Overcoming Loneliness & Depression: Lessons from the Life of Elijah
Elijah’s story goes from a literal mountaintop experience down to a suicidal desire.
We are first introduced to Elijah in the Bible during a time of great apostasy in Israel. King Ahab allowed himself to be ruled by his wicked wife Jezebel. God called Elijah to tell the king that because of his sins it was not going to rain until Elijah said so. That took either chutzpah or tremendous faith, or maybe both.
God had Elijah hide out by the Brook Cherith where God used ravens to bring Elijah his daily rations. Eventually the drought got so bad the brook dried up. God sent Elijah to the home of a kind and faithful widow whose flour and oil miraculously never ran out. After some time, the widow’s son died and Elijah witnessed God raise him from the dead.
Ahab had been sending out search parties to imprison or kill Elijah. All to no avail, they could not find him. After the three and half years of no rain, God called Elijah to return to Ahab and rebuke him again. Ahab was not happy. Ahab put all the blame on the messenger, calling Elijah a troubler of Israel. Elijah corrected the king, telling him it was the king’s sins in forsaking the commandments of God that had caused the troubles. What boldness, what faith, what confidence, what chutzpah.
Elijah told Ahab to call all of Israel and all the king’s pagan prophets to meet him on Mount Carmel. Ahab did what Elijah asked. Elijah spoke to all the people and asked, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). Then Elijah turned to the pagan prophets and challenged them to a contest. Both were to build altars to their God, place a sacrifice on it, and whichever God answered by fire was the true God. Elijah let the pagan prophets go first. They built their altar, put their bull upon it, and began calling out to their god. From morning until late afternoon they danced around their altar, cutting themselves, and calling out to their god. But nothing happened. Elijah even mocked them saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened” (1 Kings 18:27).
Eventually they gave up and it was Elijah’s turn. Elijah built an altar, put a slain bull on it, and dug a trench around the altar, and even though the draught had not ended, he had twelve buckets of precious water poured upon the bull, wood, and altar until the trench was filled with water. Then Elijah prayed and fire came down from heaven and burned up everything—the sacrifice, the wood, the water, even the stones. The people cried out, “The Lord, He is God!” (1 Kings 18:39). It must have been amazing to be there, but the account does not end there.
Elijah then prayed to God seven times and the Lord sent rain after three and half years of drought. God gave Elijah the strength to run before Ahab’s chariot and lead him through the rain back to his palace. What a powerful experience. Elijah was on a high and no doubt expected a full revival to take place throughout the land. But his great disappointment sent him into a deep depression, even to the point of wishing he was dead.
When Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, heard what had happened she was not a happy camper. She sent messengers out to Elijah stating that she would have him dead by the next day. Elijah, who had stood bravely for God for more than three and a half years, who had stood up to the king several times, who had been fed by God’s ravens, who had seen God miraculously provide flour and oil for the widow, her child, and himself, who had seen the boy die and then rise from the dead, who had seen fire come down from heaven and consume everything including the stones, now ran for his life in fear.
After running for a few days he was exhausted and accumulated several “hits” such as inadequate sleep and altered circadian rhythm, reduced nutrition, negative thinking, and possibly others. Elijah “prayed that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!’” (1 Kings 19:4). Elijah was suicidal, or at least wanted God to take his life; basically he wanted to be dead.
How did God respond to such a prayer? He sent an angel who gave Elijah some food and let him rest. Then the angel came back again and did the same thing. After resting and eating Elijah journeyed to Mount Horeb, where God had given Moses the Ten Commandments.
Elijah was still depressed and he isolated himself for forty days.
When Elijah reached Mount Horeb, he went into a cave and slept overnight. God came to him and asked, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah was still bitter and presumptuous about how things should be working out. He declared, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life” (1 Kings 19:10). Notice all the fear and focus on self that Elijah expressed. Elijah had taken his eyes off God and placed them upon himself. He focused on his situation without taking God, or possibly other people, into consideration.
