reason to live.

Jonah had also reached that dark valley after his work in Nineveh. He said in Jonah 4:3, “therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me. For it is better for me to die than to live.”

God responded to Jonah, who then continued as a well-known true prophet in Israel. God was not finished with him.

Do not allow a thought of death to control you. Turn hard unto Jesus and He will minister to you. Your “time to go” is determined by God. Do not put yourself above God. That time is his choice, not yours.

God loves you so much more than you can imagine.