Go, get back at it

Then the LORD said to him:"Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. – 1 Kings 19v15

If anyone could diagnose Elijah at this time they would surely say that he had depression. He might even have been diagnosed with clinical depression. All the signs were there; lack of energy, no desire to eat, etc. I have known people who suffer depression. It is real.

I realise that there are times when a person’s emotions leading to depression can happen because of a chemical imbalance and may need medical treatment. I won’t deny that.

However, there are also many time when people, even Christians, become depressed. It might just be discouragement, or even just a spiritual ‘funk.’ I am not inclined to depression, but I certainly can battle discouragement or that vague, undefined funk.

Sometimes people use medicine to treat these feelings. Sometimes that is even a legitimate treatment. Other times people use substances to hide the feelings. Some people eat their way out of those feelings. Some use diversions. The diversion can just be fun and excitement, but sometimes these might be choosing sin to deal with the feelings. All of these are going to fall short however, because they don’t deal with the issue.

There must, however, be a spiritual answer. Fortunately, God does have an answer. We find His answer here in this passage. ‘Get up Elijah; get back on your way. A little later God told Elijah that there were 7000 others with him who had not bowed to Baal.

When we find ourselves in these states, or even when we sense these states coming on, we have a solution. Why not try what God told Elijah first? Why not dust ourselves off, get up, and get busy for God? The problem is that we get our focus on us and our sorry state. The answer is to think about someone else.

‘Go, return on your way…’