God responded by passing the cave with a strong windstorm, followed by an earthquake, followed by fire. But the Lord was not in any of those. Then God’s still small voice called Elijah, asking again, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 9:13). Again Elijah responded as before. It seems he had been rehearsing that line over and over again in his mind. A very dangerous practice which is far too common.
If you hold a small envelope in front of your face and focus on it, drawing it closer and closer to your eyes, you will eventually get to the point where this small envelope can obscure the view of an entire building before you. When we review a problem over and over again, it can get bigger and bigger in our eyes, crowding out even God. It is good to see a problem clear enough that we understand it, but at the same time we need to be turning it over to God and reminding ourselves how much bigger God is than our problem.
Elijah had accumulated a number of depression hits. He had a nutrition hit before eating the food the angel brought him, a social hit with his life being threatened and isolating himself, his circadian rhythm was off, he had a lifestyle hit by hiding in a cave away from sunlight, and a frontal lobe hit with negative thinking.
Elijah’s rehabilitation included good food, water, rest, exercise, getting him back to the Word of God, reminding him that he was not the only one in the world who had problems, and he was not the only person in the world whom God could use. God also reminded him that God was in charge, not him. The Lord demonstrated to Elijah that He was all powerful, but that God’s powerful demonstrations were not as important in this case as hearing His still small voice. God put Elijah back to work with people who would be an encouragement and help to him, and to whom he could be of help. That is quite a list and a pretty good daily recipe for each of us.
Let me review this expansive and valuable list in bullet point fashion:
Good food
Water
Rest
Exercise
The Bible
Everyone has problems
The world is not on our shoulders
God is in charge
God is all powerful
God speaks to us by His still voice
God is forgiving and merciful
God-empowered obedience is more powerful than miracles
Work is good
Friendships are important
A big problem that many people face today is loneliness. We can still experience loneliness even if we live in large cities surrounded by people, or even if we use social media to connect with people from all over the globe. Not only can we still be lonely with social media and large communities, we might experience loneliness because of them. Being around people and connecting with people through an electronic device is not the same as face-to-face interaction or one-on-one communication.
When we are depressed, it is common for us not to want to be around other people. Like Elijah, we might want to isolate ourselves in a cave for forty days, but part of God’s solution was sending Elijah out with a mission to be in contact with other people.
Even before God drew Elijah out of the cave and sent him on a mission, He first spent time with Elijah. It might seem logical that being with other people is the solution to loneliness, but that is not the solution. We can have lots of friends and still be lonely. We can have no friends and not be lonely.
“The real solution to loneliness is making a mental choice to be content with whatever is our current situation.”
The real solution to loneliness is making a mental choice to be content with whatever is our current situation. Loneliness is more a state of mind than a lack of friends. God is always with us, thus in reality we are never really alone. While that is a reality, it takes faith to believe and accept that. If you don’t have enough faith at the moment to believe that the God of the universe is right there with you, ask Him to give you more faith. He will give you more faith and He will give you the ability to believe and accept His promise of His presence with you. He loves you just as much as He loved Elijah.
Even though this earth is full of people, there may be times when there is no person who understands our situation or no one who cares about us. Sometimes that is reality and other times it just feels that way. Either way, God always cares and God always understands.
Even during those times when we are physically or emotionally isolated from any humans who care about us or who understand our situation, we can still be content and not lonely. Elijah was all alone, except for God, when he was by the Brook Cherith eating nothing but bread delivered by ravens for many months, if not years. Yet, there is no record of his being lonely or depressed at that time. Elijah chose to accept his situation and thus chose not to be lonely. He chose to be content.
Paul, who had years of isolation, wrote from prison:
Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. …I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:8,11-13 New International Version).
Regardless of your situation I encourage you to choose not to be lonely, to choose to be content, to choose to believe that God is with you and that He will give you the strength you need.
